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Preservation Virginia > Jamestown Rediscovery > Research Resources > Other Sites > Buck Site - 44JC568 > Buck Site Historical Background

Buck Site Historical Background

Pocahontas Wedding The Reverend Richard Buck, a close friend of William Shakespeare, sealed the peace between Jamestown colonists and local Algonquians in 1614 by marrying planter John Rolfe and Pocahontas, the daughter of the Powhatan Mamanatowick, or supreme chief. On 20 January 1619, Buck acquired 750 acres of land in the Neck-of-Land area, a leading suburb of Jamestown that prospered during the second quarter of the 17th century. Historical records include details of Richard Buck's 1619 patent as bounded by Mill Creek on the east, Back River on the south, and Powhatan Creek on the west. The artifacts recovered from the site indicated it was occupied from ca. 1630-50.

Reverend Buck and his wife had perished by 1624 and were survived by six of their children: Elizabeth, Bridget, Mara, Gercian, Benoni, and Peleg. The property passed into the hands of a caretaker and guardian of his children, Richard Kingsmill. In 1635, Thomas Crump, husband of Richard Buck's eldest daughter Elizabeth, acquired the 500 acres directly to the north of the original 750-acre Buck land patent. Buck's eldest son Gercian attained his majority in the early 1630s, and in 1636 purchased the 500 acres from his brother-in-law. Through this acquisition and the inheritance of his father's Neck-of-Land property, Gercian amassed a contiguous 1,250 acre tract of land. Two years later, the youngest buck sibling, Peleg, inherited the entire property upon Gercian's death. Peleg held the land until his own demise in 1642, whereupon Elizabeth Crump assumed ownership until 1654. Archaeological and historical research strongly suggested that the Reverend Buck's children and their guardians, overseers, and kin were the series of resident and non-resident owners at 44JC568 from ca. 1630-50.


Buck Family Tree


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