Preservation Virginia (formerly APVA Preservation Virginia) is developing a biographical database of information on the first English colonists who traveled to Jamestown, Virginia, in its initial and formative first years. Entitled "Jamestown Biographies Project," the goal is to determine the colonists' English origins and to gather information on each colonist's individual family social history. This information may shed new light on the impetus that led these particular individuals to take the bold steps onto the ships which brought them to a new world, a new life, and sometimes vastly different life experiences. The database currently incorporates information contained in traditional Jamestown sources with information gathered from British and European sources and new opportunities provided for research via the World Wide Web.

This research has been used to generate the map on the right which indicates the possible counties of origin and hometowns of 120 of the early colonists. Click on the map to see a larger version.

For inquiries, please contact Benjamin Knowles at bknowles@preservationvirginia.org