Col. William Bernard

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/M3ND-KM6

Col. William Bernard of Virginia

listed as William Barnard on the Furthurance passenger list 1622

Biography

William Bernard (Francis Bernard, Francis Bernard, John Bernard, John Bernard) was born Apr 1603 in Kingsthorpe, Northamptonshire, England, and died in Gloucester County, Virginia. He was buried in the Burwell Family Cemetery, White Marsh, Gloucester County, Virginia, USA, which is now defunct.

He married Lucy Higginson in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, daughter of Robert Higginson and Joanna Tokesay, and widow of Lewis Burwell about 1655. She was born 1626 in Carter's Creek, Gloucester County, Virginia, and died 16 Nov 1675 in Fairfield, Gloucester, Virginia, USA.

After William died, she married thirdly to Philip Ludwell. She was buried in the Abingdon Episcopal Church Cemetery, White Marsh, Gloucester County, Virginia, USA.

The three children of William Bernard and Lucy Higginson were raised in Gloucester County, Virginia on Fairfield Plantation, the property of their mother's first husband, which their father helped to administer, along with their half brother, Lewis Burwell.

1. George Bernard (1658-?) (moved to England).
2. Lucy Bernard (1660-1693). Married 1) Edward Gwyn 2) Edward Creffield, and then moved to London, England.
3. Elizabeth Bernard (before 1662-1710). Married Thomas Todd.

   ---

Research Notes

William Bernard is double first cousin to Richard Bernard who immigrated from England to Virginia about 22 years after William. Being a double first cousin is the same genetically as being a sibling. William and Richard have the same grandparents - all four of them, because their fathers, Richard Bernard and Francis Bernard, who were brothers, married the Woolhouse sisters, Elizabeth and Mary.[1][2]

Notes

Name: William Bernard Given Name: William Surname: Bernard Prefix: Col. "Of The Council" 1 Sex: M Birth: Apr 1603 in Kingsthorpe, Northamptonshire, England Note: per Plantaganet Ancestors Death: 31 Mar 1665 in Isle of Wright County, Virginia Note: date from The Colonial Virginia Register Burial: Abington Parish, Gloucester Point, York County, Virginia 2 3 4 Event: Fact 1 member of his Majesty's Council of Virginia Fact Immigration: 1622 Basses Choyse, Virginia Colony Note: William Barnard, aged 21, in the Furtherance 1622 Event: Alt. Burial 31 Mar 1665 Sea Note: died while on route to England Event: Alt. Death 31 Dec 1665

Comments

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/222664035/william-bernard

Although it is commonly stated in some published sources and online that Colonel William Bernard died March 31, 1665, this appears to be incorrect as he is known to have died in or before 1662, when his wife, Lucy, was married to her third husband, Phillip Ludwell.

---

Supporting data

Virginia M. Meyer, Adventurers of Purse and Person; 975.503; A244; 3rd Edition; pp. 117-118

NOTE: William was the son of Francis Bernard and Mary Woolhouse of Kingsthorpe, Northamptonshire, England born about 1603. He married Lucy Higginson, daughter of Robert Higginson and Joanna Tokesey. William died 31 March 1665. Death stated in the will of his brother, Sir Robert Bernard, BArt., of Brampton Hall, Huntingdonshire, 5 Dec 1665. William came to VA. in 1622 in the "Furtherance" at the age of 18 and was living at Basse's Choice by 1623/4. He was included in the muster of Capt. Nathaniel Basse at the same place, 7 Feb 1624/5. He left the colony and returned at least three times before 10 Aug 1642 when a patent for 1200 acres at the head of Lawnes Creek in Isle of Wight County was issued him as "due for his own personal adventure four times and transportation of twenty persons. He was interested in the culture of silk in the colony, as were others of the period, but though the growth of mulberry trees, on which the silk worm could be nurtured, was prolific, skilled workers were needed to carry on the industry. Silk was produced in the colony, but the cultivation of tobacco, for which there was a ready market, and which required less skill, eventually supplanted silk altogether as a marketable product. William served as commissioner of isle of Wight County, 1646, and served in the Council 1641-1665. He patented 800 acres in Lancaster County, adjoining Col. Richard Lee, 8 Oct 1657, but there is no record of his having lived in the Northern Neck.

---

A biographical entry for Colonel William Bernard is found in Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, volume 1, published 1915, pages 117-118 (public domain). It is transcribed below:

"Bernard, William, was born about 1598 [more likely 1603], and came to the colony in 1625, in the ship "America" [correction: he immigrated in the ship Furtherance to Virginia in 1622; source, Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry, 2nd Edition, volume 1 (2011), page 263]. He was the son of Francis Bernard, Esq., of Kingsthorpe, Northamptonshire, and brother of Sir Robert Bernard, Bart., of Brampton, Huntingdonshire. He settled first in Isle of Wight county and probably continued to make his home there. He was certainly living there in 1639, when the assembly appointed him a tobacco inspector for the district extending from Laune's creek to Casstra (?) creek. The act styles him “Mr. William Barnett.” Bernard first appears as a member of the council in March, 1642-43, and retained his seat until 1652. The house of burgesses again made him a councillor by successive elections in April, 1652; March, 1654-55; March, 1657-58 and April, 1658. He was also present as a member on March 13, 1659-60. He doubtless remained a councillor until his death, which occurred in or not long before 1662. Col. Bernard took part in the effort to make silk culture a success in Virginia, and in the “Reformed Virginia Silk Worm,” published in 1652, John Ferrar Jr., who puts into rlıyme the substance of letters lately received by his sister, Virginia Ferrar, says of him:

"Yea, worthy Bernard that stout Colonel
Informs the lady the work most facile
And of rich silken stuffs made shortly there
He hopes that he and others shall soon wear."

Only two grants of land to Bernard appear in the land books. The first, dated Aug. 10, 1642, was to “William Bernard, Esq. 1200 acres in Isle of Wight county, at the head of Laune's creek, and extending to the head of Pagan creek, due for his own adventure into the Colony four times, and for the transportation of 20 persons;” and the second to “Col. Bernard, Esq., 600 acres in Lancaster on Dividing Creek.” Col. Bernard married in 1652 or the year following, [sic: after 1655] Lucy, widow of Maj. Lewis Burwell, of “Carter's Creek,” Gloucester county, and daughter of Capt. Robert Higginson. Several deeds in York prove this marriage, the earliest of them being from William Bernard, Esq., and his wife, Lucy, conveying to George Reade a tract of land which had been purchased by Capt. Robert Higginson on Jan. 9, 1648. Bernard died in or before 1662, in which year his widow had become the wife of Philip Ludwell. He left a daughter Elizabeth, who married Thomas Todd, of Toddsbury, Gloucester county, and has descendants."

---

References

1. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd Edition ... page 188. GoogleBooks
2. https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/66221246?cid=mem_copy
3. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/M3ND-KM6 cites
   1. The Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants, by Gary Boyd Roberts, (2004), p. 289: Bernards as descendant of King Edward I
   2. Winston of Virginia and allied families, complied by Clayton Torrence, (1927), pp. 117-118: The Bernards
   3. Early Immigrants to Virginia from the 1500s and 1600s: Col. William Bernard & Lucy Higginson
   4. Lineages of Members of the National Society of Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims, Vol. III, (1929), p. 140: Col. William Bernard
   5. Adventurers of Purse and Person Virginia1607-1625 and their families, by Annie Lash Jester and Martha Woodruff Hiden, (1956), pp. 93-94: Colonel William Bernard and family
   6. William Bernard, "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975"
   7. U.S. and Canada Passenger and immigration lists index, 1500s - 1900s: William Bernard arriving in VA in 1622
   8. Winston of Virginia and allied families, compiled by Clayton Torrence, (1927), pp. 115-116: Bernard Family
   9. Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Vol. I, by Lyon Gardiner Tyler, (1915), p. 257: Capt. Robert Higginson
   10. The Ancestors and Descendants of Colonel David Funsten and his wife Susan Everard Meade, compiled by Hortense Funsten Durand, (1926), p. 45: Lucy Higginson, abt. 1630 - 1675
   11. The Bernards of Abington and Nether Winchendon; a family history, Vol. I, by Sophia Elizabeth Higgins, (1903), pp. 73-74: Francis Bernard [Jr] and family
   12. U.S. and Canada Passenger and immigration lists index, 1500s-1900s: William Bernard arriving in VA in 1635
   13. Genealogies of Virginia Families from the William and Mary College Quarterly, Vol. I, (1982), p. 334: William Bernard
   14. Genealogies of Virginia Families from the William and Mary College Quarterly, Vol. II, (1982), p. 822: Hugh Gwynn & family
   15. Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Vol. I, by Lyon Gardiner Tyler, (1915), pp. 249-250: Hugh Gwyn, Rev. John Gwyn, and Dr. Edmund Gwyn
   16. Genealogies of Virginia Families from the William and Mary College Quarterly, Vol. V, (1982), p. 579: Capt. Robert Higginson
   17. Married Well and Often, Virginia Marriages of the Northern Neck of Virginia, 1649-1800, by Robert K. Headley, Jr., (2003), p. 38: marriage between Col. William Bernard and widow Burwell
   18. The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, 1847-2011: William Bernard, d. 1665
   19. U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current
   20. William Bernard, "Find A Grave Index"
   21. Winston of Virginia and allied families, compiled by Clayton Torrence, (1927), pp. 121-122: Higginson Family of Virginia
   22. Henry Duke, Councilor, his descendants and connections, by Walter Garland Duke, (1949), p. 302: Tompkins, Reades, Bernards, Gwynns, and Higginsons
   23. Early Immigrants to Virginia from the 1500s and 1600s
   24. Our royal, titled, noble and commoner ancestors
4. https://www.colonial-settlers-md-va.us/getperson.php?personID=I4461...
5. Rootsweb (dead link)
6. ”Genealogy of the Bernard Family.” http://www.glenncourt.com/genealogy/fam_bernard.php (dead link)
7. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bernard-131 cites
   1. Douglas Richardson. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham, 2nd edition (Salt Lake City: the author, 2011), Vol. I, p. 188, BERNARD 16, Google Books
   2. Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City: the author, 2013), Vol. I, p. 346, BERNARD 19
   3. Clayton Torrence. Winston of Virginia, and allied families, Whitten and Shepperson, 1927, pp. 115-118, Internet Archive
   4. Jamestowne Society: Berkeley-Biggs, accessed 15 October 2022
   5. Lyon Gardiner Tyler. Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Vol. I, Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1915, pp. 117-118, Internet Archive
   6. William Armstrong Crozier. Virginia Heraldica, Vol. V, the Genealogical Association, 1908, pp.71-72, Internet Archive
   7. Frederick Lewis Weis, with additions and corrections by Walter Lee Sheppard and William R Beall. The Magna Carta Sureties, 1215, 5th edition, Genealogical Publishing Company, 1999, p. p. 66, line 46/15
   8. Annie Lash Jester and Martha Woodroof Hiden. Adventures of Purse and Prson, Viriginia, 1607-1625, Order of First Families of Virginia, 1956, pp. 93-95, Familtsearch
   9. Higgins, Sophia Elizabeth. The Bernards of Abington and Nether Winchendon; a family history, Vol. IV, Longmans, Green & Co, 1904, p. 318, Internet Archive
   10. Stott, Clifford. The Higginson Family of Berkeswell, Warwickshire, and its American Descendants, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (NEHGS, Boston, Mass., 2018) Vol. 172, p. 96
8. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/222664035/william-bernard
   1. Dorman, John Frederick. 2004. Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia, 1607-1624/5. Genealogical Pub. Co. 4th edition. Vol 1, Page 261, book lookup by Hill, C. [03/04/2024]