Joseph Croshaw (1610-1667) was the son of Capt. Raleigh Crowshaw, Ancient Planter. He was born in Bruton Parish, Virginia, in the area that is now Williamsburg. He married five times and had six children.

(Ben M. Angel notes: Bruton Parish and Williamsburg were not settled until the 1630s. He may have been born in Virginia, as Jamestown had been a functional - albeit poorly functional - settlement since April 1607. But he wasn't born in Bruton Parish or Williamsburg in 1610.)

Croshaw was a substantial planter living near Williamsburg. On December 10, 1651, he patented land which became the plantation known as Poplar Neck. Maj. Joseph Croshaw was an attorney. He was Burgess 1677, Justice 1659, Sheriff 1656 and a member of the Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg.

Croshaw died by April 10, 1677, when his will was recorded in York County, Virginia. The inventory of his estate included two pewter candlesticks, forty-two pewter dishes, four porringers, thirty-six spoons, one bedpan, and one still. It also listed a silver sack-cup; twenty-four silver spoons; and a silver tankard of the largest size, valued at four pounds sterling. The inventory also listed the Croshaw estate as having 1000 bricks manufactured either by their own servants or by transient laborers.

Children and wives of Maj. Joseph Croshaw:

First wife - name not known

• Mary Croshaw (1632-1687), married 1. Henry White; 2. Thomas Taylor.
• Rachel Croshaw (1635-1670), married 1. Ralph Graves; and 2. Richard Barnes.
• Unity Croshaw (1636-1669), married Colonel John West.
• Benjamin Croshaw (1640-1645), died young.
• Joseph Croshaw (1642-1650), died young.

Second wife - Widow Finch

• No known children of this marriage.

Third wife - Mrs. Anne Hodges (d.1663), widow of Augustine Hodges

• No known children of this marriage

Fourth wife - Mrs. Margaret Tucker (d.1664), widow of Daniel Tucker

• No known children of this marriage

Fifth wife - Mrs. Mary Bromfield (d. bef. 28 May 1673), widow of Thomas Bromfield

• Joseph Croshaw (1667-1682)

Links to additional material:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Croshaw
• http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~oktxblackwell/FG01/FG01_118.HTM
• http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ronnadumas/i691.html