Trader Edward Bland

Edward Bland (1613-1652) who married Jane Bland, daughter of Edward’s Uncle Gregory Bland. He settled in VA ca 1647.

https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/bland-edward

Edward Bland, explorer, was the son of John Bland, a London merchant, and Susan Bland; John and Susan had four children, Susanna, John, Edward, and Theodoric. John, the oldest son, was a member of the old Virginia Company and sent Edward and Theodoric to manage his estate in Virginia.

When Edward Bland came to Virginia in 1647, he brought with him a nephew, George Proby, and twenty-four others. In a grant dated 10 Mar. 1647, he obtained thirteen hundred acres of land. He lived at Lownes Creek on the James River and at Kimages in Charles City County, establishing an eight-thousand-acre estate. He married Jane Gregory, daughter of his uncle, Gregory Bland; they had a son, Edward of Kimages.

Bland accompanied Abraham Woode, Sackford Brewster, and Elias Pennant as one of the leaders of an exploration expedition to upper Carolina in August and early September 1650. They traveled southwest from Fort Henry, now Petersburg, to Lake Gaston and the Clarksville, Va., area and from there to the Roanoke River and Albemarle in upper Carolina. Bland made a careful and apparently accurate note of distances, directions, and the streams crossed at every stage of the journey. He faithfully described the drainage, timber, and vegetation and named upper Carolina "New Brittaine."

After the expedition returned to Virginia, he petitioned the Virginia Assembly to allow him to explore and colonize the new territory. His petition was granted on 20 Oct. 1650, after he had sailed for England, on condition that he recruit one hundred able-bodied men for this purpose. His book The Discovery of New Brittaine was published in London in 1651 to assist him in recruiting the necessary pioneers to colonize Carolina, but he died on his Charles City County estate before he could carry out his plans.

He was buried on his estate. His widow Jane married John Holmwood of Surry County, died in 1664, and was buried at Westover.

https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Bland_Edward_bap_1614-1652

Edward Bland was an explorer whose extensive landholdings were inherited by his brother Theodorick Bland, progenitor of the Bland family in Virginia. Born in England to an investor in the Virginia Company of London, Bland managed family interests in Spain and the Canary Islands before he moved to Virginia by 1646. He expanded his family's property, as well as his own holdings, and he helped organize an expedition to the colony's western frontier with explorer and trader Abraham Wood in 1650. He described his journey in the pamphlet The Discovery of New Brittaine the following year.

Bland, the fifth of seventeen children of John Bland and Susanna de Deblere Bland, was born probably in London, where he was christened in the parish of Saint Stephen Coleman Street on February 5, 1614. Bland's father, who died in 1632, was a prominent London merchant and shipowner, an investor in the Virginia Company of London that founded the colony of Virginia, a member of its London council, and one of the proprietors of Martin's Hundred.

When Edward Bland was about twenty years old, he married his cousin Jane Bland. They had one known son. Bland spent much of the decade before 1646 in Spain and the Canary Islands managing parts of the family's far-flung commercial interests. His elder brother John Bland traveled to Virginia in the mid-1630s to look after and enlarge the family's landholdings, and his brother Adam Bland probably also visited the colony. By July 7, 1646, Edward Bland had moved to Virginia to take charge of the family's property there. He acquired several large tracts in the vicinity of Lawnes Creek in what is now Surry County and by 1652 owned about 14,700 acres, either outright or with other family members.

Even with the growth in Bland's Virginia landholdings, his family was in serious financial difficulty at the end of the 1640s. John Bland had lost property worth almost £14,000 at the outset of the English Civil Wars and was unable to collect on a large loan he had made to Parliament, while other pressures were also undermining the family finances. In the summer of 1650 Edward Bland joined Abraham Wood, a noted Indian trader and a close friend of Governor Sir William Berkeley, in planning an expedition to the southwest of the settled parts of Virginia. Wood hoped to open up new trading opportunities, and Bland probably hoped to establish a family claim to a large part of the Piedmont of what is now North Carolina.

Bland and Wood, together with Sackford Brewster, Elias Pennant, two servants, and an Appamattuck guide named Pyancha, left Fort Henry (approximately the present site of Petersburg) on August 27, 1650. The seven men returned nine days later, having traveled more than 175 miles. Their route has been the subject of historical conjecture, but they probably reached the Roanoke River below the site of what is now Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. Bland named the place New Britain and described it as lush and fertile. After his return to Jamestown the General Assembly endorsed his plan to colonize the region. He wrote a detailed history of the expedition that contained much new information about the native inhabitants of the area. John Bland had The Discovery of New Brittaine (1651), the resulting sixteen-page pamphlet, published in London.

The Bland family did not gain title to any Carolina land or otherwise profit from the expedition. Edward Bland died shortly thereafter, most likely early in 1652 at his residence near Lawnes Creek. On May 9, 1652, his widow received a patent confirming a previous grant of 4,300 acres of land near the head of Chippokes Creek. To take charge of the family's large Virginia interests after Edward Bland's death, his youngest brother, Theodorick Bland (1630–1672), moved to the colony and became the progenitor of the distinguished Bland family there.

Major Work

The Discovery of New Brittaine (1651)

Time Line

February 5, 1614 - Edward Bland is baptized on this day in parish of Saint Stephen Coleman Street. He is the son of John Bland and Susanna de Deblere Bland.

ca. 1634 - Edward Bland marries his cousin Jane Bland. They will have one son.

1636–1646 - Edward Bland spends much of this time in Spain and the Canary Islands managing parts of the family's far-flung commercial interests.

July 7, 1646 - By this date, Edward Bland has moved to Virginia to take charge of his family's property there.

Summer 1650 - Edward Bland joins Abraham Wood, a noted Indian trader and a close friend of Governor Sir William Berkeley, in planning an expedition to the southwest of the settled parts of Virginia.

August 27, 1650 - Edward Bland and Abraham Wood, together with Sackford Brewster, Elias Pennant, two servants, and an Appamattuck guide named Pyancha, leave Fort Henry. The seven men will return nine days later, having traveled more than 175 miles. After his return, the General Assembly endorses Bland's plan to colonize the region.

1651 - John Bland has his brother Edward Bland's The Discovery of New Brittaine (1651), a sixteen-page pamphlet about his exploration of Virginia, published in London.

Early 1652 - Edward Bland likely dies around this time at his residence near Lawnes Creek.

[http://www.virginiaplaces.org/settleland/bland.html

It was 1646 and Opitchapum did not want the job after a year of succeeding Opecanconough as Paramount Powhatan Fed Chief. Necotowance was the next in line of the succession of the Powhatan matrilineal line of succession from his Patawomeck line of Pocahontas' mom. Necotowance signed a 1646 treaty where he would deal with Bland and Wood and Floyd traders in 2 locations: Ft Henry and John Floyd's house: http://www.virginiaplaces.org/settleland/bland.html By the next decade, RIce Hooe, (as he signed his name) /Hughes of New Kent (say it like How) the immigrant from Wales and Burgess who obtained a license patent for the same area joining #Bland #Wood #Floyd Jamestown Immigrant "Fliod"....and it likely his son who is the trader mentioned in this article.... https://www.geni.com/p…/Nathaniel-Floid/6000000026301016898…