George Sandys

George Sandys: March 2, 1577-March 1644

Parents: Archbishop Edwin Sandys 1519-1588 and Cecily Wilford 1520-1611

The area's first documented land owner, George Sandys, served as Jamestown's inaugural resident treasurer from 1621-25.

George Sandys was a poet, traveller, courtier and colonialist leader.

George was born on 2 Mar 1576 in Bishopsthorpe, Yorkshire, England, the seventh and youngest son of Edwin Sandys, Archbishop of York.

He matriculated to St. Mary Hall, Oxford on 5 Dec., 1589, aged 11. of Carswell, Oxon. He became a student of Middle Temple in 1596.[1]

In about 1602 he married Elizabeth Norton, daughter of John Norton. In the will of his father, the Archbishop of York Edwin Sandys, that was proven on the 22nd of May 1590, there was mentioned a prospective marriage settlement between his youngest son George and his ward Elizabeth Norton, daughter of John Norton. [2]The arrangement had apparently been made earlier than the 12th November 1584-5 when it was spelled out in the Inquisition Post Mortem of Elizabeth's father John. The Post Mortem Inquisition determined that Norton had agreed to give George Sandes, Elizabeth Norton and the couple's future heirs all of his lands in Givendale and Sawley, Ripon Yorkshire IF George Sandes and Elizabeth Norton were to married in the future. Otherwise, Elizabeth would get to inherit the land herself. George was about 7 years old and Elizabeth was all of 4 when the deal between their fathers was first agreed upon.

On June 10, 1605 land in York was conveyed to George Sandys, who had been living in London. Then on June 24 1606 an indenture was made by Thomas Spencer of York and Thomas Porter of Mountnessing, County Essex between Sir Myles Sandys knight, and George Sandys of Ripon, County York Esq, conveying per the instructions of the Archbishop all the messuages etc in Ripon, Givendale and Sawley to George Sandes. George also obtained land in Thorpe near Ripon that had previously been occupied by Miles Newton and Thomas Beckwith and Tomas Whythes (part of which had been in possession of Thos Markenfield who had been attainted for treason) and part of the Yorkshire land that had been occupied by John Watson, Raphe Watson and Leonard Munckton/Monkton.

On 26 Nov 1607 George Sandys and Elizabeth his wife gave Givendale to Cuthbert Best of Hornyeby County Yorke and Cuthbert Pudsey of Stapleton County York for a certain sum of money. Finally, in 1608 an agreement between Cuthbert Best and Cuthbert Pudsey and George Sandes and Elizabeth his wife ,deforciant, concerning 2 messuages etc in Givendale and Ripon. George and Elizabeth gifted the tenements to these men for 100 pounds sterling.

By 1609 however, George had abandoned his marriage and his wife's family took up a lawsuit against him, accusing him of having engaged in a wasteful course of spending and neglecting his estates. In fact the famous 1610 journey to the Middle East that George undertook was most likely an escape route from trouble at home! [3] He travelled extensively in France, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Cyprus and the Holy Land. A narrative of these travels under the title The Relation of a Journey begun An. Dom. 1610, was published in 1615 and attained much popularity. [2]

From The Relation of a Journey begun an. Dom. 1610

In 1610 he was a legatee in the will of his mother Cecily. [4] She mentioned that he would receive his legacy if he ever returned from foreign parts.

In April 1621 he became colonial treasurer of the Virginia Company and sailed to Virginia aboard the ship George,[5] with his niece's husband, Sir Francis Wyatt, the new governor. He served as treasurer of the Virginia colony during 1621-1625.[6]

When Virginia became a crown colony, Sandys was created a member of council in August 1624; he was reappointed to this post in 1626 and 1628. [7] After his return to England he was appointed a gentleman of the privy chamber to King Charles I. [8]

While in Virginia he completed his translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, the earliest English poetry written on the American continent. After his return to England he published in 1636 his Paraphrase upon the Psalms and Hymns; in 1640 his translation of Christ's Passion from the Latin of Grotius; and in 1641 his Paraphrase of the Song of Psalms. [2]

He was buried 7 Mar 1643/4, in the chancel of Boxley church, Kent, England. [8] [9]

There is an image of his memorial at Boxley that can be viewed via the Find a Grave link. It reads:

Sacred to the memory of George Sandys Esq: eminent as a traveller, a divine poet and a good man: who died March 4 1643 at Boxley Abbey aged 66 and lies interred in the chancel of this church. His life was throughout blameless and never unuseful: it's earlier part was sometimes pass'd in observing his fellow men in foreign lands and its latter years at home in celebrating the praises of his God and attuning the Songs of Zion to the Bristish lyre. Thou brought me home safely that this earth might bury me, which fed me from birth. Blest with a healthful age, a quiet mind, content with little. To this wofk designed which I at length have finished by Thy aid, and now my vows at Thy altar paid.

< FindAGrave link >

Research

Some sources, including Richardson, give his place of burial as Bexley, Kent rather than Boxley, Kent.

"The Lovelace Family and Its Connections: Sandys of Furnace Fells, Lancashire (Continued)"

Sources

1. "Sabery-Saywell," in Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714, ed. Joseph Foster (Oxford: University of Oxford, 1891), 1297-1322. British History Online, accessed February 20, 2021, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/alumni-oxon/1500-1714/pp1297-1322. “ s. (Edwin), archbishop of York. St. Mary Hall, matric. entry dated 5 Dec., 1589, aged 11; of Carswell, Oxon, born 2 March, 1577; student of Middle Temple 1596, the traveller, a gentleman of the privy chamber to Charles I.; buried 7 March, 1643, in the chancel of Boxley, church, Kent; brother of Henry 1589, and Edwin 1577. See Foster's Inns of Court Reg. & Ath. iii. 97. [10]”
2. Hall Pleasants, The Lovelace Family and Its Connections: Sandys of Furnace Fells, Lancashire The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 1921. Page 243. < Archive.Org >
3. James Ellison. Travel, Colonialism, and Tolerance in the Seventeenth Century 2002 Google Books
4. Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858 . Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.The National Archives; Kew, England; Prerogative Court of Canterbury and Related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers;PROB 11117Ancestry Record 5111 #953143 < AncestrySharing >
5. Passenger List of the George 1621 Research and compilation by Anne Stevens, packrat-pro.com.
6. Jamestown Society: Sandys, George - A6813; died 1644 England; Jamestowne: 1621 (Councillor); 1621-25 (Treasurer). < link > (accessed 21 Sep 2021)
7. Wikipedia contributors, "George Sandys," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_Sandys&oldid=9223... (accessed October 28, 2019).
8. 8.0 8.1 Davis, Richard Beale. "Two New Manuscript Items for a George Sandys Bibliography." The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America 37, no. 3 (1943): 215-22. Accessed February 20, 2021. JSTOR
9. Find A Grave: Memorial #34128615 citing St Mary the Virgin and All Saints Churchyard, Boxley, Maidstone Borough, Kent, England; Maintained by julia&keld (contributor 46812479). < link >
10. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sandys-86
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Sandys
12. < Re: George Sandys Jamestown VA. > (July 16, 2012 at 08:07:54) Although 10 years ago I would have been in good genealogical company in asserting that George, the 6th son of the Archbishop Edwin Sandys was never married, but having at long last seen the primary evidence for myself it is with surprise and chagrin that I am now reporting that George was indeed married to his father’s ward, Elizabeth Norton.Their life together was brief, just long enough for George to obtain the land bequeathed to him by Elizabeth Norton’s father John who died in 1584-5. According to Ellison, James, “Sandys, George (1578-1644), Writer and Traveller.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford UP, 2004. 1-5.
    1. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Sandys, George (1578–1644) James Ellison https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/24651 Published in print: 23 September 2004
13. http://www.preservationvirginia.org/rediscovery/page.php?page_id=440 (dead link)
14. For further reading about George Sandys' life in Jamestown, go to: http://www.preservationvirginia.org/rediscovery/page.php?page_id=217 (dead link); http://www.vahistorical.org/sandysbible.htm (dead link)