Richard Pace, Jr., Ancient Planter

Richard Pace, "Ancient Planter"

• Parents: Richard Pace, Alice Reade
• Married: Isabella Smyth

"England Marriages, 1538–1973 ," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NJ51-M4K : 10 February 2018), Richard Pace and Isabell Smyth, 05 Oct 1608; citing Saint Dunstan,Stepney,London,England, reference , index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 578,821.

http://www.pacesociety.org/reunion/pedigree.htm

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Jamestown was saved by the warning of an Indian youth living in the home of one of the colonists, Richard Pace. The Indian woke Pace and told him of the planned attack. Living across the river from Jamestown, Pace secured his family and rowed to the settlement to spread the alarm. Jamestown increased its defenses.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_massacre_of_1622

From the Pace Society Newsletter, March 1980 -

From early Colonial days tobacco was the prime concern of the "planters" of Virginia. The growing - and marketing - of this crop expanded into one of the chiefs supports of Virginia's growing economy, and Paces played an important part in developing this industry.

Richard Pace, by 1621, had "clered and planted 200 acres at great charge" and so prized his efforts and holdings that he petitioned for the right to return to his plantation - "Paces Paines" soon after the Indian massacre of 1622.

He did not live long enough, after returning to his plantation, to realize his dream of a great and successful planter.

However, his son George, by 1650, had raised - (and shipped to England) -enough tobacco to bring over (pay passage for) 34 "headrights" which entitled him to 1,700 acres; the land selected was adjacent to the 200-acre plantation of Maycox, which he inherited when he married Sarah, the daughter of Samuel Maycock.

In 1693 a John Pace bought 150 acres of land in Middlesex County, paying for it "7,000 lbs of good, sweet-scented tobacco in casks". At an average price of 1-1/2 pence per pound, together with casks, this would have been almost 50 [pound] sterling, no small amount in that day. The land he bought was probably a well-established plantation, so John didn't have to "start from scratch".

Captain John Pace (1751-1823), and his sons and descendents, owned and operated many hundreds of tobacco acres in Henry and Halifax Counties, shipping to markets in Richmond, Danville and Lynchburg in Virginia, and Rocky Mount, Wilson and Greenville in North Carolina.

Much of their harvest must have moved by rail; the Southern Railway, which ran right through the plantation of Jerman W. Pace in Halifax County, established a depot there known as PACE.

Jamestown, the capital and primary settlement of the colony, was saved when an Indian boy named Chanco, who was assigned to slay his employer, Richard Pace, woke Pace during the night and warned him of the imminent attack. Pace, who lived across the James River from Jamestown, secured his family and then rowed across the river to Jamestown in an attempt to warn the rest of the settlement. As a result, some preparations could be made for the attack in Jamestown. Outlying settlements, however, had no forewarning.

RICHARD PACE AND ISABELLA PACE

CHANCO

GEORGE PACE AND SARAH MAYCOCK

Richard Pace and his wife, Isabella, had settled in Jamestown during the early 1600s. The exact date of their arrival has not been determined.

The early days of Jamestown were those of almost inhuman livability for the settlers. Disease, starvation, and attacks from Indians took their toll on lives and property. The town was burned repeatedly.

Captain John Smith has been given credit in the pages of history for saving Jamestown. However, it appears that had it not been for Richard Pace and Chanco in 1622, the settlement would have been completely wiped out.

An Indian Chief, Powatan had been friendly with John Smith and the colonists. When he died in the 1620s, his brother, Opechankano, became chief.

This new chief resented the white man and schemingly, as servants were living near the households of the colonists, he worked to completely destroy the colo- nists.

Richard Pace had taken into his home the Indian boy, Chanco, as perhaps a play- mate for his son, George. As a matter of course, the Indian boy was taught the Christian religion. Chanco idolized his master and his white boy play-mate.

When word was spread among the Indians for the massacre of March 22, 1622, Chanco was conscience stricken. He felt a certain loyalty to his Indian ancestors. Yet, the teachings of the Christian religion had taught him that murder was sinful.

Chanco's Christian spirit was triumphant. He told his master, Richard Pace, of the impending danger. Pace at once secured his own household and went hurriedly across the James River to warn the colonists at Jamestown.

The colonists made preparation for the Indian raid, and consequently much of Jamestown and its settlers was saved. However, word of the massacre did not reach outlying settlements and they were totally destroyed. There were 31 plantations destroyed and 341 men, women, and children known killed.

Religion was an important factor in the early days of Jamestown. One of the first buildings built was a church. Samuel Maycock was brought to Jamestown from England as a Minister to the church. He was given a grant of land, north of Jamestown on the James River and the plantation was named Maycock.

After the March 22 Massacre, the infant daughter of Samuel Maycock, Sarah, was found alive. Other dwellers of the Maycock plantation had been killed by the Indians. It is thought that Sarah was about four months old at the time of the Indian raid. About 1637 she married George, son of Richard and Isabella Pace, and they moved to the Maycock Plantation. George and Sarah had two known children, Richard Pace II and Elizabeth Pace. Apparently George and Sarah lived on Maycock Plantation the balance of their lives.

It is exceptional, in fact, it may be the only incidence in history where the blood of two such gentlemen should be joined in one child--Richard Pace, II. He and Sarah thus became the ancestors and transmitted the blood of Richard Pace I and Samuel Maycock to all of these who followed in line after them.

There is today the historical marker below, erected by the Virginia Conservation Commission, regarding Pace's Paines, the home and plantation of Richard Pace I and his wife, Isabella, and another one in honor of Richard Pace I and the Indian boy, Chanco, for saving the English colony from total destruction.

From early Colonial days tobacco was the prime concern of the "planters" of Virginia. The growing - and marketing - of this crop expanded into one of the chiefs supports of Virginia's growing economy, and Paces played an important part in developing this industry.

Richard Pace, by 1621, had "clered and planted 200 acres at great charge" and so prized his efforts and holdings that he petitioned for the right to return to his plantation - "Paces Paines" soon after the Indian massacre of 1622.

He did not live long enough, after returning to his plantation, to realize his dream of a great and successful planter.

However, his son George, by 1650, had raised - (and shipped to England) -enough tobacco to bring over (pay passage for) 34 "headrights" which entitled him to 1,700 acres; the land selected was adjacent to the 200-acre plantation of Maycox, which he inherited when he married Sarah, the daughter of Samuel Maycock.

In 1693 a John Pace bought 150 acres of land in Middlesex County, paying for it "7,000 lbs of good, sweet-scented tobacco in casks". At an average price of 1-1/2 pence per pound, together with casks, this would have been almost 50 [pound] sterling, no small amount in that day. The land he bought was probably a well-established plantation, so John didn't have to "start from scratch".

Captain John Pace (1751-1823), and his sons and descendents, owned and operated many hundreds of tobacco acres in Henry and Halifax Counties, shipping to markets in Richmond, Danville and Lynchburg in Virginia, and Rocky Mount, Wilson and Greenville in North Carolina.

Much of their harvest must have moved by rail; the Southern Railway, which ran right through the plantation of Jerman W. Pace in Halifax County, established a depot there known as PACE.

REFERRING TO THE MASACRE OF 1622 (JAMESTOWN, VA)

Wolstenholme Towne suffered the highest death toll of any settlement. Some of the settlements did not send in a report of the dead. Shock and melancholy overwhelmed the colonists. Martin's Hundred alone suffered a loss of 77 persons.

"The deliberate, admirably timed attempt to exterminate the white invaders was, no doubt, thought of by Opechancanough and his followers as a stroke for Indian freedom. We have seen that since 1613 he had been planning an all-out attack. By means of diplomacy of which any European could have been proud, this chieftain united the Powhatans, their "auxiliaries", and the Chickahominies, worked out tactics with consummate skill, and decided upon the day and hour when, simultaneously, the natives were to fall upon all of the whites. "The preservation of secrecy throughout the entire undertaking was miraculous. Employing both Indian and European methods of deception and surprise, he won a victory that elicited reluctant praise from many leaders across the sea.....All things considered, the 'massacre' of 1622 was probably the most brilliantly conceived, planned, and executed uprising against white aggression in the history of the American Indians." (Carl Brandenbaugh)

Richard Pace had taken in an Indian boy named Chanco, Richard's godson, and had educated him, along with his own son, George, in the Christian religion. Chanco's brother spent the night before the attack with Chanco and gave Chanco orders that Chanco should strike his patron down at noon the next day. As his brother sped away, Chanco, awakened the sleeping Pace, saying that Richard had treated him as a son and warned him of the attack. In the middle of the night, Richard secured his family and rowed the three miles across the James River to warn Jamestown. But for Richard’s warning, the entire colony would have been exterminated.

"The slaughter would have been universal if God had not put it into the heart of an Indian boy, Chanco, lying in the house of one RICHARD PACE, to reveal to PACE the plan and time of the massacre, and had not RICHARD PACE rushed off to Jamestown and notified the Governor." Pace Family History

Richard Pace, a carpenter at Wapping, a suburb of London, was brorn in the latter 1580's. On 5 Oct 1608, Richard married Isabella Smyth of Wapping at St.Dunstan's in Stepney Parish, London. They sailed, along with Richard's friend, William Perry, from Blackwater Pier, two miles from Wapping, and arrived in Virginia in August of 1611 on the ship, Marmaduke. Richard was one of the few colonists that immigrated to Virginia with his wife. In 1620 Richard and Isabella were given a land grant on land on a bluff across the James River from Jamestown Fort, four miles from Jamestown. Richard named the plantation "Pace's Paine". Richard had served the colony in several capacities and received another 100 acres. Richard also received land for six persons that he brought into Virginia. Eventually, Pace's Paines was a plantation of 600 acres.

Richard probably died at Pace's Paine in 1624 and by 9 May 1625 a record shows that Isabelle had married their good friend and neighbor, Captain William Perry, himself a widower. About 1635 Isabelle and her son, George, sold Pace's Paine. Isabelle died after 1635 in Jamestown, VA.

Included in the dead was Rev. Samuel Maycock and his wife, name unknown. Samuel was killed on his plantation along with three of his men. The only survivor on the Maycock Plantation was 6 month to two year old Sarah Maycock who had been hidden before or during the attack. It is interesting to note that also included among the dead is a John Beanam. Listed as dead a year earlier (1621) is a George Banum, said to have been in the Company of those that "came out with us to serve under our Leifetenants" at Martin's Hundred.. It is unknown if either of these is related to John Baynham though Martin's Hundred is located near John Baynham's settlement at Blunt Point. However, the population of Martin's Hundred was almost entirely servants. Also included in the dead was Catherine Jernegan Capps, wife of William Capps of Elizabeth Cittie.

Richard and Isabelle Pace's son, George, was born in 1609, before Richard and Isabelle left England. George married Sarah Maycock, infant survivor of the Massacre of 1622 about 1636. Sarah was shown on the 1623/24 muster as living with the family of Captain Roger Smith of James Cittie. Roger Smith's wife was the daughter of Captain William Pierce and widow of John Rolfe, who was also killed in the Massacre of 1622. Sarah was about 15 when she married George Pace. George and his bride, Sarah, lived on the Maycock Plantation following their marriage. The plantation had probably lain vacant since the massacre. George worked the plantation until his death in 1655 when his son, Richard inherited the plantation and lived there until at least 1673 and probably until his death in 1677. In 1650 George obtained a grant for 1,700 acres for 34 headrights and in 1652 George received another 507 acres for the transportation of ten more individuals.