ghts belonging to others. And although the tracts granted these
men were usually small in size, in certain cases they were far in excess
of the average plantation. Thus Edward Cole, who appears as a headright
in 1642, patented 900 acres in 1655;[4-57] Thomas Warburton patented
1,664 acres;[4-58] George Gilbert 1,000 acres; Francis Burwell 1,000 and
John Underwood 2,000 acres.[4-59] The number of years which elapsed
between the listing of the headrights and the granting of the patents
varied from two to twenty-eight. The average for the thirty-five cases
in which the dates are given is twelve years. As the claims for
headrights were often made long after the actual arrival of the servant,
it may be assumed that the average was even greater than this. Once
more, however, it must be remembered that these lists do not record
personal transfers of land, while it is quite certain that many
freedmen, instead of patenting unoccupied tracts, secured their little
farms by purchase. Some probably became proprietors in the very first
year of their freedom and set to work with hoe and plow to wrest their
living from the soil.

In the patent rolls the bulk of the headrights are alluded to simply as
"persons," leaving it undecided whether those included in the various
lists are freemen or servants. But occasionally the newcomers are
specifically described as "servants," in which case, of course, there
can be no doubt whatever as to their status. By selecting at random a
number of names from those so termed, avoiding for convenience sake all
Smiths, Joneses and others the frequent recurrence of whose names would
make identification difficult, it is possible to arrive at definite
conclusions by following, as best we can, their careers in after life.
With this in view we have made up the following list of servants: Henry
Arnetrading, George Archer, Silvester Atkins, Nicholas Atwell, Edward
Ames, John Aram, Robert Arnall, Peter Asheley, William Baldwin, Edward
Burt, Francis Baile, John Bauchees, John Bishop, John Blackstone,
Anthony Box, Michael Brichley, Peter Buck, William Burcher, John Causey,
Robert Chesheire, Thomas Chilcott, Thomas Clayton, Annanias Coplestone,
James Courtney, Thomas Cropp, Thomas Connagrave, John Day, John Dodman,
Jonathan Ellison, Edward Eastwood, James Fletcher, Thomas Foanes, John
Fouke, Francis Francklin, Armstrong Foster, Robert Fossett, John Farr,
Robert Garsell, George Gilbert, Henry Giles, Hector Godbear, Fr