ANI,w WORLD
Bridesforsale
Ver y few womenserried Inearl y Vir gin ia.so in
1619 th e Vir giniaCompan yshippe do vera g ro u p
ofninet y youngwom en as'win'Sfo r itsscrrlcrs.
T oobtain a b rideth e would- behu s band shadto
p ay theCompany" 120 pounds w eightofbest
tobacco leaf. ' T hepricemust have seeme dreason-
able,fo r withina \-eryshorttime allthe young
women w ere married.Fo r anu m berofyears after 161 1,m ilitarygo vern o rs
ran Virgin ialike a priso ncamp.Theyenfo rcedstrict
rulestom ak e surethatwork was done.Bu tit was
notdisciplinethatsaved Virg mia.Itwasa p lantth at
g rewlikea weed there:to b acco. Earlier visitorsto
America, likeSir Walte rRaleigh. h adbroug ht the
fi r st d riedleavesofto bacco toEngl and ,Its po pu-
larityhadbeengrowingeversince.forsmo ki ng. f o r
tak i ng assnuffeven forbrewing int oad ri n k.In
VirginiaayoungsettlernamedJ oh nRol fedi sco vered
howtodry,or"cure,"theleavesIIIa new way,TO
makethemmilder.In 1 613 Ro lfe shippe d the first load
afVirginiatobaccotoEnglan d. Londo n m erchant s
p aidhighp ricesbecauseofits highq ua lity.
Soon mo stoftheVirginiase t tlerswerebusy
growingto b acco .T he yclearednewlan dalongth e
rivers andplo u gh edu p the streetsofJ am estownitself
to p lantmort'.T h ey even usedit asmoney.The p rice
ofagood horse in Virgi n ia,fa r exam ple.wassixteen
poun d softopquality tobacco.T he po ssibilit y o f
b ecoming richbyg ro wingtobacco brough twealthy14.i/,11,,'//"''''Wills1,>W«o. Willsu'..,._"",'11Irc·"",.'IJ"'''''''E,..~/i!h
1"1>,,«,,«lJUp""if5.
m entoVirginia.Theyobtainedla rgest retchesof
land and b ro ug htworke rsfromEngl andtoclear
r rccsandplantto bacco .Soontheho usesandbarnsof
the irestates.o r"plantations;"co uldbe seenthrough
th et reesalongthebankso f't hcjamesriver.
Mo stofthcwo rkers ont h es eea rlyp lantationswere
"indenturedservants"fromEn gland .Thcv
pro m ised toworkfor anemployer f o ran ag reed
number of years>aboutsevenwasaverage-III
e xchangefo r food andclothes.At rhcendthey
becamefreetowork forthemselves.Lu ckierones
we re givena smallplcceoflan d toS Urf:Ifarmof
th ei rown-if theyw erestillalive.Life in Virginia,\ I" rti,,',H ,mdred," "
farl yr:"jl l i,h
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i"'pre<ji~",hasrdan
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