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Nicholson, Francis

(Encyclopedia)Nicholson, Francis, 1655–1728, British colonial administrator in North America. Lieutenant governor under Sir Edmund Andros, he fled (1689) to England during the revolt in New York led by Jacob Leis...

Somers, Sir George

(Encyclopedia)Somers, Sir George, 1554–1610, English naval commander. The leader of several successful privateering ventures against the Spanish, he was knighted in 1603. He was a founder (1606) of the London Com...

Tazewell, Littleton Walter

(Encyclopedia)Tazewell, Littleton Walter tăzˈwəl [key], 1774–1860, American politcal leader, b. Williamsburg, Va., grad. College of William and Mary, 1792. He was admitted (1796) to the bar, practiced law in V...

Argall, Sir Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Argall, Sir Samuel ärˈgəl [key], d. 1626?, English ship captain, prominent in the early settlement of Virginia. He commanded a ship sent to Jamestown in 1609 and had charge of one of the ships Baro...

Dale, Sir Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Dale, Sir Thomas, d.1619, acting governor (May–Aug., 1611, 1614–16) of the Virginia colony. Sent by the London Company to restore order, he arrived (1611) in Virginia with three ships of settlers ...

Ord, Edward Otho Cresap

(Encyclopedia)Ord, Edward Otho Cresap, 1818–83, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Cumberland, Md. He commanded a brigade in Virginia (1861–62), was promoted to major general of volunteers, and fought ...

Eustace II

(Encyclopedia)Eustace II yo͞oˈstĭs [key], d. 1093, count of Boulogne. He was the brother-in-law of Edward the Confessor of England. Visiting England in 1051, he and his followers became involved in a brawl with ...

Martin v. Hunter's Lessee

(Encyclopedia)Martin v. Hunter's Lessee, case decided in 1816 by the U.S. Supreme Court. From 1779 to 1785, Virginia passed a series of laws by which the state confiscated all lands owned by foreigners. David Hunte...

Dunmore, John Murray, 4th earl of

(Encyclopedia)Dunmore, John Murray, 4th earl of, 1732–1809, British colonial governor of Virginia, a Scottish peer. Appointed governor of New York in 1770, he remained there for about 11 months before being trans...

Newport News

(Encyclopedia)Newport News, independent city (1990 pop. 170,045), SE Va., on the Virginia peninsula, at the mouth of the James River, off Hampton Roads, near Norfolk; inc. 1896. It is a port for transatlantic and i...