Capt. Peter Hayes & Mrs. Margaret Howse

Sally’s nine -great Grandparents:

Capt. Peter Hayes ca 1571 – aft 1641 | his parents
& 1591 Mrs. Margaret Howse | her parents
of Cheshire, England & Isle of Wight Co, Virginia

This is my working hypothesis – the way I see it as of this moment!!

Capt Peter Hayes, Sea Captain, the third son of John Hayes and his wife Elizabeth (Starkey) Hayes, was born in Great Budworth Parish in Cheshire about 1571.
(Will of John Hayes, Chester Consistory Court, 1597).
According to the laws of primogeniture, Peter did not inherit,
but was given an education,
and at the proper age apprenticed to his cousin Edward Hayes of Liverpool,
who owned a ship called “The Golden Hind”.
(Quinn, Hist Soc Lancashire & Cheshire Vol III p25 et seq)
After completing his nautical apprenticeship, Peter Hayes
married Mrs. Margaret Howse, a young widow living in Heston Parish, Middlesex;
the date 1 8 Sept 1591. (London Genealogical Society, Great Index.)
In the year 1603, James VI of Scotland became James I of England.
History says that he was totally unprepared to conduct the foreign affairs of Britain.
The king’s sale of the nation’s fighting ships left the merchant marine at the mercy of the privateers of France and Spain, as well as the Mediterranean pirates.
A severe economic depression followed, resulting in unemployment for hundreds of sailors. Holland was quick to capitalize on the English misfortune and it was said that soon there were more English sailors manning Dutch ships than Dutchmen. (Bruce, Esonomic Hist. of Virginia in the XVII Cent p 56 published 1 895 MacMillan)
Peter Hayes, now a sea captain, was hired by the Dutch to sail between the port on Texel Island and Greenland where the Netherlands had a colony. He made his home in Edam not far from Amsterdam. (de Vries, Original Narrative of Early American History vol 7 Scribner.)
It was during James’s reign 1603-1625 that the Pilgrims and other Dissenter groups sailed to America – determined to found a society in the New World.
In 1630 the Dutch West India Co ordered Capt Hayes to conduct a party of emigrants with their supplies to a small Caribbean Island called Tortugas.
He sailed his merchant ship “Walvis” from Texel on December 20 1630.
After touching at Tortugas he proceeded north to Virginia.
His destination was the South River of Delaware known today as Delaware Bay.
Here the patrons of the West India Company planned
to establish a whale-fishing station and a new Netherlands colony.
The “Walvis” returned home safely
and Captain Peter Hayes terminated his work with his Dutch employers.
Evidently he decided to make his home in the new world
where he had found many Cheshire families living
on the southside of the James River in Virginia.
The Virginia Land Office records (Nugent, Cavaliers & Pioneers p 67 2nd ed) show that he purchased 350 acres of land from George Hardy before 1636.
This plantation was located on Pagan Point Creek, today known as Jones Creek.
Peter must have arrived several years before 1636 since the registry was always delayed.
The final reference we have to Peter Hayes is found in the Minutes of the Virginia Assembly, 1641: a petition presented requesting that “divers poore men” who have “long inhabited here” and are now grown “decreped and impotent” be relieved from the usual taxes.
Among the five was the name of “Peeter Hayes”
The request was granted, church tithes excepted. (Hayes, A E: Hayes in Va & NC)

Children of Capt Peter Hayes & Margaret Howse
1. Peter Hayes the envoy ca 1600 – 1668
2. Ann Hayes
married 1st Thos. Bevan
married 2nd — Cornish

Grandchildren of Peter Hayes, the sea captain

Known sons of Peter Hayes the envoy:
1. Peter Hayes, planter ca 1650-1721
2. Thomas Hayes, planter 1645-died Northumberland Co, VA
3. Edward Hayes, planter employed by John Giles 1680
4. Jacob John Hayes, ship captain lived at Salmon Ck, NC
He was master of the “Constant” out of London. He and his first mate Edward Cooke were subpoenaed to appear in court in London re. Bacon’s Rebellion. Instead of Complying they left the sea and took up land “in Albemarle.” He dropped the use of his first name and went by John.