Peninsula In Passage

Nansemond River as well as land near Craney Island. During the following decade the Bennetts increased their influence, wealth and land and transported more than 600 settlers to the colony. Many of these newcomers were Puritans who supported Richard Bennett’s political ambitions. In 1646, during the English Civil War, the Puritan connection prompted Bennett to lead a mercenary army to Maryland to help exiled Governor Leonard Calvert regain control of the capital at St. Mary’s. Two years later Bennett encouraged a Puritan migration to Maryland. The first colonists to heed his urging were Puritans from Nansemond, Virginia, who balked at Virginia Governor William Berkeley’s demands for allegiance to the Church of England. They sought refuge in Maryland where the Catholic Lord Baltimore upheld a policy of religious toleration. Maryland governor Thomas Stone, desiring a more rapid settlement of the colony, invited the Puritans to settle on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay, well north of the essentially Catholic St. Mary’s settlement. In the fall of 1649 a few Puritan families sailed up the Bay to their new home. During this time Bennett strengthened his bond with Puritan merchants of London and continued prosperous commerce with England and the Netherlands. By the time the royalists were overthrown in England in favor of Oliver Cromwell, Richard Bennett was positioned to become Governor of Virginia from 1652 until 1655. For the next 20 years he served as a lobbyist for the General Assembly in London, served on the Governor’s Council under Sir William Berkeley and was the second major general ever appointed in the Virginia militia.

The Gift That Continues to Give In 1675 Richard Bennett, who still owned thousands of acres of land in Maryland and Virginia, prepared and dated his will. After leaving generous gifts of land and money to his family, friends and even servants, he stipulated “...The rest of my personal estate and all lands, stock, of whatever nature and kind, to go to my grandchild Richard Bennett…” He also left an enduring gift to the people of Nansemond County – a gift that continues to give 300 years later. His will states - To the parrish where I now live and have so long lived 300 acres which Thomas Bolton holdeth by lease, and on which he now lives; the rent to be received yearly by the Church Wardens of the parish and disposed towards the relief of four poor persons and this to be done forever as long as the land continues… His legacy of public charity created a charitable trust that is the oldest in the country. The rents and profits from the original grant of 300 acres

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