Gabriel Archer
Gabriel Archer was an early explorer who became a settler at Jamestown.[1] He explored Cape Cod with Bartholomew Gosnold before going in the first wave of settlers to Jamestown in 1607. At Jamestown, he clashed with John Smith repeatedly before eventually dying in the winter of 1609-1610, also known as the Starving Time.[2] The Jamestown Rediscovery Project, among other scholars, considers the possibility that Gabriel Archer may have been a Catholic, based on how he was buried.
Early life
Gabriel Archer was born to Christopher and Mary Archer of Mountnessing, Essex in England, in either 1574 or 1575.[1] He graduated from St John's College, Cambridge in 1591.
Cape Cod
Gabriel Archer also explored Cape Cod under an expedition which was headed by Bartholomew Gosnold.[1] His account of this expedition was later published after his death by Samuel Purchas under the title "The Relation of Captaine Gosnols Voyage to the North Part of Virginia." The title reflects the fact that the term New England was not consistently used to refer to Massachusetts and its environs at that time.
The voyage departed on March 26, 1602, before arriving at the coast on May 14. The expedition consequently explored both Cape Cod, but also
During the course of the expedition, Archer engaged in trade with the local Wampanoag tribe and helped build a trading post at Cuttyhunk Island. However, the trading post was abandoned when Archer and the rest of the expedition returned to England.
Jamestown
Archer entered
Archer then gained a position as secretary and recorder for Jamestown.[1][2] However, he was not on the governing council at that time, despite his position. Archer then aided in the trial of Edward Maria Wingfield, the first president of the colony, who was convicted for a string of minor charges after a shift in opinion against him because of a lack of food and great disease within the colony.
Not long after the trial,
Archer then accompanied Newport on his voyage back to England, along with his enemy Wingfield.[2][1] In England, Archer reported to the Virginia Company about Jamestown, including by recommending the possibility of growing sugar there, or pineapples, though he did also mention the possibility of profitably exporting tobacco. Archer's return, however, was a tempestuous voyage, including a hurricane that severely damaged the Blessing, the ship that he was on, and left some of the other ships broken or stranded.
When Archer returned, Smith was president of Jamestown.[1] The ships that were returning from England were supposed to convey that Thomas Gates was the president of Jamestown colony, but the necessary documentation was not in the ships that successfully arrived at Jamestown. Smith finished out his term, but agreed that the arrivals from England could take over once it was finished. Subsequently, an explosion injured Smith, and so he set sail back for England. Archer and Smith still had great enmity for one another.
During the Starving Time, Archer died in either 1609 or 1610 and was buried in a coffin.[2] His grave was later located near a Jamestown church by the Jamestown Rediscovery Project.[1] The grave was identified because he was a high-ranking leader who was at the age range of the skeleton, and through a comparison of his teeth and lead levels.[5] Part of a leading staff[clarification needed] was found buried alongside him.
Catholicism
After Archer's grave was discovered in 2015, some of the archaeologists who had found it came up with a theory that Archer was secretly a Catholic, based on the manner of his burial.[2][1] Almost all the Jamestown settlers were known to be Anglican, and one of the motives for establishing Jamestown itself as a colony was to ensure that the Anglican Church would have a foothold in the New World, which up until that point had been dominated primarily by Catholic countries such as Spain.[6]
Archer's parents were at some point fined for not attending Anglican services because they were Catholic.
The piece of evidence that initially started the theory that Gabriel Archer was a Catholic, however, was a small silver box that was buried next to him.[7][2] It is believed to be a Catholic reliquary that contains fragments of bones and a lead ampulla.[6] Horn reports that the box was probably intentionally placed in the grave with him, presumably by one of Archer's fellow Catholics. However, the reliquary is not necessarily conclusive evidence, because at this time the Church of England was still shifting away from Catholic symbolism and Catholic practices were being repurposed for Anglican use.
If Archer were a Catholic, James Horn and others have mentioned that that could provide a reason for his animosity with some of the top colonial leaders.[7] Before this, some rosaries and crucifixes had been found at Jamestown, but there was no evidence that they came from Catholic settlers specifically.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Archer, Gabriel (ca. 1574–ca. 1610)". www.encyclopediavirginia.org. Retrieved 2020-03-25.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Captain Gabriel Archer". Historic Jamestowne.
- ^ )
- ^ ""We Took Great Store of Codfish and Called it Cape Cod:" Bartholomew Gosnold Sails Along Northeastern North America, 1602". historymatters.gmu.edu. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
- ^ "Rediscovering Archer | Smithsonian X 3D". legacy.3d.si.edu. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
- ^ a b c dmekouar. "Did Secret Agent Priest Infiltrate Jamestown Colony? – All About America". VOA. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
- ^ a b c LaFrance, Adrienne (2015-07-28). "A Secret Catholic at Jamestown?". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-03-26.