Col. Joseph Bridger b. 1628 Gloucester, Dursley Parish, England d. 15 Apr 1688 Smithfield, Isle of Wight,Virginia,USA: BridgesTree

The Bridges Family
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1628 - 1688

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Birth 1628 Gloucester, Dursley Parish, England

Christened 28 Feb 1631 Dursley, Co. Gloucester, Britain

Gender Male

_UID C40B6F2C817D884CA1910DA723915B538472

Died 15 Apr 1688 Smithfield, Isle of Wight,Virginia,USA

Person ID I135 Bridges Family Tree

Last Modified 27 Feb 2009

Father Samuel Bridger, b. 1584, Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, England , d. 31 Jul 1650, Gloucester, England

Mother Mary Pitt, b. 1608, Gloucester, England , d. 1695, Gloucester, England

Married Abt 1635

_UID 69212D4CCA8BB6429B46167C4BE02DF5107D

Family ID F44 Group Sheet

Family Hester Pitt, b. 1648, Bristol, Dorset, England , d. 1685, Isle of Wight,,Virginia,USA

Married Abt 1655

_UID B7E17081E032ED4A9865FBDBAEF588D4A4F5

Children

	1. Samuel Bridger, b. Abt 1655, , Isle of Wight, VA , d. Abt 1756
	2. William Bridger, b. 1658, Isle of Wight,,Virginia,USA , d. 1730, Isle of Wight,,Virginia,USA
	3. Joseph Bridger, Jr, b. 1666, Isle of Wight,,Virginia,USA , d. 25 Jan 1713, Isle of Wight,,Virginia,USA
	4. Elizabeth Bridger, b. Abt 1677, , Isle of Wight, VA , d. Abt 1759
	5. Hester Bridger, b. Abt 1677, Dursley, Gloucester, England , d. Abt 1759
	6. Martha Bridger, b. Abt 1677, Dursley, Gloucester, England , d. Abt 1759
	7. Mary Bridger, b. Abt 1677, d. Abt 1759

Family ID F43 Group Sheet

Documents
Colonel Joseph Bridger
Information about Colonel Joseph Bridger

Notes	The inscription on his tombstone reads: “the Honorable Joseph Bridger, Esq., councilor of State in Virginia to King Charles II.” Yet, today, he is almost forgotten in Virginia history. Born in 1628 at the manor of “Woodmancote” in the Parish of Dursley, England, he was the son of Samuel Bridger, subdean and auditor of the College of Gloucester. Of his boyhood and youth nothing is definitely known, but is likely that he attended the College of Gloucester and attained an education. A pronounced Royalist, Joseph Bridger came to the colony of Virginia about 1655, at a time when those holding views were fleeing the kingdom in order to escape Cromwellian persecution or possibly death. He did well in Virginia. He settled below Jamestown and south of the James River and probably patented more land than any other resident of Isle of Wight C., during the 17th century. Joseph Bridger was chosen to represent Isle of Wight County in the House of Burgesses in the session of 1658. After 1661 he filled the position without interruption until about 1672. As a Burgess he received 250 pounds of tobacco for each day the assembly was in session in Jamestown. In 1664, Captain Bridger and two other commissioners were sent up to Chesapeake Bay to confer with their Maryland opposites to settle dispute of a claim by the State of Maryland over a county line. Joseph Bridger's career in Virginia politics continued to rise. He was often named to deal with intercolonial problems, and in the House of Burgesses sat on important committees appointed to consider economic matters. He was also influential in subjects pertaining to military defense. He attained the rank of colonel in 1672, and in 1673 at the age of 45, became member of the Council of State and General Court of the aging Virginia governor, Sir William Berkeley. The Council of State usually was comprised of twelve members. They were the governor’s advisors and were allowed to hire 10 servants each at public expense. They were also paid a salary out of the taxes collected. Bridger was destined to take an active part in a series of historic events in Virginia history. The first was the governor'’ authorization of a 500-man army to fight the Indians and his appointment of Bridger as a colonel to organize it. As it turned out, the governor was dealing with the Indians for their valuable furs, and the army never marched against them. In view of this lack of protection, the farmers became rebellious and availed themselves of the help of Nathaniel Bacon, a dissatisfied member of the governor’s Council. In time, the governor was forced to flee Jamestown, and Bacon, who named himself “General by consent of the people,” called Joseph Bridger a “wicked and pernicious councilor” for his continued loyalty to the governor and the King of England. Bridger fled with the governor, but his son, Joseph Bridger, Jr. cast his lot with Nathaniel Bacon. For this, he was disinherited by his father and his name stricken from his will. Bridger witnessed the governor’s will while they were in exile, and was appointed by the King to continue as a member of the Council. The new governor of Virginia was instructed to rebuild Jamestown) it had been burned down by Nathaniel Bacon), and suggested that each Council member should build a home there. By 1682, Joseph Bridger’s house had been completed and the Council met in his new home on the afternoon of November 25, that year. The previous year, 1681, Lord Culpepper, the new governor, had commissioned Colonel Bridger sole commander against the Indians, and in 1683 he was appointed to a command so important and dangerous, the governor said he could appoint no other upon whom he could depend to carry it out properly. On May 29, 1683, the governor appointed Bridger deputy vice-admiral, with jurisdiction over all of Virginia’s maritime matters. Soon after that, the governor left for London. He never returned to Virginia. Joseph Bridger was active in keeping the government of the Colony alive, but he remained faithful to the reigning Royalty in England. In June 1685, the new governor turned the administration of the government over to Bridger and his eleven fellow Councilors when he was required to be away from Virginia for a period of time. Colonel Joseph Bridger was a man of strong emotions, given at times to angry outbursts. He did not hesitate to engage in a lengthy litigation over land titles with his own father-in-law―and won. He was a great land baron with extensive holdings in Virginia and Maryland. He lived in manorial splendor in a seventeen-room, brick mansion which must have been one of the largest of its day in colony. His plantation was called “Whitemarsh” and was located not far from the James River. There, Otta, an old Negro man and Isee, an old Negro woman were in charge of operating his handsomely furnished house, while nine other slaves and four indentured servants farmed the soil or otherwise helped to maintain the estate. It was Thursday, April 15, 1686 when death came suddenly to Joseph Bridger, the honored and trusted “servant of the King.” He was buried at Whitemarsh, and to mark his grave a huge, granite slab was inscribed and brought from England. In 1894, after much persuasion, the then owner of Whitemarsh (from the site of which the original mansion had long since disappeared) consented to the removal of Bridger’s tomb to the Old Brick Church near Smithfield, and on Oct 11, his remains were placed there in this chancel. In Isle of Wight Couunty, Va., “A Smithsonian Institution scientist shrugged off claustrophobic working conditions Monday to recover the remains of a late-1600s skeleton buried under the floor of America’s oldest standing English church.” The colonist in question is/was Joseph Bridger–one of the 10 wealthiest men in the colony, and richest landholder south of the James River. Bridger paid for St. Luke’s well-appointed interior woodwork and the third floor of its distinctive bell tower. His generosity is still remembered by a late Victorian stained-glass window installed above the altar space of the church. But it wasn’t until more than 60 of his descendants began talking about organizing an archaeological study of Whitemarsh - the old family property located about two miles from the church - that Williamsburg-based archaeologist Merry Outlaw saw the potential for adding her prominent ancestor to Owsley’s study. From the church’s website: http://www.historicstlukes.org is some history of the building and parish (although the part about Jefferson kneeling down to worship there may raise an eyebrow): Venerable Historic St. Luke’s, Mother Church of Warrosquyoake County (later called Isle of Wight) was affectionately known as “Old Brick Church” long before it was given its present name in 1820. It is the oldest existing church of English foundation in America and the nation’s only surviving Gothic building. It forms a unique bridge between the early civilization of our country and the rich culture of Medieval England. Its structure reflects the architectural and spiritual descendents of the great Gothic cathedrals of England. By tradition and recollection of the first Vestry Book, “Old Brick Church” is dated to 1632. It closely relates to the Tower Church at Jamestown, dated circa 1638/39. As was common at the time, it took four or five years to erect such a church; and the finishing of the interior fittings required an additional number of years, even in this parish, already numbering 522 persons in the year 1634. In 1640, John Day (direct ancestor of Henry Mason Day, the first President of the foundation) came from England with his own fine household furniture and personal servants. Colonel Joseph Bridger of “White Marsh” long associated with “Old Brick Church”, a man of significant wealth, and a member of the Council of State to Charles II for Virginia, is known to have settled in the parish at least as early as 1657. According to tradition, Colonel Bridger brought members of the Driver family from England to do “finish” work on the church. Colonel Bridger was given increasing acknowledgement for the important contributions he made in bringing the church to completion. His remains, relocated to the church in the 1890’s, are in the church’s chancel marked by a marble ledgerstone. By the Order of Assembly issued in March 1623, this parish was one of only four locations, other than Jamestown, where the General Court of the Colony was permitted to convene. Since the Court convened in the church, there was urgency to make it suitably reflect this important function. The “Lord Governour and Captaine Generall” would be present and during their stay attend church service. The high box-pews were designated for their use. Those who first assembled in “Old Brick Church” knew much of Captain John Smith, Pocahontas, John Rolfe and Powhatan, who were still regarded as contemporary figures, and the tragic Indian Massacre of 1622, which wiped out nearly a third of the Virginia settlers. Nathaniel Bacon, the scourge of Governor Berkeley, passed not far from “Old Brick Church” on his way to burn Jamestown in 1676. In the stirring days before the Revolution, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Patrick Henry, and many other of our great patriots must have knelt here before the altar and asked for guidance on their passage to or from Williamsburg, as they slowly shaped the destiny of a nation. Perhaps it was as great an honour to him to be the son of the man who built Old Smithfield Church as to have been one of the Councillors of the corrupt Charles II., and to have acted with Sir William Berkeley against him who is called the rebel Bacon. This intimates that his father, Samuel Bridger, had also come to America. Samuel Bridger, however died on 31 Jul 1650 in Gloucester, England. So perhaps he came to America and later returned to England. Samuel Bridger's wife was Mary Pitt. Born in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, England, Samuel died in Gloucester and was buried in the city's cathedral under this epitaph:HERE LYES THE BODY OF SAMUEL BRIDGER, GENT. WHODEPARTED THIS LIFE UPON THE 31ST DAY OF July, AN. 1650.RECEIVER OF THIS COLLEGE RENTS, HE PAIDHIS DEBT TO NATURE, AND BENEATH IS LAIDTO REST UNTIL HIS SUMMONS TO REMOVEAT THE LAST AUDIT TO THE CHOIR ABOVE.

Sources

[S25] One World Tree.
[S47] Writings of Pamela Bridgers, Pamela Bridgers, (“Virgina Cavalcade” magazine, summer 1957 issue).
[S49] Will of Joseph Bridger.
http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/ViewStory.aspx?tid=5457105&pid=-1444004576&did=2eda707e-47af-491d-8801-ea67898ccbd5&src=search

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