Lt Colonel John Armistead^[1]

1635 - 1703  (68 years)

• Name	John Armistead
  Title	Lt Colonel
  Birth	Apr 1635	Elizabeth City, Elizabeth City, Virginia, USA   [2]
  Gender	Male
  Married	1665	, Gloucester, Virginia, USA
  Residence	, , Virginia, USA   [3]
  Death	2 Oct 1703	Hesse, Gloucester, Virginia, USA
  Person ID	I43347	Master
  Last Modified	2 Feb 2022

  
  

  Father	William Armistead,   b. 3 Aug 1610, Kirk Deighton, Yorkshire, England d. 13 Jun 1671, Elizabeth City, Elizabeth City, Virginia, USA (Age 60 years)
  Mother	Anne Netherton Ellis,   b. 1611, Giggleswick, Yorkshire, England d. 4 Dec 1678, Hampton, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA (Age 67 years)
  Marriage	1632	Giggleswick, Yorkshire, England
  Family ID	F10001	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Judith Bowles Hone Robinson,   b. Dec 1645, Heswick, Cleasby, Middlesex, Yorkshire, England d. Jan 1693, Kingston, Gloucester, Virginia, USA (Age 47 years)
  Marriage	1656	, Gloucester, Virginia, USA
  Children	1. Frances Armistead,   b. 15 Jun 1657, Hesse, Gloucester, Virginia, USA d. 25 May 1685, Virginia Beach, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA (Age 27 years)   2. John Armistead,   b. 1662, Hess, Gloucestershire, England d. 1703, Eastmount River, Mathews, Virginia, USA (Age 41 years)   3. Mary Armistead,   b. 8 Jun 1663, Kent, England d. 1724, , King and Queen, Virginia, USA (Age 60 years) + 4. Judith Armistead,   b. 23 Feb 1665, Hesse, Gloucester, Virginia, USA d. 23 Feb 1699, Corotoman Plantation, Lancaster, Virginia, USA (Age 34 years)   5. Julia Armistead,   b. 1666, , Gloucester, Virginia, USA d. 1699 (Age 33 years) + 6. Elizabeth Armistead,   b. 16 Feb 1667, Hesse, Gloucester, Virginia, USA d. 11 Nov 1716, Bushy Park, Middlesex, Virginia, USA (Age 49 years)   7. Sarah Armistead,   b. 1669   d. 1699 (Age 30 years)   8. Judith Armistead,   b. 1670   d. 1740 (Age 70 years) + 9. William Armistead,   b. 13 Jun 1671, Kingston, Gloucester, Virginia, USA d. 13 Jun 1711, Eastmore River, Mathews, Virginia, USA (Age 40 years) + 10. Colonel Henry Robinson Armistead,   b. 1673, Hesse, Gloucester, Virginia, USA d. 11 Feb 1740, Hesse, Gloucester, Virginia, USA (Age 67 years)
  Family ID	F10003	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	18 Jan 2022

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - Apr 1635 - Elizabeth City, Elizabeth City, Virginia, USA Marriage - 1656 - , Gloucester, Virginia, USA Married - 1665 - , Gloucester, Virginia, USA Residence - - , , Virginia, USA Death - 2 Oct 1703 - Hesse, Gloucester, Virginia, USA  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Notes

  A son of William Armistead, of Elizabeth City county, and grandson of Anthony Armistead, of Kirk Deighton, in Yorkshire, England, settled in Gloucester county, of which he was sheriff in 1676, and a justice and lieutenant-colonel of horse in 1680. In 1685 he was a member of the house of burgesses, and on Feb. 14, 1687-88, Gov. Effingham wrote to the English government that a vacancy had occurred in the council and that he had nominated Col. John Armistead as in every way qualified for the place. This nomination was confirmed on April 30, 1688, and Col. Armistead was sworn as member on Oct. 18 of the same year. He remained a councillor until 1691, when, feeling that he could not consistently with the allegiance he had sworn to James II., take the same oath to William and Mary, he declined and was accordingly removed from the council. It is probable that he later realized the hopelessness of the Stuart cause, and relented in his determination, for in 1693 Gov. Andros wrote that Col. John Armistead had retired from the council. He died soon after. He left two sons and two daughters and through them was the ancestor of many distinguished Virginians.; ; III--Colonial Councillors of State John Armistead was a member of the governor's Council of Virginia late in the seventeenth century. A planter in Gloucester County, he also entered into several successful business ventures. Becoming active in politics, Armistead sat on the county court and served as sheriff. He opposed the tobacco cutting riots and favored English policies put in place after Bacon's Rebellion (1676–1677). Armistead twice represented Gloucester in the House of Burgesses before the governor appointed him to the Council in 1688. Armistead relinquished his seat in 1691 when he refused to take the oaths to the new monarchs William and Mary. Although restored to his place later in the decade, Armistead did not rejoin the Council. His date of death is unknownArmistead was the second of three sons and one of at least four children of William Armistead and Anne Armistead, of Kirk Deighton, Yorkshire, England. He may have been born in Virginia, his parents having settled in Elizabeth City County in the mid-1630s, which is the most likely approximate time of his birth. When he reached adulthood he moved to Gloucester County, where he lived and farmed for the rest of his life. His father had prospered so rapidly after immigrating to Virginia that both of his surviving sons began their adult lives as substantial planters. He may have sent John Armistead to Gloucester County in the 1650s to manage the properties he acquired after that section of the colony was first opened to English settlement. Sometime in the 1660s Armistead became associated with Robert Beverley (1635–1687), an association that led to several profitable joint business ventures. The relationship grew even closer when Armistead married Beverley's sister-in-law Judith Hone. Armistead had two sons and two daughters, and he acquired even more influential family connections later, when one of his daughters married Ralph Wormeley (d. 1701) and the other married Robert "King" Carter. Destruction of most of the records of Gloucester County has obscured the details of Armistead's participation in politics. He probably became a vestryman of Kingston Parish within a few years of moving to the county, and by 1670 he was a member of the county court as well as a colonel in the county militia. He became sheriff in 1676 and again in 1680. In 1682 he arrested several local women who were destroying tobacco plants. This put him in opposition to Robert Beverley, the putative instigator of the plant-cutting riots, by which the perpetrators hoped to reduce the supply of tobacco and thereby raise its price. Armistead differed from Beverley on political issues, too. Beverley grew increasingly outspoken in his opposition to English policies designed to control Virginia after Bacon's Rebellion, while Armistead inclined favorably toward the new order. Armistead served in the House of Burgesses twice. Elected in 1680, he sat at the first meeting of the General Assembly of 1680–1682. His part in suppressing the plant cutters may explain his absence at the second session, and he did not return to the House until 1685. By the mid-1680s he was on friendly terms with Governor Francis Howard, baron Howard of Effingham, who resided at times with Armistead's son-in-law Ralph Wormeley. The association with Effingham proved beneficial, and in 1688 Effingham appointed Armistead to a vacancy on the governor's Council. He was sworn in on October 18, 1688, but his tenure lasted only two and a half years. In April 1691, following the Glorious Revolution, Armistead refused "thro Scruple of Conscience" to swear allegiance to the new monarchs, William and Mary. He consequently lost his seat on the Council. Seven years later the Crown ordered him restored to his place, but Armistead did not take the oaths after the commission was presented to the Council on December 9, 1698. John Armistead may have been dead by that date, but he could also have been alive and in political retirement in Gloucester County while continuing his refusal to forswear his oath to James II. The date and place of his death are not recorded. Time Line 1650s - Sometime during this decade, John Armistead's father William Armistead sends him to Gloucester County to manage the properties he acquired after that section of the colony was first opened to English settlement. 1660s - Sometime during this decade, John Armistead becomes associated with Robert Beverley. Armistead will marry Beverley's sister-in-law Judith Hone. 1670 - By this year, John Armistead is a member of the Gloucester County court and a colonel in the county militia. 1676 - John Armistead becomes sheriff in Gloucester County. 1680 - John Armistead is elected to the House of Burgesses. October 18, 1688 - John Armistead in sworn in to fill a vacant seat on the governor's Council. April 1691 - Following the Glorious Revolution, John Armistead refuses to swear allegiance to the new monarchs, William and Mary, and loses his seat on the council. Categories Colonial History (ca. 1560–1763) Colonial Government

  
  

• Sources

  [S761] Yates Publishing, Ancestry Family Trees, (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.), Ancestry Family Tree. [S59] Godfrey Memorial Library, comp., American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI), (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999.Original data - Godfrey Memorial Library. American Genealogical-Biographical Index. Middletown, CT, USA: Godfrey Memorial Library.Original data: Godfrey Memorial Library. American Genea). [S860] Ancestry.com, Virginia, Biographical Encyclopedia, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.).