Adam Thoroughgood
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Adam Thoroughgood (also spelled Thorogood or Thorowgood)(1602-1640) was a colonist and community leader in the Virginia Colony who helped settle the area of South Hampton Roads known in contemporary times as the independent city of Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Young Adam Thoroughgood was the son of William of Norwich and Anne Edwards and was baptized in 1603 at St. Botolph's, the parish church of Grimston, County of Norfolk, England, of which his father had been appointed vicar in 1581. His was a prominent family in King's Lynn, Norfolkshire, England.
At the age of 18, he became an indentured servant to pay for passage to the Virginia Colony, a project of the Virginia Company of London (London Company) at the time. Around 1622, he settled in an area south of the Chesapeake Bay and a few miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean. This area had been passed by when the earlier settlements such as Jamestown where established beginning in 1607 in favor of locations further inland which would be less susceptible to attacks by other European forces, such as the Spanish.
Serving his period of indenture, he earned his freedom and became a leading citizen of the area. He was elected to the House of Burgesses for Elizabeth City in 1629. He also served on the (Royal) Governor's Council, and as a Justice of the Court. He also became a Captain in the local militia.
The London Company lost its franchise and Virginia became a royal colony in 1624. In 1634, the Colony was divided into shires, soon renamed counties, a term still in use in Virginia 350 years later. He is credited using the name of his home in England when helping name New Norfolk County when it was formed from Elizabeth City County in 1637. The following year, New Norfolk County was split into Upper Norfolk County (soon renamed Nansemond County) and Lower Norfolk County, which was still quite large, encompassing the entire area now within the modern cities of Portsmouth, Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Virginia Beach.
Despite his widespread and long lasting influence in South Hampton Roads, his choice of residence after 1634 was along the Lynnhaven River, also named for his home in England. In 1635, he earned a land patent for over 5,000 acres (20 km²) in this area for having persuaded 105 new residents to settle in Virginia, including Augustine Warner, a progenitor of Virginians George Washington and Robert E. Lee. In 1636, he built a substantial brick house for his family. He married Sarah Offley of London, and by her had one son, Adam, amd three daughters, Ann, Sarah, and Elizabeth. The son, Adam, was Lieut.-Col. and Burgess for Lower Norfolk in 1666 and Justice and Sheriff in 1669.
Thoroughgood appears to have had the foresight to realizing earlier than many other leaders that Lower Norfolk County was to large for a single site for convenient worship and court affairs. He led the effort to establish a second parish church, court, and glebe house at what was then known as Churches Point on the Lynnhaven River in the eastern portion in what was later subdivided to form Princess Anne County in 1691 (and became part of the present City of Virginia Beach in 1963).
Adam Thoroughgood suddenly became ill and died at the age of only 36 in 1640. He was buried at Churches Point in a location now believed to be submerged.
Adam Thoroughgood's untimely death was no doubt a great loss to his community and the colony. However, the story of his life and his sturdy brick home, the fully-restored Adam Thoroughgood House, are both prominently known in today’s Virginia Beach, and many historians of the modern City of Norfolk attribute the original source of its name to him as well.
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