William Berkeley

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Sir William Berkeley (pronounced "bark-lee") (1605-July 9, 1677) was a Governor of Virginia, appointed by King Charles I, of whom he was a favorite. His actual date of birth is unknown; it was in either 1605 or 1606, historians generally record it as 1605. The name of his first wife is also not known, but he wed his second wife, Frances (née Culpeper) Stephens Berkeley, in 1670.

He arrived to take up his post in Virginia in 1642, and was a popular administrator. In 1644, he returned to England to fight in the Civil War on the side of the Cavaliers, although he returned to Virginia the following year, in time to organize a force to put down a Native American uprising, which captured Opechancanough against Berkeley's orders, and killed him. In 1652, he was forced from office by a fleet of British warships sent by Oliver Cromwell, but he remained in the colony. He had intended to extend the colony northwards; and while he did manage to get the land he wanted, he did not allow white settlement west of a line until he negotiated with the tribes.

In 1660, he was recalled to government and for fourteen years governed Virginia with no major incident. In 1675, when troubles broke out with the Native Americans on the north frontier, Berkeley refused to allow Nathaniel Bacon and the frontiersmen to take action against all tribes, whether friendly or otherwise, and a form of civil war (given the name of "Bacon's Rebellion") broke out. One of his main motivations in this decision was that he was invested in a fur trading business with the Native Americans which would have been jeopardized if relations had gone sour. Before troops sent by Charles II could arrive, Berkeley was able to put down the rebellion, but in such a harsh manner that he was removed from office. Land confiscated from Bacon was granted by Berkeley to recent English immigrant William Randolph, who founded a family of great influence in Virginia politics.

His 17th-century plantation, Green Spring in James City County about five miles west of Williamsburg, was built in 1645. The plantation originally encompassed a 2,090 acre experimental farm, and there, Berkeley developed a number of products for export to supplement the Colony's dependence upon tobacco. About 200 acres of the original plantation are preserved by the National Park Service as part of the Colonial National Historical Park.

Berkeley died in London on July 9, 1677. His widow married Philip Ludwell (South Carolina Governor from 1691-1692}; the Ludwell descendants married Thomas Lee and William Lee of Stratford and Henry Lee II of Leesylvania.

It is believed by many historians that the well-known Berkeley Plantation in nearby Charles City County was named in his honor, as were Berkeley County and Berkeley Springs, both of which are now located in West Virginia. (The city of Berkeley, California and several famous colleges are named for Bishop George Berkeley instead.)

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