Editing Ancient planter (section)

==Identification==
[[File:Virginia Colonial Records - Briefe Declaration.jpg|thumb|Title page of "A Breife Declaration of the Plantation of Virginia duringe the first Twelve Yeares" (1624)]]
Because the surviving historical records are incomplete, and sometimes demonstrably inaccurate,<ref>See, for example, {{Cite journal |last=Kolb |first=Avery E. |title=Early Passengers to Virginia: When Did They Really Arrive? |journal=The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography |volume=88 |issue=4 |pages=401–414}}</ref> it is not possible to compile a definitive list of ancient planters.

The database of Colonial Land Office Patents at the [[Library of Virginia]] is the principal source of information as to the identities of those who received grants as ancient planters.  Though the record does not begin until 1623, when administration of the colony was taken over by the Crown, many of the subsequent patents identify "ancient planters", or provide information which shows that a tract of land must have been originally granted under the terms applying to Ancient Planters.

Additional information comes from the [http://www.virtualjamestown.org/Muster/introduction.html 1624/5 Muster], a census ordered as part of the handover of the colony from the Virginia Company to the Crown.  For some of the colonists, the census includes information on the year and ship of arrival. In many cases this valuable information is missing.

Also as part of the transition to Crown Colony status, a list of grants was compiled in 1625 and sent to London.<ref>"Extracts of all the Titles and Estates of Land, sent home by Sir Francis Wyatt, May, 1625", ''ibid.'', 551{{full citation needed|date=July 2024}}</ref>  This list does not identify the ancient planters as such, but in some cases knowledge of the grant combined with information from other sources (e.g., knowledge of the date of arrival) is enough to show that the planter in question must have received the grant as an ancient planter.

===Notable ancient planters===
{{columns-list|colwidth=13em|
* [[Samuel Argall]]<ref name="argall" />
* [[Robert Beheathland]]
* [[Richard Buck (chaplain)|Richard Buck]]
* [[Anne Burras|Anne Burras and John Laydon]]
* [[Raleigh Croshaw]]
* [[Thomas Dowse]]
* [[Temperance Flowerdew]]
* [[Thomas Gates (governor)|Thomas Gates]]
* [[Thomas Graves (burgess)|Thomas Graves]]
* [[Cecily Jordan Farrar]]
* [[Samuel Jordan]]
* [[Richard Pace (planter)|Richard and Isabella Pace]]
* [[William Powell (Virginia colonist)|William Powell]]
* John and Alice Proctor<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-02-19 |title=The Story of John and Alice Proctor |url=https://henricus.org/2021/02/19/the-story-of-john-and-alice-proctor/ |website=Henricus Historical Park}}</ref>
* [[John Rolfe]]
* [[Thomas Savage (Virginia interpreter)|Thomas Savage]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stanard |first=W. G. |date=April 1894 |title=Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents |journal=The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=436–452 |jstor=4241782}}</ref>
* [[John Smith (explorer)|John Smith]]
* [[William Spencer (burgess)|William Spencer]]
* [[William Tucker (Jamestown immigrant)|William Tucker]]<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2007 |title=Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary |page=703 |isbn=9780806317748 |last1=McCartney |first1=Martha W.|publisher=Genealogical Publishing Com }}</ref>
* [[Francis West]]
* [[Joan Wright|Robert and Joan Wright]]
* [[George Yeardley]]
}}