In this letter, dated February 18, 1619, Sir William Throckmorton, Richard Berkeley, George Thorpe, and John Smyth inform Sir George Yeardley, governor of Virginia, that they have secured a patent for their plantation venture, Berkeley Hundred.
In this letter, dated September 4, 1619, Sir William Throckmorton, Richard Bearkley, George Thorpe, and John Smyth give orders to Captain John Woodlief for the government of the newly established Berkeley Hundred plantation in Virginia, including instructions for the observance of religious ceremonies, the location of resources, the protection of colonists, and the management of household affairs. These instructions include reference to the celebration of what some twentieth-century Virginians claimed was the first Thanksgiving. Each numbered item on the list begins with “Impr,” or “I,” which likely is an abbreviation for “imprimatur,” or Latin for “let it be printed.”
