ENTRY

Miles Cary (bap. 1623–1667)

SUMMARY

Miles Cary was a member of the governor’s Council. Born in England, Cary became involved in the tobacco trade, perhaps as a result of the losses his father suffered during the English Civil Wars. By 1645 Cary had arrived in Elizabeth City County. He resided in Warwick County and opened a store. Successful at this business, he became a justice of the peace by 1650. He patented 3,000 acres of land in Westmoreland County and by 1660 was a colonel of militia. In 1659 he was elected to the House of Burgesses and was a member of the governor’s Council at some point before 1664. He helped plan for the defense of Virginia during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. He died in 1667; family tradition holds that he was mortally wounded during a fight against Dutch men-of-war at the mouth of the James River.

Cary was baptized in All Saints Parish, Bristol, England, on January 30, 1623. He was the son of a woolen draper, John Cary, and his second wife, Alice Hobson Cary. Both of his grandfathers had been mayors of Bristol, and as a member of a socially prominent and respected family he received a good education, the details of which are not known. The English Civil Wars divided the family, and Cary’s father suffered substantial losses. Perhaps as a consequence, Cary became involved in the tobacco trade and moved to Virginia, probably early in the 1640s and certainly no later than November 1645, when a mariner deposed that “one Miles Cary, a Bristoll man” then in Elizabeth City County, had failed to deliver 250 pounds of tobacco. Copies of Virginia records that refer to him often spell his given name as Myles or Mylles and his surname as Carey.

Cary initially resided in the Warwick County household of Thomas Taylor, who may have been a kinsman, and by about 1646 he had married Taylor’s daughter Anne. Before she died on an unrecorded date before June 1667, they had at least three daughters and four sons, including Henry Cary (ca. 1650–1720), who became a successful builder in Warwick County, Williamsburg, and Yorktown, and Miles Cary (d. 1709), who became an influential member of the House of Burgesses and surveyor general of Virginia. Opening a store and acting as an agent in various business transactions, Cary prospered and became a commissioner, or justice, of the peace by 1650. At that time he was still called Mr. Cary, but in 1654 when he patented 3,000 acres of land in the new county of Westmoreland he was identified as a major in the militia. When he renewed that patent three years later he was a lieutenant colonel, and by 1660 he was a colonel. He acquired more than 2,200 acres of land in Warwick County, some of which he inherited from Taylor. At the time of his death Cary also owned two lots in his native Bristol, a tract in Jamestown, and four plantations. His financial success exposed him to some criticism. In January 1650 a local woman denounced him as a “scabbed fisted knave,” likened him to a “pox,” and declared that if Cary could become a commissioner of the peace, “they will make Comrs of black doggs shortly.”

Cary became a collector of taxes in Warwick County in 1658 and was elected to the House of Burgesses the following year. He was present in the spring of 1660 when the General Assembly elected Sir William Berkeley governor, pending receipt of a new royal commission from Charles II, and was also a member of a committee of burgesses that later in that year drafted a petition to the king requesting forgiveness for submitting to Parliament and seeking the restoration of colonial privileges. In addition the committee asked that Virginia-born children be declared denizens of England.

Cary was a burgess again from 1661 to 1663 and on May 15, 1661, became escheator general of the colony, with responsibility for taking possession for the Crown of land that was forfeit for nonpayment of quitrents. He became a member of the governor’s Council on an unrecorded date before March 23, 1664. The scant surviving Council records from the period indicate that Cary participated in planning for the defense of the colony during the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665–1667). One of his last recorded acts as a Council member was to sign a protest that the governor and Council sent to the king complaining that Maryland’s governor and Council refused to join in a voluntary reduction in the production of tobacco in order to raise its price.

On June 5, 1667, at the mouth of the James River four Dutch men-of-war captured an English frigate and approximately twenty merchant vessels. Four days later Cary drew up his will. According to family tradition he was shot and killed defending against the Dutch incursion, and it is possible that he had been wounded and then prepared the will, with its two codicils, while on his deathbed. Cary died on June 10, 1667, and was buried in a brick tomb on the grounds of his home at Windmill Point.

MAP
TIMELINE
January 30, 1623
Miles Cary is baptized in All Saints Parish, Bristol, England. He is the son of John Cary and Alice Hobson Cary.
Early 1640s
Miles Cary moves to Virginia around this time.
1646
By about this time, Miles Cary has married Anne Taylor. They will have at least three daughters and four sons.
1650
By this year, Miles Cary is a commissioner of the peace.
January 1650
A local woman denounces Miles Cary as a "scabbed fisted knave," likens him to a "pox," and declares that if Cary could become a commissioner of the peace, "they will make Comrs of black doggs shortly."
1654
By this year, Miles Cary is a major in the militia of Westmoreland County.
1657
By this year, Miles Cary is a lieutenant colonel in the militia of Westmoreland County.
1658
Miles Cary becomes a collector of taxes in Warwick County.
1659
Miles Cary is elected to the House of Burgesses.
1660
By this year, Miles Cary is a colonel in the militia of Westmoreland County.
1661—1663
Miles Cary serves as a member of the House of Burgesses.
May 15, 1661
Miles Cary becomes escheator general of the colony, with responsibility for taking possession for the Crown of land that was forfeit for nonpayment of quitrents.
March 23, 1664
Miles Cary becomes a member of the governor's Council sometime before this date.
June 9, 1667
Miles Cary draws up his will following the Dutch capture of an English frigate and twenty merchant vessels four days earlier.
June 10, 1667
Miles Cary dies, perhaps as a result of defending against the Dutch incursion.
FURTHER READING
  • Harbury, Katharine E. “Miles Cary (bap. 1623–1667).” In The Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Vol. 3, edited by Sara B. Bearss et al., 111–112. Richmond: Library of Virginia, 2006.
  • Harrison, Fairfax. The Virginia Carys: An Essay in Genealogy. New York: The De Vinne Press, 1919.
  • Harrison, Fairfax. The Devon Carys. Vol. 2. New York: The De Vinne Press, 1920.
CITE THIS ENTRY
APA Citation:
Harbury, Katharine & Dictionary of Virginia Biography. Miles Cary (bap. 1623–1667). (2020, December 07). In Encyclopedia Virginia. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/cary-miles-bap-1623-1667.
MLA Citation:
Harbury, Katharine, and Dictionary of Virginia Biography. "Miles Cary (bap. 1623–1667)" Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, (07 Dec. 2020). Web. 24 Nov. 2023
Last updated: 2021, December 22
Feedback
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.