The Virginia Dynasties

Who were the settlers who came to Virginia in the 1600s? Why did they migrate? What conditions in England formed them? What did they want? How did they achieve their goals? What made those people tick in both England and America? If a writer ever answered these questions comprehensively, it was Clifford Dowdey when he published The Virginia Dynasties in 1969. His background as a novelist led him to use a format and a style easily readable while scholarly historically. I came to his book with information and an awakening to his themes, but I found the quality and veracity of his exposition staggering. The generations that Dowdey describes so well are the ones that set the stage for our Virginia Founding Fathers and their achievements. The free blacks who arrived were in the same mold by extension as can be seen even in "King" Carter's own Christ Church Parish if you root them out there and elsewhere, especially in Virginia and North Carolina (See Paul Heinegg's books and others). Such a family was our neighbor. Dowdey's findings, while focused upon Virginia into the 1700s, illuminate universals applicable not only to other American colonies but also to immigrants in later centuries. Indeed, I contend that my favorite Jordanian/Palestinian and Mexican restauranteurs exhibit traits found in this book as do many other arrivals, conditions though being so different in particulars, or, as the former said so tellingly, "This is what makes America great." These same universals and relevant societal conditions can also be found in Walter A. McDougall's Freedom Just Around the Corner, A New American History, 1585-1828 (2004). He examined all our colonies and major ethnic and national groups and what made them tick. While Dowdey explored Virginia comprehensively, McDougall made a broad sweep. Together, these books make a formidable case. Both authors employ the word "hustler," marvelously descriptive, a signal summation! Dowdey's book is available quite cheaply. Your library may have it unless the librarians have discarded it as was one of my copies.