Joseph Bridger

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• The Early Years
• Baptism Records
• Property Records
• Professional & Military Service
• Bacon’s Rebellion
• Final Resting Place

Baptismal Records

Property Records

Joseph’s father died in 1650.  King James II and his Royalist forces were defeated in 1651.  Virginia’s Governor William Berkeley openly encouraged the Royalists, also known as “Cavaliers,” to take refuge in Virginia, along with clergymen from the Church of England.  Joseph immigrated to Virginia in the early 1650s (Reference 5).  The first record of Joseph in Virginia stated that Joseph Bridger of Virginia owned three-eighths of a cargo of “wines and other goods” shipped to Virginia in the Success of London in the year 1654 (Reference 6).

By 1654, Joseph had married Hester Pitt, the daughter of Robert Pitt and Martha Tomlinson.  The date and location of the marriage is unknown.  If they were married in 1654, Hester would have been 18 years old and Joseph 23 years old.  Joseph and Hester settled in Isle of Wight County where they eventually built a grand home, Whitemarsh, where they raised seven children.  Joseph owned more than 16,400 acres of land in Isle of Wight, Surry, Nansemond, and James City counties, becoming one of the ten largest landowners in Virginia and the largest south of the James River.  He also had a large mercantile business, trading Virginia tobacco to merchants in England for commodities desired by colonists.  He owned a sloop that could hold 28 hogsheads of tobacco, which was likely used to pick up tobacco from wharves of local planters and to deliver their imported goods.  He was the wealthiest landowner living south of the James River and probably one of the 10 wealthiest persons in Virginia.

Read The Landed and Personal Estate of Gen. Joseph Bridger by William P. Carrell II for an extensive discussion and maps of his property.

Professional & Military Service

Bacon’s Rebellion

During Bacon’s Rebellion led by Nathaniel Bacon, Joseph Bridger sided with Governor William Berkeley, and in late July 1676 they fled to Arlington, the Eastern Shore home of John Custis II in Northumberland County.  Bridger suffered property damage at the hands of Bacon’s forces.  He returned to his home in Isle of Wight County and continued to organize men to fight Bacon’s supporters on the south side of the James River.  The captain of the Young Prince ship mentions contact with Bridger several times in December 1676.  The captain recorded that on 4 Jan 1677, with the ship’s crew ashore in Nansemond, “Our fort besieged by 300 or 400 men of the uplands at 12 at night, Colonel Bridger came up with the horse [cavalry].” (Reference 7)  After the conflict, one of the royal commissioners investigating the rebellion described Bridger as:

“a very Resolute gentleman, who, though forced to fly in the heat of war from his own countrie, yet on his Return was very Active and Instrumental in reducing to their obedience the South parte of James River.”

Will

Joseph Bridger wrote his will on 3 Aug 1683 with provisions for his seven children, his wife Hester, and his mother Mary.  However, the provision for his son Joseph Jr. was less than what was typical for the eldest son, indicating some conflict between the two men.  Just two months later, in a codicil dated 18 Oct 1683, Joseph Bridger revoked the will’s provision for Joseph Jr. to share in his father’s land and property, leaving him only a small yearly allowance.  The codicil states:

I finde my Sonne Joseph Bridger fly out into divers disloute courses of life and is grown very disobedient to me and that I may not be guilty of giveinge him an estate & an encouragement to Continue for the future in his wicked way of liveing I do hereby therefore revoke and disanull all and Every part of the legacies given him in the Will . . .

Their relationship deteriorated further when Joseph Bridger recorded another codicil on 9 April 1685 stating:

for divers good Causes and Consideration me there unto moveinge declare it is my Will that my Eldest Sonne Joseph Bridger is by me disinherited and Soo disinherited that neither he nor any Children of his whether male or female shall have and possess any part or portion of [my property except for £5.  Moreover, he recorded this codicil in open court, so if he died] . . . without a Will or that a Will should be imbeszelled or forged my said Sone Joseph Bridger or his heyres whether male or female should pretend to any of my Estat real or Personall. (Reference 8)

The will was proved in Isle of Wight County on 8 May 1686 (Reference 9).  Hester and her other sons later agreed to share Joseph Bridger’s estate with Joseph Jr.  The value of Joseph Bridger’s estate, including his property and debts owed to him by others, was substantial.

Final Resting Place

Joseph Bridger died on 15 Apr 1686, shortly before his 55th birthday, at Whitemarsh in Isle of Wight County, where he was interred.  On 11 Oct 1894 his remains were moved to the chancel at St. Luke’s Church, which had benefited from his generosity during its building.  He was also honored with a stained glass window in the church.

When the archaeological project at Whitemarsh discovered the unmarked family cemetery with unmarked graves on land that had been plowed over for centuries, the Bridger Family Association decided to relocate the remains. On May 17, 2022, the Bridger family held a memorial service for the 23 souls moved from Whitemarsh to a crypt at St. Luke’s Church.