THIS DAY IN VIRGINIA HISTORY
Click image for larger view.
May 31, 1630
Governor Sir John Harvey Wrote to Attorney General Sir Robert Heath
Sir John Harvey (d. ca. 1646) replaced John Pott (d. before 1642) as governor of the Virginia colony in March 1630. Harvey wrote to Sir Robert Heath (1575–1649) to update him on Pott's activities and the colony's developments the since Harvey had arrived. He complained that Pott had abused his position, appropriating the fines levied against William Capps for his own personal use and pardoning a murderer without due cause. (Capps may have been fined for leaving the colony without permission.) Harvey also reported on plans to build a fort at Point Comfort. This letter is the earliest official government document in the collections of the Library of Virginia; the Library acquired it in 1949.