Virginia Dare - Biography

Biography

Virginia Dare was born in the Roanoke Colony in what is now North Carolina in August 1587, the first child of English parents born in the New World. "Elenora, daughter to the governor of the city and wife to Ananias Dare, one of the assistants, was delivered of a daughter in Roanoke". The child was healthy and "was christened there the Sunday following, and because this childe was the first Christian borne in Virginia, she was named Virginia".

Little is known of the lives of either of her parents. Her mother Eleanor was born in London around 1563, and was the daughter of John White, the governor of the ill-fated Roanoke Colony. Eleanor married Ananias Dare (born c. 1560), a London tiler and bricklayer, at St Bride's Church in Fleet Street, City of London. He too was part of the Roanoke expedition. Virginia Dare was one of two infants born to the colonists in 1587 and the only female child born to the settlers.

Little else is known of Virginia Dare's presumably short life, as the Roanoke Colony did not endure. At the end of 1587, having established his colony, Virginia's grandfather John White sailed for England for fresh supplies. Due to England's war with Spain, and the pressing need for ships to defend against the Spanish Armada, he was unable to return to Roanoke until August 18, 1590, Virginia Dare's third birthday, by which time he found the settlement had been long deserted. The buildings had collapsed and "the houses taken downe". Worse, White was unable find any trace of his daughter or granddaughter, or indeed any of the 90 men, 17 women, and 11 children who made up the "Lost Colony".