15. The Virginia Company and Their Decision to Bring Brides to Jamestown
It was Edwin Sandys, Virginia Company Treasurer, who had the idea to advertise for women to immigrate to Jamestown and becomes wives to the colonists. He had told his fellow board members that bringing women from England to Jamestown would not only help build the colony’s population but also make it so the colonists would want to stay in Jamestown. Once Edwin persuaded his fellow board members that this was the way to go, they all started discussing how they would get women from England to Jamestown.
The members of the Virginia Company, who were the leaders of the Virginia Colony, knew that the European women were fearful come coming to the American colony. Edwin and his fellow board members knew that one of their biggest challenges would be to convince the women to board a ship to America. After some discussion, the Virginia Company decided the best way to persuade English women to leave their families in England and travel to American to start a new life was to use England’s marriage economics against the country and offer the women great incentives.