Joseph Bridger emigrated to the Virginia colony from England where he became wealthy and known for supporting Governor William Berkeley and his successors.
18 Facts About Joseph Bridger
1.
2.
Joseph Bridger served in the legislature's upper house, the Virginia Governor's Council, and led troops against the rebels during Bacon's Rebellion in 1676 as well as in 1682, when he helped suppress the tobacco cutters.
3.
Joseph Bridger's grandfather, Rev Lawrence Bridger, served as the rector of Slimbridge parish for 55 years and was a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford University.
4.
Joseph Bridger was a merchant who imported wine and other products for sale in Virginia, possibly even before he emigrated to the colony.
5.
Joseph Bridger probably became one of the ten wealthiest Virginians of the era, and built a 15 room manor house on the Whitemarsh plantation in Isle of Wight County, where he lived.
6.
In 1670, Joseph Bridger was nominated to the Virginia Governor's Council, the legislature's upper house, and resigned his seat as a burgess, as was required at the time.
7.
However, a surviving document indicates the appointment was questioned, and not approved until 1673, from which time Joseph Bridger continued as a Councillor until nearly his death.
8.
John Upton, and Joseph Bridger asked that the matter be settled by a jury.
9.
Joseph Bridger became customs collector for the Lower District of the James River, a lucrative position, at least by the summer of 1675.
10.
Meanwhile, during Bacon's Rebellion in 1676, Joseph Bridger allied with Governor Governor William Berkeley.
11.
Joseph Bridger led government troops against the rebels and was one of Berkeley's intimates most loathed by the rebels.
12.
Joseph Bridger temporarily fled to Maryland because of the many threats against him, and rebels occupied his plantation.
13.
One source states Joseph Bridger briefly served as a co-acting Colonial Governor of Virginia in 1684 and 1685.
14.
Around 1654, Joseph Bridger married Hester Pitt, daughter of Colonel Robert Pitt who had emigrated to Isle of Wight County from Bristol, England.
15.
Several of Joseph Bridger's descendants served in the House of Burgesses, including James Joseph Bridger, who served as an Isle of Wight burgess in the last sessions of the House of Burgesses, as well as in the first Virginia Revolutionary Convention.
16.
The printer of the Williamsburg Gazette speculated that the money had either been hidden during Bacon's Rebellion or that Joseph Bridger had confiscated it and kept it for himself and his family.
17.
Joseph Bridger's body was moved to St Luke's at the same time that Bridger's body was moved.
18.
Joseph Bridger's bones contained seven times the amount of lead in modern corpses, which scientists attributed to him eating using pewter tableware, pewter containing lead which could leach out and produce lead poisoning.