3.
George PACE
Following is abstracted from the Pace Society of America Bulletin:
Bulletin #4, June 1968: George Pace
The first record of George Pace, son of Richard and Isabella Pace, is a land patent dated September 1, 1628, as follows:
" ... unto Georg Pace sonn and heire apparent to Richard Pace deceased ... Four Hundred acres of land scituated and being within the Corporation of James Cittie on the Southward side of the River at the Plantation called Paces Paines and formerly granted unto Richard Pace his Father deceased by Patent from Sir George Yeardley, Kt., then Governor and Captt. General of Virginia, bearing date the fifth day of December Anno Domini One Thousand Six Hundred and Twentie. The said Four Hundred Acres abutting Westerly on the land of his mother Isabella Perry and Easterly on the land of ffrancis Chapman now in the tenure of William Perry, Gent., his father-in-law, Northerly on the Maine River and Southerly striking up into the maine woods ... One Hundred acres of this land is due for the P'snall adventure of Richard Pace, the other Three Hundred acres is due by transportation of Louis Bayly, Richard Jones and John Junior, Bennett Culle, Roger Marker & Ann Mason, who came in the Marmaduke one thousand and six hundred twentie one."
Since George Pace was called "heir apparent", he was a minor. George was probably born about 1609, so he would have been 19 years old at the time of the land patent.
By the time George Pace's land was patented, the price of tobacco had dropped 83%, due to increased production in Virginia, but also to glutting of the market by Spaniards. So George Pace's fortune was more in his land than in his crops. During the 10 plus years of cultivation, the land was no longer as fertile, since growing of tobacco uses up the land quickly. Nothing was known about crop rotation at this time in history. Thus, the land at the original Pace's Paines, including George's, Isabella's, and William Perry's, was sold in 1633. They moved to Jamestown, where William Perry served as a member of the Governor's Council.
There are no definitive records of whether George acquired other land following the sale of Pace's Paines. Some evidence suggests that he may have acquired land in Henrico County. In 1637, George Pace married Sarah Maycock, daughter of Samuel Maycock, (who was killed during the Indian massacre of 1622). Sarah was about 15 years old and George Pace about 28 years old then they married. Their son Richard II was born in 1638. Sarah, an orphan, owned 200 acres of land inherited from her father, which she received when she came of age, so George took over the running of the Maycock plantation upon his marriage to Sarah.
A 200-acre tobacco plantation was relatively small, but George must have managed it well. Price of tobacco remained low, and the land declined in productivity. It took him 13 years, but he saved his tobacco credits in London and was able to acquire more headrights by transporting 34 people to Virginia in 1650, thus obtaining a grant of 1,700 acres. In 1652 George obtained another grant of 507 acres for transporting ten headrights, adjoinging his 1,700-acre trace.
George died between 1652 and 1655, probably closer to 1655, since his minor son did not apply for a guardianship until 1655. Sarah also was deceased by 1655.
Few records exist of George Pace, none to portray his character, other than his ability to manage well.
Following is abstracted from the Pace Society of America Bulletin:
Bulletin #17, September 1971: Excavation of a Mid-Seventeenth Century House Site at (Macock) Maycock in Virginia
The plantation on which the 17th century house foundations were found was established by Samuel Maycock in 1618/19 on the south side of the James River, between Sir George Yeardley's plantation - "Flowerdew Hundred" - on the east, and Nathaniel Powell's plantation, bordering on Powell Creek, on the west. It was in the heart of the territory of the Weanoc Indians, about 40 miles from Jamestown.
Samuel Maycock was a Cambridge scholar, a gentleman of birth, and a member of the Governor's Council.
Samuel Maycock was killed on his plantation, along with three of his men, during the Indian massacre of 1622. He left an orphan, a two-year-old daughter, Sarah Maycock. The plantation likely sat idle due to insufficient manpower to run it and to troubles with the Indians until Sarah came of age and married George Pace of Pace's Paines.
Soon after their marriage in 1637, George Pace began to work the plantation and lived there until his death about 1655. George and Sarah's son Richard II lived at Maycock until at least 1673 and probably until his death in 1677.
The foundations of George Pace's house was uncovered in 1970 by an archaeological expedition from the College of William and Mary, to the site. Artifacts found at the site place the time period of its construction and destruction by fire to be from about 1640 to 1660. The house was made of wood timbers and was about 20 by 35 feet. The following year a second house site was found at Maycock, about three city blocks distant from the first site. The second house was constructed of brick during the mid-1600's, and it also burned.