Human Shield Ancestor

Part of the fun of researching your genealogy is not knowing what you'll find. Recently, I've been re-researching my Page line. My 8th great-grandparents were John Page who came from England to Virginia around 1650 and his wife Alice Lukin. The Pages first lived in the New Towne section of Jamestown, then York County in 1655, and finally Middle Plantation (now Williamsburg) in 1662. He also acquired other land in Colonial Virginia.

Since learning that I have several ancestors who were in Virginia when it was still a colony, I've been reading early Virginia history, like this book about Bacon's Rebellion. It's available on Amazon as a free Kindle download.

I had ancestors who were on both sides of the rebellion, but John Page was on Governor Berkeley's side, not Bacon's side. While there were several portraits of John Page online, I could find none of his wife.

John Page

But on p. 256 in the Documentary History of Jamestown Island, Vol. III: Biographies of Owners and Residents, by Martha McCartney, a publication prepared for the National Park Service and available online, I found an interesting mention of Alice Lukin Page:

My 8th-great-grandmother was used as a human shield! How did this happen? Was she the only one? I went back to The Story of Bacon's Rebellion ebook and looked to see if she was mentioned there.   She was indeed:

I wonder which one of the "fair ones" was sent back to Jamestown to tell Council members that their wives were hostages. Despite a bit of Googling, I couldn't find out her identity. 

I did find the incident mentioned in an article on the National Park Service's Historic Jamestown site: "He [Bacon] made several attempts at a siege, during which he kidnapped the wives of several of Berkeley's biggest supporters, including Mrs. Nathaniel Bacon Sr., and placed them upon the ramparts of his siege fortifications while he dug his position."

How long did Bacon keep them there? I have no idea, but I imagine only a day or so. Anyhow, his idea worked.

Bacon did not get to use his stolen artillery, though, because Governor Berkeley did not attack. When Berkeley's men started abandoning him, Berkeley—under cover of night—sailed away with twenty-some of his loyal followers. While they were gone, Bacon and his forces burned the city of Jamestown to the ground.

Fortunately, my 8th-great-grandmother would have been back home in Middle Plantation, aka Williamsburg, when Jamestown was burned. Did she see the flames and smell the smoke from where she lived? 

Alas, her reactions are lost to history.

Info about Governor Berkeley here: https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/berkeley-sir-william-1605-1677/ 

An article about John Page here: https://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-xpm-19950519-1995-05-19-9505190238-story.html

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