a mariner who had made a fortune in the Virginian trade. Some of these powers appear to sustain the assertion of contemporaneous witnesses that the dealings of sailors in connection with head rights were not in accord with the spirit of the law. There was recorded in the county of Rappahannock, in 1668, a document of this character from Thomas Sheppard of Plymouth in England, in which he places William Moseley in charge of his interest in one hundred and fifty head rights due him for the transportation of one hundred and fifty persons at different times, and in different ships, on account of whom, so far as he knew, no certificates had as yet been obtained.[1] It might be well asked where were these persons? If they had been free when they came over, they had doubtless secured patents on the basis of their own transportation, or if they had become servants on their arrival in the Colony, their masters or mistresses had most probably taken advantage of this fact to acquire larger areas of the public lands than were at that time in their possession.
For one individual who was brought over to Virginia, two hundred acres were frequently obtained by different persons.[2] The shipmaster secured fifty acres for transporting him in his vessel, the merchant who purchased his period of service from the shipmaster, or who had entered into covenants with him through agents in England, received a second fifty acres, and the same number were granted to the planter who acquired the interest in him owned by the merchant. It happened quite often that two planters would unite in buying from the merchant the same individual as one of many individuals imported, and under these circumstances, they were allowed
