Edmund Scarborough

Colonel Edmund Scarborough (September 1617 - 1671) was an influential early settler of Virginia and member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1642 to 1671.

Scarborough was born in England; his father, Edmund Scarborough (1584-1635), was a barrister and graduate of Caius College, who emigrated to Virginia with his family circa 1628.

On April 28, 1651, Scarborough led a raid of some fifty men, on the nearby Pocamoke Indian village after convincing the settlers that the Indians planned to attack. At least one historian doubts the veracity of his story and suggested that he may have invented the story in order to raise enough men for the attack the village. After capturing some of the villagers and binding them in chains the Indians did start attacking the English. In May all the men involved in the action were called to appear in court for their illegal actions.

Scarburgh at various times served as Speaker of the House of Burgeses, on the Governor's Council for the House of Burgesses, county sheriff, lawyer, planter, surveyor, firearms dealer, cattle rancher, merchant, and militia leader. He employed Indians to herd his livestock while at the same time selling guns to them and condemning them in the General Assembly for obtaining firearms. In the 1650s when England was at war with the Dutch, one of Scarburgh's ships was seized en route to other colonies for trade. He retaliated by seizing a Prussian ship of similar size, no matter that it was not of Dutch ownership. He also incited a scandal among a local parson to deflect criticism about his own lack of morals. Near the end of his career, Scarburgh helped survey the border between Maryland's and Virginia's Eastern Shore. In the proceedings, he cheated Maryland out of several hundred acres of land to keep his own holdings within the colony of Virginia. This resulted in a border that was far north of where it should have been. His most diabolical act took place in 1671 when he called local Indians to a great feast where he reported the great spirit would speak to them. This most likely took place in Northampton County and concluded with a salvo from an artillery piece hidden nearby. This was Scarburgh's way of eliminating enemies and dispersing the local tribes, as well as consolidating his power in the two counties of Accomac and Northampton (which at various times were combined to form one county).

Scarburgh's main adversary, Colonel Obedience Robbins (from Northamptonshire, England), served as a foil to "King" Scarburgh during the forty years that he was in power on the Eastern Shore. It is said that the two counties were finally created by the two arch rivals because they did not wish to live in the same municipality; hence, Northampton and Accomac County. Robbins also served as a burgess with Scarburgh and sought to nullify any attempts by his crafty nemesis to cause trouble on the Eastern Shore, whether it be with local Indians or with local government.

Scarburgh also took a mistress named Ann Toft who showed up in local records as an immigrant with three daughters. It is theorized that Scarburgh set Toft up in business at a brothel and plantation known as Gargaphia on present day Gargathy Neck in northern Accomack County (seaside). If so, this would have been the first enterprise of its kind in English America. Gargaphia, as it was known, shows up on many maritime maps of the time periods and would have been a convenient stopping point for sailors and a good embarkation point for Scarburgh's many products and crops.

By 1663 Col. Scarborough had become an enemy of the Quakers located in Accomack County, Virginia (including Ambrose Dixon). After the group of Quakers moved to Maryland where they were offered more religious freedom, Col. Scarborough used his positions as commander of His Majesty's Forces on Virginia's Eastern Shore and Surveyor-General of the Virginia Colony to lead a force of men into Maryland and claim the area for Virginia. Scarborough escaped condemnation for his actions thanks to his influence at the court of Charles II; his brother, Charles Scarborough, was the king's physician.

Scarburgh's main residence was a property in northern Northampton County on Occahannock Creek known as Hedra Cottage. Although the original house is gone, a later one stands in its place. When Scarburgh died after 1671 he was buried there but it is thought that his gravestone was removed by friends to keep his enemies from desecrating his remains.

His eldest son would drown as an adult in the York River on September 21, 1739.