James Crews

James Crewes (or Crews) (1622 26 January 1677) was an English merchant who traded with the Virginia colony before emigrating there. He became a planter in Henrico County and represented it for one session of the House of Burgesses, but was executed for his participation in Bacon's Rebellion.

Early life Born in England in 1622 or 1623, he had at least two brothers who were merchants.

Career Crewes often traveled between the colony and England as a tobacco merchant. In 1652 he testified in a legal case about the death of Francis Giles at Jordan's Point in the colony. By 1655, Crewes had acquired 541 acres and established a tobacco plantation in Henrico County on Turkey Island in the James River. By 1670 he had become captain in the local militia, and surviving court records indicate he was involved as a trustee and executor of estates. Crewes had indentured servants, including two of African descent, and had permission to have a servant of Indian descent, possibly to assist him with fur trading. By the time of his death, Crewes also owned a store and a substantial house with four fireplaces. Crews and trader William Byrd I (who sided with the governor during the rebellion) encouraged Bacon's military response to Native American raids. Crewes signed one of the rebellion's crucial documents, that of August 3, with approximately 69 co-signatories, and may have held the bible when new recruits swore allegiance. He likely traveled to lower Norfolk county in southeastern Virginia in the fall, around the time of Bacon's death, and was one of the last of the rebellion's ringleaders to be caught.