List of colonists at Roanoke

Roanoke Colony was an enterprise financed and organized by Sir Walter Raleigh in the late 16th century to establish a permanent English settlement in the Virginia Colony.

1585 colony
The original colony was established in 1585 as a military outpost under the command of Ralph Lane, and evacuated in 1586. A list of colonists is provided in Richard Hakluyt's The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, And Discoveries Of The English Nation, although no author is recorded for the list. The list denotes 107 men who served under Lane, for a total of 108 colonists.

A point of contention among historians is that John White is not listed among the 1585 colonists. White is known to have arrived at Roanoke with the colonists, but there is no record of him remaining with the colony through the winter or returning to England with Richard Grenville's fleet. David Beers Quinn argued that White must have remained in the colony long enough to produce a map based on the colonists' 1586 exploration of the region. He speculated that a simple error could have omitted White from the list, or included him as "Iohn Twyt", "William White", or "Iohn Wright". In contrast, James Horn observed that White produced no known artwork of the people and towns discovered after August 1585, suggesting he was no longer present in the colony. As for the map, Horn argued that White, who was not a surveyor, would have based his illustration on someone else's survey data, making it no less plausible that he received such data in England than at Roanoke. In any event, the dispute raises the possibility of errors in the list Hakluyt published, and that the figure of 108 may not be exact.

• #Ralph Lane

• #Philip Amadas

• #Hariot

• #Acton

• #Edward Stafford

• #Thomas Luddington

• #Maruyn

• #Gardiner

• #Captaine Vaughan

• #Kendall

• #Prideox

• #Robert Holecroft

• #Rise Courtney

• #Hugh Roger

• #Thomas Haruie

• #Snelling

• #Anthony Russe

• #Allyne

• #Michael Polison

• #Iohn Cage

• #Thomas Parre

• #William Randes

• #Geffery Churchman

• #William Farthow

• #Iohn Taylor

• #Philip Robyns

• #Thomas Philips

• #Valentine Beale

• #Thomas Foxe

• #Darby Glande

• #Edward Nugen

• #Edward Kelle

• #Iohn Gostigo

• #Erasmus Clefs

• #Edward Ketcheman

• #Iohn Linsey

• #Thomas Rottenbury

• #Roger Deane

• #Iohn Harris

• #Francis Norris

• #Matthew Lyne

• #Edward Kettell

• #Thomas Wisse

• #Robert Biscombe

• #William Backhouse

• #William White

• #Henry Potkin

• #Dennis Barnes

• #Ioseph Borges

• #Dougham Gannes

• #William Tenche

• #Randall Latham

• #Thomas Hulme

• #Walter Mill

• #Richard Gilbert

• #Steuen Pomarie

• #Iohn Brocke

• #Bennet Harrie

• #Iames Steuenson

• #Charles Steuenson

• #Christopher Lowde

• #Ieremie Man

• #Iames Mason

• #Dauid Salter

• #Richard Ireland

• #Thomas Bookener

• #William Philips

• #Randall Mayne

• #Iames Skinner

• #George Eseuen

• #Iohn Chandeler

• #Philip Blunt

• #Richard Poore

• #Robert Yong

• #Marmaduke Constable

• #Thomas Hesket

• #William Wasse

• #Iohn Feuer

• #Daniel

• #Thomas Taylor

• #Richard Humfrey

• #Iohn Wright

• #Gabriel North

• #Bennet Chappell

• #Richard Sare

• #Iames Lacie

• #Smolkin

• #Thomas Smart

• #Robert

• #Iohn Euans

• #Roger Large

• #Humfrey Garden

• #Francis Whitton

• #Rowland Gryffin

• #William Millard

• #Iohn Twit

• #Edward Seclemore

• #Iohn Anwike

• #Christopher Marshall

• #Dauid Williams

• #Nicholas Swabber

• #Edward Chipping

• #Siluester Beching

• #Vincent Cheyne

• #Hance Walters

• #Edward Barecombe

• #Thomas Skeuelabs

• #William Walters

1587 colony
Following the evacuation of the 1585 Roanoke colony, Walter Raleigh commissioned a second colony to be established by John White in 1587. The second colony was intended to settle in Chesapeake Bay, but instead was deposited on Roanoke Island. The colonists requested that White return to England, with the expectation that he would come back to Roanoke with fresh supplies in 1588. When White finally returned in 1590, the site of the colony was abandoned.

The exact number of people in the "Lost Colony" is disputed. Hakluyt's Principal Navigations provides a list of 119 individuals who "safely arrived in Virginia" and remained there as of August 1587. The list is not credited, but was presumably compiled by White, given his unique familiarity with the matter. However, White himself is included in the list, as well as Simon Fernandes (who also returned to England) and two men who had died prior to White's departure. The name "Thomas Harris" appears twice, possibly representing two men with the same name or an unintentional duplication. These problems suggest the possibility of other, less obvious issues in the list.

In a 1955 analysis of the list, David Beers Quinn determined "therefore, eighty-five men, less one dead (George Howe) and two returned (John White and Simon Fernandes), seventeen women and eleven children, making 113 brought from England and 110 left by White, plus two children born on Roanoke Island and two Indians, the total left behind being 114." However, Quinn's count of 85 European men may be in error, as he presents all 91 names from Hakluyt but only deducts three. A very conservative tabulation (discounting White, Fernandes, Howe, Thomas Smith and the second Thomas Harris, and assuming Manteo and Towaye did not reside with the colony) would yield a population of 112 following White's departure. In contrast, Andy Gabriel-Powell proposed that the Hakluyt list may be incomplete, and that the total could be as high as 121.

Men
• #John White

• #Roger Baily

• #Ananias Dare

• #Christopher Cooper

• #Thomas Stevens

• #John Sampson

• #Dyonis Harvie

• #Roger Prat

• #George How

• #Simon Fernandes

• #Nicholas Johnson

• #Thomas Warner

• #Anthony Cage

• #John Jones

• #William Willes

• #John Brooke

• #Cutbert White

• #John Bright

• #Clement Tayler

• #William Sole

• #John Cotsmur

• #Humfrey Newton

• #Thomas Colman

• #Thomas Gramme

• #Marke Bennet

• #John Gibbes

• #John Stilman

• #Robert Wilkinson

• #John Tydway

• #Ambrose Viccars

• #Edmond English

• #Thomas Topan

• #Henry Berry

• #Richard Berry

• #John Spendlove

• #John Hemmington

• #Thomas Butler

• #Edward Powell

• #John Burden

• #James Hynde

• #Thomas Ellis

• #William Browne

• #Michael Myllet

• #Thomas Smith

• #Richard Kemme

• #Thomas Harris

• #Richard Taverner

• #John Earnest

• #Henry Johnson

• #John Starte

• #Richard Darige

• #William Lucas

• #Arnold Archard

• #John Wright

• #William Dutton

• #Mauris Allen

• #William Waters

• #Richard Arthur

• #John Chapman

• #William Clement

• #Robert Little

• #Hugh Tayler

• #Richard Wildye

• #Lewes Wotton

• #Michael Bishop

• #Henry Browne

• #Henry Rufoote

• #Richard Tomkins

• #Henry Dorrell

• #Charles Florrie

• #Henry Mylton

• #Henry Paine

• #Thomas Harris

• #William Nichols

• #Thomas Phevens

• #John Borden

• #Thomas Scot

• #Peter Little

• #John Wyles

• #Brian Wyles

• #George Martyn

• #Hugh Pattenson

• #Martin Sutton

• #John Farre

• #John Bridger

• #Griffen Jones

• #Richard Shabedge

• #James Lasie

• #John Cheven

• #Thomas Hewet

• #William Berde

Women
• #Eleanor Dare

• #Margery Harvie

• #Agnes Wood

• #Wenefrid Powell

• #Joyce Archard

• #Jane Jones

• #Elizabeth Glane

• #Jane Pierce

• #Audry Tappan

• #Alis Chapman

• #Emme Merrimoth

• #Colman

• #Margaret Lawrence

• #Joan Warren

• #Jane Mannering

• #Rose Payne

• #Elizabeth Viccars

Children
• #John Sampson

• #Robert Ellis

• #Ambrose Viccars

• #Thomas Archard

• #Thomas Humfrey

• #Thomas Smart

• #George How

• #John Prat

• #William Wythers

• #Virginia Dare
 * Children born at the colony

• #Harvie

Native American repatriates
• #Manteo

• #Towaye