Miles Cary (immigrant)

Miles Cary I (January 1623 – 10 June 1667) (later occasionally nicknamed "The Immigrant") was the first member of the Cary family to live in America, and to serve in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly. The son of prominent Bristol families which sustained substantial losses during the English Civil Wars, he emigrated to the Virginia colony by 1645 and opened a store, then married well and developed plantations in Warwick County. Cary held various local offices and twice represented Warwick County as a burgess before being named to the Virginia Governor's Council. Cary amassed significant landholdings, and supported governor William Berkeley. He died at his home of wounds received defending the Virginia colony against a Dutch incursion on the James River six days earlier (5 June 1667). His namesake son and two other descendants of the same name also served in the Virginia General Assembly.