Tobacco brides or wives is a descriptive name for young, single English women whom the Virginia Company of London recruited in the early 1600s. They would emigrate to Colonial Virginia to marry a settler, where a significant gender imbalance existed between men and women.
The expense to find the perfect companion fell upon the men of the Jamestown colony, who would pay with 150 pounds or more of tobacco and other costs. The women were typically incentivized with the promise of land ownership and inheritance rights and were allowed to find a suitable mate. This practice was relatively unheard of during that time, given the lack of women’s rights or luxuries afforded to them in England.
Written By: John G. Clark Jr.