Joseph Croshaw


Major Joseph Croshaw was a substantial planter living near Williamsburg in the Colony and Dominion of Virginia.

Early life

Crowshaw was born in probably 1610-1612, the son of Captain Raleigh Croshaw. He became a substantial planter and lived just a few miles from present-day Williamsburg, Virginia. On December 10, 1651, he patented land which became the plantation known as Poplar Neck:
Poplar Neck subsequently came to Col. John West through West's marriage to Joseph Croshaw's daughter Unity.

Family

Croshaw married five times and had eight children:
1. Elizabeth Yeardley, daughter of Gov. and Capt. Sir George Yeardley and wife Temperance Flowerdew.
2. Widow Finch
3. Mrs. Anne Hodges, widow of Augustine Hodges
4. Mrs. Margaret Tucker, widow of Daniel Tucker
5. Mrs. Mary Bromfield, widow of Thomas Bromfeild
Croshaw died by April 10, 1667, when his will was recorded in York County, Virginia. The inventory of his estate included two pewter candlesticks, forty-two pewter dishes, four porringers, thirty-six spoons, one bedpan, and one still. It also listed a silver sack-cup; twenty-four silver spoons; and a silver tankard of the largest size, valued at four pounds sterling.
The inventory of 1668 also listed the Croshaw estate as having 1000 bricks manufactured either by their own servants or by transient laborers.