[1] Complicating matters, as explicated by genealogist James Branch Cabell a century ago, other men of the same name lived in Virginia during his lifetime, particularly Edward Major who lived in Accomack County, on Virginia's Eastern Shore, bore sons named Thomas, John and Richard and died before 1645.
[6] Circa 1648, during his absence from the legislature as noted below, Major probably also helped Richard Bennett to establish the Puritan settlement in Maryland.
[2][1][7] In any event, Governor Richard Bennett, sympathetic to the religious nonconformists, named Major Lieutenant Colonel of the Nansemond militia in 1653.
[1][8] Whether titled of Nansemond, Nanzimond or Upper Norfolk County, local voters at least five times elected Major as one of the men representing them in the House of Burgesses.
Major was closely associated with Puritan settlers in the colony, and was elected Speaker of the House of Burgesses in 1652, just after Virginia acceded to the authority of Parliament following the execution of King Charles I.