New Albion was a short-lived 17th-century English and Irish colony in the area of modern-day New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland in the United States.
[1] Colonization was unsuccessfully attempted by Sir Edmund Plowden, under the authority of a charter granted by Charles I in 1634.
"[2] The Dutch Commissioners in 1659 visited Secretary Philip Calvert in Maryland and argued that Lord Baltimore had no more right to the Delaware River than "Sir Edmund Ploythen, in former time would make us believe he hath unto".
"[3][4] The will of Sir Edmund Plowden was recorded in England and includes a listing of agents that had contracted to settle ranging from 40 to 100 men each.
In addition to naming family members, the will states that "after my decease doe imploy by consent of Sir William Mason of Grays Inn Knt otherwise William Mason Esqire whom I make Trustee for this my plantation…for the planting, fortifying, peopling and stocking of my Province of New Albion, and to summon & enforce according to Covenants in Indentures and subscriptions all my undertakers to transplant thither & there to settle their number of men with such of my estate yearly can transplant, namely:[3] & many others in England Virginia & New England subscribed & by direction in my manuscript bookes since I resided six [years?]
"[2][3][5] Edmund Plowden granted to Sir Thomas Danby a lease of ten thousand acres, one hundred of which were "on the northeast end or cape of Long Island," and the rest in the vicinity of Watsessett, presumed to be near the present Salem, New Jersey, with "full liberty and jurisdiction of a court baron and court leet," and other privileges for a 'Town and Manor of Danby Fort," conditioned on the settlement of one hundred "resident planters in the province," not suffering "any to live therein not believing or professing the three Christian creeds commonly called the Apostolical, Athanasian, and Nicene.
The Buckrow parcel purchased by John Batte for the Danby children was located in Elizabeth City County, Virginia and was adjacent a 700-acre land grant of 24 November 1647 of William Claiborne.
Back home his brother Richard Eltonhead fought for the Earl of Derby and the monarch King Charles I in the first English civil war.
As a consequence of supporting the defeated Royalist Cavaliers, Richard lost most of his wealth and was no longer able to afford dowries for his five young daughters.
However Edward Eltonhead had much better fortune in the New World and was granted 10,000 acres in Maryland for the act of providing fifty men for the province of New Albion.
Disabused of his notions of colonial lordship, Varley toured the agriculture of the mid-Atlantic states, dined with George Washington at Mount Vernon, and soon returned to the British Isles.