Despite coming into conflict with royal governor Sir John Harvey in 1635, and a gap in legislative service, Harwood became the 5th speaker of the House of Burgesses.
[3] He immigrated to Jamestown in the Virginia colony from England aboard the Margaret and John in 1623, shortly after the Native American massacre of 1622.
[6][7][8] By 1625 Thomas Harwood and his wife Grace had moved to Mulberry Island, and were tenants living at a house owned by Capt.
[12] Warwick County voters elected Thomas Harwood multiple times as one of their representatives to the House of Burgesses, although his district's name changed often.
Harwood and Francis Pott sailed to England with Harvey, but carrying letters to the King as representatives of the House of Burgesses and council.
[6] His uncle William of Martin's Hundred was also summoned to England by the Privy Council in 1635, and presumably questioned about Governor Harvey, but never returned to the colony.
[1] Harwood was named to the legislature's upper body (the Governor's Council) after the colony recognized Parliament's authority and shortly before his death in 1652.
In modern times, a dam across Skiffe's Creek created a reservoir which remains crucial to the water supply of Newport News.
Subsequent archeological excavations indicated that Harwood descendants improved the house and made that plantation their main residence until about 1720, when his grandson William moved the family's headquarters further inland.