John West

John West (December 14, 1590 – c. 1659) was an early member of the Virginia General Assembly and acting colonial Governor of Virginia from 1635 to 1637, the third West brother to serve as Governor and one of the founders of the West Family of Virginia, which would include many politicians. Early and family life The fifth son and twelfth child of Thomas West, 2nd Baron De La Warr, was born at Testwood in Hampshire, England. His brother Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr was the largest investor in the London Company which received a charter to establish settlers in the New World, then financed several voyages, including those which founded a settlement at Jamestown in 1609. Thomas West, Lord Delaware, was the first governor of what became the Virginia colony, serving from 1608 until 1618. However, first John West was educated, including beginning in 1609 at Magdalen College, from which he received a degree in 1613. Virginia John West arrived in Virginia in 1618, several years after his brother Francis West who served on the Governor's Council. Fellow colonists thrice elected John West a member of the House of Burgesses (1628–30), and he represented the "Plantations over the water" alongside John Burland, then Robert Fellgate, until the end of that constituency.