Gov. Ralph Northam's ancestor was first Northampton clerk of court

Northam's former high school teacher, Dennis Custis, kicked off the event, saying it was "very fitting that we have M.K. Miles here tonight with the governor to make a presentation, because M.K. has done more to allow Eastern Shoremen to connect with their families than any person in the history of the Eastern Shore, while our current governor has done more to literally put the Eastern Shore on the map than any individual who was ever born or raised on the Eastern Shore."

Custis reminded the crowd that the only other Virginia governor from the Eastern Shore was Henry Wise, who served in the mid-1800s.

"I can honestly say that Gov. Northam has done more in his (first) 100 days than Henry Wise did in his four years," Custis said.

Miles said he started tracing the Northam line on the Eastern Shore of Virginia some four decades ago because his wife has a Northam ancestor.

When Ralph Northam was elected lieutenant governor, Miles decided to tackle in earnest the research project on the Northam family.

"I've been building this Eastern Shore ancestry database for 40 years," Miles said, adding he became interested in genealogy after watching the television mini-series "Roots."

Miles in his research found the earliest record of a Northam ancestor on the Eastern Shore in the Northampton County court records — a deposition from Jan. 14, 1681, when John Northam, 25, testified about a statement a man made in a dispute with another person.

Miles also found Northam is related to Henry Bagwell, who was born in 1589 in England and died in 1663 in Northampton County.

Bagwell was the first clerk of court in Northampton County, which covered the part of the Eastern Shore now encompassing both Accomack and Northampton counties.

Bagwell came to Virginia on the "Sea Venture," a supply ship that left England headed for Jamestown in 1608, but which got shipwrecked on Bermuda during a hurricane.

"They had to rebuild the boat. It was 1610 before they showed up in Jamestown," Miles said, adding that scholars say "it was because they showed up in 1610, they saved the colony."  

Northam greeted the group gathered to view the presentation and recalled spending many hours as a youth at the library in Accomac.

"It seems like just yesterday. I used to come here on a lot of afternoons after school. That was before the internet, and we didn't have a whole lot of books to study at home, so I would sit right back here and look at the encyclopedias and do reports — so I have a lot of fond memories," he said.

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