Temperance Flowerdew

Temperance Flowerdew (1590 – 1628) was an early settler of the Jamestown Colony and a key member of the Flowerdew family, significant participants in the history of Jamestown. Temperance Flowerdew was wife of two Governors of Virginia, sister of another early colonist, aunt to a representative at the first General Assembly and "" (first cousin) to the Secretary to the Colony.

Flowerdew was one of the few survivors of the brutal winter of 1609–10, known as the "Starving Time", which killed almost ninety percent of Jamestown's inhabitants. Later, upon the death of her second husband, George Yeardley, Flowerdew became one of the wealthiest women in Virginia. Upon her death, the estate was transferred to her children despite the efforts of her third husband to claim it. She appears on the periphery of many historical events that occurred during the period.

Temperance Flowerdew was the daughter of Anthony Flowerdew, of Hethersett, Norfolk, and his wife Martha Stanley, of Scottow, County Norfolk. She married Richard Barrow on April 29, 1609 at St Gregory by St Paul's, London.

Now Mrs Barrow, she sailed for Jamestown aboard the Falcon, commanded by Captain John Martin, in May 1609 in a convoy of nine ships as part of the Virginia Company of London's Third Supply Mission. Whether she was accompanied by her husband is not of record. The flagship of the convoy, the Sea Venture, had the new leaders for Jamestown aboard, including George Yeardley. During the trip, the convoy encountered a severe storm which was quite likely a hurricane. The Sea Venture became separated from the rest of the convoy, ultimately coming aground on the island of Bermuda, where it was stranded for months. The Falcon continued on, reaching Jamestown in August 1609.

Temperance Barrow arrived in Jamestown just before the winter of the Starving Time, an extraordinarily harsh winter which the majority of townspeople did not survive. As provisions grew scarce, some thirty colonists tried to steal corn from Powhatan, but most of the men were slain during the attempt, only two escaping. The "common stores that should have kept all of the colonists through the winter" were instead "severely reduced by Indian raids and consumed by the commanders". The colonists subsisted on roots, herbs, acorns, berries, and fish. By the end of the winter, the five hundred English who had been left in Virginia only numbered about sixty.

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