Col. Bridges Freeman was the son of Thomas Freeman, of Oxfordshire, England, and Frances Bennet-Freeman, who was the daughter of Ralph Bennet and his wife Frances. Col. Bridges was the grandson of John Freeman, born about 1550's, and his wife Mae Thomas, born about 1540's. Col. Bridges was the sibling of William (1st) 1605, who died in infancy, Henrie, 1606, Elizabeth (Pethouse or Pettus) 1608, William (2nd) 1609, Bennet, 1612, John, 1624, and possibly Robert and James.

Col. Bridges was the husband of one Bridget Fowler. Their children possibly included; Bridges Freeman Jr., Henry Freeman, James Freeman of New Kent. Bridges Jr., married Elizabeth, the daughter of Capt. James and Catherine Besouth.

Historical information;

As a young man in his twenties he apparently emigrated to the Virginia Colony by 1625, where he married. He was appointed to a position in a joint stock company of the Virginia Company, called the Magazine (or Magine), which was dissolved in about 1630. When elected in 1629, he served one session of the House of Burgesses for Pasbyhay (spelled various ways) country, north along the James River, and in 1632 he served a session for the Chickahominy ( also spelled various ways), tract of land. As a Burgess, he rose in rank to Lt. Col. From 1635 to 1655 he amassed about 1550 acres of land in total, and is referred to as the Tomahunn Plantation, near the mouth of the Chicahominy River, on the south (Charles City County, VA.). He also owned land that extended east of the Chicahominy, James City, Co. VA, referred to as Freeman's Point. Bennet Freeman received 400 acres, on Thomahund Creek, Dec., 20, 1648, that being part of the dividend of Francis Fowler. Col. Bridges was reelected in 1647 to the house of Burgesses. He was also appointed to the Governor's Council, in the provisional government of Virgina Colony, for two terms that ended about 1655. Bridges Freeman gave away a portion of his land according to a reference to his Last Will and Testament, and died between 1660-1680. One One early land record states that Bridges Freeman was a Justice for James City County in 1680. A possible relative, Thomas Freeman, and some of the Bennet family were murdered by the Powhatan Indians in the Virginia Massacre of 1622, according to those existing records. It is entirely possible that he and his family lived in more than one place, considering the lands that he amassed and the number of years his life encompassed. Hopkins, Freeman Forebears mention that Bridges had a main home built by a builder or builders named Fowler. A home of which, the dimensions match those found by modern excavation site of Pasbyhay Original burying grounds. This research is showing up all over the internet.

The original burial grounds have been excavated and an upsclale golf coarse has been built thereon.

GenealogyJoan or FamilyfinderJoan on findagrave website.

Lt. Col. Bridges Freeman, whose biography already has been presented, was born in Oxfordshire, England in 1603. In all probability he was the oldest son of a family of good standing which had lost its money. The fact that at least two of the family are mentioned as merchants indicates that this was another example of country gentry, else they would not have borne arms, whom the times had forced into merchant class, not then so well looked upon as now. When seventeen or eighteen years of age, the family bade him Godspeed and sent him off to the New World to seek his fortune. He may have been brought over by Captain Martin of Martin's Brandon, for there he seems to have taken abode with another young man, James Sleight. His story, duly annotated has already been told. He married, ca. 1635, Bridget Fowler, daughter of Francis Fowler, prominent in early Virginia history. Fowler was evidently married before coming to America. In all probability he had left his family in England. It would be intensely interesting to know how these two came to be married. It is exceedingly doubtful if they had met prior to the day she disembarked, yet she may have been a boyhood sweetheart. Had they written? Did she come specifically to marry Freeman? Was it her father's accounts of the character of this youth that had attracted her? Here is fertile for some skilled writer to work out a great novel.

Freeman Forebears by Garland Evans Hopkins (circa 1942-43)

Edited by Virginia Lee Freeman Taylor and Robert Brant Taylor (1995)

Birth and death dates are estimated at this time.