Transported to Virginia
Now back to the Hurts, none of whom would have ever known Pocahontas, as they came to Virginia after her death.
Stephen Hamlin (also spelled Hamelin or Hamlyn) brought the Hurt family to Virginia as part of a group of 25 immigrants. Hamlin and his brothers had come to Massachusetts about 15 years before, with one brother settling in Boston and the other going to Mexico. Steven obtained a land patent in Virginia two years later.
To obtain a patent a colonist generally had to provide some sort of service to a government official, such as a royal or a governor. I didn't find what Hamlin might have done. A colonist could also obtain 50 acres of land by paying their transportation costs to the Virginia Company.
Records that others have dug up show that a colonist could acquire land one other way -- by paying the costs for bringing in other immigrants. I don't know what Hamlin's source funds was, but he picked up 250 acres of land by bringing over four people in 1638 and another 400 acres in 1642 by paying for another eight people. Costs for transportation ran to about £6 per person, something like £845.70 or around USD $1,115 in today's currency. (Calculated using the Measuring Worth website and picking the real wage option.)
As mentioned, he brought in 25 more people in 1650, which earned him 1,250 acres, and had applied for yet another patent before his death sometime before August 1665. That patent was granted and given to his son after his death.
According to the site Virginia Places, created by Charles A. Grymes, an adjunct instructor at George Mason University for a geography class, these transported immigrants were almost all indentured servants, many, if not most, recruited to work in the tobacco fields. In the early days of colonization, these indentured servants could receive small plots of land if they remained in the colony after their terms were up.
This sounds much like the Dutch patroon system, though with significant differences. The Virginia Company failed by 1625, and the king took over the colony, but the system for importing immigrants continued. We'd have to assume that William Hurt Sr., and his wife, the first to come to America, arrived under this system.
By the time William arrived the system had evolved a plan where the newly released servants could buy land, usually on credit, from the land owner. All that was required was for the new owner to clear the land for farming. Again, we'll have to do some assuming, which the adage assures us in not a good thing, but this may be how William obtained his first property
We do know that William later obtained some land the same way as his benefactor, by bringing immigrants to Virginia. The records show he obtained 213 acres in New Kent County, Va., in 1673, "the said land [being] due to the said Wm. Hurt by and for the transportation of 3 persons etc." and another 298 acres in neighboring King William County in 1701, "the said land being due unto the said William Hurt by and for the transportation of six persons into this colony ..." The latter property was in Pamunkey Neck, in Pamunkey territory.
A side note: William and his wife, Margaret, are listed as two of those six persons. Apparently he needed six people to get the land he wanted, but only had four. He is listed as William Hurt Sr., the first time "Sr." appears as part of his name. He did have a son named William, who died a year after he obtained the 298 acres.
It is conceivable that Junior is the one who obtained either or both of the parcels. But whether Senior or Junior put Senior's name in the list of transportees, the inclusion of the names is either a slick move on the Hurt family's part that escaped official attention, or some official deliberately allowed their inclusion. You decide.
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