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News | April 4, 2022

Sheffield descendant visits family land on DSCR

By DLA Installation Management Richmond

On March 19, Robert Sheffield and his friend, Frank Mihlon received a guided tour of the installation given by Jimmy Parrish. chief of the Environmental Office of Defense Logistics Agency Installation Management Richmond.

Robert Sheffield is a former U.S. Air Force pilot living in Washington, D.C, and a descendant of Sir Thomas Sheffield who in 1619 owned 2,000 acres of the land now known as Defense Supply Center Richmond, Virginia.

He is directly related to Ichabod Sheffield, who was the first cousin to Sir Thomas Sheffield. Ichabod and his descendants lived and worked on the Sheffield Plantation.

Thomas and his followers also built the new world’s first iron works in 1621 along Falling Creek, which flowed along the plantation’s norther border.

On March 22, 1622, Sir Thomas Sheffield and nearly all the local settlers were killed by warriors from the Powhatan Native American tribe.  By 1630, descendants of the Sheffield family had returned to the area and the plantation began to flourish.

“The latest Sheffield was very appreciative of his tour of the installation and of seeing the land first settled by his family and learning more of its local history,” said Parrish. For more information on the history of DSCR, visit the installation history page.