Virginia Dare was born on Roanoke Island on 18 August 1587, the daughter of English colonists Ananias and Eleanor Dare. She was the first English child born in North America.

Eleanor was the daughter of John White, governor of the English settlement established at Roanoke that summer. The colonists had crossed the Atlantic as part of Sir Walter Raleigh’s attempt to establish an English settlement in North America. They had intended to go farther north, but they stayed at Roanoke.

White recorded his granddaughter’s birth. Virginia was baptised several days later.

Nine days after her birth, White sailed for England to seek supplies and assistance for the colony. The war between England and Spain delayed his return.

White did not reach Roanoke again until August 1590. He found the settlement abandoned. Virginia, her parents and the other colonists had disappeared.

No reliable record survives of what happened to Virginia after White’s departure in 1587. Her birth is precisely recorded, but almost everything about the rest of her life is unknown.