Why would John Smith want fatherless children and young married couples to settle in America?

Answer 1

He didn't . He was an adventurer and lied about his part in Jamestown.The story we know is not true. Actually the colonist landed in an area of 14,000 Native Americans and in the worse land in the area. Powhatan pretty much left them alone. I think he figured that they would die from the bad water and disease . He was fairly right. Within 6 months there were only 34 men left alive of the 104 who came. It wasn't until after his death that the brother of Powhatan attacked the colony. The story about Smith is also not true. He did NOT save Jamestown. He was only there a very few months and he lied about his contribution to the settlement in a book he wrote several years later. He also made up the story about Pocahontas and she died young so couldn't refute his story. The man who did save Jamestown was the husband of Pocahontas and gave tobacco seeds to the colony. That was John Rolfe.