Colonel John West, Jr. (or John West II) of West Point, Virginia (1632–1691) was an ancient planter, commander of the New Kent Militia in the Colony of Virginia and represented the county in the House of Burgesses, as would his sons. Complicating matters, while this man sided with Governor William Berkeley during Bacon's Rebellion and had his property at West Point severely damaged, his cousin of the same name (John West, son of Anthony West) who lived on Virginia's Eastern Shore sided with the rebels and briefly (in 1676) represented Accomack County as a burgess, and received a pardon after the conflict (as well as had two sons named John and one named Jonathan with the names of his later sons Anthony and Alexander West not being used in the other West family).
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Early and family life
John West was born on June 6, 1632, at Bellfield Plantation, York River, Virginia. He was the child of Captain John West, Virginia Governor and his wife Ann (surname unknown). His father received an extra land grant because John was the first child of English parents born in the York River area. He had an elder brother, Nathaniel West (1622-1670/1) who was sent as a child to Borwick Hall in Lancaster, England and raised by his first cousin, Cecily West, the wife of Sir Francis Bindloss, then married and remained in the mother country. Because this man was listed as a headright by his father in 1651, he also probably traveled to England for his education, and returned in that year.