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John Rolfe
Born: 1585
Birthplace: Norfolk, England
Died: 22-Mar-1622
Location of death: Varina Farms, VA
Cause of death: War
Remains: MissingGender: Male
Religion: Anglican/Episcopalian
Race or Ethnicity: White
Occupation: AgriculturalistNationality: England
Executive summary: First Virginia tobacco baron, husband of PocahontasJohn Rolfe was an earlier American settler. His date of birth is unknown, but he was baptized on 6 May 1585 and came to the Colonies in 1610. He was one of many settlers sent by the Virginia Company of London, charged with finding ways to make the New World profitable, and in this assignment Rolfe was wildly successful: The native Virginia variety of tobacco, Nicotiana rustica, had been deemed too bitter for English customers' tastes, but in about 1612 Rolfe imported and began cultivating Caribbean tobacco, Nicotiana Tabacum. Ever since, tobacco has been the region's dominant crop.
His first wife died en route to the colonies, and Rolfe later married the Native Princess Pocahontas, who had been kidnapped and converted to Christianity. He returned to England with her, where they met with King James I and Sir Walter Raleigh and were greeted across England as celebrity-curiosities. Tragically, she contracted a disease for which she had no genetic immunity -- smallpox, some say, or pneumonia -- and died within months. Rolfe, now twice widowed, returned to Virginia where he served in several colonial administrative posts and married a third time. During a 1622 battle with Natives, his home was destroyed, and Rolfe is presumed to have perished, though his body was never found.
Through Thomas Rolfe, his son with Pocahontas, Rolfe's progeny extends through many generations of Virginia's most prominent families, including the Bollings, Randolphs, and First Lady Edith Wilson. The social stature of these families necessitated the insertion of a specific clause in Virginia's later laws against miscegeny, defining fourth- and subsequent generation descendants of Native Americans as legally White.
Father: John Rolfe (b. 1562, d. 1594)
Mother: Dorothea Mason Rolfe (b. 1559, m. 1582)
Sister: Eustace Rolfe (b. 1585, d. 1593)
Brother: Henry Rolfe (b. 1587)
Brother: Edward Rolfe (b. 1591)
Sister: Dorothy Rolfe (b. 1595)
Wife: Sarah Hacker Rolfe (m. 1608, d. 1612, one daughter)
Daughter: Bermuda Rolfe (d. infancy)
Wife: Pocahontas (Native princess, b. 1595, m. 5-Apr-1614, one son)
Son: Thomas Rolfe (colonist, b. 1615)
Wife: Jane Pierce (m. 1620, one daughter)
Daughter: Elizabeth Rolfe (b. 1620, d. 1635)
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Born: 1585 Birthplace: Norfolk, England Died: 22-Mar -1622 Location of death: Varina Farms, VA Cause of death: War Remains: Missing
Gender: Male Religion: Anglican/Episcopalian Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: AgriculturalistJohn Rolfe (1585-1622)
John Rolfe is best remembered for having introduced tobacco as a commercial crop to Virginia colonists. The production of this valuable commodity shaped the future development of the colony and provided an economic incentive for further expansion and settlement of the New World. Rolfe is also well-known because of his marriage to Pocahontas. This marriage brought a much-needed period of peace between the Indians and the colonists. The couple toured England in 1616 - 1617 and promoted the colony at Jamestown.
John Rolfe was the son of John Rolfe and Dorothea Mason. He was born in Norfolk, England and baptized on May 6, 1585. Little is known of John Rolfe's early life in England. He was married (possibly in 1608) and in 1609 he and his wife set sail for Virginia on board the Sea Adventure. Their ship was wrecked during a hurricane in the Bermudas and the couple remained stranded for several months along with over a hundred other settlers bound for Jamestown. While in Bermuda, Rolfe's wife delivered a daughter (February, 1610) who died shortly thereafter. Eventually the settlers constructed two small ships (the Patience and the Deliverance) and continued their journey to Virginia. In May, 1610 Rolfe and his wife finally reached Virginia but his wife died soon after their arrival.
John Rolfe began his experiments with planting tobacco in 1612. The native tobacco of Virginia was of little commercial interest to the Virginia Company as the tobacco was too harsh for European taste. Rolfe planted seeds from the West Indies and produced a crop which was more fragrant and sweet than native tobacco, yet was also well-suited to the growing conditions of the new colony. By 1617, the colonists produced enough tobacco to send their first shipment to England. Although the Virginia tobacco was deemed inferior to fine Spanish tobacco, it was plentiful and cheap. Sir Walter Raleigh promoted the use of tobacco (both as a medicine and as a recreational drug). Early tobacco prices ranged from one to three shillings, prompting a tobacco boom which lasted through the 1620's. John Rolfe's role in the introduction of tobacco as a cash crop insured his standing within the colony.
In 1613, the Indian princess Pocahontas (daughter of Powhatan, leader of the Powhatan federation) was kidnapped by the Jamestown settlers. The colonists wished to trade Pocahontas for Englishmen and weapons captured by the Indians. The exchange never occurred. Pocahontas learned English and converted to Christianity, taking the name of Rebecca.
John Rolfe presumably met Pocahontas after her conversion; he fell in love with the young Indian woman and decided to marry her. Rolfe's decision to marry Pocahontas was not made lightly. He asked permission of the governor (Sir Thomas Dale) in a letter which carefully outlined his desire for marriage. [See Rolfe letter] Rolfe also asked Powhatan for permission to marry his daughter, the Indian leader granted his permission and agreed to maintain a peace with the settlers. The couple married on April 5, 1614. The relationship between the colonists and the Indians remained peaceful for the next eight years (until Powhatan's death). During this period the colony expanded and Pocahontas gave birth to a son, Thomas.
In 1616, Rolfe and his family traveled to England to encourage support of the Virginia Company and the colony. While in England Rolfe sent King James a description of the colony at Jamestown (published as the True Relation of the State of Virginia). Rolfe also introduced his wife to the King. In March 1617, the couple boarded a ship to return to Virginia. Pocahontas, ill with pneumonia (or perhaps tuberculosis) had to be taken ashore at Gravesend. She died there on March 21, 1617 and was buried in a local churchyard. Rolfe returned home to Virginia, leaving his son in England to receive an education.
Upon his return to Virginia, Rolfe became more involved in the government of the colony. He served as secretary and recorder of the colony from 1614-1619 and in 1621 he was appointed to the Council of State. He also married again, this time to Jane Pierce, the daughter of colonist William Pierce. The couple had at least one child, a daughter Elizabeth born in 1618. Rolfe continued farming tobacco on his plantation Bermuda Hundred. Tobacco production increased dramatically during the 1620's, fostering a wave of migration to the colony.
John Rolfe died in 1622 after his plantation was destroyed in an Indian attack. It remains unclear whether Rolfe died in the Indian massacre or whether he died as a result of illness. He was survived by his wife and daughter and by one son, Thomas Rolfe.Bibliography
Morgan, Edmund S. American Slavery, American Freedom. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1975.
Tyler, Lyon G. The Cradle of the Republic. Richmond: Hermitage Press, Inc., 1907.Letter of John Rolfe, 1614
The marriage of Pocahontas to John Rolfe.The coppie of the Gentle-mans letters to Sir Thomas Dale, that after married Powhatans daughter, containing the reasons moving him thereunto.
Honourable Sir, and most worthy Governor:
When your leasure shall best serve you to peruse these lines, I trust in God, the beginning will not strike you into a greater admiration, then the end will give you good content. It is a matter of no small moment, concerning my own particular, which here I impart unto you, and which toucheth mee so neerely, as the tendernesse of my salvation. Howbeit I freely subject my selfe to your grave and mature judgement, deliberation, approbation, and determination; assuring my selfe of your zealous admonitions, and godly comforts, either perswading me to desist, or incouraging me to persist therin, with a religious and godly care, for which (from the very instant, that this began to roote it selfe within the secret bosome of my brest) my daily and earnest praiers have bin, still are, and ever shall be produced forth with as sincere a godly zeale as I possibly may to be directed, aided and governed in all my thoughts, words, and deedes, to the glory of God, and for my eternal consolation. To persevere wherein I never had more neede, nor (till now) could ever imagine to have bin moved with the like occasion.
But (my case standing as it doth) what better worldly refuge can I here seeke, then to shelter my selfe under the safety of your favourable protection? And did not my ease proceede from an unspotted conscience, I should not dare to offer to your view and approved judgement, these passions of my troubled soule, so full of feare and trembling in hypocrisie and dissimulation. But knowing my owne innocency and godly fervor, in the whole prosecution hereof, I doubt not of your benigne acceptance, and clement construction. As for malicious depravers, and turbulent spirits, to whom nothing is tastful7 but what pleaseth their unsavory paalat, I passe not for them being well assured in my perswasion (by the often trial and proving of my selfe, in my holiest meditations and praiers) that I am called hereunto by the spirit of God; and it shall be sufficient for me to be protected by your selfe in all vertuous and pious indevours. And for my more happie proceeding herein, my daily oblations shall ever be addressed to bring to passe so good effects, that your selfe, and all the world may truely say: This is the worke of God, and it is marvelous in our eies.
But to avoid tedious preambles, and to come neerer the matter: first suffer me with your patence, to sweepe and make cleane the way wherein I walke, from all suspicions and doubts, which may be covered therein, and faithfully to reveale unto you, what should move me hereunto.
Let therefore this my well advised protestation, which here I make betweene God and my own conscience, be a sufficient witnesse, at the dreadfull day of judgement (when the secret of all mens harts shall be opened) to condemne me herein, if my chiefest intent and purpose be not, to strive with all my power of body and minde, in the undertaking of so mightie a matter, no way led (so farre forth as mans weakenesse may permit) with the unbridled desire of carnall affection: but for the good of this plantation, for the honour of our countrie, for the glory of God, for my owne salvation, and for the converting to the true knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, an unbeleeving creature, namely Pokahuntas. To whom my hartie and best thoughts are, and have a long time bin so intagled, and inthralled in so intricate a laborinth, that I was even awearied to unwinde my selfe thereout. But almighty God, who never faileth his, that truly invocate his holy name hath opened the gate, and led me by the hand that I might plainely see and discerne the safe paths wherein to treade.
To you therefore (most noble Sir) the patron and Father of us in this countrey doe I utter the effects of this setled and long continued affection (which hath made a mightie warre in my mediations) and here I doe truely relate, to what issue this dangerous combate is come unto, wherein I have not onely examined, but throughly tried and pared my thoughts even to the quick, before I could Snde and fit wholesome and apt applications to cure so daungerous an ulcer. I never failed to offer my daily and faithfull praiers to God, for his sacred and holy assistance. I forgot not to set before mine eies the frailty of mankinde, his prones to evill, his indulgencie of wicked thoughts, with many other imperfections wherein man is daily insnared, and oftentimes overthrowne, and them compared to my present estate. Nor was I ignorant of the heavie displeasure which almightie God conceived against the sonnes of Levie and Israel for marrying strange wives, nor of the inconveniences which may thereby arise, with other the like good motions which made me looke about warily and with good circumspection, into the grounds and principall agitations, which thus should provoke me to be in love with one whose education hath bin rude, her manners barbarous, her generation accursed, and so discrepant in all nurtriture frome my selfe, that oftentimes with feare and trembling, I have ended my private controversie with this: surely these are wicked instigations, hatched by him who seeketh and delighteth in mans destruction; and so with fervent praiers to be ever preserved from such diabolical assaults (as I tooke those to be) I have taken some rest.
Thus-when I had thought I had obtained my peace and quitnesse, beholde another, but more gracious tentation hath made breaches into my holiest and strongest meditations; with which I have bin put to a new traill, in a straighter manner then the former: for besides the many passions and sufferings which I have daily, hourely, yea and in my sleepe indured, even awaking mee to astonishment, taxing mee with remisnesse, and carlesnesse, refusing and neglecting to performe the duetie of a good Christian, pulling me by the eare, and crying: why dost not thou indevour to make her a Christian? And these have happened to my greater wonder, ven when she hath bin furthest seperated from me, which in common reason (were it not an undoubted worke of God) might breede forgetfulnesse of a farre more worthie creature. Besides, I say the holy spirit of God often demaunded of me, why I was created?
If not for transitory pleasures and worldly vanities, but to labour in the Lords vineyard, there to sow and plant, to nourish and increase the fruites thereof, daily adding witt the good husband in the Gospell, somewhat to the tallent, that in the end the fruites may be reaped, to the comfort of the laborer in this life, and his salvation in the world to come? And if this be, as undoubtedly this is, the service Jesus Christ requireth of his best servant: wo unto him that hath these instruments of pietie put into his hands and wilfillly despiseth to worke with them. Likewise, adding hereunto her great apparance of love to me, her desire to be taught and instructed in the knowledge of God, her capablenesse of understanding, her aptnesse and willingnesse to receive anie good impression, and also the spirituall, besides her owne incitements stirring me up hereunto.
What should I doe? Shall I be of so untoward a disposition, as to refuse to leade the blind into the right way? Shall I be so unnaturall, as not to give bread to the hungrie? or uncharitable, as not to cover the naked? Shall I despise to actuatethese pious dueties of a Christian? Shall the base feare of displeasing the world, overpower and with holde mee from revealing unto man these spirituall workes of the Lord, which in my meditations and praiers, I have daily made knowne unto him? God forbid. I assuredly trust hee hath thus delt with me for my eternall felicitie, and for his glorie: and I hope so to be guided by his heavenly graice, that in the end by my faithfilll paines, and christianlike labour, I shall attaine to that blessed promise, Pronounced by that holy Prophet Daniell unto the righteous that bring many unto the knowledge of God. Namely, that they shall shine like the starres forever and ever. A sweeter comfort cannot be to a true Christian, nor a greater incouragement for him to labour all the daies of his life, in the performance thereof, nor a greater gaine of consolation, to be desired at the hower of death, and in the day of judgement.
Againe by my reading, and conference with honest and religious persons, have I received no small encouragement, besides serena mea conscientia, the cleerenesse of my conscience, clean from the filth of impurity, quoe est instar muri ahenei, which is unto me, as a brasen wall. If I should set down at large, the perhioations and godly motions, which have striven within mee, I should but make a tedious and unnecessary volume. But I doubt not these shall be sufficient both to certifie you of my tru intents, in discharging of my dutie to God, and to your selfe, to whose gracious providence I humbly submit my selfe, for his glory, your honour, our Countreys good, the benefit of this Plantation, and for the converting of one unregenerate, to regeneration; which I beseech God to graunt, for his deere Sonne Christ Jesus his sake.
Now if the vulgar sort, who square all mens actions by the base rule of their owne filthinesse, shall taxe or taunt me in this my godly labour: let them know, it is not any hungry appetite, to gorge my selfe with incontinency; sure (if I would, and were so sensually inclined) I might satisfie such desire, though not without a seared conscience, yet with Christians more pleasing to the eie, and lesse fearefull in the offence unlawfully committed. Nor am I in so desperate an estate, that I regard not what becommeth of mee; nor am I out of hope but one day to see my Country, nor so void of friends, nor mean in birth, but there to obtain a mach to my great content: nor have I ignorantly passed over my hopes there, or regardlesly seek to loose the love of my- friends, by taking this course: I know them all, and have not rashly overslipped any.
But shal it please God thus to dispose of me (which I earnestly desire to fulfill my ends before sette down) I will heartely accept of it as a godly taxe appointed me, and I will never cease, (God assisting me) untill I have accomplished, and brought to perfection so holy a worke, in which I will daily pray God to blesse me, to mine, and her eternall happines. And thus desiring no longer to live, to enjoy the blessings of God, then this my resolution doth tend to such godly ends, as are by me before declared: not doubting of your favourable acceptance, I take my leave, beseeching Almighty God to raine downe upon you, such plenitude of his heavenly graces, as your heart can wish and desire, and so I rest,
At your command most willing to be disposed off
John Rolfe
Source: Jameson, J, Franldin. Narratives of Early Virginia. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907. (237-244)
John Rolfe
Nationality: England Executive summary: First Virginia tobacco baron, husband of Pocahontas
John Rolfe was an earlier American settler. His date of birth is unknown, but he was baptized on 6 May 1585 and came to the Colonies in 1610. He was one of many settlers sent by the Virginia Company of London, charged with finding ways to make the New World profitable, and in this assignment Rolfe was wildly successful: The native Virginia variety of tobacco, Nicotiana rustica, had been deemed too bitter for English customers' tastes, but in about 1612 Rolfe imported and began cultivating Caribbean tobacco, Nicotiana Tabacum. Ever since, tobacco has been the region's dominant crop.
His first wife died en route to the colonies, and Rolfe later married the Native Princess Pocahontas , who had been kidnapped and converted to Christianity. He returned to England with her, where they met with King James I and Sir Walter Raleigh and were greeted across England as celebrity-curiosities. Tragically, she contracted a disease for which she had no genetic immunity -- smallpox, some say, or pneumonia -- and died within months. Rolfe, now twice widowed, returned to Virginia where he served in several colonial administrative posts and married a third time. During a 1622 battle with Natives, his home was destroyed, and Rolfe is presumed to have perished, though his body was never found.
Through Thomas Rolfe, his son with Pocahontas, Rolfe's progeny extends through many generations of Virginia's most prominent families, including the Bollings, Randolphs, and First Lady Edith Wilson . The social stature of these families necessitated the insertion of a specific clause in Virginia's later laws against miscegeny, defining fourth- and subsequent generation descendants of Native Americans as legally White.Father: John Rolfe (b. 1562, d. 1594) Mother: Dorothea Mason Rolfe (b. 1559, m. 1582) Sister: Eustace Rolfe (b. 1585, d. 1593) Brother: Henry Rolfe (b. 1587) Brother: Edward Rolfe (b. 1591) Sister: Dorothy Rolfe (b. 1595) Wife: Sarah Hacker Rolfe (m. 1608, d. 1612, one daughter) Daughter: Bermuda Rolfe (d. infancy) Wife: Pocahontas (Native princess, b. 1595, m. 5-Apr-1614, one son) Son: Thomas Rolfe (colonist, b. 1615) Wife: Jane Pierce (m. 1620, one daughter) Daughter: Elizabeth Rolfe (b. 1620, d. 1635)
Slaveowners English AncestryRelated Topics
Agriculture
Tobacco
The child was named Bermuda Rolfe, lived only a few weeks. Born and died in Bermuda.
From the book, The True Tale of THE CASTAWAYS WHO RESCUED JAMESTOWN
AND INSPIRED SHAKESPERE'S
THE TEMPEST
A
BRAVE VESSEL by Hobson Woodward, 2009page 81 - 83
After the first mutiny trial, the attention of the castaways was turned in a new directgion with the impending birth of the first native Burmudian. The wife of voyager John Rolfe was nine months pregnant and expected to deliver a child soon. A palmetto tent was prepared for Goodwife Rolfe by the other married women of the camp, including Mistress Horton, the just married Elizabeth Parsons Powell, and the wife of Edward Eason, who was herself seven months pregnant. A mattress was laid on a Bermuda built bed for Goody Rolfe's benefit. At the base of the bed a stool was set for the woman who would act as midwife. Just outside the entrance a fire was kept.
At first pangs of lavor, Goody Rolfe sent for her attendants. A s a seventeenth century childbirth manuyal advised, "the time of delivery being at hand, they must prepare themselves as followeth, which is forthwith to send for their midwife and keeper, being far better to have them too soon than too late." As early labor progressed, Rolfe was encouraged to walk slowly around the clearing to hasten the process. The traditional labor time nourishments of separate cups of broth and egg yolk (in this case perhaps from one of the first cahow eggs of the season) were offered to her.
As labor progressed and Rolfe was put to bed, one of the attendants may have follwed the traditional method of assisting the birth: "Sometimes the midewife, etc., may gently press the upper parts of the belly, and by degrees stroke the child downward with discesion will hasten and facilitate the delivery." In the wilds of Bermuda not all traditional remedies of a well socked midwife's cabinet were available. The women attending Rolfe likelyu had no oils or lilies, violets, or roses to use as balms. Surely they did not have ingredients for one traditional mix often prescribed to hasten labor: White wine, misletoe, and mummy (the dried flesh of mummies --- purported to be Egytian but often domestic and of a more recent vintage - ground fine and sold as medicine).
page 90
---- "a second child was born (in Burmuda while stranded) just as Gates (Gov. appt to go to Jamestown) negotiated the end of the mutiney. The baby boy began life just before the Annunciation Day thunderstorm and receivd the tirds of the church just after i. :The five and twentieth of March, "Strachey said, "the wife of one Edward Eason, being delivered the week before of a boy, had him then christented, to whjich Captain Newport and myself and Master james Swift were godfathers, and wenamed it Bermuda."
The Godfaththers' choice of name was a tribute to the first child born on the island who had lived only a few weeks. Bermuda Rolfe had not survived an infancy marroned on a mid Atlantic isle. The saqualling cries of another child were both a comfort and a burden to the grieving parents. Strachey was a godfather to both children and joined in comforting John Rolfe while the womenh of the camp ministerd to his wife in the seclusion of a palmetto hut. The birth of the second child reqauired the attnetion of the women, but Goody Rolfe was not left alone. Reverend Richard buck offered what consolation he could. The chcild was laid to rest in a small grave in the growing island cemetery.
He also married Jane Pierce in 1620. After the death of Pocahontas in 1617, John returned to America
(Matoaka) Pocahontas SONACOCK (Princess)
Dated 18 Oct 2003. Date of birth was submitted bu L. D. Varallo, April 27, 2002. From ancestral line of Anna Rolfe, b. 1633 dau. of Thomas Smith Rolfe, Jan. 30, 1614/15 - died 1676, married Sep 13, 1632 to Elizabeth Washington. He was the son of John Rolfe II, May 6, 1585 - March 22, 1621/22, married April 5, 1614 to Matoaka Powhatan/ Pocahontas. 1595, March 21, 1616/1617. Daughter of Powahatan Winsinocock, 1569 - Apirl 1618, married 1592 Winanuske Nonoma 1572 -?. Son of Scent Flower 1539-?
To set the record straight, I started my interset in this story upon the oral history of my grandfather, Fred HIATT in 1964. At that time, of course not fully aware or interested in much family history, yet as I asked him of any special stories or history he did say that he was always told that we descend from Capt. John SMITH and an Indian maiden. Other then that he could only tell me that the HIATT family was along the MO river as long as they could tell but they had originated from the Carolinas where there were still many cousins.
As I started my real interest in this history as my mother and father handed all their life work over to myself, about 1970, work went slowly until we got fully involved by 1980. At that time my wife and myself began to become serious and soon started reaching so many that we started a newsletter for the HIATT-HIETT family. As we began to find many other HIATT-HIETT relatives, along with some SMITH connections thru brothers of Mary SMITH, the story and questions kept coming up of having INDIAN blood and many also related a very similar story, even more exact of being related to Cpt. SMITH and Pocahontas. Then thru contacts we exchanged information with Dr. Copeland, a Quaker and professor, who had also done a lifetime search, as had his mother and grandmother over 100 years of research. Dr. Copeland had much more then I and I did publish his report in one of my HIATT-HIETT Family newsletters. He had said he had much more but was going to write his own story of it and held back more information. He then died shortly after our contact and I was not able to get any further contact or information from his family. From questions and continued interst I felt there was more truth to this then just a family tale, it was so wide spread and so entrenched that it deserved more attention. So I did a good deal of work and research and can now say that I do fully believe and have substantial reason and back up materials to nearly prove this old tale. I have shared this with many and it has now shown up on many web sites, etc,. but often mis quoted and information, dates, etc. wrong and not from my report. Such as the birth date of Peregrine, that being about 1608 whereas some have it about 1624, that being rediculous and makes my work look laughable. I have seldom seen my name or Dr. Copelands' associated with any of the reports provided in different web sites or other sources. For those intersted, I would be happy to provide a full report and share my work and data to substantiate this tale. Larry Anderson, Pres. of the National HIATT-HIETT Family Organization since 1984.Larry Anderson
LarryAndy@aol.com
14223 W Promise LN
Chubbuck, ID 83202
Tel 208-637-0953Sent by Velma Appl. Pocahontas Accociation Plans to Meet in Lawton. From
the Norman N. Transcript. By Mary GoodardUnverified Indiana princesses (usually Cherokee) lurk so pervasively in
Oklahoma family trees that anyone claiming actual descent from the legendary
Pocahontas may get a cynical grin and a "Yeah, sure.".
That's why it is so intriguing to be reminded that this maiden was the real daughter of a real Indian chief. Records exist of her short, eventful life and real descendants.
Even more intriguing: A national Pocahontas Trails Genealogical Association is busy researching her, assembling master files and sending quarterlies and newsletters to nearly 200 members.
It has four regional branches, including the year-old Texas-Oklahoma
Chapter, which will have a program meeting March 24 in Lawton.
This news sent me to the reference books. Sure enough, Capt. John Smith's
letters and journals prove Pocahontas was important to the Jamestown Colony for several years, once intervening to save his life.
She married John Rolfe and went with him to England. Pocahontas died there
in her early 20s, but first she born a son, Thomas Rolfe.
Young Thomas ventured to the New World and helped found several prominent
Virginia families, including Randolph, Bolling, Eldridge, Flemming, Gray and
Murray. The association has identified close to 120 other related lines, from Abbot to Yuillee.
Far from snobbish, the organization describes itself as "a really nice
group of people who don't take themselves too seriously in the serious pursuit of their ties to Pocahontas," Members include non-descendants who are just interested in her and in early Virginia history.
For details about membership or the Lawton meeting, write: Susan Braddord, Rt. 2 Box 40, Mangum, Ok 73554.
Following sent to my by Betty Millaway of Corinne, UT.The Descendants of Pocahantas
An Unclosed Case
by Elizabeth Vann Moore and Richard SlattenRichmond native James Branch Cabell is still remembered as a careful genealogist. He gained his reputation as such before achieving national notoriety as a writer of fiction, and in all his writing he sported with the shadowwy line between history and romance. In his punningly entitled "Let Me Lie" he termed the official history of Virgina a work of art; "Like all other praiseworthy histories known to mankind it has been compiled by prejudice and edited by fancy.(*1) "of Pocahontas he wrote, "her legend, the more thanks to Virginia's unfailing good taste in mythology, has been made immortal." *2 Through her intelligence, curiousity, and mythology, her winning ways, this Algokian girl captured early the imaginations of Virginians. When one turns from Pocahontas to her son Thomas, one finds an equally curious tapestry woven of fact and fantasy. Even as a reader moves from the 17th century references to Thomas Rolfe into 19th century reconstructions of his history, one is hardly prepared for the fabrications of the 20th. That some of the revered genealogists of our day have accepted the fabrications as fact, followed by the credulous, makes a conscientious researcher wonder to what extent printed sources can be trusted. The following review of the references to Thoams Rolfe, son of Pocahontas, follows a chronological order, from birth to apotheosis as progenitor of many illustrious Virginians.
Born in 1595 or 1596, Pocahontas first married an Algokian brave in 1610. *3 Four years later having become Christianized, she became the second wife of John Rolfe in April 1614. *4 Her English husband had established his fortunes and that of the fledling colony in 161l by planting seed of a superiour strain of tobacco from Trinadad. The tobacco trade flourished and established the financial basis of Virgina for three centuries. Two years after their marriage, Rolfe and hte Lady Rebecca, as Pocahontas was then styled, and their infant son, Thomas sailed to England. Although lodged in an unpretenious inn in London at "company" expense she met King James whose name supplanted that of her father, Powhatan, as the designation of the river on which the English had settled in her native land. Damp and smoky London undermined her health, but oddly she did not want to leave when her husband made plans to return to his plantation in Virginia. The George dropped down the Thames, but at Gravesend the gravely ill Pocahantas was taken ashore. She died there in March 1617 at the age of twenty two or twenty three. John Rolfe left the infant Thomas to be placed in the care of a brother and returned to Virginia and a third marriage.
Rolfe prospered in Virginia, and c1619 he married Jane Peirce, daughter of Lieut. William Peirce. A daughter, Elizabeth, was born in 1620. Falling ill, John signed as a witness as did John Malwarde, an undentured servant of John Pott, Doctor n Phisck. *5 This will was doubtlessly probated in James City County, but since that county's recorsd later burned we owe its preserveation to the copuy proved 21 May 1630 at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury by William Pyers, Rolfeps father-in-law and executor. *6 Rolfe commended his two small children to the care of Lt. Pyers, gentleman. To his son Thomas he left the parcel of land "in Toppahannoh between the two creeks over against James City County," land on James River opposite Jamestown which had been given by Powhatan and ratified by the "Kings Majestys council for Virginia." Another noteworthy item in Rolfe's will was the provision for Thomas to receive his inheritance before the age of twenty one should he marry within the time of his minority with the consent of his guardian. The land left near Mulberry Island for the use of his wife, to be inherited by their daughter, is mentioned in connection in the records six years later. Lt. Thomas Flint was granted land 20 September 1628 (Calfaliers and Pioneers, I,9) on the Warwicke River. "Adj. next unto the ground graunted by patent unto John Rolfe, Esqr., dec'd. & Capt. William Pierce, & S. upon the Maine River(James)."
Thomas Rolfe enters the records in Virginia as a headright for Cpt. William Peirce 22 June 1635 (C&P, I, 29). This land lay opposite Jamestown between Lawnes Creek and Lower Chippoakes Creek. Thomas was then about twenty. Four years later he is mentioned in connection with his patrimoney, as a landowner in the area of James City which would become Surry County, on S. side of the maine river over against James City called Pyney Point, ... upon land of Thomas Rolfe" (C&P, I, 121). By 26 Nov 1640, Thoams Rolfe acquired land on hte north side of the James lying "upon S. side of Tanckes Pasbyhaies Cr." (C&P,I,126). At the age of twenty six, Thomas Rolfe is alleged to have petitioned the govenor 17 Dec 1641 to be allowed "to see Opachankeno to whom he is allied and Cleopatra, his mother's sister." *7 From this record which reminds us that Thomas was half Indian, we turn to one that depicts him as a trusted Englishman. The General Assembly of Virginia determined to make certain grants of lands to individuals who would maintain forts, thereby relieveing the inhabitants of the burden of maintaining them by "publique charge."
And it is further enacted and granted, That Left. Thomas Rolfe shall have and enjoy for himselfe and his heires for ever ffort James alias Chickahominy for with fowre hundred acres of land adjoining to the same, with all houses and edifices belonging to the said ffort; Provided that he the said Leift. Rolfe doe keepe and maintain sixe men upon the place duringe the terme and time of three years, for which tyme he the said Leift. Rolfe for himselfe and the said sixe men are exempted from publique taxes. *8
The grand was recorded in the Patent Book (C&P, I, 234) 6 October 1646 with an additional 125 acres for the transportation of three people, Henry Berkeley, Esqr., acquired 2,400 acres 1 April 1651. (C&P, I, 206) "Lyeing on N. side of Chicohomyny Riv., neare the head of sd. river, up the swwamp which divides this and the land of Mr. Thomas Rolfe.: On 6 April 1655 Richard New patented 750 acrds adjoining "Mr. Rolph's land" (C&P, I, 306). Three weeks later Rolfe acquired more land.
Thomas ROLFE, Gent., 300 acs. James City Co., 25 Apr. 1656. On N.E. side of Wallingford Riv., alias Chichohominy. Adj. his own, land of Mr. Edard Digges & Richard New and on a branch if Ravebets Ryb, Trabs if 6 pers. (C&P, I, 328)Another fifty acres was acquired 16 September 1658 (C7P, I, 384) adjoining his own and Richard New's land. The latter renewed the patent on his 750 acres boundying "Mr. Roplh's land" on 20 October 1662 (C&P, I, 384.) Thomas Rolfe as an established householder in the colony was obviously flourishing, and one can accept the assessment attributed to Stith that he "became a person of fortune and distinction in the Colony" (Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, XXI, 210).
Thomas Rolf's principal land holdings, however, were on the south side of James River, his inheritance. A gift by Powhatan on the occation of his daughter;s marriage to John Rolfe, the latter, as his will indicates, had established his title by letters patent. The Indian King did not think in terms of acres, but by modern estimates it comprised some 2000 acres lying between Gray's and Crouches Creeks, an area known since the 18th century as Scotland Kneck, immediately across from Jamestown. *9 There is no record of land being granted there between 1614 and 1637, but after Thomas arrived from England he obviously sold much of it as repatents by others indicate. When Thomas Gray, whose name is still associated with the creek in Surry, received his patent in 1635, the creek was then known as "Rolfe's Cr." (C&P, I, 31). Christopher Lawson's patent in the same area in 1638 was also on "Rolphes Cr." (C&P, I, 89). When Nicholas Williams, a headright of Lawsons, received a grant in 1647, it was on the "N. Side of Ralphs Cr." (C&P, I, 169).
On 10 June 1654 Thomas Rolfe sold William Corker 150 acres "between Smith's Fort old field and the Divell's Woodyard Swamp ... Being due unto the sd Rolfe by Guift from the Indyen King" (Surry Book II, p. 54). On 17 September 1657 William Edwards patented land in Surry "on S. side of James River, opposite James Citty, W. upon Crouches Cr. dividing it from land formerly Mr, Thomas Rolfe's (C&P, I, 353). Rolfe, however, still had extensive holdings in Surry. On 20 March 1657 John Corker patented land on the "S. side of the head of Grayes Cr. called the Weyer (Ware) necke; beg. on the N. side of the Cr. opposite to the mill, over the swamp to Mr. Rolfe's line &c. to the cart path & the path leading from Mr. ...._______________________________
References given:
1) New York, 1947, p. 37
2) p. 55
3) Philip L. Barbour, Pocahontas and Her World, Boston, 1969, p. 99
4) John M. Jennings has commented on the problems besetting the Rolfe history: "The subject of the ancestry of John Rolfe ... fairly bristles with legends, traditions, heresay, uncertainties, and downright discrepancies. The authors of the articles on Rolfe in The Dictionary of National Biography and in the Dictionary of American Biography have accepted - on what documentary basis the present writer is unable to fathon - the traditoinal account of birth .. that he was born in 1585 at Heacham, a village ... in the county of Norfolk, England." (John Rolfe, A True Relation of the State of Virginia, Charlottsville, VA, 1971, p. xv).
5)John B. Boddie gives a transcription of Rolfe's will in Colonial Surry, Richmond, 1948, pp. 60-3. John Milward is listed as a headright of John Pott, Doctor in Phisick, in Nell Marion Nugent, Cavaliers and Pioneers. Richmond, 1934, p. 15.
6) Rolfe's will is also included in the "Colonial Records Project," Virginia Society 3904-4011.
7) See Genealogical notes in VMHB, XXI (1913), 208-11.
8) Hening, Statues at large, 21 Oct 1646, I, 327.
9) James D. Kornwolf, Guide to the Buildings of Surry and the American Revolution, n.p., 1976, pp. 111, 182.[Hiatt 1.FTW]
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Pocahontas was born about 1595-96, a daughter of the Chief over some forty Algonkian Indian villages; these were spread about the shores of the rivers now called the James and the York, which flow into Chesapeake Bay. Her father called Powhatan after his chief village named her Meto-aka and later "Pocahontas", meaning "Playful little Girl".
Powhatans rule was threatened by the arrival of the Spanish, French and English mariners, exploring for a NorthWest passage to the (East) Indies. After the death of Elizabeth 1, the end of Englands struggles with Spain and Scotland released capital and manpower for trade, and the conversion of the "savages". The English claim to North America was split between two companies; one based in Bristol, took North Virginia. In spring 1607, three London ships appeared in Chesapeake Bay and though permitted to land, Powhatan discouraged their would-be settlers from staying. When they started to build a fort the Indians attacked, but were repulsed by ships cannon. The ships sailed home before the winter, leaving 105 men & no women having been brought & who were only saved from starvation by the success of Captain John Smith in obtaining corn from more distant Indians.References:
(1) Ancestors of the American Presidents, Gary Roberts.
(2) The Magna Charta Sureties.
(3) Royal Ancestors of Some American Families, Michel L. Call.
(4) The Lineages of Members, The National Society of the Sons and Daughters of
the Pilgrims.(5) Americans of Royal Descent, Browning.
(6) Pedigrees of the Descendants of Charlemagne.
(7) Information received from Barbara Thomas, Prodigy Number PBSJ03B.
Historical Notes:
(1) Pocahontas or Matoaka went back to England with John
Rolph where she died 21 March 1617 and she is buried in Gravesend Kent,
England.(2) Her father is Mighty Chief Powhaten or Winsonocock and her mother is
Winanuske.
Wahunsenacawh "Powhatan" Chief SONACOCK
Chief Powhatan was actually and officially coronated as King by the hand of Cpt. John SMITH under order of King James of England. That making him an official Royal figure and his household of official Royal status of European recognition. That in turn, made his children, specifically, Pocahontas, an official princess. References:
(1) Ancestors of the American Presidents, Gary Roberts.
(2) The Magna Charta Sureties.
(3) Royal Ancestors of Some American Families, Michel L. Call.
(4) The Lineages of Members, The National Society of the Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims.
(5) Americans of Royal Descent, Browning.
(6) Pedigrees of the Descendants of Charlemagne.
(7) Information received from Barbara Thomas, Prodigy Number PBSJ03B.Historical Notes:
(1) Powhatan was Sachem of the Indians of the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
Excerpts from The Tempest, A brave Vessel, by Hobson Woodward, 2009
Pages 5-7"Despite remaining in London, Strachey had an opportunity to see living individuals from the New Worlds. Several indigenous people had been captured by early explorers and forced to come to the Old World, but a man named Namontack of Tsenacomoco was the first to cross the ocean from Virginia to England as an emissary of a New World Nation. He had come in 1608 as a representative of Wahunsenacawh, known as “Powhatan by colonialists. Wahunsenacawh ruled a confederation of thirty villages with a population of fifteen or twenty thousand people that surrounded the place the English had occupied in 1607 and renamed Jamestown. John Smith, the most famous colonist of all, who at the time was already in Virginia, described Namontack as Wahunsenacawh’s “trusted” servant and one of a shrewd, subtle capacity.” The Powhatan envoy had come into the English colony a few months earlier when colonial official Christopher Newport and Wahunsenacawh exchanged a pair of young men for the purpose of developing language interpreters. Thirteen year old Thomas Savage had been sent to live with the Powhatans, while Namontack had come to live with the English. Wahunsenacawh then agreed to allow his representative to travel to England with Newport, a visit the colonists hooped would generate interest and investment in the Jamestown enterprise.
Page 6”
When Strachey first saw Namontack, the physical appearance of the New World visitor was striking. Jamestown colonist Gabriel Archer noted that the traditional hairstyle of Powhatan men was a prominence feature. Hair was grown long on one side and knotted at the bottom. On the other side it was shaved close with sharpened shells to allow the unimpeded use of bowstrings. “Some have chains of long linked copper about their necks, and some chains of pearls,” Archer said, “I found not a gray eye amongst them all. Their skin is tawny, not so born but with dying and painting themselves, in which they delight greatly.” The Powhatan envoy may have worn a mix of English and Powhatan attire. Reverend William Crashaw was probably referring to Namontack when he spoke of a Virginian visitor who “had gone naked all his life till our men persuaded him to be clothed.” Even obscured by English garb, the Powhatans elements of grooming and dress would have been visible to William Strachey.Page 7:
Note: Black Plague hits England. 1608-9
Soon after Newport left London in July 1608 to return with Namontack to Tsenacomoco, the black plague began a sustained assault on London. Strachey had been home from Turkey for a month and was looking forward to resuming his life in London, money permitting, but he soon left the city for the countryside. The bulbous swellings of the lymph glands, the feverish sweats, the sores, and the involuntary spasms known as the danse macbre were familiar to all Londoners. A sure sign of the onset of a new epidemic were the beaked masks of the plague doctors. Anyone with enough money to leave the city fled to escape the contagion. A among them was William Strachey, who joined his family in Crowhurst.
References:
(1) Ancestors of the American Presidents, Gary Roberts.
(2) The Magna Charta Sureties.
(3) Royal Ancestors of Some American Families, Michel L. Call.
(4) The Lineages of Members, The National Society of the Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims.
(5) Americans of Royal Descent, Browning.
(6) Pedigrees of the Descendants of Charlemagne.
(7) Information received from Barbara Thomas, Prodigy Number PBSJ03B.
Marriage Notes for Wahunsenacawh "Powhatan" Chief Sonacock and Winanuske NONOMA Queen-1395
Line in Record @F1287@ (MRIN 1293) from GEDCOM file not recognized:
One of THE TEN BROTHERS, often spoken of by SHIELDS HISTORIANS.
This family is said to have come originally from Spain, and from there origins in Persia. By 300 BC had invaded and settled Ireland. In 300 BC, Ugane Mre, 20th in descent from Milesius, was King of Ireland; thence to Nial Noy Giollach, King of Ireland in 379 AD, who divided the kingdom among his six sons, with sept (clan) designations of Hy Nials from which our SHIELDS family is thought to have originated. From this lineage sprang the O'Neill septs, and from one of these the sept of Siadhail (Shee-ail) originated.
The O'Siadhail sept was not generally restricted to a territorial center, as were most of the septs of that time. The sept was designated a medical family, physicians to the varioius O'Neill chieftains of their domain. Surnames were not common before the 12th century, and the name of SHIELDS did not function as a surname for indiviudals before then. However, as a a sept desingation of O'Sheel (O'Shiel, O'Shield(s)) was known in the 8th century, AD. The sept probably had it's origin in the Kingdom of Meath, a district in east central Ireland, where the O'Neills reigned. Long before the Norman Conquest (1066 AD), members of the sept began moving north into Ulster. By 1600 AD they were well established in the northernmost County of Antrim, remaining in the records as a Medical sept. It was in the County Antrim that the ancestors of our Irish immigrant resided.
We now begin a more detailed outline of our ancestral trek with the birth of William Shields, ca. 1600 AD, in County Antrim, of North Ireland. Among his sons were William, JAMES (born 1635), and John. There may have been other children, but these are the three that made it to America. (See later notes under James).SELECTED HISORY OF THE SHIELDS FAMILY Dr. Martin L. Skubinna, Ph.D
The major Shields family in America today in America today is chiefly of Irish origin and can probably lay claim to having ancestry in Ireland dating back to the time of the initial Celtic invasions -- sometime between 500 and 1000 BC. As one member of the Shields family from Georgia expressed it, "We Shields' are Irish, nothing but Irish, and damn proud of it. There is no family any better, and very few as good."
IRISH ORIGINS
The original migrating generatsion of the Shields family to America appears to have been the sons of a family member who lived at the turn of the 17th century in County Antrim, Ireland. County Antrim is "on the shores of Lough Neagh," adjacent to Belfast, and the largest lake in the British Isles. William Shields, born at some time between 1590 and 1600, fathered four sons of whom we have record. He may well have fathered daughters as well, but we know only of the sons - as many genealogical records from this period of time mention female line offspring only in passing or omit them entirely. There were: William (born 1630); Daniel and John (born apparently in the early 1640's and presumed by other circumstances to have been significantly younger than the two older Shields sons).
EXILE
The two elder Shields offspring seem to have been involved in the roundups and deportation of young Irish men during the Commonwealth Period (1653-1659) under Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. Their principal offense was the fact that they were Irish. Accounts report the family was greatly harassed, and younger sons were kept in concealment for much of their youth. This suggests that, for whatever reasons, the Shields' were in particular disfavor with Cromwell and the "Roundheads."
Family history and tradition hold that these two Shields brothers, William and James, were both exiled while in their early twenties to Barbados in the West Indies. At this time, during the middle 17th century, Barbados was an important British trading center and had a greater European population than the entire North American Mainland. how they survived their exile we do not know, but family history is agreed that within less than two years they managed to take passage via a slave ship to Virginia, arriving around 1655 at Middle Plantation, the site of present-day Willamsburg.
The subsequent histories of these two SHIELDS brothers is extensively chronicled, chiefly in books by the late John Arthur Shields, the late John Edgar Shields, and other descendant members of the resultant family lines. Other accounts exist which connect these two Shields immigrants wth the two younger sons of William 1600, the youngest of whom, John SHIELDS (ca. 1640), was the progenitor of the line which is the subject of this compilation. To treat with their careers and descent ina a very summary manner:WILLAIM SHIELS (1630)
A few years after the arrival of the two Shields brothers to Middle Plantation, James migrated Northward to the port of Baltimore. He subsequently located in Kent County, Maryland. William meanwhile, remained in Williamsburg. William became the owner and operator of SHIELDS Ordinary,a noted inn and tavern of the day. The tavern is noted occasionally in constabulary records, as one assumes for occasional breaches of the peace. Shields Tavern has been restored within the past two decades as one of Colonial Williamsburg's historical points of interest and informal dining establishments, and has become a popular stop on tours of the restoration.William became the progenitor of a lengthy family line. Later generations migrated elsewhere in Virginia, to the river settlements in North Carolina, and ultimately into Indiana Territory around 1800. Various genealogical works treat with the resultant line which, collectively, are sometimes referred to as "the Willamsburg line." Among prominent Americans in this branch of the family were President John Tyler, and William Tyler Page.
Information on the line of Howlands came from the LDS computer records.
There are few, if any, notes under these families.
Information on the line of Howlands came from the LDS computer records.
There are few, if any, notes under these families.
Line in Record @I19@ (RIN 67622) from GEDCOM file not recognized:
CONFLine in Record @I19@ (RIN 67622) from GEDCOM file not recognized:
RESILine in Record @I19@ (RIN 67622) from GEDCOM file not recognized:
RELI