The Rolfe Family
Aucht...@aol.com
etc), daughter of Capt. William and Joann Pierce, and they had one daughter
named ELIZABETH ROLFE.
JOHN ROLFE D: between March 10, 1622 and October 7, 1622. They think he
might have been killed in the massacre on Good Friday, March 22, 1622 or of
natural causes. His will was probated in London's prerogative Court of
Canterbury on May 31, 1630 by John Rolfe's father-in-law "William Pyers",
John's brother, a merchant in London, England raised Thomas. After John's
death, his widow lived with Capt. Roger Smith (her husband and step-father to
Elizabeth Rolfe.
In September of 1632 at St. James Church, Clerkenwell, London, one Thomas
Rolfe married Elizabeth Washington, who died in childbirth. Her daughter was
named ANN ROLFE. who married in 1659 to Peter Elwyn, and had as issue: three
sons and four daughters.
(3-4 POCAHONTAS DESCENDANTS: with corrections and addition
1994 edition by Stuart E. Brown, Jr; Lorraine F. Myers, and Eileen M/ Chappel)
Circa 1635 THOMAS ROLFE, son of Rebecca (Pocahontas) and John Rolfe returned
to Virginia on June 22, 1635 Capt. William Pierce, the father of John Rolfe's
step-mother received a headright grant of land in return for underwritten the
transportation to Virginia of forty persons including Thomas Rolfe.
Years later, on October 10, 1695, Thomas Rolfe fathered a child, Jane Rolfe,
who according to one source was named for his step-mother. This married in
England information was found in the Bolling Memoirs. In 1675 Thomas Rolfe's
daughter, Jane Poythress, married Col. Robert Bolling (Ibid 4-5).
There is said to be a possibility that Thomas had children by other than by
the aforementioned women.
Thomas Rolfe died between the time he acquired 50 acres of land on September
16, 1658 and October 1, 1698.
On page 39 of Pocahontas Descendants...Brown et al, it states that there was a
North Carolina Thomas Rolfe who acquired land (750 acres) in North Carolina
(c. 1665) Writers of this article that appeared in MAGAZINE OF VIRGINIA
GENEALOGY states that Thomas Rolfe had two sons Thomas and William Rolfe.
William was the father of Thomas Rolfe of "Yawpin"
Third Marriage of Thomas Rolfe? Featured in POCAHONTAS TRAILS QUARTERLY April
1986 issue (Vol. 4, No. 2) by William Aubrey Rolfe. This states that Thomas
Rolfe married Di Poi (Oconoco) the daughter of Powhatan (his grandfather's)
brother, Opechancenough. It states that their son was Thomas Rolfe Jr.
(called Powhatan) was born in 1654, and in 1688, Thomas Jr. married Sylvania
Eleanor Penn. William Penn Rolfe was born in 1700, and in 1738 married an
Indian woman named Minnie Hawaitha. They, in turn, had a daughter Wanetta
(Jaunita) who was born in 1740, and who married William Wesley Weyland.
I have been in touch with Chief Seward who told me that some of his tribe also
claim to be ancestors of Pocahontas. I have to find this information which is
still on paper.
Another tale is that Powhatan's father was on of the Powhatan warrior captured
ny the Spanish and educated in Spain. This was in an old American Heritage
Article. I have never found anymore information on this. Powhatan's father
was the reason that Powhatan and Pocahontas knew English so well. His father
was brought back to help the Spanish "convert" his people, however, he was not
a traitor and remembering his original roots, helped his tribe in their
defeat. Has anyone else seen this story...I will post its origin as soon as I
rediscover it in my notes.
Maggie
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