|
High on the list of people that genealogist try
to connect with is the famous Indian Princess Pocahontas.
While any real connection is largely obscure, there are over 130
surnames connected with this famous Princess and each can claim
descendants in one fashion or another. The Perkins Family is no exception,
however, it took over 200 years and seven generations for one of our
ancestors to get around to it. Not
exactly a genealogy gem on the old family tree, but non-the less
interesting.
In
actuality all of Pocahontas’s descendants are by the marriage of her son
and this union producing a daughter, therefore, the genealogical trail is
not father to son, rather daughter to husband.
Before explaining the actual linage, it is extremely important to
understand exactly who Pocahontas was and her place in history, both real
and in fable. One should also
bear in mind that history has been rewritten to please the masses, such as
in the case of the Disney movies and other fables.
It is safe to assume that historical fact is far less glamorous and
that the principal characters bear no physical resemblance to the people
commonly portrayed.
Amonute Matoaka was the beautiful and lively
daughter of Powhatan, ruler of the land that the English settlers named
Virginia. “Pocahontas was
her childhood nickname, which when translated means “little wanton”,
“playful one” or more plainly put “child who is always playing and
lacking discipline. There were four men in Pocahontas life: her father, Chief
Powhatan, the adventurer Captain John Smith, her father’s captain Kocoum
and her husband John Rolfe. Each
played a significant part in her very short life and each has his own
place in history.
Pocahontas most probably saved the struggling
Jamestown colony from extinction not once, as commonly thought, but twice.
The first time on December 29,1607 during the famous story of her
saving the life of Captain Smith by preventing her father from bashing his
head in. Secondly, and
perhaps more accurately, when on approximately April 24,1614 she married
colonist John Rolfe.
Her father, Chief Powhatan, inherited the
leadership of eight tribes, which he built into an empire controlling
about 28 tribes and an area which corresponds to Eastern Virginia,
Maryland and Delaware. The
English colonists arriving in 1607 on board the ship “Susan Constant”
initially built a wooden fort, James Fort, which gradually became the
English colonial village of Jamestown.
Indian relations in the early days were
chaotic. Tribes fighting
tribes, tribes fighting with the settlers, tribes trading with the
settlers and so on. Captain
John Smith was a soldier, who according to his account, if not for him,
the colony may have failed at the beginning.
Unfortunately, he was not the stalwart adventurer and all around
nice guy as depicted in popular history.
The truth is he was arrested several times, once at sea, by the
colonial government, and sentenced to be hanged twice.
In all likelihood even though he survived the Indian attempt to
take his life and a probable assignation attempt by the colonists, it was
not his choice to return to England.
His crimes ranged from “inciting a mutiny”,” inciting a
political coup” whereby he would become President of the Colony,
“Indian slavery”, “inciting the Indians” and “terrorism of the
colonists”. In addition he was not the tall handsome man so widely
believed, but rather a short man with a beard who was feisty, abrasive,
ambitious and very self-promoting. Not
only did the colonists want him gone, which they finally succeeded in
after 32 months, but the Indians wanted to bash his brains in for their
persecution at his hands.
Oddly enough, historians have always wondered
about the famous tale involving Pocahontas.
John Smith was the sole source for this tale in a book he wrote
several years afterwards. The
incident was not in his original report and was not mentioned by other
writers of the time. Little
wonder if he made a narrow escape.
Ironically, this famous incident may never happened at all, since
Smith reportedly like to tell stories about himself being rescued by
famous ladies. Perhaps John
Smith made it up, perhaps it was a show of power by Powhatan with
Pocahontas “saving” John Smith as pre-planned; or perhaps it went down
just as Smith described. Two
things are for certain; Pocahontas was a mere child of 12 or younger at
the time and the Indians did not consider Captain John Smith a friend.
John Smith’s stay in the New World was cut
short as he was injured in a mysterious “incident” in which his powder
bag exploded injuring his leg and he was shipped back to England on a
stretcher. It was just in
time as some of his fellow colonists joined together to ban him from the
settlement, shoot him in his sleep or ship him back to England for
punishment. There is
considerably more to the story of Captain John Smith, most of it not good,
and his adventures or mis-adventures, even though these adventures took
him to all the continents of the world.
However, it is fair to say that he does deserve credit for
providing over 5 volumes of stories and information about this period in
the development of this nation. Except
for his writing, chapters of American history would have been lost.
Unfortunately he was a rogue.
Pocahontas may have had a “school girl”
crush on John Smith, but the man she married was John Rolfe.
Rolfe and his original wife Sarah, set sail for the New World but
were shipwrecked in Bermuda. While
in Bermuda, Sarah gave birth to a daughter, which they named Bermuda, but
unfortunately both mother and daughter soon died.
When Rolfe arrived alone at the Jamestown settlement it was right
at the height of the Indian tribal wars.
A squad from Jamestown had kidnapped Pocahontas intending to trade
her for peace with Powhatan. As
a footnote John Rolfe was instrumental in the development of Virginia a
leading tobacco grower in the world.
While in Bermuda Rolfe picked up some Bermuda tobacco seeds and
upon his arrival in Jamestown crossbred them with the harsher Virginia
tobacco creating a mild hybrid. This
new blend became an instant hit back in England and still is produced
today.
During her captivity the leading colonists,
including John Rolfe, worked to convert her to Christianity. John Rolfe fell in love with her, and she with him.
They obtained permission form Powhatan and the Governor of
Jamestown to marry. Pocahontas
married Rolfe, accepted Christianity and was baptized Rebecca.
This created several years of peace between the Jamestown
settlement and the Powhatan Tribes. This
fact brought favorable notice to England whereupon King James had Powhatan
coronated Emperor of Virginia, this effectively making Pocahontas a
princess.
Pocahontas and John Rolfe had one child,
Thomas; however, this was not to be a happy ending.
What was to be a triumphant tour of England starting on June 3,1616
turned to tragedy. Pocahontas
touring as a visiting Princess theoretically outranked a lot of the
English nobility and whereas the English had not yet decided how to treat
“savages” the tour was abruptly cut short.
In addition, during her tour a enemy of the Court of King James
claimed Pocahontas was living in sin, married to John Rolfe yet also still
married to “Kocoum” a captain of her father Powhatan.
Although “arranged” marriages by chiefs as rewards to their
captains was common, it is historically unknown whether this was a fact or
a vicious rumor to discredit Pocahontas.
Unfortunately, as she started home an English
disease took her life. She
was buried in the church at Gravesend, England on March 17,1617 at age 21.
Her son Thomas was left behind in England to be raised by John
Rolfe’s relatives, as he was returning to the colonies and could not
take care of a young boy. John
Rolfe died in Virginia during an Indian uprising that killed many of his
fellow colonists.
The connection to the many families, including
Perkins, is through Pocahontas son Thomas Rolfe and his descendants as
listed below:
John Rolfe(1585-1622) marries
Pocahontas(1595-1617); son Thomas
Thomas Rolfe(1615-?) marries Jane Poythress;
daughter Jane
Jane Rolfe(?-1676) marries Robert Bolling; son
John
John Bolling (1676-1729) marries Mary Kennon,
daughter Elizabeth
Elizabeth Bolling(1709-?) marries William Gay;
son William Jr.
William Gay, Jr. (1749-May 24,1815) marries
Judith Scott; son Neil
Neil Gay (Sept 3,1791-June 25,1864) marries
Martha Talley (Nov. 27,1795-April 28,1864); daughter Martha
Martha Gay (Dec 26,1828-Dec 15,1915) marries
Archelaus Perkins (Sept 17,1829-May 16,1895); son Archer
Archer Holland Perkins (June 16,1850-Jan
26,1916), 8th generation grandson of Pocahontas |
