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Chief Opechancanough Mangopeesomon Powhatan

Male 1560 - 1646  (86 years)


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  • Name Chief Opechancanough Mangopeesomon Powhatan  [1
    Birth 1560  Cinquoateck, King William, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Gender Male 
    Death 1646  Jamestown, James City, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Person ID I23777  Master
    Last Modified 27 Jun 2015 

    Father Running Stream,   b. 1500, , , Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1570, , , Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 70 years) 
    Relationship Stepchild 
    Mother Morning Flower,   b. 1528, , , Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1570, , , Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 42 years) 
    Relationship Stepchild 
    Marriage 1545  , , Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F6234  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Matachanna "Cleopatra" Powhatan ("Royal blood line"),   b. 1590, Werowocomoco, Gloucester, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1641, , Henrico, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 51 years) 
    Children 
     1. Cornstalk Powhatan,   b. , Augusta, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 11 Nov 1777, Point Pleasant, Mason, West Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [Father: Natural]
    +2. Nicketti Powhatan,   b. 1625, Tsenacomoca, James City, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1720, Hackers Creek, Lewis, West Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 95 years)  [Father: Natural]
     3. Powhatan,   b. 1625, , , Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1700, , , Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 75 years)  [Father: Natural]
     4. Princess Nicketti,   b. 1625, , , Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1700, , , Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 75 years)  [Father: Natural]
    +5. Mary Nicketti Partree,   b. 1640, , , Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1721, , , Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 81 years)  [Father: Natural]
     6. Pamunky Cockacoeskie,   b. 1640, , New Kent, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1677, , New Kent, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 37 years)  [Father: Natural]
    Family ID F6230  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 23 Jun 2015 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 1560 - Cinquoateck, King William, Virginia, USA Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 1646 - Jamestown, James City, Virginia, USA Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Photos
    Pamunkey Indian Reservation
    Pamunkey Indian Reservation

    Maps
    Powhatan Territorial Map approx. 19,000 sq. miles
    Powhatan Territorial Map approx. 19,000 sq. miles
    The Powhatan territory was within the boundaries of today's following states: (1) North Carolina [now, 53,818.51 square miles] (2) Virginia [now, 42,774.20 square miles] (3) Maryland [now, 12,406.68 square miles] (4) Washington, D.C. [now, 68.34 square miles] This is a Washington Post map by Gene Thorpe See http://www.powhatanmuseum.com/Powhatan_Map.html for detailed information

  • Notes 
    • Chief of the Pamunkey Indians; he planned the massacres of 1622 and 1644. He was captured by Sir William Berkeley and was killed while a captive at Jamestown in 1646 by a soldier out of revenge. He was also known as Apachisco. He was able, resourceful and unforgiving.
    • Opechancanough. A Powhatan chief, born about 1545, died in 1644. He captured Capt. John Smith shortly after the arrival of the latter in Virginia, and took him to his brother, the head-chief Powhatan (q. v.). Some time after his release, Smith, in order to change the temper of the Indians, who jeered at the starving Englishmen and refused to sell them food, went with a band of his men to Opechancanough's camp under pretense of buying corn, seized the chief by the hair, and at the point of a pistol marched him off a prisoner. The Pamunkey brought boat-loads of provisions to ransom their chief, who thereafter entertained more respect and deeper hatred for the English. While Powhatan lived Opechancanough was held in restraint, but after his brother's death in 1618 he became the dominant leader of the nation, although his other brother, Opitchapan, was the nominal head-chief.
      He plotted the destruction of the colony so secretly that only one Indian, the Christian Chanco, revealed the conspiracy, but too late to save the people of Jamestown, who at a sudden signal were massacred, Mar. 22, 1622, by the natives deemed to be entirely friendly.
      In the period of intermittent hostilities that followed, duplicity and treachery marked the actions of both whites and Indians. In the last year of his life, Opechancanough, taking advantage of the dissensions of the English, planned their extermination. The aged chief was borne into battle on a litter when the Powhatan, on Apr. 18, 1644, fell upon the settlements and massacred 300 persons, then as suddenly desisted and fled far from the colony, frightened perhaps by some omen. Opechancanough was taken prisoner to Jamestown, where one of his guards treacherously shot him, inflicting a wound of which he subsequently died.

  • Sources 
    1. [S705] Ancestry.com, Global, Find a Graveā„¢ Index for Burials at Sea and other Select Burial Locations, 1300s-Current, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.).