Mary Frances Sloman

Mary married Francis Poythress in 1629 in Jamestown, James City, Virginia, USA. Francis was born in 1614 in London, London, England; died in 1661 in , Charles City, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Jane married Thomas Rolfe in 1645 in Richmond, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA. Thomas (son of John Rolfe and Pocahontas Amonute Matoaka "Rebecca" Powhatan) was born on 30 Jan 1615 in Jamestown, James City, Virginia, USA; died in 1675 in Richmond, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA; was buried in Hopewell, Prince George, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Jane Rolfe (October 10, 1650 – 1676) was the granddaughter of Pocahontas and English colonist John Rolfe, (credited with introducing a strain of tobacco for export by the struggling Virginia Colony). Her husband was Colonel Robert Bolling who lived from 1646 to 1709. Robert and Jane had one son John Fairfax Bolling (1676–1729).

Pocahontas, who adopted the Christian name of Rebecca, [1] [2] married John Rolfe on April 5, 1614 in Jamestown. Rolfe's longtime friend, Reverend Richard Buck presided the wedding. [3] They had one child, Thomas Rolfe, who was born in Virginia on January 30, 1615.

Jane Rolfe was born in Varina, Henrico County, Virginia on October 10, 1650 [4] to Thomas Rolfe and his wife, Jane Poythress, whose parents were Francis Poythress and Alice Payton of England. [5] [6] [7]

In about 1675, Jane married Robert Bolling of Prince George County, Virginia. Their son John was born on January 27, 1676. Jane is said to have died shortly afterward. [4]

John Bolling married Mary Kennon, daughter of Richard Kennon and Elizabeth Worsham of Conjurer's Neck.[4] The couple had six surviving children, each of whom married and had surviving children. [8] As a result, many Americans are today able to claim descent from Pocahontas through her great-grandson, John Bolling.

Rolfe's interment was near her father in the Kippax Plantation, but her birth year was never engraved on her headstone.

References
The conversion of Pocahontas to Christianity was undertaken by Alexander Whitaker.

"Pocahontas Biography: also called Matoaka and Amonute, Christian name Rebecca (1595–1617)".

Travels and Works of Captain John Smith (Edinburgh 1910), p. 514

John Frederick Dorman, Adventurers of Purse and Person, 4th ed., Vol. 3, pp. 23–36.

Snow, Megan (May 2003). "Thomas Rolfe". Historic Jamestowne. National Park Service.

Pecquet du Bellet, Louise (1907). "Bolling Family". Some prominent Virginia families. Lynchburg, VA: J.P. Bell Co. p. 304. Retrieved August 31, 2011.

"The Descendants of Pocahontas: An Unclosed Case", by Elizabeth Vann Moore and Richard Slatten, Magazine of Virginia Genealogy, XXIII, no.3, pp. 3–16, cited by John Frederick Dorman, Adventurers of Purse and Person, 4th ed., Vol. 3, p. 26, fn23–24. Moore and Slatten traced the suggestion that his wife was a Poythress back to a comment by W. G. Stanard in "Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents", Virginia Historical Magazine(I, 1894, 446–447): "His wife is said to have been a Miss Poythress (if so, doubtless a daughter of Francis Poythress." According to Moore and Slatten, Stanard cited as evidence handwritten notes on the flyleaf of a copy of A Complete Collection of All the Laws of Virginia Now in Force Carefully Copied from the Assembled Records (London, 168[?], now in the Library of Virginia. Moore and Slatten state: "Interestingly, Thomas Rolfe here is recorded as married to a 'Miss Payers'. We recall that in John Rolfe's will the name of his third wife is spelt Pyers (Peirce) and that it was John who married a "Jane". Here again a Bolling descendant confused the son with his father. Not recognizing the name 'Payers' as another variant of Peirce, someone searched the records for a name beginning with 'P' and having a 'y' in the first syllable. Francis Poythress lived in adjacent Charles City County and his name ended in s! Stanard wrote, 'His wife is said to have been a Miss Poythress (if so, doubtless a daughter of Francis Poythress).' (VMHB I, 446) Wyndham Robertson, a Bolling descendant, wrote in Pocahontas Alias Mataoke and Her Descendants (Richmond, 1887), 'I adopt "Jane Poythress" (not "Poyers") whom he is stated in the Bolling Memoirs to have married in England.' He added in justification of his charming adoption of an ancestress, '...no such name as "Poyers" is anywhere known ... the family of Poythress was already settled in Virginia.' ... The result has been the acceptance of a non-existent personage, 'Jane Poythress', in the Bibles of Virginia genealogy, as the bona fide ancestress of many illustrious Virginians. Who the wife (or wives) of Thomas Rolfe may have been remains an unanswered question."
Henrico County Deeds & Wills 1697–1704, p. 96

VA PROMINENT FAMILIES VOL 4 Chapt XII BOLLING FAMILY

For over a year Pocahontas was held as a hostage by Gov. Dale and lived in his family. During these months she proved a willing and apt scholar in many things. An old chronicle says quaintly, "When instructed in the Christian religion she made good progress and was baptized." While staying with Gov. Dale, she met a young Englishman, one Capt. John Rolfe, Gent., of the old family of Beacham Hall, County Suffolk, England. They were married at Jamestown, and, a year or so later, Capt. Rolfe took her to England, where she became the guest of the Virginia Company, was introduced at court and received marked attention from the Queen and her ladies. She was also "entertained with special and extraordinary state festival and pomp by the Lord Bishop of London." Imagine what the contrast must have been to her, taken from the wigwam of an Indian chief, to the palace of England's queen. Some one has said, "It was small wonder this wild flower of the wilderness drooped and died when transported to the hot bed of civilization."

The health of Pocahontas became affected by the excitement and strain of court life, and she pined for her baby boy. In 1617 Capt. Rolfe determined to return to America, and took passage on a vessel belonging to the Virginia Company, which was specially fitted up for the comfort of his wife; but on the eve of her embarkation, she died at Gravesend, and was buried under the chancel of St. George's Church, where the tablet erected to her memory and record of her death and burial may still be seen. On the tablet is inscribed, "Pocahontas Rebecca Rolfe, b. 1595; d. 1617, wyff of John Rolfe, Gent." At "Beacham Hall," Norfolk, England, there is a handsome portrait of her, painted in 1616, by de Passe.

The name of Rolfe is Danish and first occurs in history when Rolfe Kroke was King of Denmark. This special branch of the Rolfes are recorded as owners of Beacham Hall, County Norfolk, where they were living as far back as 1560. The first entry in the record is the marriage of Eustace Rolfe to Jener (Joanna). These were the grandparents of John Rolfe. The record further states that John Rolfe, son of John Rolfe and Dorothea Mason, was b. May 6, 1585. John Rolfe, Jr., was one of the prominent characters of his time, being the first Secretary of State and Recorder General of Virginia, also a member of the Royal Council for the colony. Thomas Rolfe, the only child of John Rolfe, Jr., and Pocahontas Rebecca, b. 1615 in the colony, after the melancholy death of his young mother was taken in charge by his uncle, Henry Rolfe, of London, by whom he was reared to manhood. In 1640, when he was twenty-five years old, he came to Virginia and took possession of his property, called "Varina," located some sixteen miles below Richmond. The Rev. William Stith, President of William and Mary College, speaks of him in his "History of Virginia" as "a man of distinction and fortune" in the colony. In Hening's Statutes we find the following entry, "And be it further enacted and granted that Left. Thomas Rolfe shall have and enjoy for himself and his heirs forever ffort James, ole Chickahominy ffort, with four hundred acres of land adjoining the same, with all the houses and edifices belonging to the said ffort, provided the said Left. Rolfe doe keepe and maintaine sixe men upon the place during the term and tyme of three years, for which tyme he, said Left. Rolfe, for himself and sixe men, are exempted from publique tax." That Thomas Rolfe should have been entrusted by the government with so important a position shows him to have been a man of high standing, possessing the confidence of the leading men of the time.

Lieut. Thomas Rolfe, b. 1651, son of Capt. John Rolfe and Pocahontas, married Jane Poythress, daughter of Lieut. William Poythress, of Jamestown, Va. They had one child, a daughter, called Jane Rolfe, who married (1675) Col. Robert Bolling.

Jane married Robert Bolling in 1674 in Petersburg, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA. Robert (son of John Bolling and Mary Carie) was born on 26 Dec 1646 in All Hallows, Barking, London, England; was christened on 6 Jan 1647 in All Hallows, Barking, London, England; died on 17 Jul 1709 in Kippax, Charles City, Virginia, USA; was buried in Petersburg, Independent Cities, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Rebecca Pendergrass

Notes:

Check out the "Shawnee Heritage" books by Don Greene (available as GOOGLE books on-line and for purchase on Amazon), specifically pages 84-88 of Volume III Pre-1700's A-L (published 2014) and pages 101-102 of Volume IV Pre-1700's M-Z (published 2014). These pages assert that the Jane Bolling (1675–1714) who married REV James Clack Sr was 1 of the 5 out-of-wedlock children that COL Robert Bolling I had with Mary Pettis, a Shawano servant/slave/wet nurse in Robert's household. These pages also document the lineage of Mary Pettis as being the 1G Granddaughter of Matoaka-POCAHONTAS Powhatan and her 1st husband KOKUM Stream-Patawomeck [FindAGrave 131558962]. That would make the Jane Bolling (1675–1714) who married REV James Clack Sr the 2G granddaughter of Pocahontas from Pocahontas' 1st marriage . . . NOT from Pocahontas' 2nd marriage to John Rolfe II.

Discussion from Genealogy.com
Regarding Story of Jane Bolling Clack

Jane Bolling as first or second child of Robert Bolling and Jane Rolfe would have been without a mother to care for her as an infant; Jane Rolfe Bolling died at childbirth of infant Jane or her brother. Father Robert would have been busy with duties in Virginia militia and rebellions, so both children probably were initially cared for by the local parish. When father Robert remarried, presumably he took back his son, but not daughter Jane, as her care probably was easier at the parish church. Also, sentiment in the area was strongly anti Indian. Robert Bolling needed to maintain political support; being father to an Indian child would have been unpopular. Letting baby Jane remain with the parish church to receive a "proper" Christian upbringing would have been deemed prudent. Thus Jane Bolling would have been raised in the parish church; sixteen years later the young woman raised by the church would have been a "perfect" wife for the just arrived Reverend James Clack from England, come to take over duties as the parish minister. Circumstantial, but compelling.

When Jane Rolfe Billing died, she had one child, a son; but may also have had an infant daughter as well. Robert Bolling later acknowledges a son, but no mention of a daughter is found in the records. The argument in support of the existence of a daughter includes circumstantial evidence and later testimony by descendants who would have had to have come from this Line in order to have been Pocahontas descendants.

It needs to be noted that circumstantial evidence needs to include consideration of the society and events at that time in Virginia. In the 1600's there was a large gap between European settlers, Christianity, and social norms vs. native American culture, beliefs, and practices. Col. Robert Billing held a position of authority in the Virginia colony, and the responsibilities of his position may have pushed him into making decisions that made him sacrifice his personal life and family duties to maintain his position in the community. There was conflict, Indian wars, and rebellion all at the time of the death of his wife (Jane Rolfe Bolling). There was a great deal of hatred and mistrust between the two cultures.

Pocahontas was required to convert to Christianity before her marriage to John Rolfe was allowed. Of the three generations of descendants of Chief Powhatan who lived in the new society, not the old (native American), the only one whohad lived a long life at that point, was Thomas Rolfe, who was totally isolated from native American culture since he was raised by his grandparents in England. The other two generations, his mother Pocahontas, and his daughter Jane Rolfe, lived in white society in Jamestown, but were clearly able to remain in contact with their native American roots. They both died very young.

IF in fact, Jane Rolfe Bolling left an infant son AND a daughter, the decision of who to raise these infants may have been a difficult one. If they were initially cared for by the local church, it is plausible that a decision was made that the daughter Jane should be cared for by the local church, so that she "would fit in better" as an adult, while the son would do fine with his father as a role model at home.

Given that later generations claimed to be descended from Pocahontas, and that all these individuals are descended from Rev. James Clack and his wife Jane; it is reasonable to conclude that Jane Clack was Jane Bolling Clack.

"Presumably her granddaughter, Sarah (Clack) Maclin, was reliably
informed concerning her grandparents and it is certain that she claimed
descent from the Bolling family and from the Indian chieftain, Powhatan,
and his daughter, Pocahontas. Abundant cumulative evidence in all the various branches of her descendants is to that effect. Many of her descendants, early as well as later ones, were given the names, Bolling, Powhatan, and, Pocahontas."

Rebecca was the name that the white settlers gave Pocahontas.
There were other names in their descendants Jane, Powhatan, Pocahontas, etc..

Family/Spouse: John Michael Pendergass. John was born in 1664 in , County Mayo, Ireland; died in 1705 in Farnham, Richmond, Virginia, USA; was buried in Farnham, Richmond, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 1704, Cobbs Plantation, Henrico, Virginia, USA

Notes:

The Cobbs from County Kent, England
In 1639, Ambrose Cobbs and his family landed in Virginia, in the original Henrico County deeper inland on the James River, and settled Cobbs Hall, a 350 acre estate on the north side of the Appomattox River in York County. According to Early Virginia Immigrants 1623-1666, by George Cabel in 1912, Robert Cobbs and Margarett Cobbs, the children of Ann and Ambrose Cobbs were brought to Henrico County by Ambrose and Ann Cobbs.

Ambrose Cobbs was born in 1603 in Petham, Kent, England, where he married Ann White on 18 April 1625. Ann White was born in 1608 in Norton Parish, Kent. Before the marriage, Ann was living in Willesborough with her sister Sarah and brother-in-law Thomas Cobbs, the brother of Ambrose. Ambrose and Ann gave birth to son Robert in 1627, and then in 1633 sold their property in England in preparation for the trip to the colonies. On July 25, 1639, Ambrose patented 350 acres on the Appomattox River, near Swift's Creek, about nine miles from present Petersburg, about fifty miles upriver from Jamestown, and adjacent to properties owned by Abraham Wood and John Baugh. During his lifetime, the entire locale became known as 'Cobbs' or 'Cobbs Hall', a name that was used to identify the entire surrounding area until well after the Civil War. Robert, the son of Ambrose, became the York County Anglican Church Warden of Marston Parish two years after the death of Ambrose. He was York County’s Justice of the Peace in 1676, and High Sheriff of York County in 1682 – the year Robert died. At that time Robert’s son, Ambrose, was a member of Bruton Parish in Williamsburg, and helped build the Bruton Parish Anglican Church, which is still operating today. Robert inherited Cobbs Hall when Ambrose died in 1656, and he immediately sold the property to Michael Masters, who then sold it to John and Thomas Burton that same year. In 1704, a son of Thomas Burton sold "Cobbs" to John Bolling, and though it continued to be known as "Cobbs", the property remained in the possession of the Bolling family for over a hundred years.

John Bolling was the son of Colonel Robert Bolling and his wife Jane Rolfe, daughter of Thomas Rolfe and granddaughter of Pocahontas. The state of Virginia owns a painting of the mansion at Cobbs Hall, but was probably built by the Bolling family. During the Revolution, the property was raided by the British. The crops and outbuildings were burned, but the main house was left untouched. During the Civil War however, the entire property was overrun in 1864 and burned to the ground by Federal troops.


Major John Bolling (January 27, 1676 – April 20, 1729) was a colonist, farmer, and politician in the Virginia Colony. John Bolling was the son of Colonel Robert Bolling and Jane (née Rolfe) Bolling. His maternal grandfather was Chief Powhatan's grandson, Thomas Rolfe and maternal great grandmother was Pocahontas. John Bolling was born at Kippax Plantation, in Charles City County, a site which is now within the corporate limits of the City of Hopewell. He made his home at the Bolling family plantation "Cobbs" just west of Point of Rocks on the north shore of the Appomattox River downstream from present-day Petersburg, Virginia. (Cobbs was located in Henrico County until the area south of the James River was subdivided to form Chesterfield County in 1749.)

John Bolling married Mary Kennon (1679–1727), daughter of Richard Kennon and Elizabeth Worsham, on December 29, 1697. They had at least seven children, whose names appear in John Bolling's will:

John Bolling Jr. (1700–1757) married Elizabeth Lewis in 1720. Later married Elizabeth Bland Blair (the niece of James Blair, the first president of the College of William & Mary) on August 1, 1728 and had at least nine children, including John Bolling III, who married Mary Jefferson (the sister of United States President Thomas Jefferson.

Jane Bolling (1703–1766) married Colonel Richard Randolph in 1714 or 1720 and had seven children.
Elizabeth Bolling (b. 1709), married William Gay of Scotland and had three children.
Mary Bolling (1711–1744), married John Fleming and had eight children.
Martha Bolling (1713–1737), married Thomas Eldridge in 1729 and had four children.
Anne Bolling (1718–1800), married James Murray and had six children.
Sarah Bolling (1727–1816), married Major Robert Davis and had one child.

In 1722, he opened a tobacco warehouse in what is now the 'Pocahontas' neighborhood of Petersburg. William Byrd II of Westover Plantation is said to have remarked that Major Bolling enjoyed "all the profits of an immense trade with his countrymen, and of one still greater with the Indian.". Major Bolling served in the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1710 until his death in 1729. John and Mary Bolling's descendants are some of the descendants of Pocahontas, and include Latter-day Saint pioneer Martha Jane Crismon Lewis, First Lady of the United States Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, astronomer Percival Lowell, Virginia Governor then Senator Harry Flood Byrd, New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen, and Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd.

In Old Virginia Houses Along the James by Emmie Ferguson Farrar (New York: Bonanza Books, 1957). On pp. 61-62, Ms Farrar has this to say about Cobb's Hall:

"AMBROSE COBB patented three hundred and fifty acres on Appomattox River in 1639. The patent was granted him in order that he might bring over himself, his wife, his son and three others to Virginia and settle on the patented land. He was in business in York, and from the records, there were two other sons, Ambrose II and Thomas. (Bishop Meade mentions Ambrose Cobb, vestryman at the Church in Williamsburg, some time between 1674-1769.)

Cobb built the first mansion at Cobb's. Its site was on the north side of
Appomattox River in what is now Chesterfield County. Later John Bolling
(the great-grandson of Pocahontas and John Rolfe) and his wife, Mary Kennon, of Brick House, bought Cobb's, and it became a Bolling home for many generations. John Bolling went into mercantile business and carried on extensive trade with the Indians as well as the English.

John and Mary had a son, John, who was something of a gay blade and liked
dancing, fishing, hunting, dogs and horses. He was devoted to his family.
He became a justice in the courts, while the family acres were still a part of Henrico, and later presided over the first Court of Chesterfield County. John had a son, Thomas, who married Elizabeth Gay. She rode about the county and to church with her coach and four, with coachman, footman and postillion in bright yellow livery.

Many distinguished Americans, including the second Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, were descendants of this family.

The burial ground at Cobb's is surrounded by a high brick wall, and many
Bollings are buried here. There is a granite monument on which is
inscribed, 'Around this stone lie the remains of Colonel John Bolling of
Cobbs. Great Grandson of Rolfe and Pocahontas--Born 1676--Died 1709.'

Some members of the Bolling family were deaf, so William Bolling engaged a teacher, John Braidwood, of Washington, and in 1815 organized the first
school for the deaf in America. It continued for only four years.

Cobbs suffered damage both during the Revolutionary and the Civil Wars.

It eventually burned down but was rebuilt. After the Bollings sold the
place, there was a succession of owners and several changes of name. Now,
since Mr. M. T. Broyhill, of Hopewall, purchased the property and subdivided it into small farms, there are many people living at Cobb's."

John married Mary Sarah Kennon on 29 Dec 1697 in St Johns Church, Henrico, Virginia, USA. Mary (daughter of Richard Kennon and Elizabeth Worsham) was born on 29 Jun 1679 in Conjurers Neck, Henrico, Virginia, USA; died on 29 Jun 1727 in Cobbs Plantation, Henrico, Virginia, USA; was buried in Enon, Chesterfield, Virginia, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]