What I believe he is saying is that we must be selective; some of the myths have to be thrown out--the recent Disney film was of course intended to entertain and to generate profit, and has been criticized in many quarters as not very historical. However, in the Ross article, and elsewhere--particularly if you tiptoe selectively through all of the Disney websites on the internet, there nevertheless remain some hard kernels of fact and around these, I believe, it is still possible to conservatively and responsibly reconstruct the outlines of her life story. Several other researchers already have done this.

I have never heard anyone discredit the line of descent from Matoaka and John Rolfe. There are entirely too many families who are extremely proud of this line of descent; and the prominence and romance and enduring human interest in this tale of the Algonquin princess, Matoaka, and of the Englishman whom she married--despite the myth and the inventions that have accreted around the few known facts--have acted as a life-raft, bouying it up in human and familial memory, and have precluded it from becoming lost or forgotten. The following is arbitrarily selected at random by me, not carefully documented (there's just no time for careful methodology; arbitrary slapdash is MUCH faster; besides, this is not my line, and I have other demands on my time), but seems to me to reflect with reasonable accuracy, a skeletal outline that probably can be checked out elsewhere. I would venture that a fair number of doctoral theses have been written on Pocahontas (Univ. of Michigan at Ann Arbor generally does a good job of tracking these, and a few will be well written), and there is no shortage of books and websites, some of which appear to be pretty good.

Pocahontas reportedly was born as Matoaka or Matoka (I have yet not seen a translation of the meaning of this name), reportedly on 17 September 1595 on the Gloucester side of the York River, in Virginia. She was a daughter of Wahunsonacock Powhatan (1540/45-1618), Chief of a Confederation of Algonquin Tribes that he expanded to include most of the tribes on Chesapeake Bay tributaries--in Tidewater Virginia & possibly Maryland and Delaware. Powhatan's father "Scent Flower" was a son of "Dashing Stream." Matoaka's mother was Nonoma. Matoaka's siblings reportedly included Matachannu, Namontack, and [perhaps a more Algonquian spelling than] "Cleopatra." Powhatan may have had many other wifes and children. For more on these Algonquin names see: http://members.tripod.com/~AlanCheshire/index-28.html

If the date of Matoaka's birth is correct, then she would have been perhaps 11 or 12 years old when she first came into the English Fort at Jamestown (1607-08?). The name of Pocahontas (playful or wanton) would seem to reflect the rather memorable impression that she must have made upon hardened and deprived Englishmen when she cartwheeled through the encampment without a stitch of any clothing to conceal her natural charms and endowment.

Interestingly, she is reported to have married an Algonquin "pryvate Captayne" named Kocoum in 1610 (when she would have been about 15), and subsequently lived with him among one of the Potomac River Tribes, though there are no reports of any children from this union. She was not left in peace, however, but was kidnapped by Captain Samuel Argall (in collusion with a minor Potomac Tribal Chief named Japazaws), lured onto Argall's ship, and held for ransom. In return for Matoaka, Argall demanded that Powhatan free some English prisoners, return stolen weapons, and provide some corn. Argall brought Matoaka back to Jamestown in April 1613. She later was removed to a new English settlement at Henrico, led by Sir Thomas Dale.

At Henrico, Matoaka received a "Christian education," and in June 1613 met a successful tobacco planter named John Rolfe (sometimes Rolph). A son, Thomas Rolfe is reported to have been born to Matoaka and John Rolfe on 30 January 1614. Elsewhere this child is reported to have been born in 1615. After a year of captivity, and after complex negotiations and armed skirmishes between the English and the Algonquins, Matoaka was returned to her people. She told two of her brothers that she had been well-treated, was in love with Rolfe and wished to marry him. The proposed marriage had obvious political advantages for Powhatan, who gave his consent. Rolfe had reservations about marrying a non-Christian, but agreed to do so if she were baptised. She was duly christened as "Rebecca" and married Rolfe on 5 April 1614. In the spring of 1616 Thos Dale returned to London to seek greater financial support for the colony and took along Rolfe and Matoaka and Thomas. He sensed that the Baptised Algonquin Princess would be a public relations coup for the colony--and he was entirely correct. Matoaka/Pocahontas/Rebecca created quite a sensation in London. In March of 1617 Rolfe and his family were preparing to sail back to Jamestown; however, she fell ill and died (aged 21 or 22) and was buried in Gravesend, England. Her death variously is reported to have been caused by smallpox, pneumonia, tuberculosis, etc. After the funeral, John Rolfe left his young son, Thomas Rolfe, in the care of an uncle (John's brother) in England. John Rolfe then sailed back to Jamestown, never to return. The son, Thomas, was educated in England, and did not return to Jamestown until 1634-35, when he was about 20. He subsequently became an important member of the colony. For further reading see any or all of these:

http://members.tripod.com/~AlanCheshire/index-15.html [Excellent]
http://www.apva.org/history/pocahont.html
http://www.incwell.com/Biographies/Pocahontas.html
http://www.wp.com/genealogy/page90.html
http://www.rootscomputing.com/howto/pocahn/pocahn.htm
http://members.tripod.com/~AlanCheshire/vagenring.html
http://www.toshop.com/tom/geneal/jr8hist.htm

You should know that there are scores of weblinks to Pocahontas, some of which are trashy and some of which are Disney and some of which are not bad at all. But there is one absolute jewel of a website that anyone interested in Matoaka and her descendants should visit above and before all others. This seems to be supported in part by the State of Virginia and is linked to the "Virginia Genealogy Webring" and also is linked to the "Rolfe Family Genealogy Webring," and to "Alan's Genealogy & Cheshire, England Page" via "The InterLink UK Network." To begin I would suggest that you click on: http://members.tripod.com/~AlanCheshire/index-15.html and you will find:

Pocahontas, John Rolfe, Jamestown and Virginia

Pocahontas Descendants Story
Gloucester County History
Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities
Princess Pocahontas Foundation
The Real Pocahontas
Four Faces of Pocahontas
Pocahontas Descendants
Powhatan Confederacy of Tribes
Pocahontas Chronology
Are You Descended from Pocahontas?
Chief Powhatan
Powhatan Renape Nation
 

John Rolfe Links

Gloucester County History
Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities
John Rolfe and Dorothea Mason
John Rolfe (06 May 1585 - 1622)
 

Jamestown Links

A Brief History of Jamestown (1)
A Brief History of Jamestown (2)
Virginia Visions - Jamestown
1624 Jamestown Census
Williamsburg Online: Jamestown
Jamestown Rediscovery Timeline
APVA Jamestown Rediscovery
Howard Johnson's Jamestown
Captain John Smith
Jamestown Discoveries in the British Press

Virginia Links

USA: The Colonial Period
Documents of the Early South
Virginia Counties Map
US History- Colonial Cycle
13 Original Colonies
Virginia Genealogy
The Virginia Company
Virginia Company
The Library of Virginia
Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants
Virginia Coats of Arms Index
Virginia Marriage Records Index
Virginia Wills & Administration Collection
VA Gen Web
United States Resources: Virginia
Sources of Genealogical Information in Virginia
Virginia Family History Centers
Virginia Genealogy Society
The Virginia Genealogy Homepage

It doesn't get much better than this. I stopped looking at this point. Sorry that it took me so long to get around to this. I believe that I promised it to June P. O'Brien back in January. The reported line of descent from Pocahontas down to the Foys in Eufaula, Alabama, appears entirely correct to me--as described to you in my earlier e-mail (see below); but you also can check it out on some of these web pages. The web has a little more on the antecedents of both Rolfe and Matoaka than was in my earlier e-mail. Have fun! -- George H. Stevens

The Following Is From A Mimeographed Sheet Compiled by Florence Foy Strang, 1971, and passed to my mother, from whom I inherited it. There are still many Foys in Eufaula, Alabama, who are descended from Matoaka/Pocahontas/Rebecca Rolfe.

==================================================================

John Rolfe (1585-1622) in 1614 m. Pochahontas (Matoaka or Rebecka, 1595-1617)
Their son, Thomas Rolfe (b. 1615) m. Jane Polythress
Their dau., Jane Rolfe, in 1675 m. Capt. Robert Bolling (1646-1709)
Their son, John Bolling (1676-1729) in 1697 m. Mary Kennon
Their son, John Bolling (1700-1757) in 1728 m. Elizabeth Blair
Their dau., Matoaka Bolling (b. 1729) in 1743 m. James Sullivan (1722-1809)
Their dau., Rebecca Sullivan (b. 1744) in 1759 m. Ezekiel Roland
Their dau., Anne Roland (b. 1761) in 1777 m. William Humphries
a. Their dau., Catherine Humpheries m. James Edgar Foy (son of Peter Foy);
while
b. Their son, Roland Humpheries (d. 1814) married Rachel Pou (below)

Descent of Rachel Pou is as follows:
Phillip Pou (French) married Ursula Marina (Spanish)
Their son Gavin Pou married Margaret Neri
Their son Robert Pou married Ann Wolfe
& Their Daughter, Rachel Pou, married Roland Humpheries (d. 1814, above)
& their daughter, Margaret Pou Humpheries m. Levi R. Wilson (1810-73, below)

Meanwhile: Russel Wilson m. Mary Simpson Butler
Their Son, Simpson Wilson m. Margaret Manning
Their Son, Levi R, Wilson (1810-1873) m. Margaret Pou Humpheries (above)
Their Dau, Mary Louisa Wilson (1831-98) m. Wm. Humphrey Foy (1813-78, above)

Footnote:

The paperback book "POCAHONTAS" by Marguerite Stuart Quarles can be ordered [or could in 1971 have been so ordered] from the Assn. for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, Richmond, VA. In addition to the life of Pocahontas, this book gives genealogical information on the Rolfe family in England and traces the line from Pocahontas to Edith Bolling, Mrs. Woodrow Wilson. It is the same line as ours until you get to the second John Bolling who married Elizabeth Blair. Mrs. Wilson was descended from a son of this union; we are descended from a daughter, Matoaka Bolling, who married James Sullivan. --Florence Foy Strang 1971.

[PS: I am not a descendant of Rolfe-Matoaka, but of Peter Foy, some of whose other Foy descendants did marry into the Rolfe-Matoaka line. --George H. Stevens, 1999]

PS: Thor: You are welcome to post this pastiche on the Foy site as it may help to answer questions or help direct others interested in Pocahontas-Rolfe to the internet. However, I make no claim as to the accuracy of the factual outline, which derives mainly from the Web. --GHS

See George's addendum to this.

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