A Most Famous Kennon Family Connection: Pocahontas

Did you know that Pocahontas, aka Rebecca Rolfe, is connected to the Kennon family of Old Brick House?  You didn’t, why not?  For many generations, prominent Virginia families intermarried with one another, creating a humongous, tangled web of connections.  The Kennon family was a fairly prominent family in the area of Conjurer’s Neck, but why are they not more well known among Virginia’s elite colonial families?  After all, the Kennons do have connections to the Randolphs, Jeffersons, Lees, Washingtons, and so on and so forth.  Could it be because of their connection to a Native American?  Likely not.  But when I think of this last question, one thing always pops up in my mind from my days as a college student in Dr. Ferguson’s Virginia History course at Longwood University.  Race and Racism.  One of the textbooks we were required to read was, Old Dominion, New Commonwealth.  One of the passages from the book (page 302) that I have always remembered was this:

 

In 1922 an Organization called the Anglo-Saxon Clubs of America was founded in Richmond to preserve “the supremacy of the white race in the United States” and to find “final solutions of our racial problems.”  Members included John Powell and Dr. Walter Plecker, first registrar of Virginia’s Bureau of Vital Statistics.  They lobbied for passage of the 1924 Racial Integrity Act that defined white persons as having no trace of black blood—the one-drop rule—and made it illegal for whites to marry nonwhites, including Asians.  It left one loophole for the descendants of Pocahontas: that a person with one-sixteenth or less American Indian blood would be classified as white.

 

How convenient, Virginia state lawmakers in the era of Jim Crow, made a loophole using Pocahontas.  Why is that you may ask?  Well, many of our state lawmakers in that time were descendants of Pocahontas, and if they did not create a loophole, then they themselves would be subject to their own law.  But, enough of that.  I just wanted to share that little blurb with you all.  Now to the point of this article.

On April 5, 1614, at either the church at Jamestown or Henricus, Pocahontas, now known as Rebecca, married English colonist, John Rolfe.  Pocahontas was the daughter of Powatan Chief, Wahunsenacawh.  The couple settled on their plantation at today’s Varina Farms, located in Henrico County.  It was likely here that the couple had their only child, Thomas, in 1615.  The family went to England in 1616, and the next year, when the family were preparing to head back to Virginia, Pocahontas died in March in Gravesend, England.  The couple’s son, Thomas, was also very ill and to prevent the loss of his son, John Rolfe left him in the care of Sir Lewis Stukley in England while he headed back to Virginia.  Thomas would never see his father again.  John Rolfe died in Virginia in March 1622, possibly in the Massacre of 1622.

By 1635, Thomas Rolfe had come home to his birthplace of Virginia.  He married Jane Poythress, daughter of Captain Francis Poythress.  The couple would go on to have only one child, Jane Rolfe.  It is unknown exactly when Thomas died.  He was buried at Kippax Plantation, in present day Hopewell.

Jane Rolfe was born at Varina on October 10, 1650.  She married Robert Bolling, a successful merchant, member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and militia officer.  The couple resided at their plantation known as Kippax.  The couple had only one child, John, born January 27, 1677 at Kippax.  Jane died shortly after the birth of her son.  She was buried near her father at Kippax.

John, being the great-grandson of Pocahontas, became the first of what was known as the Red Bollings.  John was issued a marriage warrant on December 29, 1697 and at this date or not long after, he wed Mary Kennon, daughter of Richard Kennon and Elizabeth Worsham Kennon of Conjurer’s Neck.  The couple had one son and five daughters, all married into prominent Virginia families and numerous descendants have sprung from these children.  John was a merchant in Henrico County, served as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses for Henrico (1710-1718, and 1723 until his death), was a member of the Henrico County Court (1699-1714), and was a major of dragoons in the county militia.  In November 1704, John purchased Cobbs Plantation in present-day Chesterfield County and here the family lived out the rest of their lives.  Mary Kennon Bolling died about 1727.  John Bolling died April 20, 1729.  Both are buried at the family cemetery located at Cobbs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As an interesting side note, Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, former First Lady of the United States, and wife of President Woodrow Wilson, is a descendant of Mary Kennon and John Bolling.

References

Bearss, Sara B, et. al.  Dictionary of Virginia Biography.  Vol 2, Richmond:  Library of Virginia, 2001.

Dorman, John Frederick.  Adventures of Purse and Person. 4^th Ed., Vol 3, Genealogical Publishing Company, 2004.

Heinemann, Ronald L., et. al.  Old Dominion New Commonwealth:  A History of Virginia 1607-2007.  Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, 2007.