Bernie,
Thanks you for the information. Most sources I've read put the
birth of Pocahontas as 1595, so that she was twelve when she met John
Smith. Your dates would make her 10-11 instead. Thanks for the definitive
date of April 5th for her marriage. By your birth date, she married John
Rolfe when she was 14 instead of the 17 most sources indicate. Many sources
suggest an earlier marriage to Kocoum of the Potomac tribe prior to her
being taken captive at Jamestown.
The tribal name Matoko is also spelled variously as Matoaka,
Matoaca, and Matoax. One site said that her tribal name means "Little Snow
Feather". I prefer the definition of the name Pocahontas as "playful one"
over some others given such as "wanton one". A book I read to my class
today suggested that Pocahontas' name suggested she was allowed to play
with the boys rather than work with the other girls in the tribe. Most
sources suggest that Pocahontas was pretty, attractive, comely, or "of
pleasant countenance", but a Cherokee-raised child in Alabama informs that
she was ugly and had a buzz haircut.
Of great curiosity is the illness which took her life. I've read
it was smallpox, tuberculosis, or other unnamed diseases. All agree it was
a disease of European origin to which she had no resistance. But the
specific disease seems a matter of opinion.
The attempt to make this project authentic, and to please everyone
(most everyone?) seems to be getting further away rather than closer. What
a fascinating subject this is becoming!
Anne
At 04:43 PM 10/8/02 -0400, you wrote:
>HOwdy:
>
>Pocahontas whose real name was Matoko, but was called Pocahontas which means
>the "Playful One" was born about 1596/97 at Werawocomoco. This is now
>Wicomico, Glouchester Co., Virginia. She was a younger and favorite daughter
>of Chief Powhatan of the Federation of Algonquian Tribes. Pocahontas married
>John Rolfe on April 5, 1614 at the Jamestown Anglican Church. Pocahontas
>gave birth to a son Thomas Rolfe who was born in 1615. He was the only child
> and was raised in London, England by his uncle Henry Rolfe. Thomas
>returned to Virginia to live on his parents estate given to them by Chief
>Powhatan. Thomas married Jane Poythress and they had only one dauthter named
>Jane Rolfe. Jane married Col John Bolling and died in childbirth giving
>birth to their only son named John Bolling.
>
>Hope this is of intetest to some of the Virginia Researchers.
>
>Regards,
>Bernie in Springfield, VA.
>
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Anne Pemberton
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