Step softly among the fallen trees and broken branches in the forests of American Indian genealogy. Roots have dwindled, leaving only the dust of a fallen empire. Scattered twigs have been grafted uncertainly into many branches because of lack of information. Some incorrect grafting results from a too-eager pursuit of connection to Chief Powhatan's daughter Pocahontas, who married John Rolfe in 1614 at Jamestown in Colonial Virginia.
Speaking of a near-crusade of seekers of connection to Pocahontas, Chief William P. Miles, head of the Pamunkey Indians, jested that the largest genealogical group in the country is the "descendants of Pocahontas wannabes."
Born about 45 years before the English came to Jamestown in 1607, Powhatan protected the colony. As head of a confederacy of Indian tribes, Powhatan might easily have exterminated the little company of English settlers. His daughter Pocahontas converted to Christianity after being held hostage by the colonists. Pocahontas died at age 22 during a visit to England. Her son, Thomas Rolfe, grew up in England and returned to Virginia as an adult to claim inherited land. Thomas Rolfe is the link to the ancestral jackpot.
Eagerness to claim Indian ancestry is affecting genealogy on both sides of the Atlantic. Adding to thousands of claims in Bolling genealogies in this country, new claims to kinship with Powhatan's daughter have come "out of the blue" in England. These "Blue Bollings" claim that Thomas Rolfe married a first wife in England and left descendants there.
Col. Robert Bolling married Powhatan's great-granddaughter, Jane Rolfe, born in 1677. Their descendants the "Red Bollings," can trace their ancestry to Powhatan. Col. Bolling had previously married Ann Stith. These "White Bollings" are not connected to Powhatan, but, in the tangle of branches some will find connection in later generations. "White Bollings" stand among Virginia's distinguished colonists, descendants of 12th-century owners of Bolling Hall in Yorkshire, England.
Recently, the "Blue Bollings" employed DNA testing, which proved some lineages but refuted others.
People who claim to be descendants of Pocahontas can be found in every state and number about 100,000.
Distinguished genealogists have conducted searches in the few remaining records in several "burned" counties, which provide some proofs of Bolling family ties to Powhatan. Family legends and oral histories, diaries, and trinkets also were examined.
Powhatan made provision with the Virginia Assembly that when Thomas returned to the Colony his legacy of several hundred acres in Surry County should be deeded to him. Surry records confirm this. Upon his return, Thomas had some persons removed who had built on his land, and sold the acreage to Thomas Warren after 1650.
Thomas Rolfe married Jane Poythress and they made their home on the Chickahominy River on a large tract Powhatan and his brother Opechancanough claimed for Thomas Rolfe, who died in Charles City County in 1676.
Thomas and Jane Rolfe had only the one daughter, who married Col. Robert Bolling. Their descendants, the Red Bollings, became influential in Virginia government.
Thomas Rolfe's early descendants were in Henrico, Chesterfield, New Kent, Dinwiddie, King William, King and Queen and other areas of Virginia.
Powhatan's great-grandson, John Bolling, born in 1674 or 1675 in Henrico, was a member of the House of Burgesses. His daughter Penelope married Christopher Clark in Henrico. His fifth child, Mary Bolling, married John Fleming, a genealogy traced to the present. Daughter Martha married Thomas Eldridge. His daughter Anne Bolling married James Murray.
Intertwined branches of Red and White Bollings include the surnames Blair, Carter, Throckmorton, Washington, Jefferson, Wilson, and Bush.
Pocahontas' siblings include Taux "Little" Powhatan, who was chief of the strong Pashbehay tribe north of Jamestown. Pochin, chief of the Kecoughtan tribe, was killed about 1613. Both sons joined Opechancanough in bitter opposition to the English colony. After the death of Powhatan in 1618, Opechancanough led two attacks against the settlers, killing 350 in 1622. He was captured and executed after an attack in 1644.
David Morenus, 12th grandson of Powhatan, has posted his Powhatan lineage on pocahontas.morenus.org/poca_gen.html and traces it to William Gay in Henrico County, husband of Elizabeth, granddaughter of Robert Bolling and Jane Rolfe. Powhatan's fifth great-grandson, Neil Buchanan Gay, was born in 1791 and was a member of the House of Burgesses.
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