Rolfe

Rolfe’s son, Thomas, who remained in England for education, married Elizabeth Washington in September 1632 at and they had a daughter named Anne in 1633. Elizabeth died shortly after Anne’s birth.Thomas returned to Virginia two years later, where he married Jane Poythress. Her English parents were Francis Poythress and Alice Payton.Thomas Rolfe and his wife had one Rolfe was born in , , England as the son of John Rolfe and Dorothea Mason, and was baptized on May 6, 1585. At the time, child, , who married in 1675. She died in 1676 leaving one son, , born the same year.

Spain held a virtual monopoly on the lucrative tobacco trade. Most Spanish colonies in the New World were located in southern

• Editor’s Note: The story of the Sea Venture was used as a basis for “The Tempest” by Shakespeare (See

climates more favorable to tobacco growth than the English settlements, notably Jamestown. As the consumption of tobacco had Appendix)

increased, the between England and Spain began to be seriously affected. Rolfe was one of a number of businessmen who saw John Rolfe

the opportunity to undercut Spanish imports by growing tobacco in England’s new colony at , in . Rolfe had somehow obtained (1585-1622)

seeds to take with him from a special popular strain then being grown in and South America, even though Spain had declared a penalty of death to anyone selling such seeds to a non-Spaniard.

John Rolfe

A project of the proprietary , Jamestown had been established by an initial group of settlers on May 14, 1607. This colony

• Born: 6 May 1585, Heacham, Norfolk, England

proved as troubled as earlier English settlements, and after two return trips with supplies by arrived in 1608, another larger than

• Marriage (1): Pocahontas “Rebecca” Matoaka on 5 Apr 1614 in Jamestown, James City Co., VA

ever relief fleet was dispatched in 1609, carrying hundreds of new settlers and supplies across the . Heading the fleet was the new

• Marriage (2): Unknown in 1608 in England

of the , the , carrying Rolfe and his wife.

• Marriage (3): Sarah Hacker in 1608 in England

The Third Supply fleet left England in May 1609 destined for Jamestown with seven large ships, towing two smaller . In

• Marriage (4): Jane Pierce in 1620

the southern region of the North Atlantic, they encountered a three-day-long storm, thought to have been a severe hurricane. The

• Died: 22 Mar 1622, Jamestown, James City Co., VA at age 36

ships of the fleet became separated. The new Sea Venture, whose caulking had not cured, was taking on water faster than it

• Buried: Bur Jamestown, , Virginia

could be bailed. The Admiral of the Company, Sir , took the helm and the ship was deliberately driven onto the reefs of to prevent its foundering. All aboard, 150 passengers and crew, and 1 dog, survived. Most remained for ten months in Bermuda, Cause of his death was killed in * Indian Massacare in James City Co., VA.

subsequently also known as The Somers Isles, while they built two small ships to continue the voyage to Jamestown. A number Col John Bolling

of passengers and crew, however, did not complete this journey. Some had died or been killed, lost at sea (the Sea Venture’s long (1675-1729)

boat had been fitted with a sail, and several men sent to take word to Jamestown, and they were never heard from again), or left behind to maintain England’s claim to Bermuda. Because of this, although the Virginia Company’s charter was not extended to

Family Links

Bermuda until 1612, the Colony at Bermuda dates its settlement from 1609. Among those left buried in Bermuda were Rolfe’s wife and his infant daughter, Bermuda Rolfe.

Spouses/Children:

In May 1610, the two newly-constructed ships set sail from Bermuda, with 142 castaways on board, including Rolfe,

Col John Bolling

Admiral Somers, , and Sir . On arrival at Jamestown, they found the Virginia Colony almost destroyed by famine and disease during what has become known as the . Very few supplies from the Third Supply had arrived because the same hurricane that

• Born: 26 Jan 1675, Kippax, Charles City Co., VA

caught the Sea Venture badly affected the rest of the fleet. Only 60 settlers remained alive. It was only through the arrival of the

• Marriage: Mary Kennon on 29 Dec 1697 in Henrico Co., VA

two small ships from Bermuda, and the arrival of another relief fleet commanded by on June 10, 1610 that the abandonment of

• Died: 20 Apr 1729, Cobbs, Henrico Co., VA at age 54

Jamestown was avoided and the colony survived. After finally settling in, although his first wife and child had died, Rolfe began

• Buried: Apr 1729, VA

his long-delayed work with tobacco.