Off topic - Pocahontas

[Susan McGee]

No: HPFGUIDX 4828

1595? - 1617

Pocahontas wasn't even her real name. It was a nickname meaning
Playful one" bestowed by her father. Her tribal name was Matoaka.

Capt. John Smith came to Jamestown in 1607. We have only Smith's word,
however, for his dramatic capture and subsequent rescue from hostile
natives by the 12 year Pocahontas. It's an unresolved controversy.
Who knows? Maybe he swore allegiance to the chief and vowed to marry 
his daughter and broke his vow. Unfortunately, some grown men can be 
and are interested in 12 year old girls.

In 1609, Smith returned to England.

A few months later, she met and married an Indian named Kocoum. 
In Decemer of 1612, she was kidnapped by Capt. Samuel Argall, a 
British sea captain, and held hostage against the return of some
English prisoners and ammunition being held by her father. 

During her captivity, she converted to Christianity, and met and 
married John Rolfe..her baptismal name became Rebecca. The marriage 
ushered in a period of unprecedented peace between Native Americans 
and English settlers. 

Three years later, she accompanied her husband with their infant son  
to London, where she entered high society, and attended a performance
of Shakespeare's The Tempest at the Globe Theatre.  She was presented 
to King James and Queen Anne, and was said to have conducted herself
as the daughter of a King might. 

Her health began to fail, and she went to her estate in the country.
She was visited by John Smith. That meeting has been the subject of
endless speculation, but remains shrouded in Smith's ambiguous 
account. He left her feeling guilty for having betrayed their 
friendship.

In 1617, John Rolfe was appointed secretary of the Virginia colony. 
They boarded a ship for Virginia. While the ship was still anchored 
in the Thames, Pocahontas became ill and died.

Thomas, Pocahontas' son grew up in England raised by an uncle, and 
returned to the U.S. as an adult. His descendants are said to have 
included the Virginia Jeffersons, Lees, Randolphs and Marshalls.