"Pocahontas has been called the
"Mother of America" and "Savior of the
Colonists". As a young girl of only eleven or twelve she
helped the early colonists
survive in the New World. Bringing them food, warning them of
attacks from
hostile Indians and finally, by marrying settler John Rolfe she
brought peace to
the first English settlement in America. The United States would
not be as we
know it today if it were not for her." Pocahontas
at http://www.inna.net/pocahontas/
Pocahontas and John Rolfe had one son,
Thomas. Thomas' daughter Jane married Robert
Bolling and her only child was John Bolling. His descendants are
traced at Bolling
Family
His descendants married the Jeffersons, Randolphs and Tazewells,
influential families in
the formation of our country.
Grandma Ocie, 
Dad's mom, shared
the story that her grandfather Darwin
Safford Mann
was kin to Pocahontas and 1/16th Indian. That family legend was
one of the things that
got me, interested in genealogy. Here is my home
page of family history.
Well, maybe Darwin was kin to Pocahontas and 1/16 Indian. To a
kid the information
seemed mutually supportive, but looking back after a little research
one fact doesn't
necessarily have anything to do with the other. Where is Darwin's
full blood Native
American great-great ancestor? Where is the Pocahontas connection?
Darwin S. Mann was born 6 August 1845,
Wood County, (West) Virginia to Daniel Selson
Mann and Margaret Johnson, and died 16 May 1926, Checotah, Oklahoma.
Daniel Selson Mann was born about 1818,
Wood County, (West) Virginia to John (Jr.)
and Charlotte Mann of Delaware. Charlotte's maiden name is unknown.
Margaret Johnson was born about 1820
in Canada. Margaret's father was from New York
and her mother from Canada, according to 1880 census record.
None of these show a remote connection
to known Pocahontas descendants sketched in
Brown, Myers and Chappel's Pocahontas Descendants (1985).
Was John Mann Sr. or his
wife, Nancy (unknown), a half blood of the Delaware Indians, the
Lenni Lanape? There's
NOTHING to show that they were, just grasping for ideas.
And that's just HALF the family tale.
Mom's grandmother, 
Mittie
Stephens Cobb, told the family that
her grandmother was kin to Pocahontas, related to the Rolfes.
Her grandmother was
Eliza Matilda, born 1820, daughter of Mary Broce and step daughter
of Israel Harless of
Montgomery County, Virginia. Eliza Matilda's father has yet to
be found. Eliza Matilda married
James Sarver 9 October 1838, Montgomery County, Virginia, and
died 7 November 1888
Lee County, Virginia.
Both grandmothers left written accounts
of the family tale of kinship to Pocahontas they
heard repeated.
Gotta think that there's an element of
truth in there somewhere. Would it be that both
tales are true, I'm a remote cousin to myself. However, I may
never find any evidence for
these family legends. Whether there is evidence for the stories
or not, the resource list
collected may help others.
Research included Pocahontas Trails,
the quarterly newsletter of the
Pocahontas Trails Genealogical Society 1983-1993, started by Carolyn
Burke, Lakeport, CA.
Many family tales recorded there began with "Grandmother
said." The new POCAHONTAS
QUARTERLY by Beth Richardson, Gloucester, Virginia 23061,
carries on in this effort.
POCAHONTAS TRAILS included research that
Thomas Rolfe may have had other children
than Jane, and accounts of descendant from Pocahontas' sister,
Niketti.
Pocahontas resources found online:
Henrico
County, VA - Faces of Pocahontas
Pocahontas
by Powhatan Renape
Nation
Resources
