John Rolfe
1585-1622

Wives: Sarah Hacker (    -1610) Pocahontas (1596-1617) Jane Pierce (1595-1635) 1 Child of Jane: Elizabeth Rolfe (1620-1635) Father: John Rolfe (1562-1594) Mother: Dorothea Mason (1559-1645)

John Rolfe (1585-1622) was one of the early English settlers of Jamestown, Virginia Colony. He married three times in succession and had three children, one from each wife before each died. His second wife is the famous Pocahontas, daughter of the Indian chief Powhatan, leader of some 30 tribes. John is credited with the first successful cultivation of tobacco as an export crop in the Colony of Virginia. My family is descended from his third wife Jane Pierce.

John Rolfe (Disney).

At the time of his birth about 1 May 1585 Spain controlled the tobacco trade to Europe from their southern colonies. Rolfe saw the business opportunity to compete with Spain by growing tobacco in the new Jamestown colony in Virginia, founded 1607. At age 24, he sailed there in May 1609 with his wife Sarah Hacker on the Sea Venture, the third supply ship to help the fledging colony. He took with him some tobacco seeds of a popular strain from Trinidad in South America.

The ship stopped at Bermuda on the way to Virginia, having had serious trouble at sea. There they constructed two new ships. Many died and were buried there, including John's wife and daughter, Bermuda Rolfe. England's claim to that island dates to their landing there in 1609. In May 1610, the 142 castaways again set sail from Bermuda to Virginia. Aboard were John Rolfe, Stephen Hopkins and Sir Thomas Gates. When they arrived they found only 60 settlers in Jamestown still alive, most having died of famine or disease. It was only because of their two supply ships and one commanded by Lord De La Warr (Delaware) arriving a month later that the colony survived at all.

In 1612 John established Varina Farms, his tobacco plantation. The native tobacco of Virginia was not popular, so his sweeter strain became a huge success. The first four barrels of leaves were exported to England in 1614 and by 1619 tobacco had become Virginia's major money crop.

John Rolfe married Pocahontas on 5 Apr 1614, which had huge positive implications for establishing peace between the two vastly different cultures. John had wrestled with the thought of marrying a "heathen", but a year earlier she had converted to Christianity, receiving the Christian name Rebecca. The marriage created an 8-year era of friendly commerce called the "Peace of Pocahontas". Their son Thomas was born in 1615.

History Marker of John Rolfe.

The family of three traveled to England in 1615 arriving in Plymouth in June. Pocahontas (Rebecca) was widely received as royalty in England, and she was said to have carried herself like royalty. She was given a formal audience with King James I. That did much to convince Europeans that the "savages" could be "civilized". While they were preparing to return to Virginia in 1617, she took sick and died. She is buried at St. George's Church at Gravesend, England. Their son Thomas survived and returned to Virginia after his father John, having been raised for a few years in England by John's brother Henry.

John's married his third wife, Jane Pierce, daughter of Capt. William Pierce and Joan Phippen in 1619. She bore him one daughter, Elizabeth Rolfe, born 25 Jan 1620 in Jamestown. She died that year, perhaps during childbirth. All of that happened before the Mayflower landed in New England with the pilgrims! Elizabeth grew up to marry John Milner and become our ancestor.

In 1621 Rolfe was appointed to Virginia's Council of State as part of the colonial government. He died the next year in Jamestown at age 36 in March 1622.