John Bolling Explained

John Bolling
Birth Date:27 January 1676
Birth Place:Hopewell, Virginia
Death Place:Henrico County, Virginia
Resting Place:Chesterfield County, Virginia
Mother:Jane Rolfe
Father:Robert Bolling
Children:John Bolling Jr.
Jane Bolling
Elizabeth Bolling
Mary Bolling
Martha Bolling
Anne Bolling
Relatives:Thomas Rolfe (maternal grandfather)
Pocahontas (maternal great-grandmother)

Major John Bolling (January 27, 1676April 20, 1729) was an American planter, politician and military officer in the colony of Virginia. He was the great-grandson of Pocahontas and her husband, John Rolfe.

Early life and marriage

John Bolling was the son of Colonel Robert Bolling and Jane (née Rolfe) Bolling.[1] He was a great-grand-child of Pocahontas and her husband, John Rolfe.[2]

John Bolling was born at Kippax Plantation, in Charles City County, in the east central part of Virginia, a site which is now within the corporate limits of the City of Hopewell. He made his home at the Bolling family plantation "Cobbs" just west of Point of Rocks on the north shore of the Appomattox River downstream from present-day Petersburg, Virginia. (Cobbs was located in Henrico County until the area south of the James River was subdivided to form Chesterfield County in 1749.)

John Bolling married Mary Kennon (–1727), daughter of Richard Kennon and Elizabeth Worsham, on December 29, 1697. They had six children, whose names appear in John Bolling's will:[3]

Later life and death

In 1722, he opened a tobacco warehouse in what is now the 'Pocahontas' neighborhood of Petersburg. William Byrd II of Westover Plantation is said to have remarked that Major Bolling enjoyed "all the profits of an immense trade with his countrymen, and of one still greater with the Indian."

Major Bolling served in the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1710 until his death in 1729.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Thomas Rolfe - Historic Jamestowne Part of Colonial National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service). www.nps.gov.
  2. Web site: LAYING CLAIM TO POCAHONTAS. www.washingtonpost.com.
  3. Henrico Wills & Deeds 1725-1737, p.242
  4. Book: Pecquet du Bellet . Louise . Some Prominent Virginia Families . IV . J.P. Bell Company . Lynchburg, Virginia . 304–314 . Bolling Family . https://books.google.com/books?id=3iQSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA304 . 1907 .
  5. Book: Page . Richard Channing Moore . Genealogy of the Page Family in Virginia . 2 . 1893 . Press of the Publishers Printing Co. . New York . 249–272 . Randolph Family . https://books.google.com/books?id=cOBBAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA247 .
  6. Book: Thomas Allen . Glenn . Some Colonial Mansions: And Those Who Lived In Them : With Genealogies Of The Various Families Mentioned . 1 . 1898 . Henry T. Coates & Company . Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . 430–459 . The Randolphs: Randolph Genealogy . https://books.google.com/books?id=iQkpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA433 .