Tuesday, November 04, 2008

The White Pocahontas

When I was a boy, my Dad asked me if I was familiar with the "White Pocahontas" legend. Of course, I was not. Well, I was very young but basically remember the story that the Indian princess Pocahontas, daughter of a Powhatan Indian Chief, was captured, and while being held prisoner, fell in love with a Pilgrim, John Rolfe. She was a daughter of a Powhatan Indian chief but lived her life among the English community, much of her time was spent in London.
My Dad's story was that there was another person, with whom we were related, who had lived among the Indians. I believe I have found a plausible explanation of this. Pocahontas had a cousin, Keziah Arroyo who married Richard Bryant. They had a daughter Martha Bryant, who married Thomas Foley. Now, the information is sketchy but does go back to the 1600s and I can find few other mentions of the name Foley back this far. Fortunately, this family tree is pretty well defined so I should be able to reach some conclusions.

2 Comments:

At 11:02 PM, Blogger One said...

Keziah is also a direct ancestor of mine by her daughter Elizabeth. If you trace Richard Bryant it leads you to the Tudors and the Norman invasion. I traced them back to 972 in France.

 
At 3:57 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Hi Michael- This is great information. I am also a descendant of Thomas Foley. This is extremely interesting to me! Thank you for the information!!

Kimberly j. Logan

 

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