Henry Rolfe, of London

Brother of Captain John Rolfe, Ancient Planter

Henry Rolfe was an investor of the Virginia Company of London and the brother of John Rolfe, husband of Pocahontas. In March of 1617, immediately after the death of his wife, Pocahontas, in England John Rolfe had to return to Virginia. His young son Thoms was gravely ill and it was feared he would not survive a voyage back to Virginia. Therefore, John Rolfe left Thomas in Gravesend in the care of Sir Lewis Stuckley, with provisions that he be delivered into the care of his brother Henry Rolfe. John's letter dated June 1617 to Sir Edwin Sandys confirms this. In the letter John Rolfe also asked the Virginia Company to continue the allowance they had given Pocahontas, for the maintenance of his child that remained in England. Henry Rolfe made several petitions to the Virginia Company: in April 1621 he petitioned on behalf of his brother in regards to the request John had made for Pocahontas' allowance be continued for their son. And on October 7 1622, after John's death, Henry petitioned that John's estate be "converted" for the care of John's widow and children, and that as Thomas was alive in England in Henry's care, he requested funds for the child's maintenance.

These documents establish beyond a doubt that Henry Rolfe was the brother of John Rolfe.

Identity

In the past John Rolfe was believed to have been the son of Dorothea Redmayne and her 1st husband John Rolfe of Heacham, who died in 1595. Historians no longer believe this relationship to be accurate. While Dorothy Mason Rolfe is known to have had a son named John Rolfe, Jr. it is no longer believed he was the same John Rolfe who married Pocahontas. Dorothy Mason Rolfe is also NOT KNOWN TO HAVE HAD A SON NAMED HENRY. While records of Heacham parish, in England, do confirm that she had sons John, Eustace and Edward, there is NO RECORD OF HENRY. After the death of her 1st husband Dorothy Mason Rolfe remarried and had a daughter. Records and wills of her 2nd family, the Redmaynes, make no mention of John Rolfe, Henry Rolfe, Thomas Rolfe, or Pocahontas.

John Rolfe and Dorothy Mason had no daughters. Henry is listed as an additional son in the book Old Sandringham, by Mrs. Herbert Jones, however, there is no Dorothy or Henry recorded in the Parish records

Wilson Miles Cary of Baltimore, the distinguished genealogist, proposes that that John Rolfe, of Virginia, was not a son of John and Dorothea Rolfe, but belonged to another branch of the same family.

Henry Rolfe, brother of the Virginian colonist John Rolfe, has been identified in at least one source as "Henry Rolfe of Narford" and could possibly be the same as Henry Rolfe of Narford, the son of Edmund Rolfe of Narford and Katherine Rolfe, who died March 1, 1641.

References

• Genealogy of the Baskerville family and some allied families including the English descent from 1266 A.D., by Baskervill, P. Hamilton (Patrick Hamilton), 1848-1925. (1912). “Rolfe Family.” Opposite page 163. < Archive.Org > John3 Rolfe. the emigrant, undoubtedly had a brother named Henry, who remained m England, and took care of Xhoraas3 Rolfe. The records of the Virginia Company attest this (p. 162). And Mrs. Herbert Jones, in Sandringham. p. 292, says: "The Virginian colonist [John Rolfe], had a brother Henry, called in the Rolfe family genealogy 'of Xar- iord,' a spot in Norfolk, where, as attested by its registers, one of the family had settled. * * * The descendants of Henry Rolfe are easily traced.7' His name does not appear in the family registry, as given by Mrs. Brathvvayte. from which the first part of our Rolfe table was made (see < p.157 > ) and which we followed.
• https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/rolfe-john-d-1622/ cites
  • William Thorndale, "Two Rolfe Negatives," in The Virginia Genealogist, 34(1990):209-210. < AmericanAncestors >
• “The Ancestors and Descendants of John Rolfe with Notices of Some Connected Families (Continued).” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 21, no. 2 (1913): 208–11. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4243266.
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Rolfe-1462 cites
  • OF WHOM I CAME; FROM WHENCE I CAME WELLS-WISE, RISH-WISE AND OTHERWISE by Zelma WELLS PRICE published 1959 v6 part#1 p99
  • The Rolfe Family Records v2 by R. T. And A. Gunther of Heacham, Norfolk, England printed by Hazell, Watson and Viney, LD in London and Aylesburg in 1914. Page 22. < link > * On the death of John Rolfe, Henry petitioned the House of Burgesses for “his indemnity, having brought up the child his brother had by the daughter of Powhatan, which is yet living and in his custody.” (Dorsey).
    • A handy compilation is that if Ella Loraine Dorsey, Pocahontas, 1906.
  • Letter of John Rolfe to Edwin Sandys, in Ferrar, M.E, "The Ferrar Papers", in V.M.H.B, Vol. 10 no. 2 (Oct 1902), p. 134.< Archive.Org >
  • Petition of Henry Rolfe, in Kingsbury, S.M, Records of the Virginia Company of London, Vol. 2 (1906), p. 105 (7th Oct 1622). < Archive.Org >
  • McCartney, Martha W (2007). Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, p. 606. < GoogleBooks >
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Rolfe
• “Pocahontas: Her Life and Legend.” NPS.gov. Last updated: September 4, 2022. < link > "The Rolfe family traveled to England in 1616, their expenses paid by the Virginia Company of London. Pocahontas, known as "Lady Rebecca Rolfe," was also accompanied by about a dozen Powhatan men and women. Once in England, the party toured the country. Pocahontas attended a masque where she sat near King James I and Queen Anne. Eventually, the Rolfe family moved to rural Brentford, where Pocahontas would again encounter Captain John Smith."
• Rolfes of Sporle, Narford, Lynn & Heacham. Extracts from "Rolfe Family Records" written in 1912 by R & A T Gunther. link WARNING - This book is full of errors in the data - don't take it's detail as correct without first confirming the detail from another source.The transcription here is an exact copy of the words in the book - warts and all !
• Re: "Rolfe Family Records" by Gunther < link > Hope the following helps. [Sorry it is a bit negative] Firstly where you might access the book yourself. This is on the LDS library cataloguesite - Rolfe family records. … “I read Gunther's book years ago and in my terse notes to myself wrote 'very muddled, fanciful and inaccurate - no sources'. Gunther wrote in the era when it was normal to make assumptions without [questioning] any facts- hence he wrote what he hoped, but not from genuine research.”