Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.~ Dr. Seuss

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Tuesday, February 17, 2009

More on Pocahontas


Remember a while ago, I told you (here), that I was related to Pocahontas? I also showed you a picture so you could see the resemblance. Well anyway, I wanted to tell you where I got that from.

Back in 1987, my mom's cousin Clyde was the Editor of a book titled "Our Heritage". He describes the book as "a collection of the writings of various descendants of Edwin Whiting. Their subject is a history of the Whiting Family over a period of two centuries."

The very first story in the book was written by Clyde G. Leamaster in 1986 and it's titled:
A Biographical sketch of the Parents of Edwin Whiting

The second footnote in this first story is the reason I say I'm related to Pocahontas. This is what it says:
There is some claim that the mother of Sally Hewlett, a woman named Mary Lewis, was a descendant of the famous Indian princess, Pocahontas, who married John Rolfe, and was taken to England where a portrait was painted of her in 1616. It was John Rolfe who first learned how to cultivate tobacco from the Indians and it was he who introduced tobacco to Europe. It is said that Pocahontas died at the age of 21 in 1617 in London, leaving one son. The claim that, through her mother (Mary Lewis, b. 1763) Sally Hulett descends from Pocahontas is not fully substantiated but if it is true, then she would have been a great-great-great-grand-daughter of that famous women in early American history.

So, there you have it. My claim to famous relatives. Sally Hewlett (notice the two spellings of Hewlett)would be my great-great-great-great-great-grand-mother. So Pocahontas would be my "9-great" grandmother.

How cool is that?