Re: Pettis/Pettus - Pocahontas connection?
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In reply to:
Re: Pettis/Pettus - Pocahontas connection?
William Pettus 6/18/12
Many thanks for your interesting reply. Yes, oral tradition (but written as well) is full of errors when researching anything including family history. As you are clearly an authority on this family, I am very pleased to be in contact and also expect you know what follows (up to a point!) with your eyes closed. But let me piece this together in a different way. I know from having researched the Pettus book, you will be able to follow the entanglements of families!
Thomas Pettus (I), Mayor of Norwich (b 1523 d 7 Jan 1596/7), m Christian Dethick (her mother was also named Christian)
Their son: Thomas Pettus (II), Mayor of Norwich (b ca 1551 d 1620) m Cecily King
Another son was William of Essex Co, England (m. Elizabeth Rolfe)
Thomas (II) was the father of Thomas (III, b 1598, to Virginia ca. 1630’s) and Theodore (Question: Was he also a son of Thomas II?b. 1600, documented arrival in Jamestown 1623, and still there in 1626, no records after that)
Ka-Okee (b.ca. 1609-1613 at Passapatanzy, a Patawomeck (Potomac) village in present-day Stafford Co, Virginia) is traditionally the daughter of Pocahontas and her first husband Kokoum prior to her capture by the English in April 1613 and subsequent marriage to John Rolfe at Jamestown.
It has been proposed that Theodore Pettus was the father (by Ka-Okee) of Christian Pettus, who m. John Martin and was the mother of Robert, Rebecca, Elizabeth? and Christian Martin. Rebecca or Elizabeth may have been the first wife of Rev. John Waugh of Stafford Co, Virginia, and mother of his first son and my ancestor Joseph Waugh (who was supposedly “part Indian”). However, Christian Martin is well documented as Rev. John Waugh’s third and final wife (they had no children).
Two names of interest:
Christian (said to be d/o Ka-Okee and Theodore? Pettus) of Virginia may have been named for Theodore’s grandmother, Christian (Dethick) Pettus, but if I am not mistaken he and Thomas had a sister named Christian as well.
Rebecca Martin (d/o “Christian Pettus”) may have been named for Christian’s actual grandmother (christened as “Rebecca”, aka Matoaka, aka Pocahontas).
There is also the interesting Pettus – Rolfe – Pocahontas connection, which is intriguing. Also, the famous portrait of Pocahontas was kept at the William and Elizabeth (Rolfe –cousin of John Rolfe) Pettus home in Essex, England, as I understand it.
Go to:
http://www.multiwords.de/genealogy/Ja10%20Keziah%20Arroyah.html#Elizabeth_Rolfehttp://www.multiwords.de/genealogy/Ja10%20Keziah%20Arroyah.html#Elizabeth_Rolfe,
Scroll down to what follows from “Powhatan Pedigree”.
From this website:
“He” (Theodore Pettus) “was likely a brother of Col. Thomas Pettus, who had a sister named ‘Christian’ and owned land that adjoined that of Chief Wahanganoche” (of the Potawomecks, Stafford Co VA) which was the later home of Ka-Okee’s daughter, Christian. Col. Thomas Pettus did have a brother, Theodore, who came to Virginia in 1623 and was still in Virginia near the end of 1626, when he made a testimony in court. It is important to note that the famous Matoaka portrait of Pocahontas was found in England in a Pettus home. Col. Thomas Pettus’ uncle, William Pettus, married Elizabeth Rolfe, the daughter of John Rolfe’s own granduncle, Henry Rolfe.”
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“Robert Pettis,” (presumed grandson of Pocahontas and Kokoum) “who lived in the same area” (of Stafford Co Virginia) “and had a daughter named Rebecca, Robert is named in the will of Thomas Maddison as his godchild. Thomas Maddison is said to have been the son of Isaac Maddison, who lived for a while at the Patawomeck Village. Rebecca Pettis may have been the same Rebecca who was the first wife of John Meese, her cousin of Indian blood, and would explain why the later Mees/Mays family of Stafford County claimed a descent from Pocahontas.”
Anyhow, we unlikely to ever know what really happened, but certainly worth looking into! – Art Mitchell