Bolin Journal on the Net
Editor: Leslie Gunter
BAKER_BOLIN-L@rootsweb.com
07/01/97!!
Any comments or Suggestions that will improve this newsletter? To submit information or queries to be included in the next issue, please send to Leslie Gunter. The frequency of this newsletter will depend upon the volume of information received.
GOAL: Provide Bolin (any sp.) researchers with an outlet for their theories and speculations concerning, their personal research of their Baker ancestor. It is my hope that we gain a better understanding, and make it impossible to ignore the facts of the Bolin Genealogies. This newsletter will contain information that has been discovered in our research, as well as theories to be tested, and an open forum for people to dispute this information while providing documentation to prove their point.
We are working to create a database of Baker Individuals that are being researched. on the Baker_Bolin List. The best way to accomplish this task has not yet been determined. I will list the suggestions that I have received to date: List by location Combine subscriber Gedcom's Assign a code to each person Begin with Andrew Baker, b. 1692 list all that is known about him, include sources. If you have any additional suggestions, please send them to Leslie Gunter.Web Pages of Interest
Baker_Bolin-L Homepage http://geocities.datacellar.net/Heartland/Meadows/8056/bakerb.html Bolin Resources & Archives Online http://geocities.datacellar.net/Heartland/Meadows/8056/bolin_resources.html Bolling Family Association http://www.crosslink.net/~bolling/
Another Bolling Mystery Submitted by: Ken Poole < kbpoole@atomic.net >
Bolling descendants don't have to turn to fiction novels to get involved in a good mystery, just open any genealogy book on this family and one is sure to spring up. This particular mystery is in regard to Robert Bolling, I, II and III. Robert Bolling the first was said to have married Jane Rolfe, first and Ann Stith Second. Robert Bolling is also said to be the parent of both the Red Bollings via his wife Jane Rolfe, through her Indian lineage from Powhatan, and the White Bolling via his wife Anne Stith, who had no Indian Blood. However, recent events have given us cause to give names to additional groups of Bollings, as a means of identifying the group we are talking about. Robert Bolling is also the parent of the Ugly Bollings. These Bolling's are Spoken of as the Ugly Bollings because the early edition of the book "Pocahontas' Descendants" spoke of the unsightly branches of the Bolling tree, which had been left out of this genealogy. Said to be the Ugly Bollings because they know Ugly when they see it. There is yet another group called the Blue Bollings. The Blue Bolling have several published genealogies which go back into John Bolling, and Mary Kennon, through Jane Rolfe Bolling, and her husband Robert Bolling. They are named the Blue Bollings when they showed up after the first edition of "Pocahontas' Descendants", claiming that they were left out of the book. The Blue Bollings were said to have appeared from out of the Blue, by the Ugly Bollings, who had left them out of the genealogy. So we see that all four branches of this family stem from Robert Bolling the first. So let's take a look at Robert Bolling the first.Robert Bolling, I
Much of the following information can be found in the book, THE BOLLING FAMILY, by Alexander R. Bolling, Jr., hereafter referred to as "Bud". Some of the other sources which we have examined were the transcriptions of Charles City County, Prince George County, and Virginia records of deeds and wills. From the records in Charles City County, and Prince George County, we can conclude that a Robert Bolling, Sr. did marry Ann Stith as stated. However, it is to be noted that Ann's father mentioned Mr. Robert Bolling in his will, not Colonel Robert Bolling. In fact, through out the official Charles City County records, Robert Bolling is spoken of as Mr. Robert Bolling. The exception comes from two miscellaneous records, which speak of a Col. Robert Bolling, both dated before 1700 in Charles City County. Some miscellaneous records are sometimes referred to as loose records. They could have been inserted by anyone at any time, as no one has noted when they first came to light. Thus, if these records are true, we have to conclude that Col. Robert Bolling was never of lower rank than Colonel, and that his rank came after the death of his father-in-law, who died only about 15 years before Robert. Mr. Robert Bolling was engaged with the business of Charles City County, and was often mentioned as present for meetings. Many of those records exist to this time. From Bud Bolling we learn that Robert lived at Kippax, along the bend in the Appomattox River. This was the frontier during the lifetime of Robert Bolling. We note that transportation was slow and uncertain in those early times, and the frontier location made the Kippax location of his home very unlikely during the periods which he was involved as an official of Charles City County. This part of Charles City County became Prince George County less than a decade before Robert Bolling died.The Mystery of Bristol Parish
Our mystery deals with Robert's family by his second wife, Anne Stith. This branch of the Bollings, are called the White Bollings, and are said to be the Bristol Parish Bollings. The White Bolling children were: Robert II, 25 January 1682 Stith, 28 March 1686 Edward, 03 October 1687 Anne, 22 July 1690 Drury, 21 June 1695 Thomas, 20 March 1697 Agnes, 30 November 1700 Robert Bolling Senior is said to have passed away on 17 July 1709. His youngest daughter but 9 years old. Again no source is mentioned for the date of his death in Bud's book. Perhaps he used the Byrd Diary as a source, but we don't know that for a fact. It's important to note that Bud gives us the complete birth dates for the children, but again he does fail to mention the source of his information which brings us to the heart of the mystery, which is to be found in Bristol Parish. My source for the following information is:A HISTORY OF BRISTOL PARISH, VA., with, Genealogies Of Families Connected Therewith, and Historical Illustrations; by Rev. Philip Slaughter, D. D., Second Edition, Published by, J. W. Randolph & English, 1879. Our efforts to confirm the birth dates of the White Bollings took us to Bristol Parish, as Robert Bolling was said to have belonged to the Bristol Parish Church, as did his son Robert, and his grandson Robert. The message we get is that the Robert Bollings, all lived in Bristol Parish, of what became Prince George County, Virginia; three Generation's of them, and each of them deeply involved in church matters. We learned that the earliest records of births are missing from Bristol Parish, mainly before 1700. Thus we did expect to find a record of Agnes b. 30 November 1700. We did not. There were less than 500 families in the entire Parish in this timeframe, but we did find mention of a Robert Bolling. A further review of these Parish records found mention of two children, born in the 1720's who belonged to a Robert Bolling. We know that by 1709, Robert Sr is said to be dead, and the Robert Bolling now in Bristol Parish is said to be Robert Bolling, Junior. So we take a look at Robert Bolling, Junior.Robert Bolling, II
Again we quote from Bud's book, Chapter VI, page 40, Robert Bolling, II married "Anne Cocke, whose father was a fellow vestry man of Bristol Parish", on 27 January 1706. Bud goes on to mention that the marriage Produced "eight children, seven daughters and one son, Robert (3), who was the eighth and youngest.". Robert, II, is a White Bolling and had the following children: Mary Elizabeth Anne Lucy Jane Martha Susanna Robert III, 12 June 1730 Bud gave no birth years for the daughters, or any full names. So we turned to two sources for the full birth dates of these children. First, Zelma Price's genealogy and second, the Mormon Church records. So again we list the children of Robert Bolling, II, but with the birth dates we found for them; we found no full names. Mary, 25 January 1707/8 Elizabeth, 17 December 1709 Anne, 12 December 1713 Lucy, 03 May 1719 Jane, 01 April 1722 Martha, 17 November 1726 Susanna, 16 June 1728 Robert III, (see Robert III above) We note that Robert II is said to have died in 1749. Bud's book, Chapter VI, page 46. Our efforts to find the above listed children in the Bristol Parish records failed. Not a one of them could be found. Considering the number of records, which survived to this day, most of these children ought to have been a matter of record. Not so, not a one, and this despite Robert Bolling's "deep" involvement in the church.The Mystery Deepens!
However this search of Bristol Parish records, by Slaughter, did turn up two children born to a Robert Bolling and his wife Ann, but these are not any of the above listed children. I call these the mystery Bollings.The Mystery Bollings
1. Robert, s. of Robt. and Ann Bolling, b. Oct., baptized Nov 13, 1720 . 2. "Mason", dau. of Rt. and Ann Bolling, b. Sep. 22, 1724. The name Mason is in quotation because we had to go to other sources of these Parish records to find her name. (John Bennet Boddie, page 281, Bristol Parish Register. (Robert was on page 278.) Note that not a birth date here fits one of the said 7 daughters, nor is this the son who was born in 1730. If the birth dates survived for the eight children of Robert and Anne, why didn't the birth dates of these two survive as well? At any rate these names got me sidetracked, so off I went in search for the surname Mason. Here's what I found. Thomas Rolfe and James Mason We jump now to the book, "Cavaliers and Pioneers", Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants, 1623 - 1666, by Nell Marion Nugent, Virginia Land Office, Richmond, Va. Volume One, p. 234. Thomas Rolfe is mentioned as receiving 525 acres upon the Chickahominy River, "commonly called and known by the name of James Fort", by act of Assembly dated 6 Oct. 1646, for 400 acres, and 125 acres for transportation of 3 persons not named. There is no doubt this is the Thomas Rolfe said to be the father of Jane Rolfe said to have married to a Robert Bolling. Two entries down on the same page we find James Mason. James Mason was granted 250 acres in James City County, 20 April 1653. For the transportation of 5 persons; Robt. Lamb, Giles Flake, William Savage, and William Francis. (above states five, but only four names mentioned in this account.) These two men become important to the Bolling mystery as some have claimed that there was a Rolfe/Mason marriage, which would have involved the children of these two men. This old and disputed oral tradition seems to come to life when one considers the name Mason being mentioned as a daughter of Robert Bolling above. I suspect we are missing some important clues to understanding this family. An important point to make here is that a Robert Bolling, perhaps mislinked, did use the names Powhatan and Pocahontas in later years. A Mason-Rolfe marriage could help to explain the confusion regarding Robert Bollings. However, to get back on track, the real mystery here is why Robert Bolling b 1720 and Mason b 1724 were not mentioned in Bud's book. There is simply no way he could have missed this. Was it because it would have created more questions than answers? For example, was this another Robert Bolling entirely? We asked ourselves this question, and went in search for other Robert Bollings; what we learned will surprise you. But that's another mystery, for another time. To next time, your friend and fellow researcher, Ken Poole
© Leslie Gunter 1997-2005
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