The short life of a Soldier: George Washington Rogers

 This week I'm concentrating on the Rogers Family Tree: This is an edited repost from last year. 

George Washington Rogers, 1820-1864.

My great great grandfather, George Washington Rogers was born February 7, 1820 in Sevierville, TN. He was the eldest of 11 children of Micajah and Cyntha Cannon Rogers.

He fought in the Mexican-American War, was injured and came home to live just a few short years, marrying and having 6 children, of whom only 3 lived to adulthood.   

My Ancestry.Com information says: 

G.W. Rogers served in the War in Mexico - under Captain Gillespie; Col. John C. Hays: 1st Regiment Texas Rangers, Gen. Zachary Taylor. He was wounded on assault on Bishop's Palace, Monterrey, Mexico. His name is on the Gillespie Monument in Huntsville, Texas. After the battle (from war department 1846) Col. George Washington Rogers lay wounded on battle field all night, during icy storm. He contracted tuberculosis. After recuperating, he returned to his home in Gibbsland, LA.

In Wikipedia the information about the Battle of Monterrey (not to be confused with Monterey, CA) says:

In the Battle of Monterrey (September 21–24, 1846) during the Mexican–American War, General Pedro de Ampudia and the Mexican Army of the North was defeated by the Army of Occupation, a force of United States Regulars, Volunteers and Texas Rangers under the command of General Zachary Taylor.

Go to this site to read the entire battle information.  I'll just give you a picture or two, from that site.

Battle of Monterrey - Americans fighting within the city

Monterrey from Independence Hill, in the rear of the bishop´s palace. On stone by F. Swington. Colored by G. & W. Edicott, New York. The image depicts the Saddle Hill and the bishop´s house in Monterrey Mexico after the Battle of Monterrey in 1846.

The Battle of Monterrey

Storming of Palace Hill at the Battle of Monterrey

George W. Rogers married Lucinda Benson Gibbs after he recuperated in 1848.  They then moved to Huntsville, Texas, where they were among the elite and owned a large plantation style home.

Old buildings of George Washington Rogers

I'm adding some new photos to my ancestor's site, as well as here in my blog, where I keep an archive of whatever I've learned about them.  These were recently posted on Facebook.

George Washington Rogers lived in a really nice home in Huntsville Texas. I spoke about his life several years ago, where he fought in the Mexican-American war of 1846. See"When I was 69" Blog.

George W. Rogers home built 1844, Photo by Patricia Rogers Seliger

My cousin Patricia, who has joined all kinds of genealogical societies, wrote this in Ancestry...

Home at... "1418 University, Huntsville, TX.  Description: George Washington Rogers and his wife, Lucinda Benson Gibbs purchased 600 acres of land in Walker county in 1844 from Pleasant Gray and his wife, Hannah. (This being out of their Headright.) Mr. and Mrs. G.W. Rogers were said to be the wealthiest family in town and their Greek-Revival style home on University Avenue was the finest in its heyday. The aristocracy from East Texas were entertained there. (G.W. Rogers was Huntsville's first Treasurer.) One feature was a huge ballroom that occupied the southeast wing. In later years, the house served as the president's mansion for the third president of Austin College - Rufus Bailey. The house also became the home of H.H. Smith, the second president of Sam Houston Normal Institute. Other owners made changes in the house, but it has been restored and is still standing today. http://files.usgwarchives.net/tx/freestone/bios/gwrogers.txt

Thanks to Photos of Town - here Huntsville TX

My other cousins who live in Texas, visited the Rogers home in 2015.  Cynthia Rogers took these following photos:

Photo by Cynthia Rogers

Photo by Cynthia Rogers

Photo by Cynthia Rogers

Photo by Cynthia Rogers

Photo by Cynthia Rogers

These photos show how the home had been changed over its lifetime, and it's hard to figure out some of the additions that have been made to it.

Photos by Town

Austin College Building - Now part of the Sam Houtson State University campus, site originally owned by Col. George W. Rogers. Photo by James Peavy

Notes from Facebook on the Austin building above:

The original Austin College Building was built in 1851-52 on a magnificent hill that was part of the original land grant of Huntsville founder Pleasant Gray. It is a nationally recognized historic landmark. Col. George Washington Rogers purchased a large sum of land from Gray and built his home on this site in 1844-45. When hopes were that Huntsville would be chosen for the permanent location of the capital, Rogers relocated his home to its current nearby location (where it has been preserved as the oldest home in Huntsville) and offered this five-acre hill to serve as the location of the new state capital. It became known as "Capital Hill". When that ambition failed, the town searched for another meaningful purpose for "Capital Hill". In the meantime, the Presbyterians were searching for a suitable location for a new college and Huntsville was chosen. Two Presidents of the Republic, Sam Houston and Anson Jones, served on its board. Austin College became the first law school in Texas in 1855. After the Civil War followed by the Huntsville yellow fever epidemic of 1867, Austin College relocated to Sherman, TX in 1876. Since about that time, Austin Hall, as it is now known, has been the heart of Sam Houston State University (originally Sam Houston Normal Institute) where it is the oldest building west of the Mississippi in continuous use as a college facility.

Ada & George Rogers Sr. and granddaughters Mary Elizabeth and Barbara Booth Rogers 1948 Houston TX. I'm adding this photo to posts in the George Rogers Family Tree. 

Galveston where my grandparents met

    repost from 2015, This week I'm concentrating on the Rogers Family Tree

Galveston (mid 19th Century) served as a transfer point for oceangoing vessels and coastal steamers which ran a route through Galveston Bay and Buffalo Bayou to Houston. 

Galveston 1871

^{The island has sometimes been called the "Ellis Island of the West" as it was the primary point of entry for European immigrants settling in the western United States. German immigration during this period was so great that the German language became a commonly used language on the city's streets. The immigrants were not simply the poor or the oppressed seeking refuge but many of the educated, middle class.}

^{The Galveston Weekly News described one 1849 ship's arrival as carrying members of the "wealthy class" including lawyers and merchants and many skilled workers.}

Beach Hotel catered to vacationers until a fire in 1898.

^{Between 1838 and 1842, 18 newspapers were started to serve the island's rapidly growing population (The Galveston County Daily News is the sole survivor). A causeway linking the island with the mainland was finished in 1860, which paved the way for railroad expansion.}

In 1843 Henry Rosenberg (friend of my great Uncle Chauncy Sweet) settled in Galveston from Switzerland.  I shared about his contributions to the city HERE.

The construction of the Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad, which built a bridge to the island in 1860, strengthened the link between the two towns.

Tensions over slavery in the U.S. as a whole eventually led to the American Civil War, [April 12, 1861 to April 9, 1865], in which Texas joined on the side of the Confederacy. The Battle of Galveston was fought in Galveston Bay and island on January 1, 1863, when Confederate forces under Major General John B. Magruder attacked and expelled occupying Union troops from the city, which remained in Confederate hands for the duration of the war.

Juneteenth, which is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States, owes its origins to the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation upon the return of Union forces to Galveston in 1865. (Source:Wikipedia)

My ancestor, George T. Granger (Lucy's husband) wrote at the beginning of the Civil War in Dec. 1861 of the death of their daughter, Mary Phillips, HERE for letter and transcription.

During the Civil War, orphans Zulieka and Ada Phillips were taken in by the Granger family, either with Lucy Pulsifer Granger, their grandmother, or with Aunts Lucy Granger Wakelee or Lizzie (Elizabeth) Granger Sweet.  I am a descendent of Zulieka.  I wrote in my blog about their mother's letters to her sisters prior to the outbreak of the war HERE transcriptions of more of Mary Phillips letters.

Following the war Galveston quickly recovered; northern troops were stationed in the city, and a depleted state demanded the trade goods denied by the blockade and the war effort. With so many susceptible people present, however, the city in 1867 suffered one of its worst onslaughts of yellow fever, which affected about three-fourths of the population and killed at a rate of twenty per day. This disease, a malady of most southern ports, did not cease to be a threat until the institution of rigid quarantines after 1873. Galveston nonetheless surged ahead and ranked as the largest Texas city in 1870 with 13,818 people and also in 1880 with 22,248 people. 

In spite of efforts to maintain trade supremacy by improving port facilities and contributing to the construction of railways running to the city, Galveston business leaders saw their town slip to fourth place in population by 1900. Galveston acquired a coast guard station in 1897 which still operated in the 1990s and a small military base, Fort Crockett (1897–1957), but other cities such as Dallas acquired transcontinental rail connections and a growth in manufacturing establishments. At a time when Houston, Beaumont, and Port Arthur benefitted from the oil discoveries of the early twentieth century, Galveston had to put its energy into a recovery from the nation's worst natural disaster, the Galveston hurricane of 1900. The island lay in the pathway of hurricanes coursing across the Gulf of Mexico and suffered at least eleven times in the nineteenth century.

I mentioned Elizabeth Granger Sweet, "Grand Aunt" to my relatives, who survived the hurricane of 1900, HERE.

And my own grandfather, George Rogers, Sr. also was a survivor of that hurricane, who I honored in this post which includes details and pictures.
  

The Galveston hurricane of 1900, with wind gusts of 120 miles per hour, flooded the city, battered homes and buildings with floating debris, and killed an estimated 6,000 people in the city. Another 4,000 to 6,000 people died on the nearby coast. For future protection the city and county constructed a seventeen-foot seawall on the Gulf side of the island, raised the grade level, and built an all-weather bridge to the mainland. The development of other ports by means of the ship channels, alternative sites for business and manufacturing provided by other modes of transportation, and notoriety because of hurricanes destined the island city to medium size.

 My grandmother, Ada Swasey Rogers, also survived the storm, and in 1906 married my grandfather, George Elmore Rogers, Sr.
I gave a lot of the same information about Galveston a couple of years ago on this blog HERE.

Rogers house, built by my grandfather and where my father was born in 1914.

Busy Dock Scene, Galveston, ca. 1912.

The Galveston–Houston Electric Railway was established in 1911 and ran between the city and Houston. The railway was recognized as the fastest interurban line in 1925 and 1926.

More recent times:

During the years between the world wars Galveston, under the influence of Sam and Rosario (Rose) Maceo, exploited the prohibition of liquor and gambling by offering illegal drinks and betting in nightclubs and saloons. This, combined with the extensive prostitution which had existed in the port city since the Civil War, made Galveston the sin city of the Gulf. The citizens tolerated and supported the illegal activities and took pride in being "the free state of Galveston." In 1957, however, Attorney General Will Wilson with the help of Texas Rangers shut down bars such as the famous Ballinese Room, destroyed gambling equipment, and closed many houses of prostitution.  

BIBLIOGRAPHY: 

Howard Barnstone, The Galveston That Was (New York: Macmillan, 1966). Charles Waldo Hayes, Galveston: History of the Island and the City (2 vols., Austin: Jenkins Garrett, 1974). David G. McComb, Galveston: A History (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1986).

My grandparents had moved from Galveston to Fort Worth TX by 1920.

Postcard view of Beach Boulevard, early 1940s

Wikipedia continues with the changes since they left:

Beginning in 1957, the Galveston Historical Foundation began its efforts to preserve historic buildings.^[58] The 1966 book The Galveston That Was helped encourage the preservation movement. A new, family-oriented tourism emerged in the city over many years.The 1960s saw the expansion of higher education in Galveston. 

Historic "Strand District" of Galveston

In the 2000s, property values rose after expensive projects were completed and demand for second homes,[which] led some middle class families to move from Galveston to other areas.

In 2007 The Associated Press compiled a list of the most vulnerable places to hurricanes in the U.S. and Galveston was one of five areas named. Among the reasons cited were low elevation and the single evacuation route off the island which is blocked by the fourth largest city in the United States, Houston 

Hurricane Ike made landfall on Galveston Island in the early morning of September 13, 2008 as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 110 miles per hour (180 km/h)^. Ike produced waves and a rising storm surge of about 14 feet (4.3 m), which went around the famous Galveston Seawall, flooding the city via the storm sewers, and the unprotected "bay side" of the island, before the first winds or drop of rain. The storm left Galveston without electricity, gas, water pressure and basic communications. 

Handbook of Texas History online 
and Wikipedia provided facts. 


 The city will continue, though it may have changes again.  But the bones of my ancestors are buried in the cemeteries of Galveston.

Ada & George Rogers Sr. and granddaughters Mary Elizabeth and Barbara Booth Rogers 1948 Houston TX. I'm adding this photo to posts in the George Rogers Family Tree.

Col. Richard Bass

 A repost from 2014: This week I'm concentrating on the Rogers Family Tree

Richard Bass was born in Perry County, AL  on 3 JAN 1819.  He was the father of my grandfather (George Rogers') mother, Bettie Bass Rogers.  He served in the Confederate army in Mississippi (from Texas).  (Source: Historical Data Systems, comp.. American Civil War Soldiers [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999. Source 425.)



His father's estate had a petition against it which gives Richard's birth as 1814.  This date is not corroborated by his census data as well as his grave marker which all reflect an 1819 birth.  So the legal petition in Alabama was probably wrong, but it may have helped in some legal sense for him to be of a different age..  Another source has him born in NC rather than AL.  Wherever he was born, he was the youngest of 8 children of his parents, and his father died when he was very young, and he was raised by a step-father. His mother was Julia Ann Holloman Bass Green.  Father was John Bass, both from Wayne County, NC.  His step-father was Jetson Green, who raised him from when he was around 6 years old. (NOTE: I haven't found anything to substantiate this, besides court documents by Green asking for guardianship...not receiving it, but he did marry Mrs. Bass.)

Richard Bass married Mary Ann Elizabeth Powell on 12 Oct, 1839 in Perry AL, at age 20.  They moved to Louisiana, Union Parish, by the time he was 30, according to the 1850 US Census records.  The birth places of his children put that move between 1841 and 43.

Then the family moved again, according to 1860 Census records, to Walker County, Texas.  His age is listed incorrectly as 20, though he is definitely 40.  At the cusp of the Civil War he was middle aged.

Downtown  Huntsville, Walker County, Texas 1870s

Next census for 1870 shows him in Walker County, working as a merchant, rather than a farmer as he had previously identified himself in census reports.  Being a merchant meant he probably lived closer to a town at this time, perhaps Waverly, where he died.

Most of the Bass children were born in Waverly, Texas or Walker County, Texas.

Col. Richard Bass died 5 May 1880 in Waverly, Walker County, TX, where he is buried.  The Handbook of Texas History says 

In 1986 all that remained of Waverly was a cemetery, a nearby Presbyterian church, and a rural subdivision called Old Waverly, which had a population of about fifty people. Texas historical markers were erected for Old Waverly in 1969 and for the Waverly Cemetery in 1978.

More information about the settlers moving to Waverly includes this:

In the autumn of 1852 some 300 people from Alabama, including slaves, moved into the Waverly area. The town was surveyed, mapped, and incorporated in 1858. According to popular legend the town was named for the Waverly novels of Sir Walter Scott. Some considered Waverly to belong to the South of "moonlight, magnolias, and landed gentry." In reality it was a small enclave of the slave-plantation system imported from central Alabama. Waverly Institute, consisting of a male and female academy, was established in 1856. A post office operated from 1855 until 1872. A Masonic lodge operated from 1861 to 1865, and Methodist, Presbyterian, and Episcopalian congregations were started in town.

What became of the tiny town?

In 1870 San Jacinto County was formed from a part of Walker County, including the Waverly area. At that time Waverly leaders, in fear that the Houston and Great Northern Railroad would bring "tramps and ignorance to the town and kill cattle," refused to give the railroad right-of-way. In doing so they ensured the rapid demise of Waverly. The town of New Waverly was established ten miles west of Waverly in 1870 to take advantage of the railroad and became a prosperous town .

A bit more information can be found here...about Waverly, Texas. 

I've posted about his wife, "Mae" Mary Ann Powell Bass HERE.

Ada & George Rogers Sr. and granddaughters Mary Elizabeth and Barbara Booth Rogers 1948 Houston TX. I'm adding this photo to posts in the George Rogers Family Tree.

Ellen Ann Delamater Webb 1842-1876

Ellen Ann Delamater Webb, daughter of William B. Delamater and Sarah J. Lester Delamater was born on 25 Jan 1842 in New York City, New York.

She married on the 21 Feb. 1856, in DeWitt County, Texas to Samuel James Webb. She was 14 years old, and he was 29. He had come from Maryland, perhaps in Vienna, Dorchester County, or in Baltimore MD.

The big question in my mind is "How did these two both get to Texas by 1856?"

And I've checked various siblings, when I could find them. There are unfortunately not many Delamaters to be found. And even more unfortunate is that there are actually a lot of Webbs, and most of them have the same names.

So for now we'll just assume some groups brought each of these great great grands to Texas where they met and married, and then stayed and raised their family. I considered an uncle of Ellen Ann Delamater. Her mother was named Sarah J. Lester, who had a brother Edward Lester...who was in the Delamater household in NY in 1850 (when Ellen Ann Delamater was listed as Ann E. at 9 years old.) His occupation was as a silver chaser, in various manufacturing industries (that's what the census says.) But he stayed in New York City apparently in the next census reports.

Ellen and Samuel Webb had 8 children. Sam'l was a farmer for the 1860 census of Gonzalez County TX with their first 2 children, Larry F. (1857-1921) (who went by L.F.), and Laura Mae (1859-1865).

By May 18, 1859 when Laura Mae was born, they had moved to DeWitt County TX. By the 1870 Census Samuel was now a merchant. But there had been a Civil War during the preceding years. He served for the Confederacy at the seige of Vicksburg, MS in 1863. (Though he was from Maryland, the people living in Texas were very much for the Confederacy.) See my post about his (and Ellen's) lives HERE, and some information about his serving with Waul's Texas Legion Here.

Ellen had other children, whether her husband was at war or back running a mercantile and/or farming, and their birthdates tell us how much he had been at home in Texas. Fannie Webb was born Aug 31, 1864, but died May 15, 1865. Their six year old daughter, Laura Mae, died on her birthday in 1865. Another daughter, Bobbie Webb, was born in Sept. 1866 and died Oct. 26, 1866. 

The war years were hard on the family, but the eldest son L.F managed to hang on with his mother and father. By June 6, 1868, they had a daughter named Phinnie Floree Webb (1868-1902). On 23 Nov. 1870 they had another son, Joe Friend Webb, (1870-1928) who would grow up to become a preacher. 

On 23 April 1873 or 74, Daisy Ellen Webb (1874-1941) was born. And on 28 Feb. 1876 Samuel James Webb Jr. (1876-1892) was born. He was only 4 months old when his mother died on 15 Jul 1876 in Clinton, Dewitt, Texas, age 34 years.

She was buried in Clinton Cemetery, where her daughter Laura Mae had been buried in 1865. Within a year her husband wrote his will, (July 10, 1877) leaving his estate and guardianship of their younger children to their eldest son L. F. Webb. The young children were Phinnie, Joe, D.E. and Sam Webb. 

L. F. actually got married on Aug 7, 1877, and then his father died on Aug. 15, 1877. The 1880 Census shows L. F. and his wife did have his 2 brothers and 2 sisters living with them. And incidentally, L. F. is my great grandfather.

Samuel J. Webb was buried next to his wife in Clinton Cemetery.

Clinton Cemetery, Texas

To the Memory of S. J. Webb, Born Jan 28, 1827, Died Aug. 15, 1877

To the memory of Ellen A. wife of S. J. Webb born Jan 26, 1842 died Jul 15, 1876

This post belongs to the Barbara Booth Rogers Family Tree. Photo shows Mataley Mozelle Rogers, and her mother Mozelle Booth Miller, and my sister Mary Beth Rogers.

A cousin commented...

 Repost of an old blog entry...

Uncle Thomas in Bacon's Rebellion

Thomas Hansford was born in 1646 in Virginia
Death 13 November 1676 in York County, Virginia

FATHER: John Hansford 1590-1661
MOTHER: Elizabeth Jands

SOUSE:Elizabeth JONES 
Marriage: about 1665 Hogg Island, Surry, New York 
_________________________
Thomas was hanged by Gov. Berkley of Virginia for his participation in Bacons Rebellion. He is said to be the first American born person to be executed in the Colonies.

Southside Virginia Families, Vol. 1, by John Bennett Boddie, Genealogical Pub. Co, 1966, page 157.

NOTE: one souce says as many as 23 Men were hung. Did not state Names.
His land was confiscated by the government.


Wikipedia says:

Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion in 1676 by Virginia settlers led by Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of Governor William Berkeley. The colony's disorganized frontier political structure, combined with accumulating grievances (including leaving Bacon out of his inner circle, refusing to allow Bacon to be a part of his fur trade with the Native Americans, and Doeg tribe Indian attacks), helped to motivate a popular uprising against Berkeley, who had failed to address the demands of the colonists regarding their safety.

About a thousand Virginians of all classes rose up in arms against Berkeley, attacking Native Americans, chasing Berkeley from Jamestown, Virginia, and ultimately torching the capital. The rebellion was first suppressed by a few armed merchant ships from London whose captains sided with Berkeley and the loyalists.^[2] Government forces from England arrived soon after and spent several years defeating pockets of resistance and reforming the colonial government to one more directly under royal control.^[3]

It was the first rebellion in the American colonies in which discontented frontiersmen took part; a similar uprising in Maryland took place later that year. The alliance between former indentured servants and Africans against bond-servitude disturbed the ruling class, who responded by hardening the racial caste of slavery.^[4][5][6] While the farmers did not succeed in their initial goal of driving Native Americans from Virginia, the rebellion did result in Berkeley being recalled to England.

The Burning of Jamestown by Howard Pyle, ca. 1905.

Thomas Hansford had a younger brother, Charles, born May 9, 1654.  He married Elizabeth Folliet Moody, and their son William Hansford is a direct ancestor of mine.  Six generations later would be born my grandfather, Albert J. "Bud" Webb.

So my rebellious spirit might have been well tamed, but the blood runs true!

Happy holidays

 Yes many ancestors have had their birthdays, and probably their deathdays, this month. But I'm busy doing the holiday thang.

Not as much as some...just wreathes on the doors. Nobody is coming inside. And I will take part in a couple of zooms with friends and family over the next few weeks.

Sending you wishes for health, well being, and continuing joyful days and nights.

I'll be looking back into ancestors in my family soon!

Col Robert Bolling's home and 2 wives

 Col Robert Bolling, (a repost)

Birth 26 DECEMBER 1646 • All Hallows, Barking Parish, London, England

Death 17 JULY 1709 • Died At Kippax/Kippax, Charles, Virginia

Robert Bolling

He was husband of Anne Meriwether Stith Bolling 1660–1709 (her birth date of 25 JANUARY 1660 • Charles City, Charles, Virginia, Death 17 JULY 1709 • Kippax, Charles City, VA) 

The Bollings were parents of Mary Agnes Bolling Kennon 1700–1762 who was featured on my last blog.

Col. Robert Bolling, my 8th great grandfather, had been born 26 Dec. 1646 in London, England.  Son of John. Bolling and Mary Carie(Cary) Bolling.  They both died at the same time on Nov.11, 1648,  just before his 2nd birthday. The next date we hear of him is when he came to America in 1660 at age 13-14, and settled in Prince George Co. VA.

He married first (1675) Jane Rolfe, the grandaughter of John Rolfe and Matoaka Pocahontas (Rebecca) Powhatan, a Christian-converted Native American. (See blog about John Rolfe HERE.)

Chart about Pocahontas connection to the Bolling family. And who the heck are "Sons and Daughters of the God Daniel" who made this chart? I like that other famous people are also on the chart.

Col. Robert Bolling's first wife was the granddaughter of Pocahontas, Jane Rolfe Bolling. Her mother had been Jane Poythres Rolfe, her father had been Thomas Rolfe.  She only lived from Oct 10, 1650/55 to Jan 26, 1676.  Col. Robert and Jane Rolfe Bolling supposedly had one daughter, Rebecca Jane Bolling 1675-1714 (OOPS, that's what my tree said, but now I find they only had one son, John Fairfax Bolling!)

1650–1676

When Col. Robert was 36, in 1681, he married a second time to 21 year old Anne Meriwether Stith.  They had 8 children.

He did have prestige in his community.  He represented it in the VA House of Burgess in 1702, and was Sheriff, surveyor, Col. and Co. Lt. in the VA militia.

He died 17 July 1709. Again the same date of death as his wife.  I'm finding this too convenient to believe twice in two generations.  Were there fires? Plagues?  Or did the people putting records together at some point just choose a date?

Col. Robert Bolling
Find a Grave Site:

Birth:     Dec. 26, 1646, England 
Death:     Jul. 17, 1709 
Prince George County 
Virginia, USA 

Colonel Robert Bolling (December 26, 1646 - July 17, 1709) was a wealthy early American settler, merchant and planter. He is the ancestor of many prominent individuals including Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. 

He was born on December 26, 1646 at Tower Street, All Hallows, Barking Parish, in London. He arrived in Virginia at the age of fourteen on October 2, 1660. In 1674, he married Jane Rolfe the granddaughter of Pocahontas. They had one child, John Bolling, born on January 26, 1676. His descendants, the only American descendants of Pocahontas, are termed the "Red Bollings". They include Edith Bolling, wife of U. S. President Woodrow Wilson and John Randolph of Roanoke. Jane died after one year of marriage. 

In 1681, Col. Bolling married his second wife Anne Stith with whom he had many children, including Robert Bolling, Jr., who was born on January 25, 1682. Both Presidents Bush are descended from Robert Bolling, Jr. 

In 1702 Bolling was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses representing Charles City Co., in 1702. He died on July 17, 1709 and was buried at his plantation Kippax, in Prince George Co., Virginia, where his tomb still stands. 

Bolling's remains were moved postumously to Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia.  
  
Family links:  
 Spouses: 
  Jane Rolfe Bolling (____ - 1676) 
  Anne Stith Bolling (1660 - 1709)* 
  
 Children: 
  Thomas Bolling* 
  John Fairfax Bolling (1676 - 1729)* 
  Robert Bolling (1682 - 1747)* 
  Stith Bolling (1686 - 1727)* 
  Edward Bolling (1687 - ____)* 
  Elizabeth Anne Bolling (1690 - ____)* 
  Drury Bolling (1696 - 1726)* 
  Agnes Bolling Kennon (1700 - ____)* 
  
*Calculated relationship 
  
Burial: 
Blandford Cemetery 
Petersburg 
Petersburg City 
Virginia, USA 
  
Maintained by: A C Turner 
Originally Created by: Eric Bruno Borgman 
Record added: Dec 29, 2005 
Find A Grave Memorial# 12815946 

So my ancestor was Robert and Anne's daughter, Mary Agnes Bolling, who married Richard Kennon, JR., and their daughter Mary married Col. John Clack.  Interestingly enough Col. Robert Bolling and his first wife's son John Fairfax Bolling, married the sister of Richard Kennon Jr, Mary Kennon.  We read about Richard Jr. HERE, as being also my ancestor.

I am hoping I don't have to rewrite too much of my tree, if my information isn't accurate!

Kippax Plantation buildings

About the Bolling's home, Kippax:

Kippax Plantation was located on the south bank of the Appomattox River in what is today the City of Hopewell in southeast Virginia.

Kippax Plantation was the home of Colonel Robert Bolling (1646-1709). Bolling married Jane Rolfe, who was the granddaughter of Pocahontas and John Rolfe. Their (Robert & Jane Bolling's) only child, John Bolling was born at Kippax in 1676, and settled nearby at Cobbs Plantation, just west of Point of Rocks across the Appomattox River in what is now Chesterfield County. While Jane's father Thomas Rolfe (1615-1675) never lived at Kippax Plantation, it is believed that he was buried there.

Kippax Plantation is considered to be a well-preserved archaeological site that is also well documented. Archaeologist Donald W. Linebaugh, of the University of Kentucky, located the remains of Col. Bolling's house in Hopewell, Virginia in 2002. Most of the current digging is performed at the site of the unearthed residence. Research by graduate students from the College of William and Mary, headed by Donald W. Linebaugh, have found the remains of at least four separate structures spanning the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries at the Kippax site. These structures have the potential to answer important research questions regarding the history of early trade between Europeans and Native Americans, the lives of the African American slaves who lived there, and the cultural interaction between these groups. The Archaeological Conservancy recently purchased the site of Kippax Plantation to protect it from development. Members of the Archaeological Conservancy are in the process of raising the $205,000 needed for the purchase. [From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Kippax Plantation Archeological Site U.S. National Register of Historic Places

This post is being referenced to Sepia Saturday, shared today.