Robert BOLLING

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  General Notes:

Col. Robert Bolling, of "Chellowe" (the father of Col. Joseph Cabell, Jr.'s first wife), was born August 17, 1738. "He was educated at Wakefield, in England, by the cele­brated Dr. Clarke. He was learned in many languages, and wrote the 'Memoirs of the Bolling Family' in the French tongue, a translation of which, by John Robertson, was edited and printed by T. H. Wynne, Richmond, 1869." He was "a lover of wisdom and esteemed it more precious than rubies." He was high sheriff of Bucking­ham County in 1767, and is said to have been a member of the House of Burgesses. He was a member of the Conven­tion of July 1775, and died at Williamsburg while in at­tendance on that body. He was the son of Maj. Jobn Boll­ing, born in 1700; county lieutenant of Chesterfield; justice of the peace; and "for thirty years a member of the House of Burgesses." Between 1740 and 1751, he entered for over 20,000 acres of land in the present counties of Amherst, Bucking­ham, Appomattox, and Campbell for himself and sons, together with two small entries for Maj. Richard Kennon and Mr. Thomas Edwards. Bolling's Creek, south of Lynchburg, in Amherst County, was named for him. He married, August 1, 1728, Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. Archi­bald Blair (of the House of Burgesses), and niece of Com­missary James Blair, D. D., founder of William and Mary College. He died September 6, 1757. He was the son of Col. John Bolling, of "Cobbs" (born 1676), "who en­gaged in commerce, and conducted an extensive and gain­ful trade with his countrymen, and a yet larger one with the Indians (equally his countrymen)." He was a member of the House of Burgesses; married, in 1697, Mary, daugh­ter of Richard Kennon, of "Conjuror's Neck" (also a member of the House of Burgesses), and died in 1729. He was son of Col. Robert Bolling (1646-1709), the emi­grant, by his wife, Jane Rolfe, daughter of Thomas Rolfe, son of John Rolfe, by his wife, generally incorrectly called "Pocahontas," which was not her name; her Indian name was "Matoaka," and her baptismal name was "Rebecca." She was a daughter of "Wahunsenacawh," the chief of the Powhatan tribe of Indians, commonly called "King Pow­hatan" by the English.

"Matoaka" was "the first fruit of the English church among the Virginians," and as such occupies a position of unique attraction in our earliest annals. Her husband, John Rolfe, was one of the founders of Virginia. He wrote one of the most accurate accounts of the enterprise, and devoted his life to the establishment of the colony.

Archibald Bolling, of "Red Oak," and of "The Re­treat," the father of the second wife of Col. Joseph Cabell, Jr., is said, in the work just referred to, to have been born March 20, 1750. But on the 9th of May, 1743, Maj. John Bolling entered for his son Archibald 600 acres of land on Possum Creek of the Fluvanna. (James) River. So the major must have had another son by this name, who died young, or the foregoing date of birth is wrong, as although entries were made in the names of infants, we cannot suppose the major to have taken time so vehemently by the forelock as to make the entry seven years before the child was born.

Archibald Bolling died about 1829. He was a brother of Col. Robert Bolling, of "Chellowe," aforesaid, and his ancestry was the same. He was married four times. The mother of Mrs. Anne Everard Duval Cabell was his sec­ond wife, Jane Randolph, the daughter of Richard Ran­dolph, of Curls (member of the House of Burgesses), and his wife, Anne Meade. Which Richard was an uncle of John Randolph of Roanoke, and a son of Col. Richard Randolph, of "Curles" (1690-1748), member of the House of Burgesses, and treasurer of Virginia, who mar­ried Jane Bolling (1703-1766), the daughter of Col. John Bolling, of Cobbs (1676-1729), aforesaid.

Robert married Susan WATSON. (Susan WATSON was born in 1740 in Henrico, VA.)