Pocahontas, Rolfe and Rapture

John Rolfe stepped into history in May 1609, when he boarded the Sea Venture, bound for Virginia.

The Virginia Company, founded by investors, had financed and sponsored the English colony founded at Jamestown in May 1607

Pocahontas was baptized, christened Rebecca, and later married John Rolfe on April 5, 1614. A general peace and a spirit of goodwill between the English and the Indians resulted from this marriage.

Nissan 17, day after first fruits Passover

Rebecca was the bride of Isaac representing the Rapture

Do a search on Rebecca in the KJV (and others) Rebekah is spelled this way in the Old Testament and there is one mention in the new testament with a different spelling: Rebecca found in Romans 9. The chapter regarding God’s sovereignty and also explaining the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart and “Esau I have hated and Jacob I have loved”.

John Rolfe was a very religious man who agonized for many weeks over the decision to marry a "strange wife," a heathen Indian. He finally decided to marry Pocahontas after she had been converted to Christianity, "for the good of the plantation, the honor of our country, for the glory of God, for mine own salvation ..." Pocahontas was baptized, christened Rebecca, and later married John Rolfe on April 5, 1614. A general peace and a spirit of goodwill between the English and the Indians resulted from this marriage.

John Rolfe died at 37 years old, Pocahontas at 22 (both significant numbers!) John Rolfe also died in 1622

He was born in Norfolk, England and baptized on May 6, 1585
Both Pocahontas & he were previously married.

Settlers constructed two small ships (the Patience and the Deliverance) and continued their journey to Virginia. In May, 1610 Rolfe and his wife finally reached Virginia but his wife died soon after their arrival.

In 1613, the Indian princess Pocahontas (daughter of Powhatan, leader of the Powhatan federation) was kidnapped by the Jamestown settlers. The colonists wished to trade Pocahontas for Englishmen and weapons captured by the Indians. The exchange never occurred. Pocahontas learned English and converted to Christianity, taking the name of Rebecca.
John Rolfe presumably met Pocahontas after her conversion; he fell in love with the young Indian woman and decided to marry her. Rolfe's decision to marry Pocahontas was not made lightly. He asked permission of the governor (Sir Thomas Dale) in a letter which carefully outlined his desire for marriage. [See Rolfe letter] Rolfe also asked Powhatan for permission to marry his daughter, the Indian leader granted his permission and agreed to maintain a peace with the settlers. The couple married on April 5, 1614. The relationship between the colonists and the Indians remained peaceful for the next eight years (until Powhatan's death). During this period the colony expanded and Pocahontas gave birth to a son, Thomas.
John Rolfe stepped into history in May 1609, when he boarded the Sea Venture, bound for Virginia.

The Virginia Company, founded by investors, had financed and sponsored the English colony founded at Jamestown in May 1607. The Company expected the colonists to start industrial enterprises in Virginia that would return profits to the Company. The colonists in Virginia tried a number of different enterprises: silk making, glassmaking, lumber, sassafras, pitch and tar, and soap ashes, with no financial success. It was John Rolfe's experiments with tobacco that developed the first profitable export.

The Spaniards found the natives in the West Indies using the tobacco plant. They took seed to Europe where its use soon spread to other countries around the Mediterranean Sea.
Sir Walter Raleigh is often credited with the introduction of the use of tobacco in England. While he may not have been responsible for its introduction, he apparently played an important role in the spread of tobacco use among the English. Spain and Portugal monopolized the European tobacco trade; England imported tobacco from Spain.

The English colonists did not like the type of tobacco the Virginia Indians grew. They preferred the fragrant sort that Spanish colonists produced in the Caribbean and sold in large quantities at high prices to London merchants.

The Sea Venture was the flagship of a nine-ship convoy of 500 new settlers. By July, the ships had reached the West Indies where they were struck by a hurricane. The Sea Venture ran aground on a reef off the Bermudas, but the entire company of 150 safely reached shore in the ship's boats.

The colonists found Bermuda to be a hospitable place with sufficient food. In the following months, two smaller ships were built from cedar trees and salvage. By May 1610 the two ships, aptly named the Patience and the Deliverance, were ready. The ships reached the Chesapeake Bay after ten days sailing.

While on Bermuda, John Rolfe's wife had given birth to a daughter who was christened Bermuda, but the child died there. Rolfe's wife also died, probably soon after they reached Virginia.

John Rolfe is credited by Ralph Hamor, then Secretary of Virginia, with the experiment of planting the first tobacco seeds that he obtained from somewhere in the Caribbean, possibly from Trinidad. "...I may not forget the gentleman worthie of much commendations, which first tooke the pains to make triall thereof, his name Mr. John Rolfe, Anno Domini 1612, partly for the love he hath a long time borne unto it, and partly to raise commodity to the adventurers..." Rolfe gave some tobacco from his crop to friends "to make triall of," and they agreed that the new leaf had "smoked pleasant, sweete and strong. The remainder of the crop was shipped to England where it compared favorably with "Spanish" leaf.

More details on the letter:
At the same time as Rolfe experimented with tobacco, other events transpired that would have profound effects on the colony.
Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan, was kidnapped and brought to Jamestown to be traded for English prisoners and weapons that Powhatan held. The exchange never took place. Pocahontas was taken to the settlement at Henrico where she learned English, converted to Christianity, was baptized, and christened Rebecca. It was about this time that she presumably came to the attention of John Rolfe.
Rolfe was a pious man who agonized for many weeks over the decision to marry a heathen. He composed a long, laborious letter to Governor Dale asking for permission to marry Pocahontas. The letter reflected Rolfe's dilemma. The tone suggests it was intended mainly for official records, but at some points Rolfe bared his true feelings. "It is Pocahontas," he wrote, "to whom my hearty and best thoughts are, and have been a long time so entangled, and enthralled in so intricate a labyrinth that I (could not) unwind myself thereout." The wedding took place in the spring of 1614. It resulted in peace with the Indians long enough for the settlers to develop and expand their colony and plant themselves permanently in the new land.