Bolling Cousins

[1]

There are three schools of thought as to Penelope's surname. Some researchers
think she should be Penelope Bolling, Penelope Massie, or Penelope Johnson.
There is documentary proof for only one of these. The St. Peter's Parish register
in New Kent Virginia lists Penelope, daughter of Edw'd Johnson & Elizabeth (born)
"ye 4 day of Agost & bapt ye 17 of ye instant, 1684." Translation; born 4 august
1784, christened 17 August 1784.
Penelope Johnson with a Bolling name or a Massie name has never been found.
Until we find proof that her name is not Johnson, we should be content with the
one record that has been found. Some think that she named her son Bolling
because it was her name, why do we not consider all of the names that are applied
to children because of someone famous or just admired.
There was a Penelope Bolling, daughter of Major John Bolling (II) and his wife Mary
Elizabeth Blair. John & Elizabeth Bolling were married on 8/1/1728, therefore any
daughter of theirs was much too young to have been the Penelope who married
Christopher Clark. Christopher and Penelope had children born prior to 1720.
There was a Sarah Penelope Massie born in St. Peter's Parish, New Kent County,
VA, in 1681. The same parish where Penelope Johnston Clark was born 3 years later.
Sarah Penelope Massie married William Johnson in 1698 in New Kent County, VA and
died in childbirth on 8/28/1711.
Lets stop putting the Bolling name on Penelope Johnson Clark

[2]

B.D. ancestry: admin by tddavis123

[3]

Married 1720

[4]

Married 1 Aug 1728, Chesterfield, VA

[5]

L.H. ancestry: admin by Jdhencey

[6]

Thomas Bolling was born and raised in central Virginia and
educated at the College of William and Mary. He studied law with
Robert Carter Nicholas of Williamsburg. He married his first cousin,
Elizabeth Gay (1738-1813), with whom he shared a famous
ancestor: their great-great-great-grandmother was Pocahontas.
By the late 1760s, the Bollings were living on a family plantation called
Cobbs, located on the Appomattox River near Petersburg, Virginia.

They had eleven children, including twins Sarah and Ann, who are
shown in a triple companion portrait of mother and infant girls (CWF
acc. no. 1995-100). Both twins died in September 1773, less than a
year after their birth.

Three of the Bollings' children were deaf and, in 1771, were sent to
Braidwood Academy in Edinburgh, Scotland, where they remained
until 1783, learning to speak, read, and write. In 1815, another
(unafflicted) son, William Bolling (1777-1845), joined with Scottish
educator John Braidwood to open a school for the deaf at Cobbs.
Although the school closed only a year later, its establishment
marked a turning point in American attitudes toward educating the
deaf.

Family genealogist Wyndham Robertson left delightfully vivid word
pictures of his Bolling grandparents, describing Thomas as "over-
frugal" and Elizabeth as "over-proud." In amplifying these concise
characterizations, he noted that Thomas rode abroad "in a single-
seated, single-horse chair, with a hatless, shoeless blackamoor on
the bars behind, with bare legs and feet dangling below, while she
[Elizabeth] traveled in state, in her English-built chariot and four, with
coachman and postilion and footman in bright yellow liveries."

Thomas was the son of John Bolling Jr. and Elizabeth Blair Bolling of
Virginia. In addition to the twin girls, the sitters had several other
children, three of whom, born with speech and hearing impediments,
were educated with a specialist at Braidwood Academy in Scotland.
One of these children was instrumental in establishing a small school
for the deaf in Virginia, the first school of its type in America.

[7]

Mary Jefferson was the second child of
Peter Jefferson 1708–1757 and
Jane Isham Randolph 1720–1776 .
She was two years older than her brother,
Thomas Jefferson 1743-1826
(President of the US)

[8]

Col. John Fairfax Bolling (January 27, 1676 to April 20, 1729) was a colonist,
farmer, and politician in the Virginia Colony.

He was the second son and only surviving child of Colonel Robert Bolling and
Jane (Rolfe) Bolling. His maternal grandfather was Thomas Rolfe, the son of
Pocahontas and John Rolfe.

John Bolling was born at Kippax Plantation, in Charles City Co., Virginia a site
which is now within the corporate limits of the City of Hopewell. He made
his home at the Bolling family plantation "Cobbs" just west of Point of Rocks
on the north shore of the Appomattox River downstream from present-day
Petersburg, Virginia. (Cobbs was located in Henrico County until the area
south of the James River was subdivided to form Chesterfield County in 1749).

John Bolling married Mary Kennon, daughter of Richard Kennon and Elizabeth
Worsham, in December 29, 1697 at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia.
They had at least six children whose names appear in John Bolling's will:

Jane Bolling (1698-1766), married Colonel Richard Randolph.
John Bolling Jr. (1700-1757), married 1. Elizabeth Lewis; 2. Elizabeth Bland Blair.
Elizabeth Bolling (b. 1709), married William Gay.
Mary Bolling (1711-1744), married John Fleming.
Martha Bolling (1713-1737), married Thomas Eldridge.
Anne Bolling (1718-1800), married James Murray.
Another child may be a daughter of John Bolling and Mary Kennon not named in his will:

Penelope (c. 1700-1776), married Captain Christopher Clark, and had a son
Bolling Clark, two grandsons Bolling Clark, a grandson Bolling Clark Anthony,
and several other descendants named "Bolling," "John Bolling," or, "Rolfe Bolling."

Penelope may alternatively have been the daughter of Edward, the son of
Arthur Johnston, and Elizabeth Walker. Indeed, this is the more likely of the
two possible origins of Penelope, as a birth record of daughter Penelope has
survived. In this case, the various descendants of Penelope named Bolling would
have been named in honor of a member or members of the Bolling family.

Bolling served in the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1710 until his death in 1729.
In 1722, he opened a tobacco warehouse in what is now the 'Pocahontas'
neighbourhood of Petersburg. William Byrd II of Westover Plantation is said to
have remarked that Major Bolling enjoyed "all the profits of an immense trade
with his countrymen, and of one still greater with the Indian."

John and Mary Bolling's descendants are the only American descendants of
Pocahontas, and include Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, wife of U. S. President Woodrow
Wilson, Percival Lowell, who mathematically discovered Pluto, Harry Flood Byrd and
Richard Evelyn Byrd, the Randolphs of Roanoke, Nancy Reagan, and John McCain.

Tomb rediscovered
William Busby rediscovered John Bolling's crypt! Here is his description of the burial
site: "I happened on a large stone marker and above-ground crypt surrounded by
a stone wall. It is by itself on a rural property near the Appomattox River here in
Virginia. It is for "Colonel Jno. Bolling of Cobbs" who died in 1729. The marker is in
good condition, though somewhat darkened. In addition to the usual gravestone
information, it has a rather lengthy inscription in a script style that I was unable to
read from the other side of the protective stone wall. I am not an expert on 18th
Century burials but this grave site strikes me as unusual. The above-ground stone
crypt is somewhat larger than a coffin. The grave site, is on a hilltop high above the
Appomattox with no apparent water table problems. It has a great view of the river
(and I-295). The protective stone wall appears to be the same vintage as the rest
of the site."

"This is in Chesterfield County in a small residential area on Cobb's Point, near Point
of Rocks and west of Hopewell. It is just north of the Appomattox and a short
distance west of I-295. I am quite sure this would have been on his own land.

Some distance away near someone's front yard and facing Enon Church Road there
is a small historical marker stating this was the site of Cobb Hall owned by Colonel
Bolling, a great grandson of Pocahontas."

Mark Fisher a resident of Williamsburg, Virginia provided some information for this
memorial. He gathered info from various libraries including the Library of Congress,
the Library of Virginia, the Richmond Library and the College of William and Mary as
well as the Virginia Historical Society.

[9]

Mary Clark Carrie, daughter of Thomas Carie, b. 1590

[10]

Parents:
John Stith (1631 - 1693)
Jane Mosby Stith

[11]

M.J. Ancestry: admin by bjmastro51 (Bonnie Jane Jacobs)

[12]

S.W. (managed by tturnbeaugh1)

[13]

D.G. ancestry: admin by jbouslough1

[14]

S.W. (managed by tturnbeaugh1)

[15]

neutronblond627, may be Debra Smith Virden

[16]

James Harlan Hall, 3 wives, 23 children.

[17]

smokearnold ancestry: admin by lindaarnold157, may be David L Arnold

[18]

Brent Anderson
(managed by Mouldsj)

[19]

P.B. (managed by hutch4650)

[20]

DNA evidence exists, Robert Baker and Susannah Packer are NOT the parents of Andrew Baker. They are the "gunsmith" Bakers and not this lineage.

[21]

Ancestry.com: shminnetonka claims Morris Baker is the son of Mary Agnes Bolling.
I have found no proof.

[22]

This William Henry Gay was not of the Bolling line. His father is John Gay,
Grandfather Henry Gay, and Great Grandfather John Gay of the Line that
came from Londonderry, Ireland. There is a lot of confusion because there
were William Gays in both the John Gay line from Ireland and the Henry
Gay line from England. They were cousins, and their families met up in
Augusta, Virginia on the Little Calfpasture Land.

Marriage Notes for HENRY GAY and MARGARET RUSSELL:

It is not clear exactly when or where Henry and Margaret were married.
No marrage record has been found for them.We are also not sure of her
last name or parentage.

A Henry Gay left Rockbridge Co., VA about 1790, apparently with his first wife,
Jane Henderson and a relative, William Gay and his wife Mary Craig. Their stated d
estination in court records was the French Broad (east Tennessee).

William and Mary Craig Gay can be found in early Blount County, TN
records, but there is no sign of Henry.

In 1801, Joanes Henderson, Jane Henderson's father mentions the gandchildren
of this marriage, but not Jane hersellf. It appears Jane has died prior to 1801.

In 1797, a Henry Guy married Elizabeth Wilkinson in Greene County, TN. This is in
eastern Tennessee, not far from the French Broad. This marriage was short-lived
however as Elizbeth Wilkinson was re-married by 1800.

In 1807, the year it was formed, Clay County records show Henry Gay (the name
is Guy in the records) lliving in the upper district. He settled on the Middle Fork of
the Kentucky River, in an area that later became Perry County.

We assume from census records that the Margaret Gay, aged 70 in the 1850
Census, and living with apparent son, Joseph Gay, is the possibly 3rd wife of
Henry Gay and the mother of all children born in Kentucky. The first child born
of this marriage was Jane Gay in 1800. We know this from her census records
in Missouri where she moved after marrying John Williams in 1819 in Clay County.