Name Robert Bolling Parents Mary Clark, John Bolling Role Merchant Grandchildren Elizabeth Bolling | Died July 17, 1709 Children Robert Bolling | |
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Spouse Anne Stith (m. 1682–1709), Jane Rolfe (m. 1675–1676) | ||
Great grandchildren Robert Montfort | ||
Colonel Robert Bolling (December 26, 1646 – July 17, 1709) was a wealthy early American settler planter and merchant.
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Ancestry and early life
Robert Bolling was the son of John Bolling (b. 1615) and Mary Carie (née Clarke) Bolling. He was named after his grandfather Robert Bolling; his grandmother was Anne Clarke. He was born at Tower Street, All Hallows, Barking Parish, in London on December 26, 1646. His father John, was one of the Bollings of Bolling Hall, near Bradford, England. Robert's ancestry could be traced to Robert Bolling, Esquire, who died in 1485 and was buried in the family vault in the church of Bradford. On October 2, 1660, at the age of fourteen, Bolling arrived in the colony of Virginia.
In 1674, he married Jane Rolfe, daughter of Thomas Rolfe, the son of Pocahontas. They had one son, John Bolling (January 26, 1676 – April 20, 1729). Jane is said to have died shortly after the birth. John Bolling married Mary Kennon, daughter of Richard Kennon and Elizabeth Worsham, and they had seven children.
Second marriage and death
In 1681, after his first wife died, Col. Bolling married his second wife Anne Stith, daughter of John Drury and Jane (Gregory) Stith. They had the following nine children together.
The descendants of Robert Bolling's first marriage are sometimes referred to in family history forums as "Red Bollings" due to the Native American lineage of Jane Rolfe's grandmother Pocahontas. These "Red Bollings" include prominent descendants such as Edith Bolling Wilson, wife of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. His grandson Robert Bolling was one of the most prolific poets in colonial Virginia. The descendants of his second marriage are referred to as "White Bollings".
As a merchant and planter, Bolling acquired a large estate. He was colonel of the militia and was a member of the House of Burgesses from Charles City County in 1702.
Robert Bolling died on July 17, 1709, and was buried on his plantation Kippax, in Prince George Co., Virginia, where his tomb still stands. However, in 1858, his remains were removed from Kippax to the Bolling mausoleum at Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia erected by his great grandson.
Archaeological record
Archaeologist Donald W. Linebaugh, of the University of Kentucky, located the remains of Col. Bolling's house in Hopewell, Virginia in 2002.
The Archaeological Conservancy is currently trying to buy the site of Kippax Plantation to protect it from development. Thomas Rolfe, the son of Pocahontas and Robert Bolling's father-in-law, is buried there. The Archaeological Conservancy is in the process of raising the $205,000 needed for the purchase.