Chief Wahunsonacock Powhatan 14th Great-Grandfather

June 16, 2018 — 13 Comments

Powhatan 1545-1618

I recently received an advisory of a DNA match from my ancestry.com account that has brought me to a very exciting destination.  This very famous Native American, the very same one we learned about in grade school, is my ancestor.  I am excited, but want to verify all my results with more evidence.  The DNA was from the Little family, and they brought me the information about all these Native American ancestors.  I have not had a DNA test that has found any Native DNA. These results area combination of DNA, and record keeping (which can be faulty and has brought me to felonious conclusions in the past). I hope I can conclusively prove all the data, but in the meantime I am excited! It looks like my mother is descended from Pocahantas’ sister, Cleopatra.

Powhatan (born June 17, 1545; died April 1618), whose proper name was Wahunsenacawh (alternately spelled Wahunsenacah, Wahunsunacock or  Wahunsonacock), was the paramount chief of Tsenacommacah, an alliance of Algonquian-speaking Virginia Indians in the Tidewater region of Virginia at the time English settlers landed at Jamestown in 1607.

Powhatan, alternately called “King” or “Chief” Powahatan by the English, led the main political and military power facing the early colonists, was probably the older brother of Opechancanough, who led attacks against the English in 1622 and 1644. He was the father of Pocahontas, who eventually converted to Christianity and married the English settler John Rolfe.

Captain John Smith described Powhatan as “…a tall well proportioned man… his head some what grey…. His age near 60; of a very able and hardy body to endure any labour. What he commandeth they dare not disobey in the least thing.”

Powhatan’s Cloak in a museum at Oxford

Powhatan Village called Towne of Secoton

Powhatan. The ruling chief and practically the founder of the Powhatan confederacy (q. v.) in Virginia at the period of the first English settlement. His proper name was Wahunsonacock, but he was commonly known as Powhatan from one of his- favorite residences at the falls of James r. (Richmond). According to Smith, of some 30 cognate tribes subject to his rule in 1607, all but six were his own conquests. At the time of the coming of the English, Powhatan is represented to have been about 60 years of age, of dignified bearing, and reserved and stern disposition. His first attitude toward the whites was friendly although suspicious, but he soon became embittered by the exactions of the newcomers. On the treacherous seizure of his favorite daughter, Pocahontas (q. v.), in 1613, he became openly hostile, but was happily converted for the time through her marriage to Rolfe. He died in 1618, leaving the succession to his brother, Opitchapan, who however was soon superseded by a younger brother, the noted Opechancanough.

Chief Wahunsonacock Powhatan (1547 – 1618)
14th great-grandfather
Princess Cleopatra Shawano Powhatan (1590 – 1680)
daughter of Chief Wahunsonacock Powhatan
Pride Chalakahatha Elizabeth (Cornstalk) Shawnee (1615 – 1679)
daughter of Princess Cleopatra Shawano Powhatan
Trader Tom Amatoya Carpenter Moytoy (1635 – 1693)
son of Pride Chalakahatha Elizabeth (Cornstalk) Shawnee
Quasty Woman (1650 – 1692)
daughter of Trader Tom Amatoya Carpenter Moytoy
Delaware Indian Fivekiller (1674 – 1741)
son of Quasty Woman
SOLOMON JOHN CHEROKEE KIMBOROUGH (1665 – 1720)
son of Delaware Indian Fivekiller
Mourning Kimbrough (1689 – 1756)
daughter of SOLOMON JOHN CHEROKEE KIMBOROUGH
Jane Jeanette Little (1713 – 1764)
daughter of Mourning Kimbrough
Andrew Armour (1740 – 1801)
son of Jane Jeanette Little
William Armor (1775 – 1852)
son of Andrew Armour
William Armer (1790 – 1837)
son of William Armor
Thomas Armer (1825 – 1900)
son of William Armer
Lucinda Jane Armer (1847 – 1939)
daughter of Thomas Armer
George Harvey Taylor (1884 – 1941)
son of Lucinda Jane Armer
Ruby Lee Taylor (1922 – 2008)
daughter of George Harvey Taylor
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Ruby Lee Taylor