{"id":86491,"date":"2022-09-02T11:49:41","date_gmt":"2022-09-02T15:49:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=86491"},"modified":"2022-09-09T10:50:17","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T14:50:17","slug":"the-big-dig-for-pocahontas-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/the-big-dig-for-pocahontas-part-3.html","title":{"rendered":"The Big Dig for Pocahontas (Part 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry concludes the bizarre story of an American who began digging up a graveyard in England in 1923 looking for the bones of Pocahontas. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives<\/a>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Today I conclude my story about the Chicago archeologist Edward Page Gaston, who dug up hundreds of graves in 1923 in Gravesend, England, to search for the remains of Pocahontas. A Native American from the Powhatan people, she married John Rolfe of Jamestown, Virginia, traveled with him to England in 1616, and was buried in the parish church at Gravesend on 21 March 1617.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: statue of Pocahontas outside St George\u2019s Church, Gravesend, Kent, England. Credit: Pireotis; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition, I add two more instances when Americans wanted to return the bones of Pocahontas to America.<\/p>\n

Gaston, widely scrutinized, created great indignation in the village of Gravesend \u2013 which spread across the globe.<\/p>\n

Here are a few more passages from the Dallas Morning News<\/em> article I featured in the first two parts of this story (see links at the end of this article).<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Dallas Morning News (Dallas, Texas), 22 July 1923, page 7<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reported:<\/p>\n

He [Gaston] claims that he and his associates are not working on sacred and carefully marked graves, but on nothing more than a sort of charnel house of mixed up bones of people and animals that were thrown hastily there two centuries ago after the Gravesend Parish Church was overrun by fire\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that I secured written permission from all the descendants of the Princess, both in America and Great Britain, and had the approval of the British Home Office, to exhume the remains, will absolve me from any charges of private or mercenary designs,\u201d says Mr. Gaston. \u201cThe enterprise has cost me many years of effort and much money, and I intend to see it through in spite of misguided and unreasoning protests.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is no evidence about how much backing Gaston received from the many descendants of Pocahontas. Plus, he lied about his own lineage (he claimed to be one of her descendants), which further discredits him.<\/p>\n

He clearly disrespected the wishes of many not to disturb the graves of their ancestors. As far as the souls put to rest in Gravesend, he showed total disregard.<\/p>\n

However, this is not the only attempt to recover the bones of this great historical figure, which seemed to be coveted by many!<\/p>\n

I found an article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch<\/em> from 1950 entitled \u201cHistorical Societies Work to Bring Back Pocahontas to Virginia\u201d written by Helena Lefroy Caperton \u2013 the subject of my next \u201cJamestown Who\u2019s Who\u201d series. Her family was responsible for the 1914 Pocahontas memorial in St. George\u2019s Church: two stained-glass windows.<\/p>\n

Caperton noted that the Rev. Dauton-Fear, rector and rural dean of St. George\u2019s Church, believed the resting place of Pocahontas was threatened. He stated the following:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cost of maintaining such a building is entirely beyond the few people who continue to worship there. We cannot make bricks without straw.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The article concluded:<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia), 22 October 1950, page 83<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This obviously never happened, and Pocahontas is still resting in peace as well as the memorials at Gravesend.<\/p>\n

In 1975 Rev. Colin Pilgrim, the vicar of St. George\u2019s Church in Gravesend, put his foot down on any efforts to unearth Pocahontas\u2019 bones to bring to America\u2019s Bicentennial celebration.<\/p>\n

The Dallas Morning News<\/em> recorded the protests by Reb. Pilgrim, who was aware there was a resolution being introduced by the U. S. House of Representatives calling for Pocahontas to be returned for America\u2019s celebration.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Dallas Morning News (Dallas, Texas), 20 November 1975, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reported an interesting exchange between Rev. Pilgrim and Rep. Whitehurst, sponsor of the congressional resolution to return Pocahontas\u2019 remains:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it would not be her wish,\u201d the Rev. Colin Pilgrim said. \u201cShe is on record as being very reluctant to return to Virginia.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026Told of Rev. Pilgrim\u2019s remarks, a spokesman for the resolution\u2019s sponsor, Rep. G. William Whitehurst, R-VA, said, \u201cIt\u2019s interesting that he says she was so reluctant to leave England because she died as she was about to leave for America.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026In a pamphlet written for church visitors, the Rev. Pilgrim quoted a member of King James I\u2019s court as saying the princess was \u201csore against\u201d returning to the colonies.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As much as I agree with Rev. Pilgrim \u2013 to leave Pocahontas in peace \u2013 I do not buy the hearsay from some member of King James I\u2019s court that she didn\u2019t want to return to America.<\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> a portrait of Pocahontas engraved by Simon van de Passe in 1616. It is the only known representation of her made during her lifetime. Credit: National Portrait Gallery; Wikimedia Commons.<\/p>\n

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