Tobacco Documents Online

July 19 1962 , .+i'~4:: . r.., . .... . - .olfe`s First Tobacco Cro ad FarReaching -iEffects ' John Rolfe,, t'lie Jamestown col- ' ing $3.1 billion in excise taxes. It oni§t whose first tobacco crop in t is our fourth largest agricultural 1612 saved the settlement and exported. launched the tobacco industry in -the U. S., lived to know that his tival Park in Virginia, the 350th anniversary of Rolfe's first' crop is bein,g, commemorated by the Jamestown Foundation, with gtrv- Durii.ng May, at Jamestown Fes- sequences would be. .:'agined riow far-reaching the con- raries; however, could have im- '. Neither Rolfe nor his contempo- j The industry that' John Rolfe istarted has grownn with the na, -e enterprise was a success. " (tion. .ernment and industry leaders on band: The ceremonies will highlight, the fact' that America literally began at Jamesbown. - • Failure was nearly the story at Jamestown 4uring its first five years of starvation, exhausion and despair. The colonists needed a, salable product' of' commerce to survive. Rolfe's tobacco provided the means for survival. It was a great . turning point in history. For Jiaunestown's success proved deve- lopment of the New World possi-: ' ble: . Jamestidwn was a thriving, to-; bacco-growing community when . the Pilgrims, who were actuaIIy heading for the Jamestown area,, landedI at Plymouth Rock im 16201 By this time. the Jamestown set- tlers had taken the first' steps to-' 9uard, creation of the vast English- spealCing', world of .tt,day. Th@ generali assembly of, Virginia had met in 1619. Rolfe was a member,- By the time of Ro1Ke's death in 1622, the crop was the economic staff of life tb the colonies. . Over khe years, the need for to- bacco land helped push back the forests and create new settle.- m entlr. Today tobacco is a=!l.5 billion ts Year industry' in the U. S., returtl- Tobacco News COURIER Connelsville, Penns'ylvania July 19, 1962 . Poeahontas, Rolfe Have Million Descendants The names of Pocahontas and John Rolfe are known to every child who studies history in school. But few people are prob- ably aware that today there are possibly more than a million descendants of the lnd- ian princess. According to informationi fur- nished by the bjc , News, official puhlif . s' cation of The Tobacco Institute„ Inc., that is an amazing fact. . In the May issue it saidl in part: When John Rolfe msrriedi Pocahontas It vras the first union between an English gentle- man and a"savage" Indian. Today genealo- gists estimate there may be over a million living descendants. Most of' them probably aren't aware of their noted' ancestors. But those who know are proud of it. . Representing the descendants at May's 350tih anniversary celebration was Miss Poca- hontas, 1962, She was Catherine Barnes of A'fart,insville. Va., an 11th generation descen- dant. Some of the descendants became famous: Lady Astor. the Virginia-born English ' poli- tician; the late A4rs. Woodrow Wilson: and the late Lady Mountbatten, an aunt of'Prince Philip. Four of the living descendants bear the: name Pocahontas; there's one named bYa- toal:ai I'osahontas" tribal name. And there is one tthose first name is Rolfe: The heritage of Rolfe and Pocahontas continues through a long line of descendants, which includes some of the best knownn family.names in the south.