Timeline - focusing on John Smith and Pocahontas

Jan 6 or 9, 1580 - John Smith is baptized; some sources say Jan 6, some Jan 9 (baptism would be within days of birth)

1595 or 1596 - Pocahontas is born (year based on age written on Van de Passe engraving)

Dec. 20, 1606 - Smith departs England aboard the Susan Constant, captained by Christopher Newport

1607
  • Feb 13 - Smith is arrested and imprisoned on the Susan Constant for insubordination and plotting
  • April 26 - Smith arrives in Virginia (while still imprisoned by expedition leaders); Pocahontas would be 11 or 12 years old; Smith 27
  • May 14 - Jamestown is established as the location of the colony
  • May - Smith accompanies Newport up the James River (6 days), making peaceful contact with Indian tribes
  • May 26 - In Smith's and Newport's absence, Jamestown is attacked while Wingfield defends; 2 colonists and an unknown number of Indians die
  • June 10 - Smith is made a member of the ruling council
  • June 15 - James Fort construction is completed
  • June 22 - Newport departs for England with mineral samples
  • July/August - Smith and other colonists are sick and many die; Aug. 22, Capt. Bartholomew Gosnold dies
  • Sept. 10 - Wingfield is replaced by Ratcliffe as Council President
  • Sept.- Nov. - Smith conducts two trading missions to acquire food for the colonists
  • early Dec. - Smith is captured by the Powhatans (Dec 12?); interacts with Opechancanough, Powhatan and possibly Pocahontas
  • Dec. 29 - possible date of the Powhatan ceremony and Pocahontas rescue
  • End of December 1607 - number of colonists reduced to 38

1608
  • Jan. 2 - Smith is released and returns to Jamestown and is sentenced to execution
  • Jan. 2 - Newport arrives with the 'first supply'plus 100 settlers; Smith is spared from execution
  • Jan. 7 - fire damages Jamestown fort
  • Feb - Newport & Smith visit Powhatan for trade; Thomas Savage is exchanged for Namontack
  • Spring - Pocahontas visits Jamestown on several occasions? (sources are unclear on the dates)
  • April 10 - Newport departs for England with more mineral samples along with Archer, Ratcliffe, Wingfield and Namontack
  • May - Indian plots and ambushes
  • June 2 - Smith's True Relation manuscript is sent to England with Nelson
  • June, July - Chesapeake exploration; (June 2-July 21) 7 weeks 
  • August - Chesapeake exploration;(July 24-Sept 7?) 6 weeks
  • Oct - Newport returns with 70 settlers, including glass craftsmen and two women
  • Sept. - Newport coronates Powhatan; Smith not present (but opposed) (Firstbrook says October?)
  • Sept. 10 - Smith is elected Council President - edict "He that will not work shall not eat"
  • Nov - Anne Burras marries carpenter John Laydon/Layden; first marriage in Jamestown; they had 4 children; all family members were listed as survivors in the muster of 1624/25
  • Dec. - Smith sends a complaint letter to England with Newport, along with pitch, tar, glass, etc.
  • Smith's A True Relation is published in England, apparently a surprise to John Smith

1609
  • Jan. 12 - Smith goes to Werowocomoco for food; Pocahontas warns him of a plot to kill him
  • Jan. - Smith threatens Opechancanough with a gun to get food (Firstbrook says late Dec?)
  • Feb - Wowimchopunck tries to assasinate Smith? (check this)
  • Spring - Smith disperses settlers due to food shortages
  • Sept. 10 - George Percy replaces Smith as president
  • Sept. - Gunpowder incident befalls Smith
  • Oct. 4 - Smith is sent back to England after being injured by gunpowder
  • Nov 30 - Smith has arrived in London by this date; he convalesces
  • Winter 1609-1610 - the Starving Time; Gabriel Archer dies

1612
  • John Rolfe exports first crop of tobacco to England
  • John Smith's Map of Virginia is published

1613
  • April - Pocahontas is captured at a Patawomeck village by Capt. Samuel Argall 
  • Pocahontas is schooled in Christianity by Alexander Whitaker
  • Pocahontas meets John Rolfe

1614
April 5 - Pocahontas marries John Rolfe

1615
Thomas Rolfe is born; some sources say January, though there is no surviving record

1616
  • Pocahontas, John Rolfe, Thomas Rolfe depart for England
  • According to John Rolfe's records, there are 351 settlers at 6 settlements in and around Jamestown
  • John Smith's claimed letter to Queen Anne asking for kind treatment of Pocahontas; no paper original exists; we only know of this because Smith published a purported draft in 1624
  • ​Pocahontas consorts with English royalty and attends a masque
  • John Smith meets Pocahontas for the last time in Brentford, England; the meeting is somewhat tense

1617
March 17 - Pocahontas dies and is buried in Gravesend, England; son Thomas remains in England

1618
Wahunsenaca, Pocahontas's father and paramount chief of the Powhatan Indians, dies

1622
  • March (exact date unknown) - John Rolfe dies; his name is not listed as a victim of the Powhatan attack which happens near in time; his will was dated March 10
  • March 22, 1622 - Powhatan uprising; 347 colonists are killed by Powhatan Indians, roughly 1/4 of the Jamestown population

1624
Generall Historie of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles published; Smith's 1616 letter to Queen Anne surfaces here

1631
John Smith dies June 21, 1631 (age 51)

More to come!
​(C) Kevin Miller 2021

Page started Sept. 25, 2021;