Thomas Jefferson and Powhatan
Thomas Jefferson’s connections to Powhatan run deeper than historical accounts often acknowledge. While Jefferson himself wasn’t a direct descendant of Pocahontas, his family’s intricate web of marriages intertwined with the Powhatan royal family.
One such example is Thomas Mann Randolph Junior, who married Jefferson’s daughter and was a direct descendant of Jane Rolfe and her grandmother, Pocahontas. This familial tie binds Jefferson’s legacy to the heart of Powhatan’s history, symbolizing a fusion of cultures and legacies that endure through generations.
The Powhatan people were among the most powerful Native American groups in eastern Virginia, exerting considerable influence over the region — even the Cherokee. Known to the colonists as the Powhatan Confederacy, the Powhatan Empire controlled 30 clans.
Based this table published by Thomas Jefferson, we can see that Powhatan, proper never moved from its ancestral seat in the area that is now known as Henrico County. [1] Powhatan’s Seat, the Royal residence of King Powhatan is located in Virginia’s capital Richmond, Henrico County, Virignia.
My family comes from Macon (rhymes with Bacon’s Rebellion), Township in Powhatan County. Based on the table, we are from Monacan country.
Specifically the land traditionally belonging to the Mohemencho clan. Some of my ancestors were also born in the lands belonging to the Monasiccapano, Monahassano and Massinacae clans.
We’re also of ethnic Powhatan ancestry from Richmond, Henrico County, Virginia. [2] So it should be noted the difference between Powhatan, Mocanan Nation and Powhatan, proper.
My branch of the Jefferson family was enslaved in a place called, “My, Powhatan,” at the residence of Brockenbrough Starke Morrison and Mary G. Royall.
This residence is associated with the Hemings family through Eliza Hemings, and possibly Monticello. The 1860 slave schedule features Eliza Heming and Mary G. Royall owning slaves together in Powhatan. [3]
Thanks to my DNA matching the famous Jefferson and Hemings y-chromosome via 23andMe, I have proof our enslavement and Thomas Jefferson being our grandfather.
Two women owning slaves is a historical quirk. The circumstances of this branch of the Jefferson family’s enslavement is unknown due to lack of testimony.
The Rappahannock clan has records online showing that they did business with William E. Royall regarding “division of land in Caroline and Powhatan County”. [4] William E. Royall is listed as one of the slave owners in Powhatan County. [5] His relationship to Mary G. Royall is unknown.
Some of the land my family owns on our Powhatan reservation (out of a collective 184 acres) still has my great-aunt’s name on it, Elizabeth Royall. Her relationship to Mary G. Royall is unknown. I’m assuming her husband was a Royall bastard. You can find a post tracing my roots back to her father, Elijah Johnson, here.
“There remain of the Mattaponies three or four men only, and they have more negro than Indian blood in them. They have lost their language, have reduced themselves, by voluntary sales, to about fifty acres of land, which lie on the river of their own name, and have, from time to time, been joining the Pamunkies…” — Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia
Since we are the last remnants of Powhatan our shared “tribal” name is Powhatan. We are Powhatan itself.
Powhatan went the way of Puerto Rico. Generally, Puerto Ricans only have an average of 15% Indigenous ancestry and are a combination of various races to recreate an indigenous, Taino look. [6]
Powhatan is the only North American Native American tribe with a royal family. Making their culture more similar to the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of South America (Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, Colombia) than that of Powhatan’s siblings the Cherokee or Navajo. Ethnic Powhatans have a history of contact with Mexicans. [7]
It’s clear that Thomas Jefferson, or one of the Hemings bastards, wanted to preserve another secret Jefferson family that was Indigenous or Indian, or associated with Powhatan in some way.
It’s unclear if Thomas Jefferson Jr. shared any unique relationship with Brockenbrough, Mary G. Royall’s husband, as he was Thomas Jefferson’s secret grandson bastard. His name after freedom was Thomas Morriss, and later, Morris.
Morris is a bastard’s name in Virginia for Welsh-sounding Indian. He moved nearby the home where he was enslaved and there exists no testimony of enslavement in my family. [8]
Thomas Jefferson also owned a tavern known as “French’s Tavern” in Powhatan, adding another layer to his connections with Powhatan and its residents. He also conducted small-scale Native American censuses and did considerable historical and anthropological research on the Powhatan people. [9]
Read more about The Fall of the Powhatan Empire.
