THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 10, 1996 TAG: 9603090044
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DIANE TENNANT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 130 lines
REBECCA ROLFE will be honored Sunday in Surry County with her own marker along the Women of Virginia Historic Trail.
Most people know her better as Pocahontas.
But the fact that people know her at all is the point of the trail, which honors 30 women, many of them much more obscure than the Indian princess.
Sissieretta Jones in Portsmouth. Catherine Blaikley and Clementina Rind in Williamsburg. Ann Makemie Holden in Accomack County. Cockacoeske on the Pamunkey Reservation in King William County.
Not many household names in that list. But that is why the Virginia Business and Professional Women began placing markers along the trail 10 years ago.
Pocahontas' marker will be presented during a ceremony today at Smith's Fort Plantation near the ferry dock in Surry County. Those lands were part of Pocahontas' dowry, given by the Indian chief Powhatan when his daughter married English settler John Rolfe.
No, not John Smith, as the Disney movie might imply.
``Our interest in Pocahontas is telling people that these were her dower lands,'' said Kathryn Ogg of Norfolk, regional chairperson for the trail. ``It's something to counteract Disney's Pocahontas story. I felt like the Disney people had a chance to produce a treasure for everybody, if they had used an accurate history.''
The bronze marker will be presented at Smith's Fort, but it evidently will not remain there. The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, which operates Smith's Fort, will participate in the program but has refused to allow the marker to remain, said Judy Jones, president of the Surry County BPW.
Permission has also been refused for the BPW to place a marker honoring Clementina Rind, the first woman editor of the Virginia Gazette. Rind operated her press in what is known as the Ludwell-Paradise House on Duke of Gloucester Street in Colonial Williamsburg.
Historic preservationists have strict rules on what can and cannot be placed or altered at a site, because the intent is to keep historic locations as they would have appeared in centuries past.
But Ogg persuaded Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg to place a marker at the grave of Catherine Blaikley, a midwife of the 1700s.
Ogg's next task is nominating Lucy Mason Holt for addition to the historic trail. Holt, who died in 1961, was principal of Ocean View Elementary School for 25 years.
``She represents the kind of woman other people could really relate to,'' Ogg said. ``Holt is a representative professional woman.''
Noticing that many of her poor students were missing school because their families could not afford shoes, Holt started a contest to see who could go barefoot longest into the school year, and paid the winners out of her own pocket. When the PTA wanted to buy a bell for the school, Holt climbed the tower of a local church to listen to the tone of each individual bell before choosing which one she wanted.
Holt, if accepted, would be the first woman from Norfolk on the historic trail.
For Ogg, promoting the trail is a labor of love. ``I, myself, have just been fascinated to learn these subtle little human things that you find out about these people,'' she said.
The Women of Virginia Historic Trail covers the entire state, from Martha Washington at Mount Vernon to musician Maybelle Carter in southwestern Scott County. The trail, which is not a single road, but a compilation of historic sites along many different paths, is supported by funds from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.
Local sites along the trail honor:
Sissieretta Jones - A plaque in the local history room of the Portsmouth Public Library honors Jones, an operatic soprano who gained great fame in Europe but less recognition at home. She was born in Portsmouth on Jan. 5, 1869.
Jones trained in New England and performed at Madison Square Garden, the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, and at the White House for President Benjamin Harrison. She longed to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House, but was denied that chance largely because she was African American. She ended her career in America performing popular music with the Black Patti Troubadours.
She gained the nickname ``Black Patti'' after some compared her voice to that of Italian soprano Adelina Patti.
``Do you know, it rather annoys me to be called the `Black Patti,' '' Jones once told a newspaper reporter. ``I am afraid people will think that I consider myself the equal of Patti, and I assure you I do not . . . Perhaps some day, I may be as great in my way.''
Pocahontas - Although she lived only 21 years, the Indian princess with four names achieved everlasting fame with the story of her rescue of John Smith. Although there is some doubt of the story's truth, Pocahontas did promote peace between the Indians and settlers, and agreed to marry John Rolfe even while being held prisoner in Jamestown.
``Pocahontas'' was her nickname, and meant playful and mischievous, or small stream between two hills. Her clan name was ``Matoaka,'' meaning snow feather or snowflake. When she embraced the Anglican religion, she was baptized Rebecca. On her marriage, she became Mrs. John Rolfe.
She, Rolfe and their infant son went to England in 1616, where she was a society hit. She died there in 1617 while waiting for the ship that would take her back to America.
The land in Surry County was her dowry, and passed into the hands of her son, Thomas, who came to Virginia after being raised in England.
Clementina Rind - Rind agreed to print Thomas Jefferson's ``A Summary View of the Rights of British America'' when many other printers refused. Historians say the pamphlet was second only to the Declaration of Independence in charting America's course toward freedom from England.
Rind took over the printing operation after her husband's death, and became editor of the Virginia Gazette. She published news with a feminine slant and was the first woman to act as publisher for the House of Burgesses.
The BPW is still looking for a suitable location for her marker, as the organization was not allowed to place it at the Ludwell-Paradise House.
Catherine Blaikley - Widowed at the age of 41, she supported herself and her family by providing board and lodging in Williamsburg, and by becoming a midwife. Her thriving practice, which delivered more than 3,000 children, gave her economic independence and public recognition unusual for women in the 1700s. Her marker is in the Bruton Parish Cemetery.
Ann Makemie Holden - Holden was known as a woman of means as well as substance in the 1700s. She independently and successfully managed her own holdings in Accomack County and championed American independence. Her marker is at Jenkins Bridge in Onancock.
Sally Louisa Tompkins - She was given the rank of captain in the military by Jefferson Davis, so she could continue running her hospital when private health facilities were ordered closed during the Civil War. Her hospital set the record for the fewest patient deaths. Her marker is at Poplar Grove in Mathews County.
Cockacoeske - Queen of the Pamunkey Indians, she was instrumental in forging the 1677 Treaty of Middle Plantation, which restored peace after Bacon's Rebellion. Her marker is on the Pamunkey Reservation in King William County. ILLUSTRATION: Map
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