Dorothea Redmayne

No longer thought to be the mother of Captain John Rolfe, Ancient Planter. The will of Dorothy Redmayne of Heacham, widow, in 1645 names no Rolfes.

Additional Curator's Notes:

Use extreme caution when citing web trees in this family line. There are many errors and inconsistencies. The dates shown are those verified with parish registers.

Dorothea Mason was born c. 1565. Her birth is not recorded in Heacham registers, therefore, she was probably NOT born there. She died in October 1645 and was buried in Heacham, Norfolk, England on October 26, 1645. Her tombstone inscription states she died in her 80th year.

John Rolfe was baptised at Heacham 13 Oct 1562, and he married Dorothy Mason there 26 July 1582. Parish registers of that era did not list parents or places of origin. Most church records of that era were written in Latin, so John's name is listed at Johannes. They had three children, including a son John, whom we know [was not] John Rolfe, Virginia's Ancient Planter. She married her second husband Robert Redmaine in1593/4 in Heacham.

Maria Edmonds-Zediker, Volunteer Curator, 12/8/2011

Disputed Descent

“John and Dorothy had no daughters. Henry is listed as an additional son in the book Old Sandringham," by Mrs. Herbert Jones, however, there is no Dorothy or Henry recorded in the Parish records. Wilson Miles Cary of Baltimore, the distinguished genealogist, proposes that that John Rolfe, of Virginia, was not a son of John and Dorothea Rolfe, but belonged to another branch of the same family.”

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John Rolfe [alleged father of John Rolfe the Virginia immigrant] died suddenly in 1594 (without a will), and on 8 March 1594/5 at Heacham the widow Dorothea Rolph married Robert Redmayne, widower... The 1618 will of Robert Redmaine... names his wife Dorothy and ... mentions no Rolfes nor any of his wife's family. The will of Dorothy Redmayne of Heacham, widow, in 1645 likewise names no Rolfes but does give bequests to... more than sixty persons... The will seems that of a prosperous widow without any descendants.

Links to additional material:

• http://genforum.genealogy.com/rolfe/messages/1378.html -- be sure to read the three additional comments at the bottom of the discussion for corrections and clarification of information in the first discussion.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rolfe
• https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/rolfe-john-d-1622/
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/99531576/dorothea-redmayne
• https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/rolfe-john-d-1622/ cites
  • William Thorndale, "Two Rolfe Negatives," in The Virginia Genealogist, 34(1990):209-210. AmericanAncestors