Elizabeth Blair Kennon

Additional Curator's Notes:

Elizabeth Blair Bolling is sometimes identified as the daughter of Robert Bolling and Anne Clarke. Robert Bolling, originally from Yorkshire, moved to London before 1615. He married Anne Clarke in London. The proof of their marriage is found in the Visitation of London in 1633 & 1634. Anne Clarke Bolling and three of their four children all died in 1639. likely of illness. There is no record of a daughter named Elizabeth. Elizabeth's parents are unknown.

Elizabeth Blair Bolling is sometimes shown as the wife of John Samuel Kennon. He is believed to be the son of Robert or Richard Kennen or Kennon and wife Jonet Boyse. The surname is often spelled Kennen or as Cannon instead of Kennon. Richard Kennen and Jonet Boyse Kennen are believed to have emigrated from Scotland to Virginia in the early 1600's. There are many web-trees with this information but, to date, no documents to prove they had a son named John Samuel Kennon or Cannon.

Elizabeth Blair Bolling and John Samuel Kennen are believed to have had as many as nine children. Since we cannot definitively prove that either Elizabeth or John Samuel lived, their children must be treated with caution.

The use of a middle name, Blair, is unusual for a female in the early 1600's, unless she was nobility. This leads me to think that we have an amalgam of early Virginia women. Elizabeth Blair was the daughter of Col. Archibald Blair, as well as the niece of Rev. Dr. James Blair, the Commissary to the Bishop of London. She married Maj. John Bolling, II, son of Col. John Bolling and wife Mary Kennon. They had seven children who reached maturity and eleven who did not.

It is unlikely that Elizabeth was born at Conjurer's Neck. If she married into the Kennon family, she may have died there. As we cannot conclusively tie her to the Kennon family who built Brick House plantation there, it is best if we simply put her place of birth and death as Henrico County, Virginia, until more facts can be found.

Please use extreme caution when merging this family into known families of early Virginia. Please cite your sources when you do merge, as it is an Herculean task untangling these early trees. Thank you,

Maria Edmonds-Zediker, Volunteer Curator, Oct. 8, 2016

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