Elizabeth Milner

There are unsourced assertions online that Elizabeth Pierce Rolfe Milner died in 1635 on Deer Island, New Brunswick, Canada.1466 On the surface this seems suspect as there is no obvious reason why someone from Virginia would be in New Brunswick at that early date.

From http://heathcock.org/genealogy/ps09/ps09_477.html

The only reference to Elizabeth Rolfe growing to adulthood and becoming the wife of John Milner is in a chart prepared by Coleman Price, 1940, on file at the Virginia State Library. There is no documentation to confirm this family.

In the article "Progenitors and Kinfolk of Abraham Childers, III" in the Virginia Genealogist, Vol 34, page 11, there is a notation.....'Elizabeth Rolfe, whose parents were John Rolfe and his third wife Jane Pierce. This cannot be proved owing to the loss of the early Henrico County, Virginia records.'

So we just do not really know if this is the right person or not. It is based on the Family Group Sheet prepared as stated above.

Nevertheless, the hypothetical and perhaps apocryphal story that Elizabeth Pierce Rolfe lived long enough to marry John Milner and have a daughter named Jane in 1635 has gained traction and is found in numerous places

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Rolfe-403

Elizabeth Rolfe was the daughter of John Rolfe by his third and final wife, Jane Pierce.[1]

She is believed to be the Elizabeth who later married John Milner.

The last documentation of Elizabeth Rolfe's life seems to be in the January 1625 Muster when she appears as age 4 living with her mother and step-father, Capt. Roger Smith. The only reference to Elizabeth Rolfe growing to adulthood and becoming the wife of John Milner is in a chart prepared by R. Coleman Price, 1940, on file at the Virginia State Library. There is no documentation to confirm this statement. She would have probably married before 1640, giving the average age of females marrying before the age of 20. There is a John Milner born c 1640 who married a Katherine as stated on the chart. To-date, no record of his parentage has been found.

In the article "Progenitors & Kinfolk of Abraham Childers, III" in the Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 34, page 11 there is a notation ..."Elizabeth Rolfe, whose parents were John Rolfe and his third wife Jane Pierce. This cannot be proved owing to the loss of the early Henrico Records..." [2]

Birth: 1620 James City County Virginia, USA Death: 1635 New Brunswick, Canada

Daughter of John Rolfe, prominent Jamestown and Virginia Company figure of American history, and his third wife, Jane Pierce Rolfe; Elizabeth married John Milner and gave birth to a daughter, Jane Milner. Elizabeth died at Deer Island, New Brunswick, Canada.

Family links:

Parents:

• John Rolfe (1585 - 1622)
• Jane Pierce Rolfe (1595 - 1635)

Spouse:

 John Milner (1618 - 1685)

Children:

 Jane Milner Pugh (1635 - 1709)*

*Calculated relationship

Burial: Body lost or destroyed Specifically: Some notes state her remains are buried on the family property

Created by: L Pritchett Record added: Apr 27, 2008 Find A Grave Memorial# 26454809

References

1. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Rolfe-403 cites
   1. "Will of John Rolfe", ed. Carson, in Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 58, No. 1 (Jan 1950), p. 61. From the probate copy (PCC 1630). The will had previously been abstracted by Waters, from the register copy (49 Scroope), in N.E.H.G.R, Vol. 38 no. 1 (Jan 1884), p. 68, with notes by Waters. (Note date is 1884, not 1844 as given by Carson)
   2. Keith & Velma Morgan Family Home Page, Information about Elizabeth Rolfe (Genealogy.com); last accessed 6 Aug 2020 https://www.genealogy.com/ftm/m/o/r/Keithel-C-Morgan/WEBSITE-0001/U...
   3. See her description on her father's Wikipedia page
   4. Wyndham Robertson, Pocahontas and Her Descendants, (1887), page 3.,
   5. Source for birth date and location:
      1. Virginia Historical Society, "VA Magazine of History & Biography," Vol. 1 page 446, 447.
      2. John B. Boddie, Colonial Surry, (The Dietz Press, 1948).
      3. Edna Mae Selden, Virginia Families,: "...They had one daughter, Elizabeth, born January 25, 1621."
   6. Source for marriage to John Milner: R. Coleman Price, Washington, DC, Chart-Relationship between John Bolling & Jane Pew, wife of John Price, c 1940, "Elizabeth married John Milner, evidently the first of his family in that section of VA which in 1642 became Nanesmund Co." Marriage Abt. 1638: Estimate). BETTER SOURCE SOUGHT.
   7. Petition of Henry Rolfe to the Virginia Company, as recorded in the Court Book, in Kingsbury, S.M, Records of the Virginia Company of London, Vol. 2 (1906), p. 105 (7th Oct 1622).
   8. Virginia Muster of 1624/5, see e.g Hotten.
   9. The Rolfe properties, see Hotten.
   10. McCartney, Martha W (2007). Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, p. 608. < GoogleBooks >

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After returning to Virginia, John Rolfe married a third time, to Jane Pierce, and gave Thomas a younger half-sister, Elizabeth.

John Rolfe wrote his will on March 10, 1622 and died not long after that. In his will John appointed his father in law, William Pierce, as executor of his estate and guardian of his 2 children, Thomas and Elizabeth.

Source:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Rolfe#:~:text=John%20Rolfe%2....