Ancient planter
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Ancient planter was a term applied to an early settler who migrated to the Colony of Virginia before 1616 and remained there for at least three years. The settler received a land grant, which was equi
"Cultivation of tobacco at Jamestown 1615"
Historical marker mentioning ancient plantations along the James River
Title page of "A Breife Declaration of the Plantation of Virginia duringe the first Twelve Yeares" (1624)
John Rolfe
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John Rolfe was an English explorer, tobacco farmer and merchant. He was the husband of Pocahontas and the first settler in the colony of Virginia to successfully cultivate a tobacco crop for export.
Ancient planter
…was not an honorific; it was simply a descriptive term, as used in the "Instructions", for a planter of long standing. According to a letter from John Rolfe dated January 1619/20: All the Ancient Planters being sett free have chosen places for their dividends according to the Comyssion. Which giveth all…
A posthumous painting of John Rolfe and Pocahontas made c. 1850
Rolfe cultivating tobacco, as illustrated in 1874
Rolfe (right, standing behind Pocahontas) as portrayed in Baptism of Pocahontas, 1840, by John Gadsby Chapman