Today in History: Pocahontas

On this day (April 5) in 1614, Pocahontas married John Rolfe. She was seventeen years old and had been captured by the English and held for ransom the previous year. During that time she converted to Christianity and took the name Rebecca. She also met the man who would become her husband. Pocahontas and John Rolfe had a son whom they named Thomas. The next year (1616) they traveled to London together where she became a celebrity. In 1617 as they were preparing to return to Virginia, she died. The cause is debated, but was probably pneumonia, small pox or tuberculosis (although some think she was poisoned). She has many famous descendants, including Edith Wilson (wife of President Woodrow Wilson), Senator Jeanne Shaheen, and Wayne Newton.