What was it like?

At the start of the seventeenth century the entire eastern portion of North America, which afterward became the thirteen original states, was known as Virginia. Interest in American colonization was awakened in England by a little book on "Western Planting," inspired by Raleigh and written by Richard Hakluyt. Several voyages were made before any permanent settlement was established.

These voyages, undertaken by individuals, were not successful financially or otherwise and others were deterred from risking their fortunes in similar enterprises. But the success of various commercial companies which had multiplied in the last half century for the purpose of trading with distant countries, such as the East India Company, chartered in 1600, suggested similar enterprises for the western world. And, the corporation as a form of local subordinate government had long been familiar to the English merchant, and readily lent itself to plans of colonial extension.

In 1606, two companies were formed, Virginia was divided into two parts and a part granted to each, the London Company and the Plymouth Company. A royal charter enabled each to found a colony, granting them the right to coin money, raise revenue, and to make laws, but still reserving much power to the king. Each was given a block of land a hundred miles square, and the settlements were to be at least one hundred miles apart. The London Company had permission to plant a colony anywhere on the coast between the thirty-fourth and forty-first degrees north latitude.

Great haste was now made by the London Company in preparing for colonization in America, and on the 19th of December, 1606, three small ships bearing one hundred and five colonists and commanded by Christopher Newport, a famous sea captain, set out upon the wintry sea for the New World. The largest of the vessels, the Susan Constant,was of one hundred tons burden and the smallest of but twenty tons. The voyage was long and dreary, and it consumed the remainder of the winter. On reaching the American shore the weary voyagers were greeted by the singing of birds and the fragrance of flowers. Entering Chesapeake Bay they named the two projecting points at its sides, Cape Henry and Cape Charles, after the two young sons of the king.

They chose one of the great rivers flowing into the bay, left upon it the name of King James and followed it for about thirty miles, and founded a town which also they called Jamestown, after the name of their king. Thus was founded the first of the permanent settlements which were to multiply and expand, and in three hundred years to grow into the greatest nation of the earth. It would be difficult to imagine a set of men less fitted to build a colony and found a nation than were those who settled at Jamestown in 1607. Among them were but twelve laborers, a few carpenters, a blacksmith, a mason, a barber, and a tailor, while more than fifty were "gentlemen," that is men without an occupation, idle, shiftless men who had joined the enterprise without realizing that years of labor were essential to success. But there were a few men of worth in the company. There was Wingfield, who became the first president of of the governing council, the hero of many strange adventures. They soon erected a few tents and small cabins; some, however, found a dwelling place by burrowing into the ground. For a church they nailed a board between two trees, stretched a canvas over it, and beneath this the Rev. Robert Hunt held services according to the rites of the Church of England.

Thus was the beginning.

America -- The First 763 Years

1000.  Leif Ericson discovers Vinland   (New England).
1451.  Birth of Christopher Columbus.
1492.  October 12. Columbus discovers the New World.
1497.  The Cabots discover the continent of North America.
1498.  Columbus on third voyage discovers South America.
1506.  Columbus dies at Valladolid, Spain.
1507.  New World named after Americus Vespucius.
1513.  Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean and Ponce de Leon discovers Florida.
1519-1521.  Cortez conquers Mexico. Magellan sails round the world.
1524.  Verrazano and Gomez explore New England coast.
1528.  Cabeza do Vaca explores southern United States.
1533.  Pizarro conquers Peru.
1534.  Cartier sails to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
1541.  Do Soto discovers the Mississippi River.
1565.  Founding of St. Augustine.
1576.  Frobisher discovers northwest passage, Frobisher Strait.
1579.  Drake explores coast of California.
1584.  Raleigh sends first expedition to America.
1588.  Defeat of the Spanish Armada.
1604.  Acadia settled by the French.
1605.  Birth of Robert Rockhould, probably in England.
1607.  May 12. Founding of Jamestown, Virginia.
1608.  Founding of Quebec by Champlain.
1609.  Hudson discovers the Hudson River.
1614.  Birth of Sarah Greniffe.
1619.  First assembly meets at Jamestown. Slaves first sold in Virginia.
1620.  Coming of the Pilgrims in the Mayflower.
1623.  Settlements at New Amsterdam. First settlements in New Hampshire.
1630.  The great emigration to Massachusetts. The founding of Boston.
1634.  Maryland first settled by Calvert.
1635.  Connecticut settled by emigrants from Massachusetts.
1636.  Founding of Providence by Roger Williams. Harvard College founded.
1637.  Rockhould family arrives Virginia.
1638.  Swedes first settle in Delaware.
1639.  First constitution in America adopted by Connecticut.
1640.  Birth of John Rockhould.
1643.  May 30. New England Confederation formed.
1649.  Toleration Act in Maryland.
            Rockhould and Bennett families relocate to Maryland.
1655.  Stuyvesant conquers the Swedes in Delaware.
1656.  Quakers expelled from Massachusetts.
1662.  Connecticut charter granted.
1663.  Charter granted to Rhode Island.
            Charter for the Carolinas granted.
1664.  September 8. The English conquer New Amsterdam. New Jersey given by King Charles II to his brother, the Duke of York.
1666.  Death of Robert Rockhould.
1667.  Fundamental Constitutions drawn up for the Carolinas.
1673.  Marquette explores the Mississippi.
1676.  Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia. King Philip's War in New England.
1681.  Penn receives charter for Pennsylvania.
1682.  Penn founds Philadelphia and makes treaty with the Indians. La Salle explores Louisiana and takes possession for France.
1685.  Birth of Charles Rockhold.
1686.  Edmund Andros made governor of all New England.
1689.  Rebellion against Andros; his fall and arrest.
1692.  Salem witchcraft delusion.
1700.  Iberville plants colony in Louisiana.
1713.  Treaty of Utrecht, ending Queen Anne's War, which began in 1702.
1720.  Birth of Asel Rockhold.
1724.  Birth of Anne Rowe.
1733.  Georgia settled by Oglethorpe.
1739.  Birth of Ruth Ford.
1746.  Birth of Dawson Rockhold.
1748.  Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, ending King George's War, which began in 1744.
1754.  Colonial Congress at Albany; Franklin's plan of union.
1755.  Braddock's defeat.
1756.  French and Indian War formally begun.
1759.  Wolfe captures Quebec.
1763.  Treaty of Paris; end of the war. Conspiracy of Pontiac.

How Goes It?

Europe, through the thirteen and fourteen hundreds, was conflict upon conflict.  The English kings were constantly trying to uphold their positions and standing.  The French, the Scots, the Irish, the Welch, and others were all warring against the English Kings at some time or another.  The Kings were fighting with the nobles, the nobles with the peasants, the clergy with the faithful and the unfaithful.  It was not a very calm, friendly environment.

The fifteen hundreds brought a different kind of war, one pitting the church against the crown, and the followers of the various emerging protestant churchs against the crown and "church".  The thirty years of the civil war created some strong rifts between those who supported the "church" and those who felt that there was a god given right to life, liberty, and happiness, and to worship in the manner that they felt was right for them.

Robert Rockhould (name as on earliest found documentation) was born probably between 1600 and 1605.  He was likely born in England but could have been born in the Netherlands.  While no documentation, there is sketchy information that his father was one Richard Rockwell who died about 1621 in Fitzhead, Somerset, England.  Richard was the son of William Rockwell and Marion Wyke (or Pyke or Kyne); he married Thomazine Littlejohn in Fitzhead, September 1593.  This Thomazine could be the Thomasin that arrived in Virginia in 1637 under the sponsorship of Robert.

Considering the interchanging of the Rockhould, Rockhold, Rockholt, Rockwell names over the years, it is not a long stretch.  History tells us many Puritans were not willing to convert to the religious ilks of the English royals and some left England for the Netherlands in the early 1600s, before any real colonization of America.  This leads me to believe that Robert and maybe Samuel Greniffe did relocate to the Netherlands and then at a later date on to Virginia.

Robert married Sarah Greniffe about 1633, probably in the Netherlands where sons Robert Junior and Thomas, and daughter Mary were born.  The family immigrated first to Virginia colony around 1637, as reflected in land records of the time.  Daughter Ann and son John were born in Virginia.  The family relocated to Maryland colony around 1649.

Richard was an armourer (gunsmith) by trade but the family became very successful farmers with several hundred acres, mostly in tobacco.  All of the first generation, Robert Jr., his siblings and their wives died in Maryland.  Their descendants moved eventually to the corners of the new world, as it grew.  Today there are relatives found with three variations of the family name; Rockhold, and Rockholt as well as Rockwell.  The family Rockwell does not always trace back to Robert, there is a seperate line of the Rockwell family originating in Massachusetts around the same time Robert came to Virginia.

I favor the idea our Robert, who could be the son of Richard Rockwell of Fitzhead, was a brother or cousin of William Rockwell, father of the New England Rockwell family.  If, and it's a very big if, Robert left England under penalty of arrest (which could have occurred over even a trivial matter) he would have changed his name since the arrest warrant would have followed him to the colony.  I support this idea with the documentation of the use of Rockwell by a few of the second generation individuals.  Also, I have found some information regarding the history of the name itself:  "Rockwell, formally Rockholt; from old English,

hroc (rook) + holt (wood), of Buckinghamshire and Somerset".

I thought I had a good lead on another Rockhould family in England, around the time Robert would have left, but it turned out to be a Rockwell that was indexed as Rockhould.  I have also found some Rockholts in Sweden, I have yet to gain any contact with them but I am trying.  I have not found anything that would tie the family to Germany.

There is not a lot of documentation existing that allows us to trace the family forward from Robert's arrival in Virginia.  Some land records and a few probates of wills along with a very few surviving family bibles are about all we have that can be considered reliable.  The early histories of Virginia and Maryland contain some information on the early families, the Rockhould/hold/holts, the Todds, the Warfords, the Dorseys, the Richardsons and others are often presented in totally different lights in the various histories.  It seems that there just might have been a little bias towards some and against the others. 

Until 1850, when the United States census began to list all members of the household by name, it is a very difficult task to piece together the lineage from one generation to the next.  Even after 1850 it can be imposable.  The 1890 census was destroyed leaving twenty years, from the 1880 census to the 1900 census, with very little information to work with.  Also, early records were often made with names spelled wrong, children visiting with family members were sometimes recorded as son or daughter of the head of household when in fact they were a niece or nephew.  Orphans and step children were often misidentified. 

The children of Alfred Rockhold/holt and Elizabeth Sisk, who accompanied Elizabeth to California, are good examples.  They are identified with the surname of their stepfather on one census.  As both Rockhold and Rockholt  they emerged into adulthood.  Alfred's second wife, Elizabeth Presley, was only identified as Elizabeth on the census records and was thought to be the same person as Elizabeth Sisk until the marriage document for her and Alfred was found.

Another great question is whether or not Elizabeth Presley was Presley by birth or by marriage.  Some of the Presley family attest the name to marriage to one John Presley, but no marriage documents have been proven, and there just doesn't seem to be any good evidence to support the idea.  While there is good evidence of a single Elizabeth, in the area, of the right age to marry Alfred, there is just no good evidence that the two young Presley boys living with Alfred and Elizabeth were not hers by a previous marriage.  While they could well be her nephews, there is nothing to prove that they are.

Duplicate names, especially the more common given names of the family, such as William, Alfred, and Robert often create questionability.  In one case I have identified three individuals with the same name, near the same age in Tennessee in 1860.  As the family increased in numbers, as the years went by, it becomes even a greater problem.  Until the early 1900's death certificates did not exist, and births were only recorded in church records and family bibles.  In the few instances where state/colony records were kept they were mostly kept only long enough to prepare an "indexed record".  These records are often filled with errors in transcription from the originals. 

The Mormon Church has done extensive work in transcribing and indexing historical records.  The federal and many state census records, old military records and extensive collections of family tree are made available on the web site "ancestry.com".  For anyone looking into the family lineage the cost of subscription to "ancestry" is money well spent.