Hello everyone,

My name is Kelli, and I live in Richmond, Virginia. I come from a very diverse background—mainly English, Scottish, Irish, and Norwegian descent. I’m proud to share that, through my mother’s side, my 10th great-grandmother is believed to be Pocahontas. This connection runs through the Ferguson line up to the Bolling family. I want to be clear that I’m not trying to name-drop—I just think it’s a sweet story to share!

There is some debate among historians and genealogists about the exact lineage, and I want to be upfront about that. While I can’t find any records on my side to dispute the connection, I know others have questioned it. However, according to FamilySearch and all the documents I’ve seen, the Bolling family—down to the burial site at Kippax, where I grew up—was adamant that this was indeed the person buried there next to Thomas. That land was their land, and the family history is very real to me.

I was born and raised in Virginia. My parents bought a home in Hopewell, in a new subdivision called Kippax Estates. As a child, I used to play in a big former cornfield next to our house. Little did I know at the time, I was literally dancing on the same land that my ancestors owned over 400 years ago! What’s even wilder is that, while my friends played on the tombstones (which always seemed a bit disrespectful and like bad juju to me), I preferred to climb the tree beside them.

Fast forward to 2018, and I discovered that those graves were actually my ancestors’—specifically, my great-grandparents (many generations removed), Thomas Rolfe and Jane Poythress. Thomas Rolfe is officially known as Pocahontas’s grandson. Their daughter Jane is part of the lineage that leads to me, through my great-grandfather (x8) Robert Ferguson (or Fergusson).

Another fascinating discovery I made using FamilySearch is that one of my ancestors, Rev. George Washington Ferguson, is buried not five minutes from my house here in Richmond. Sadly, my mother never knew that her great-great-grandparents were buried just up the street from where we used to live! It’s amazing what you can uncover through genealogy.

With wonderful sites like FamilySearch and, of course, RootsMagic, I’m diving deeper into my family history and loving every minute of it. I live with my sweet little fur pup, Loki—a ball of fun and a true trickster. I named him after the Norse god of mischief, a little nod to my Norwegian heritage.

I’ve been researching genealogy since 1996, when I first caught the bug, but I didn’t fully appreciate all the wonderful stories and connections until about 2018.

Well, thanks for being here! I hope you have as much fun with genealogy research and RootsMagic as I am so far. Take care!

Kelli