Thanks to President 45 and Elizabeth Warren, Pocahontas has received some attention of late. It reminded me that a statue to her was in front of my cousin Father John Ridgell’s rectory when he was pastor at St. Therese Church in Gloucester, Virginia.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=7521 |
As for the whole John Smith-being-saved by Pocahontas turns out that that is a myth (click here.) Seems that Smith had a way of embellishing things and passing along untruths.
Another myth about Pocahontas involves her name. Her actual Indian name was Matoaka, and Pocahontas was a nickname for her. I guess I could fault the Trumpster for getting this wrong and nicknaming Warren Pocahontas, but somehow, in a full circle kind of way, it all makes sense given that Warren’s initial claims were a myth too. (Any comparisons of Trump and John Smith I’ll leave for you to pursue (click here.))
This video does a good job explaining how the myths surrounding Pocahontas came to be.
