Seventh in a direct line from Pocahontas Matoaka Rebecca Rolfe, for whom she was named, Matoaca was the eldest of six children.
[2] She moved to Washington, D.C. in 1882, on the advice of her friend Sue Virginia Swearingen, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Field.
She contacted noted Shakespearean actor Lawrence Barrett, who provided books, advice, and became a life-long friend.
[3] Her long running private Shakespeare study group was made up of Washington society women.
This group began collecting money in 1906, to build the Pocahontas Memorial in Jamestown.