--- title: Scientists Discover Identities of Four Leaders of Jamestown Settlement description: Their bodies were discovered by the church where Pocahontas and John Smith married canonical: https://time.com/3976422/leaders-jamestown-settlers/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-29T10:19:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T09:41:15.558Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Scientists Discover Identities of Four Leaders of Jamestown Settlement og:description: Their bodies were discovered by the church where Pocahontas and John Smith married og:url: https://time.com/3976422/leaders-jamestown-settlers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb679c7a9713bd2fb/698785ebe20a877b9fa85d72/capitol.jpeg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Baptism of Pocahontas og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Scientists Discover Identities of Four Leaders of Jamestown Settlement twitter:description: Their bodies were discovered by the church where Pocahontas and John Smith married twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb679c7a9713bd2fb/698785ebe20a877b9fa85d72/capitol.jpeg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Scientists Discover Identities of Earliest Founding Fathers by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Jul 29, 2015 10:19 AM CUT  Melissa Mederos, 10, from Miami, Fla., looks at the Baptism of Pocahontas by John Gadsby Chapman in the Rotunda of the Capitol. Melissa Mederos, 10, from Miami, Fla., looks at the Baptism of Pocahontas by John Gadsby Chapman in the Rotunda of the Capitol.Chris Maddaloni—Roll Call Photos / Getty Images by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Jul 29, 2015 10:19 AM CUT Smithsonian scientists announced Tuesday that they’ve discovered the identities of four bodies buried at the historic Jamestown church where John Smith and Pocahontas got married. The men, Rev. Robert Hunt, Capt. Gabriel Archer, Sir Ferdinando Wainman, and Capt. William West, were all leaders who played a role in the Jamestown settlement. Scientists identified the men by using historical records and chemically analyzing the bones to figure out what the men ate and where they were from. They used 3-D technology to locate the exact grave sites of the men. [_Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/scientists-uncover-history-four-jamestown-settlers-n399916?cid=par-time-article%5F20150729 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3976422/leaders-jamestown-settlers/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3976422/leaders-jamestown-settlers/"},"headline":"Scientists Discover Identities of Earliest Founding Fathers","datePublished":"2015-07-29T10:19:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:41:15.558Z","description":"Their bodies were discovered by the church where Pocahontas and John Smith married","url":"https://time.com/3976422/leaders-jamestown-settlers/","keywords":["History"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb679c7a9713bd2fb/698785ebe20a877b9fa85d72/capitol.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb679c7a9713bd2fb/698785ebe20a877b9fa85d72/capitol.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Baptism of Pocahontas","caption":"Tourist","creditText":"Chris Maddaloni—Roll Call Photos / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3976422/leaders-jamestown-settlers/","name":"Scientists Discover Identities of Earliest Founding Fathers"}}]}] ```