Tuscarora Sent to Barbados – 1690

After the Tuscarora War in 1711, many Native people were sold into slavery in the West Indies.  However, it occurred earlier as well.  In this 1690 entry, we see an example:

Deposition of William Duckingfield: A Maherin Indian informed the Tuskaroo Indians that their two missing men were not killed by the English but that a Daniel Pugh of Nansimond County had sent four of them to Barbadoes and “other Islands.” The Tuskaroo threaten revenge but agree to have Duckingfield talk to the Governor on their behalf to prevent the English warring on them if attacked by them. They shall see the Governor themselves in warmer weather. Pugh is ordered to come to court to answer complaint.

The next month, we find another entry as well.

From Thomas Tyler, Master of the Brigantine Swallow of Barbadoes:
He carried out two Indians last year as per instructions and bill of Lading signed to Daniel Pugh of Nansimond County for these Indians. Pugh has absconded and sheriff is to find & take him into custody.

We don’t know the resolution of this case, but rest assured, those Tuscarora were never returned to the colonies.  If they survived, they melded into the slave population of the West Indies/Caribbean.

Advertisement

About Roberta Estes

Scientist, author, genetic genealogist. Documenting Native Heritage through contemporaneous records and DNA.
This entry was posted in Meherrin, Slaves, Tuscarora. Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Tuscarora Sent to Barbados – 1690

  1. rhodagreen says:

    I’m fascinated by this post which was recently shared with me by someone with Native Indian ancestry. The person directed me to the Negro Laws which stipulated how Native people of darker hue were to be designated in the US. I’m Barbados’ Honorary Consul to SC and founder of the Barbados and Carolinas Legacy Foundation. The mission of the Foundation is to explore our shared historical links, that is, Barbados and the Carolinas. This is certainly a very important link and one that is ignored. I look forward to following your postings and am delighted to be in touch if the Foundation can be of assistance as it pertains to Barbados. Rhoda

  2. Do we have citations for these? ie, are these quotes from county court records, the Journals of the House of Burgesses, the Executive Journals? Virginia Calendar of State Papers?

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.