Hamilton McMillan wrote a book in 1888 titled “The Lost Colony”. Mr. McMillan spent his entire career as an advocate for the Lumbee, then called variously the Croatan Indians, Cherokee and the Indians of Robeson County. His achievement which probably had the most lasting effect on the Lumbee was his ability to secure special schools for their children. An original copy of his book can be seen at: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~molcgdrg/rml/mcmillian.htm.
I transcribed this book, and applied more recent research techniques to the task at hand. My paper, “McMillan Revisited” can be seen in its entirely at: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~molcgdrg/rml/mcmillian2.htm
One of the most interesting aspects of McMillan’s book was his list of colonist surnames that, in his decades of interacting with the Lumbee as well as his extensive research, he had discovered were associated with an oral history of being descended from the Lost Colony. You’ll notice in his book that when he doesn’t know, he says so, and when a theory doesn’t fit, he says that as well. Given his apparently honesty, there is no reason to think that this list is anything but accurate, to the best of his knowledge.
McMillan spent decades gathering information about the Lumbee and working among them. He has this to say about the colonists and the Lumbee families he believed descended from them.
“Governor John White, at the solicitation of the colonists, returned to England. Simon Fernando, the Spanish pilot of the expedition, also returned. George Howe, one of the “assistants” of Governor White was killed by the Indians on Roanoke Island soon after the arrival. Omitting the name of the perfidious Fernando, we have 120 persons in all, including men, women and children, and about 90 family names, represented in the colony. The names in the [following] list in italics [and bold] are those which are found at this time among the Indians residing in Robeson county and in other counties of NC. The traditions of every family bearing the name of one of the lost colonists point to Roanoke as the country of their ancestors.”
His list appears on the following page. We know that James Junde was either mistranscribed or mistyped by McMillan and on the original 1589 Hakluyt list, it was James Hynde. Similarly, Alice Charman is actually Alis Chapman.
P 22 – Chapter 7 – “In investigating the traditions prevalent among this singular people, we found many family names identical with those of the lost colony of 1587. For the information of the reader, we give a list of the names of all the men, women and children of Raleigh’s colony, which arrived in Virginia and remained to inhabit there. This list is found in the first volume of Hawk’s History of NC and copied from Hakluyt, Volume III, page 280.
Annoe regni reginae Elizabethae 29.
Men
- John White
- Roger Baily
- Ananias Dare
- Christopher Cooper
- Thomas Stevens
- John Sampson
- Dionys Harvie
- Roger Prat
- George Howe
- Simon Fernando
- Nicholas Johnson
- Thomas Warner
- Anthyony Cage
- William Willes
- William Brown
- Michael Myllet
- Thomas Smith
- Richard Kemme
- Thomas Harris
- Richard Taverner
- William Clement
- Robert Little
- Hugh Tayler
- John Jones
- John Brooks
- Cutbert White
- John Bright
- Clement Taylor
- William Sole
- John Cotsmuir
- Humphrey Newton
- Thomas Colman
- Thomas Gramme or Graham, Graeme
- Mark Bennet
- John Gibbes
- John Stilman
- John Earnest
- Henry Johnson
- John Starte
- Richard Darige
- William Lucas
- Arnold Archard
- William Nichols
- Thomas Phevens
- John Borden
- Robert Wilkinson
- John Tydway
- Ambrose Viccars
- Edmund English
- Thomas Topan
- Henry Berry
- Richard Berry
- John Spendlove
- John Hemmington
- Thomas Butler
- Edward Powell
- John Burdon
- James Junde (Hynde)
- Thomas Ellis
- John Wright
- William Dutton
- Maurice Allen
- William Waters
- Richard Arthur
- John Chapman
- James Lasie
- John Cheven
- Thomas Hewett
- William Berde
- Richard Wildye
- Lewes Wotton
- Michael Bishop
- Henry Browne
- Henry Rufotte
- Richard Tomkins
- Henry Dorrell
- Charles Florrie
- Henry Mylton
- Henry Paine
- Thomas Harris
- Thomas Scot
- Peter Little
- John Wyles
- Bryan Wyles
- George Martin
- Hugh Pattenson
- Martin Sutton
- JohnFarre
- John Bridger
- Griffin Jones
- Richrd Shabedge
Women
- Eleanor Dare
- Margery Harvie
- Agnes Wood
- Winnifred Powell
- Joyce Archard
- Jane Jones
- Elizabeth Glane
- Jane Pierce
- Andry Tappen
- Alice Charman (Chapman)
- Emma Merimoth
- ? Colman
- Margaret Lawrence
- Joan Warren
- Jane Mannering
- Rose Payne
- Elizabeth Viccars
Boys and Children
- John Sampson
- Robert Ellis
- Ambrose Viccas (sic)
- Thomas Archard
- Thomas Humphrey
- Thomas Smart
- George Howe
- John Prat
- William Wythers
Children born in Virginia
- Virginia Dare
- ? Harvie
The amazing thing is the sheer number of families with identical surnames, about 43%. I decided to see if the surnames were so common that we would expect by sheer chance to find them in both groups. Surely names like Smith and Jones could be expected to be found in any group carrying English surnames, but what about the rest?
The result of this research is the following data table based on the 1881 census, in least- to-most frequent order. McMillan’s “Lost Colony” surnames are bolded.
1881 Order – Least Frequent to Most Frequent
| Surname | Rank Order 1881 | Rank Order 1998 |
| Berde | Na | Na |
| Borden | Na | Na |
| Bordon | Na | Na |
| Bridgers | Na | Na |
| Cheven | Na | Na |
| Cotsmuir | Na | Na |
| Daridge | Na | Na |
| Darige | Na | Na |
| Earnest | Na | Na |
| Farre | Na | Na |
| Florrie | Na | Na |
| Gibbes | Na | Na |
| Glane | Na | Na |
| Graeme | Na | Na |
| Gramme | Na | Na |
| Hemmington | Na | Na |
| Junde | Na | Na |
| Kemme | Na | Na |
| Lasie | Na | Na |
| Merimoth | Na | Na |
| Mylton | Na | Na |
| Nicholes | Na | Na |
| Pattenson | Na | Na |
| Phevens | Na | Na |
| Prat | Na | Na |
| Rufoote | Na | Na |
| Rufotte | Na | Na |
| Scot | Na | Na |
| Shabedge | Na | Na |
| Shaberdge | Na | Na |
| Shaberge | Na | na |
| Starte | Na | Na |
| Stilman | Na | Na |
| Tappen | Na | Na |
| Topan | Na | Na |
| Tydway | Na | Na |
| Wildie | Na | Na |
| Wildye | Na | Na |
| Wythers | Na | Na |
| Ernest | 18000 | 17040 |
| Cage | 16673 | 11630 |
| Myllet | 12490 | 25553 |
| Viccars | 10918 | 15711 |
| Archard | 9603 | 11146 |
| Stillman | 9529 | 10713 |
| Willes | 8705 | 22625 |
| Spendlove | 7547 | 7287 |
| Mannering | 6832 | 7110 |
| Dorrell | 6434 | 6615 |
| Taverner | 6138 | 7424 |
| Start | 5240 | 6261 |
| Sole | 5087 | 5906 |
| Wyles | 4852 | 5044 |
| Wotton | 4545 | 5613 |
| Burdon | 3871 | 3954 |
| Harvie | 3782 | 5127 |
| Millett | 3442 | 2742 |
| Dare | 3406 | 3221 |
| Tayler | 2648 | 5104 |
| Charman | 2517 | 2408 |
| Baily | 2306 | 7251 |
| Bridger | 1745 | 2270 |
| Colman | 1623 | 2332 |
| Tomkins | 1508 | 1537 |
| Clement | 1474 | 1901 |
| Hewett | 1341 | 2137 |
| Burden | 1178 | 1291 |
| Paine | 1136 | 1649 |
| Milton | 1114 | 1061 |
| Bennet | 1084 | 4745 |
| Wilde | 1008 | 850 |
| Pierce | 989 | 1260 |
| Withers | 933 | 1082 |
| Sampson | 911 | 949 |
| Browne | 844 | 297 |
| English | 812 | 730 |
| Bright | 732 | 839 |
| Arthur | 638 | 869 |
| Dutton | 625 | 684 |
| Humphrey | 549 | 639 |
| Nichols | 450 | 671 |
| Warner | 421 | 376 |
| Howe | 388 | 337 |
| Waters | 362 | 370 |
| Smart | 304 | 311 |
| Lucas | 303 | 306 |
| Coleman | 287 | 216 |
| Gibbs | 286 | 299 |
| Little | 283 | 304 |
| Pratt | 225 | 356 |
| Sutton | 197 | 204 |
| Warren | 195 | 203 |
| Lawrence | 194 | 126 |
| Bishop | 183 | 195 |
| Newton | 149 | 176 |
| Berry | 145 | 164 |
| Payne | 126 | 115 |
| Brooks | 109 | 121 |
| Butler | 108 | 97 |
| Stevens | 104 | 100 |
| Harvey | 103 | 105 |
| Graham | 90 | 76 |
| Powell | 82 | 80 |
| Chapman | 73 | 77 |
| Ellis | 68 | 72 |
| Wilkinson | 64 | 74 |
| Bennett | 62 | 51 |
| Allen | 49 | 42 |
| Cooper | 30 | 31 |
| Martin | 29 | 24 |
| Harris | 28 | 22 |
| Scott | 26 | 30 |
| Wright | 16 | 13 |
| White | 14 | 16 |
| Wood | 13 | 21 |
| Johnson | 12 | 10 |
| Taylor | 5 | 5 |
| Brown | 4 | 4 |
| Jones | 2 | 2 |
| Smith | 1 | 1 |
The table above proves quite interesting. The names closest to the bottom are the most frequently found, and it is telling that 15 most common surnames are found in both groups. I would expect this in any group of people bearing English surnames.
On the other end of the spectrum, the surnames where we found nothing are most likely misspelled versions of the correct surname, whatever that might be. In some cases, Andy has offered alternatives and they are reflected in the demographic papers for that surname. In other cases, such as Merimoth, we may never know. Cage, Viccars, Willes, Harvey/Harvie and Dare are the least common surnames that continue to have a presence in the UK. Finding these and other relatively rare surnames in both groups causes me to wonder if this is something other than coincidence.
Fortunately, because of their rarity, these would be the surnames most likely to be tracked in the UK. Finding the right Smith family, for example, would be nearly impossible without a definitive family connection and a solid genealogy to the present.
Finding a Viccars might be another matter, and tracking a Viccars family might be much easier as it’s unlikely that there are many. In fact, aside from adoptions (historical or contemporary), it’s conceivable that the entire Viccars family may descend from a common source, one common ancestor. Of course, we won’t know that until we can find some Viccars males to DNA test, which brings us full circle in our discussion of the origins of the colonists.
Native Heritage Project 
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I did DNA tests on myself and spouse- we both showed Lumbee through Gedmatch- MDLP World Oracle. He is linked to Harris and Wood- I am linked to Davis, Byrd and Smith. Spouse also shows Arctic Amerind at 1.69%. What are the odds and what is the next step?
Well, that’s interesting, because if you look at the Lumbee Y and mtDNA project, you’ll notice that the core Lumbee surname are either African or European haplogroups – with no Native. They are not a federally recognized tribe. So who knows what that means and what kind of reference population is being used.
That is good to know- all of us also have some African and European lineage. Gedmatch shows all- I can give you Gedmatch numbers if you wish to look at the differences- I just am surprised.
Thank you
My Halogroup is T2b4a and spouse is E-V13