A continuation of Robert K. Thomas’s Report of Research on Lumbee Origins.  This was transcribed from a photocopy of an original report at the Wilson Library, UNC, Chapel Hill, NC in June of 2012.   Any comments I have will be made at the end of these transcriptions and it will be evident that they are mine.  To see more about Robert K. Thomas, go to:  http://works.bepress.com/robert_thomas/

The third hypothesis of Lumbee origin devised by anthropologists in the 1930s and 40s.  This hypothesis says that the Lumbees are remnants of a great many small Siouan tribes which (p 8 ) once lived in central NC and north central SC.  This is really a logical guess.  It is based on the fact that there were, in fact, in the 1600s, as far as one can reconstruct, primarily Siouan speaking tribes living in the immediate area of Robeson County.  By Siouan speaking, anthropologists simply mean that their language is part of a great language family which has received its scientific name from the Sioux Indians who are a prominent people and language of that language family.  But anthropologists had no direct evidence for this hypothesis.  It is simply a pretty good guess.