The Pierce Family of Tyrrell County

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Roberta Estes

The Pierce family of Tyrrell County is known to be of Native Heritage.  The early records including the 1790 census records these individuals as Free People of Color (FPC) as do other records tax records.  Let’s see what the official records of Tyrrell County show us. 

A letter written by Ann Brickhouse, or more accurately, by her assistant Melanie L. Armstrong,  then the register of deeds and assistant, respectively, of Tyrrell County, in 1992 provides us with some information. She checked by all variant spellings and came up with the following marriage entries:

  • Timothy Pearice married Sarah Simpson April 6, 1786
  • Mary Pierce married Jacob Simpson July 6, 1790, witness Andrew Bateman and Tom Mackey.
  • Dianah Pearce married Isaac Simpson Sept. 11, 1782
  • Caron Happy Pearce married Reddin Simpson May 10, 1786, witnesses Timothy Pierce and Tom Mackey.  Caron Happy is also spelled Karenhappuck.  Ann Brickhouse adds a note saying that Caren’s family sold land to her ancestors, the land her great-grandmother’s family owned. 

With so much intermarriage between these two families, it looks like the Simpson family might be Native as well.  The Tyrrell County will of Samuel Woodland dated October 1, 1777 provides us with a very important hint.  “I give ….to my son-in-law Thomas Williams the land and plantation whereon Indaon Bet Simpson now liveth.”  The Simpson family appears to be Native as well.

In the 1790 census in Tyrrell County, the following families were listed as “free colored”:

Reddin Simpson (1 male>16, 3 females)

Jacob Simpson (1 male >16, 1 male <16, 1 female)

Elizabeth Will (1 male <16, 2 females)

Jack Williams (1 male <16)

William Foster (1 male >16, 4 <16, 2 females)

John Dempsey (1 male <16)

Phillip Biffins (1 male <16)

Jane Vollovay (1 male <16, no males)

Isreal Pierce (1 males >16, 2 males >16, 3 females)

Thomas Pierce (1 male >16, 3 males < 16, 3 females)

Bridget Bryan (1 female)

Neither Andrew Bateman nor Colonel Thomas Mackey, witnesses to the 1790 Pierce/Simpson marriage, were free people of color.  Both appear to be white, and Colonel Thomas Mackey prestigious, although Mackey is also a known Mattamuskeet Indian name.  Often the Native people took the surname of someone they knew and respected.

Melanie then notes that Thomas Pierce lived in Chowan County before buying land and moving to Tyrrell, citing the deed dated 1755 and recorded in book 17, page 156. However the deeds referenced are not included with the copy of the letter contributed.

Kay Lynn Sheppard extracted the Pierce deeds from Tyrrell County for the period of 1735-1794 from “The Deeds of Tyrrell County, NC” by Dr. Stephen E. Bradley, Jr., as follows:

August 3, 1739 – Gabey Ginnet, planter of Tyrrel Co., to Thomas Pierce, planter of Chowan Co., for 50 pounds, 127 acres joining John Ginnet, Jr. and John Jennet.  /s/ John Jennet.  Witnesses: Sam’l. Swann, John Whidbee, Sam’l. Gregory.  Recorded August 3, 1739.

October 24, 1739 – Jabez Jennet, yeoman of Tyrrel Co., to William Popewell of the same county, for 20 pounds, 138 acres on Alligator River joining Thomas Pierce.  /s/ Jabez Jennet.  Witnesses: Sam’l. Swann, Thomas Pierce, Thos. Leary.  Proved: Oct. 31, 1739

April 11, 1743 – Thomas Pierce, trader of Chowan Co., to John Pierce, planter of same county, for 150 pounds, 170 1/2 acres which was to have been conveyed to Saml. Swann but sd. Swann wished to have conveyed to sd. Pierce, and which was part of 235 acres called the Rich Land, the other part of which is owned by sd. Pierce & leased to David Powers, & which had been a patent on Alligator River in Tyrrel Co.  /s/ Thoms. Pierce.  Witnesses: Richd. Skinner, Jams. Skinner.  Registered May 29, 1745. 

February 7, 1749 – Henry Bress of Tyrrel Co., to Thomas Perce, labourer of the same county, for 15? shillings, 100 acres on south side of Albemarle Sound joining Cypress Swamp and the land of Henry Bress bought from Thos. Long.  /s/ Henry [x] Bress & Dina [x] Bress.  Witnesses: Andrew Long, Joshua Long, Guiles Long.  March Court 1749

There is some very interesting information contained in these deeds that may not be immediately evident.  For example, the fact that Thomas Pierce witnessed a deed in October 1739 tells us that he was not an absentee landlord, at least not entirely, and that he was not “of color”, given that he witnessed a deed for white men. 

Perhaps even more telling though is the 1743 deed.  Thomas Pierce is listed as a trader of Chowan County.  The deed is to his son John who subsequently died in 1747.  We also know where the land is located and that at least part of it is being leased, so not farmed by John or Thomas Pierce themselves.  Notice that the Long family is involved with the 1749 land and also as witnesses, and in the following will of the Thomas Pierce who is a free person of color, the land he leaves his grandsons abuts the Longs land.

Tyrrell County Wills 1729-1811, page 256, Thomas Pearce – Jan. 8 1795.  Weak of body.  I lend my plantation where I now live to my wife Man…? during her lifetime and then half of it to my daughter Sarah ??? joining Thomas Norman.  To my grandson C..? Simson the rest of my plantation.  To my grandsons Stephen Foster (?) and John Foster 40 acres joining John Long.  To my grandson John Simson 25 acres joining Stephen Foster.  To my grandson Hardy Simson 25 acres joining John Simson.  To my daughter Jimmine? Perce? …?  to my son Isrel Perce 1 shilling sterling.  To my son Simonathe 1 shilling sterling.  To my daughter Ealler Simson 1 heifer.  To my granddaughter Mille Simson 1 heifer.  To my daughter Sarah Perce(?) 1…?  to my daughter Dianne Perce 1 grammar being the youngest.  To my grandson Isaac Perce…?  to my wife the residue of my estate and then to be divided among my children.  Executor My friend James Long.  Thomas (x) Perce

The reference to the land joining Stephen Foster and Thomas Pierce’s grandsons, Stephen Foster and John Foster beg the question of whether the Stephen Foster who owned the abutting land is the son-in-law of Thomas Pierce.  In the 1790 census, William Foster is listed as free colored, so he is likely the son-in-law. 

Grandson Isaac Pierce would be either the son of Israel, William (deceased) or perhaps Timothy who may be a deceased son as well.

On April 8, 1796, nine year old James Simpson, son of Sarah Pierce was bound to Isaac Bateman.  Since Sarah Simpson married Timothy Pierce in 1786, it’s odd that her son was using her maiden name.  This may well be a remnant of a matrilineal culture.  While the child may have been legally James Pierce, he may have been known as James Simpson.  In 1820 a James Swinson was the head of a Beaufort Co. household of 2 “free colored”.  This suggests, but is not conclusive evidence that Timothy Pierce is deceased requiring his son to be bound out.

Frank G. Speck, an anthropologist, visited Hyde and Dare Counties on behalf of the Bureau of American Ethnology in 1915.  He investigated reports of remnants of the Machapunga Indian tribe living near Nags Head, Ocracoke and on Roanoke Island.  There he found several families, namely Pierce, Pugh, Collins, Wescott, Daniels and Berry.  All claimed to be descended from a Pungo River (Machapunga) Indian named Israel Pierce.  These families he concluded were mixed to a great extent with Negro and White ancestry.  They could not speak any of the Algonquin language and they knew very little of the traditional arts and crafts.

Israel was known as a Pungo River Indian.  English Christian names were common among the tribes of this general region as early as 1713 as noted in the North Carolina Colonial Records, Vol. IV, p 33-35 where Thomas Hoytes, James Bennett, Charles Beasley and Jeremiah Pushing, chief men of the Chowan Indians sold land to the settlers.  The Chowan Indians were neighbors of the Machapungo. 

In the index of the Wellfleet Chapter of Simeon L. Devo’s History of Barnstable, Massachusetts, Isreal Pierce is given as marrying Bethia Swett.  Although this seems unrelated, there are Cahoons in the book as well, another Tyrrell County surname, and until proven otherwise, this can’t entirely be discounted.  There are other Pierce individuals listed in this book that do not have familiar names, so it is an unlikely connection.

Isreal Pierce’s granddaughter, Mrs. M.H. Pugh was a very old woman in 1915 and Speck estimated her age to be about 80 years.  She was born and reared in the Pungo River district.  Later in her life she moved to Hatteras Island.  She had 4 sons and daughters and numerous grandchildren. 

Thomas Pierce’s wife was said to be an Indian, and we know from his estate records that her name was Mary.  Israel’s wife was also said to be an Indian.  Frank Speck gathered additional family information about the descendants of Thomas and Israel Pierce as well, providing us with an excellent genealogy if we can find a Pierce male from this line to DNA test.

Israel Pierce was listed as “free colored” in 1790 in Tyrrell County, part of a family of 7 “other free” in 1800 in Hyde County, 11 in Hyde County in 1810 and 8 “free colored” in Beaufort Co in 1820.  On June 21, 1791 in Tyrrell County, he gave power of attorney to Samuel Warren, an attorney, to receive his final settlement due him as a soldier in the NC Continental line. 

Revolutionary War pension records show a final pension payment made to Israel Pierce of North Carolina made the fourth quarter of 1836.  Ordering service records for Israel Pierce, William Pierce and Isaac Simpson, all contemporaries who reportedly served in the Revolutionary War would be quite interesting.  It has been stated that Isaac Simpson is the husband of one of Israel’s sisters, but that remains unproven.

William Pierce died before April of 1784.  At the April court, T. Pearce was assigned as administrator, indicating that William did not have a will.  Bondsmen were James and Joshua Long.  In 1788, the estate of William Parce was sold in October and buyers were Thomas Parce and Finn? Parce.  In June of 1791, a document certified that Thomas became the administrator of this estate in April of 1784.  On June 13, 1795,  “Thomas Pierce of Tyrrell County, administrator of William Pierce” gave power of attorney to Samuel Warren, an attorney, to receive final settlement for his service in the NC Continental line.  One researcher states that William died in the war, but we have no proof of such.

It’s reasonable to suggest that William was the son of Thomas Pierce and the brother to Israel.

Paul Heinegg at www.freeafricanamericans.com speculated that Thomas Pierce may have been the son of Deborah Pierce, born in the early 1700s and the servant (but not necessarily a slave) of James Halloway on June 19, 1729 when she was a witness for Christopher Needham in Elizabeth City County court.  This implies that she was not “of color” as people of color were not allowed to testify or witness for non-colored people.  On December 31, 1731 she was presented for having a “bastard child” and on June 7, 1748 she was presented for having a  “mulatto bastard”.  The first child may have been Thomas Pierce and the second was Elizabeth who was bound to John Seldan on February 15, 1749. 

However in the Tyrrell Tides (Feb 2004), contributor Max Liverman provides us with additional information that appears to disprove Paul’s postulation.

Max tells us that Thomas Pierce was a Quaker farmer from Perquimans County and that in 1725, Quaker meetings were held at his house on the side of the Perquimans River.  Thomas was the son of Thomas and Mary Pierce and was born September 24, 1693.  His wife was Isabell (possibly Newby, unconfirmed) and he had one son John born in 1718.  There is no record of a marriage for John and he died on December 12, 1747.  Thomas had several daughters including Mary born October, 23 1722 who married Phineas Nixon, Sarah born September 9, 1725 who married John Morris in 1745, Jemima born August 21, 1728 who married Robert Newby in 1748, Keziah born March 15, 1730 who married Nathan Newby in 1751 and Karenhappuck, the youngest, born Feb. 11, 1737 and who married Cornelius Moore in 1757.  All of these daughters sold the land they inherited in Tyrrell County from their father.

According to this record contributed by Kay Lynn Sheppard, Thomas Pierce was functioning in the area before 1725.  The estate inventory of Mary Simmons from the Early Records of NC, Vol. III; Loose Papers and Related Material 1712-1798 by Dr. Stephen E. Bradley, Jr., showed the appraisers as Samll. Phelps, Charles Denman, Jonath. Evans and states some items sold Sept. 12, 1724; some sold at Chowan & some at Perquimans by Tho. Pierce.  Thomas may have been selling these items in his capacity as a trader, which would explain the dual location, as traders traveled throughout an area with horses and sometimes wagons carrying goods.

In 1739 Thomas purchased 137 acres of land at what is known as Gum Neck from Jabez Jennett bordering Camp Branch.  The same year he received a large land grant and in 1743 he deeded part of his land, 170.5 acres, to John Pierce, land known by the name of Richland on the west side of the southwest branch of the Alligator River.

After John’s death in 1747 this property apparently went to his oldest sister Mary and husband Phineas Nixon who later sold 235 acres to John Poole in 1766.  At this time the property was known as Kilkenny.  In 1758 they sold 250 acres to William Magound and in this deed established the date of their father’s land grant as being November 30, 1739.

Thomas Pierce received a warrant for 57 acres in Tyrrell County, NC on March 21, 1743.

In May of 1755, Thomas Pierce received a grant for 320 acres bordering on his own line beginning at Camp Branch and also bordered on the land owned by Jabez Jennett and purchased in 1739.  These two grants shows the division between Gum Neck and Kilkenny. 

This Thomas Pierce died in 1756 and lists property “up Alligator” and leaves “to my brother-in-law Peter Jones heirs, one half of the land lying on the north side of the southwest branch of Alligator River that was leased to James Cahoon.  To wife Isabel, one half of the dwelling homeplace (back in Chowan), the remainder of the estate divided between my 5 daughters.”

The similarities in the family names of the Quaker Thomas Pierce, the trader, and the “free colored” Thomas Pierce of the 1790 census whose will was written in 1795 can’t be ignored.  Jemima is rather unusual, but Karenhappuck or Caren Happy is unique and compelling.  Was the “free colored” Thomas Pierce the son of John Pierce who was the son of Quaker Thomas Pierce, the trader?  Did John “marry” a Native woman?  How did “free colored” Thomas obtain his land? Free colored Thomas had children marrying as early as 1782.  Assuming he married at age 25 and his daughter married at age 20, free colored Thomas would have been born about 1738 or as late as 1742, maybe even as late as 1745 – certainly in the timeframe that he could have been a child of John Pierce who died in 1747. He could also have been older, but not younger.

Was free colored Thomas Pierce the son of Thomas Pierce the Quaker trader and a native wife.  Planters who were also traders typically had native families in the villages where they lived and traded.  In the English world they were known as “country wives”.  For traders to establish kinship, having a kin connection was essential.

The first record that we can definitively assign to “free colored” Thomas Pierce is this one in 1774, contributed by Kay Lynn Sheppard. 

May 17, 1774 – Abraham Jennett & his wife Priscilla, Jesse Young & his wife Kezia, all of Tyrrell Co., sold to Joshua Swain of the same county, for 170 pounds proclamation money, 113 acres on Albemarle Sound joining Andrew Long, Isaac Long, and Thomas Pearce.

In 1782, Thomas Pierce was taxable on 265 acres, 4 horses and 10 cattle in Tyrrell, which for the time and place was a quite respectable holding.  This cannot be the earlier Quaker trader Thomas Pierce who died in 1756, so this must be the free colored Thomas Pierce.  How did he obtain his 256 acres?  Perhaps the reason that Thomas was treated more like the white families than “colored”, with white men witnessing the marriages of his children, is that the legacy of his white trader father who in some fashion provided him land extended to him the respect that came along with owning land, being a “planter”.

In his will written on Jan. 8, 1795, Thomas Pierce disposes of 90 acres plus the plantation “on which I now live” of unspecified size.  We don’t know exactly when he died, but in January, 1797, Mary Pierce appeared in Tyrrell County court to claim her dower rights to two tracts of land.  In the court record she states that her husband died in 1795 owning 50 acres on the sound joining Thomas Norman and John Long and also 140 acres joining Samuel Chesson and Josiah Spruill.  Between 1782 and 1790, Thomas had acquired an additional 24 acres.

In 1800 Mary Pierce was the head of a Washington Co. household of 2 “other free”, confirming that both Thomas and his wife were “free colored”. 

Other miscellaneous and tantalizing records exist as well, hinting at relationships, but not tieing the documents together.  For example, there is a record in the Beaufort County Orphans Book B, 1828-1837 that combines several interesting names. 

Account of sales of John Allen, decd, sold the 21st day of December 1831 at 6 months credit.  Purchasers Henry Davis, Isaac Simpson, Thomas B. Winfield, Smith Daw, John R. Davis, Israel Pearce, Jacob Paul, Hardy Davis, Frederick Allen, Martin Davis, Rheuben Allen, Thomas Allen, John Evertt, Willis Sawyer, Zach Corden, Kennedy Smithwick, Thomas Gurganus, Jeremiah Allen, Nathaniel Davis, Henry Davis.  Negro girl Elsy.  Notes against John Wilkinson, Polly Ebnorn, William H. Price, George P. Paul, Isaac Simpson, L.S. Eborn – Henry Davis Admin

The Gurganus family is also a family of interest to the Lost Colony project due to their history of Native heritage.

An earlier record in Beaufort County lists Simon Pierce, born December 28, 1798 and Lewis Pierce, born September of 1801 as “free mulattoes” bound as apprentices to William and Mercer Cherry by the court in the September Minutes (Minutes 1809-1814,10th page of Sept. minutes).

A quick survey of Hyde County records does reveal a Thomas Pierce, but he seems to be unrelated, living on Blount’s Creek and deceased by 1789, although he could be related to a Jonathan Pierce who may be from another Pierce family who may be related, according to Sheila Spencer Stover, a descendant of Jonathan.  However, the estate record of that Thomas Pierce shows that he was a slave holder and that he likely had two sons, Lazarus and George.  A record extracted by Kay Lynn Sheppard shows that included in his estate were negroes Ben, Mustopher, Jem, Murreah, Jenny, Will, Toney, Edney, Levy. Signed by Lazarus Pearce, Thos. Vines, George Pearce, executors.

According to a letter from Stover, a Jonathan Pierce estimated to have been born about 1755 someplace near Bath went North in time to fight in the Rev. War, falling with Brant’s men at the battle of Minisink in June of 1779.  Stover believes he is buried in a mass grave near Goshen, NY. His name is on the Minisink Monument, put there by his granddaughter Hannah Pierce Kellam in 1833.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Minisink

Jonathan’s son, Henry is said to have gone to Canada in the 1820s, settling at Brantford, named for the mixed blood Mohawk Brant family.  When he died is not known.  His daughter, Hannah was born in September of 1800 and lived her life in the US.  She had uncles or perhaps brothers, Job and Reuben born in either 1799 or 1801.    Stover finds them in Wisconsin among the Stockbridge-Munsee in Wisconsin who were a very mixed bag of Tuscarora, Lenae (Delaware), Mohican, etc., in the 1830s and 1840s.  Job and Reuben appear too young to be brothers of Jonathan, given the 45 year age gap between Jonathan’s birth about 1755 and theirs about 1800, so they are more likely to be Hannah’s brothers.

Family tradition says that Jonathan Pierce’s wife was a Tuscarora by the name of Mary/Maria Mann (Emanuel).  As the Mann name is very predominant in the Rampo Mountain Tribe of New Jersey, and according to Stover, always believed to be Tuscarora out of the south, which she states does fit the Northward Tuscarora migration pattern.  There are also Mann’s from Mann’s Cove, NC who repeat the same story known in the New Jersey group. 

Jonathan’s wife Mary/Marie Mann (Emanuel) is said to have a brother/nephew by the name William Mann who “went west with the Cherokees”.  There is a William Mann on the 1832 Cherokee list, but he does not appear to have made it to Oklahoma.

Hannah Pierce married Jacob Killum who was a 50/50 mix.  His mother was a Lott and supposedly Shawnee. 

Shiela feels that it is highly possible that Israel and Jonathan were either brothers or Uncle and Nephew. If Jonathan were a brother to Isreal, he would surely have been listed in the 1795 will of Thomas Pierce.  If Jonathan Pierce is from Hyde County near Bath, born there about 1755 as Stover suggests, then he may be connected with the Thomas Pierce there who died in 1789 and owned land on Blount’s Creek.  If Blount’s Creek Thomas is related to free colored Thomas, it could be that their fathers were brothers and both names their sons Thomas.  However, Thomas Pierce the Quaker Trader only had one known son, John, who died in 1747.  Perhaps Quaker trader Thomas also had a brother who named his son Thomas – or perhaps these two Thomas Pierces, one in Hyde County and one in Chowan and Tyrrell were not connected or related.    

The late Chief of the Meherrin Indians, George Earl Pierce was descended from Israel Pierce.  In the mid and late 1990s, he was quite interested in the genealogy of the Pierce family and unraveling the threads, or maybe better stated, reweaving the cloth.  Sadly, he was killed in an automobile crash in 2007. 

A more recent tidbit came from Hatteras Island from Andre Austin, as follows:

Today on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the Elizabeth City area, and Tidewater Virginia are some descendants of Israel Pierce. They are descended from Elizabeth Pierce Simmons, the daughter of Israel Pierce. Elizabeth Pierce married Asa Simmons. They lived on land that belonged to Israel Pierce in Beaufort County, N.C. near the Town of Pantego on the Pungo River. Asa and Elizabeth Pierce Simmons’ daughter Anna “Annie” Simmons married Smith Pugh, a Hatteras Indian of Hatteras Island, Buxton, N.C. in 1857. This marriage was born Arrinda, Adaline, Luther, Darmon, M.H., Agenora, Margaret, and Jazinna.

Annie Pugh was the “Mrs. M.H.Pugh” mentioned in the 1916 article by Frank G. Speck entitled the “Remnants of the Machapunga Indians.” Annie considered herself Pungo Indian. Most of the people are descendants of the Hatteras and Roanoke Indians. Smith Pugh’s mother was a Hatteras Indian woman and his father was white.

Posted in History, North Carolina | 45 Comments

Notes on the Yuchi (Chiscas)

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Roberta Estes

Extracted from the book, “The Melungeons” by Bonnie Ball

P 35 – Dr. John Swanton a recognized authority on the Creek Indians, has said that the earliest mention of the Yuchi (also called the Chisca) is found in early Spanish documents, “published and unpublished.” 

The Yuchi ere visited by De Soto and other early explorers.  De Soto sent soldiers to the Chisca Province, which was evidently located in the rougher parts of what is now Tennessee.  According to Dr. Swanton, some of the Yuchi left the Appalachian Highlands because of the colonial wars and in 1656 a part of the tribe settled on the James River in Virginia.  They defeated the colonists in battles, but were not heard of afterwards. 

It appears that they separated into distinct groups.  One remained in the north (Tennessee); a second group settled not far from the Choctawhatchee River in western Florida; and others established themselves on or near the Savannah River in Georgia.  Dr. Swanton points out a reference to the “Uche” or “ Round Town People” in SC state archives.  He also mentions a legend found by Thomas Jeffery at some point on the Savannah River above Augusta, which read “Hughchees or Hogoloes Old Town deserted in 1715.”

Hughchees supposedly means “Yuchis”.

In about 1729 the Yuchi gathered in a settlement on the Chattahoochee River under the protection of the Creek confederacy.  In about 1791, William Bartram, a botanist, visited that area in search of botanical specimens.  He described the town as the largest, most compact and best situated Indian town he had ever seen. 

“The houses had wooden frames, lathed and plastered inside and out with a reddish, well-tempered clay, or mortar, that looked like red brick walls.  They were neatly covered with cypress bark and shingles.”

Whether this means they had earlier been influenced by the habits of European explorers is a matter for speculation.  A United States Commissioner to the Creeks saw something similar in 1785 and said: “These people are more civilized and orderly than their neighbors.  Their women are more chaste, and the men are better hunters.

They have lately begun to settle out in the villages, and are industrious compared with their neighbors.  The men help the women with their labors and are more constant in their attachment to the women than is usual.”

Timothy Barnard, a British subject and a “man of affairs”, married a Yuchi and acquired great influence in Indian affairs.  He as the first white settler in Macon, Georgia and died in 1820.  He had three sons by his Yuchi wife: Timpoochee, Michee and Cosena.  These children later played important roles in the government of the Creek Nation, after its removal to the Indian Territory.

P 36 – A great-grandson of Cosena Barnard was the Reverend Noah G. Gregory, who served as a representative from his native town to the Creek Nation, Indian Territory.  That the “Euchees” were essentially a distinct tribe from any others is indicated by their language, which has no resemblance to any tongue spoken on the continent, and by their customs and personal appearance.  They differed from other aboriginal tribes, for many of them had gray eyes and their complexion was several shades lighter than the full-blooded members of other nations.  The shape of their faces seemed to differ slightly too and the women, in many instances, were exceedingly beautiful.

Yuchis, like the Croatoans were friendly to the white man.  They even allied themselves with the US in 1814 against the Creeks. They were led by Timpoochee Barnard, the son of the British subject (actually a Scotchman).  Timpoochee also served in the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Yuchis were very superstitious.  As late as 1890 most of them believed implicitly in witchcraft.  They were once noted for pottery made by the women and for clay pipes  made by the men. Dr. Swanton believed they had a distinct culture that complemented their distinct language.

Some believe the Yuchi to be survivors of the friendly native Americans who greeted Columbus when he first landed in the New World.  They also believe Yuchis could have descended from the Lucayans, Indians thought to have fled to Andros Island a hundred miles off the Florida coat to escape the “fire stick” of Columbus.  In an ancient Spanish chronicle, the Lucayans of the Bahamas were called “Yucayas”, and the Indian name for the “Columbus Indians” was “Yuchi”.

Their later history is easier to reconstruct in later years.  A prominent members of the Yuchi in the Creek nation after their removal to the “Indian Territory” was Chief Samuel William Brown (1843-1935).  His son, Chief Samuel William Brown Jr. visited Georgia a short time before his death.  From his father’s vivid descriptions he was able to recognize various places.  He declared the Yuchi had inhabited Georgia for a thousand years and spoke of their having lived in an area of the coast now submerged.  Brown also knew of a tradition that the said Indians had come from the famous Easter Island.

Posted in Chiscas, Yuchi | 2 Comments

Native Clues in Non-Native Wills

Posted on July 8, 2012 by Roberta Estes

As the director and newsletter editor of the Lost Colony Research Group, I’ve been working with the early North Carolina and Virginia records for some time now.  I’ve written several items for our newsletter which I’ll be posting here as they include information about Native people.  This item was from the March 2010 newsletter where I found a tidbit in Currituck County’s abstracted wills.  You can see the entire newsletter index at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~molcgdrg/nl/anl-index.htm

Richard Sanderson, Aug 17, 1733, October 15, 1733, Son Richard, “ye island of Ocrecock”, 3 negroes and one Indian slave, “the manor plantation”, “all my lots in Ronoak town”, “two thirds of ye Sea Flower Brigantine”, one half of sloop Swallow.  Son in law Tully Williams, 5 negro slaves, 140 acres land in Perquimans bordering on son Richard and John Willoughby, one third of Sea Flower Brigantine and one half of sloop Swallow.  Nephews Joseph and Richard Sanderson.  Brother-in- law, Henry Woodhouse, one mustee fellow.  Sister Susanna Erwin.  Dau Elizabeth Pollock.  Cousin Elizabeth Dickson.  Nephew Hezekiah Woodhouse, land on “ye Sandy Bank by the name of Point Lookout”.  Dau Grace, wife of Tully Williams.  Exec Richard Sanderson, son and Tully Williams, son-in-law.  Wit Clement Hall, Thomas Snowlen, Thomas Trumbel. 

Why is this important?  First, it documents that indeed, outer-banks families indeed did maintain Indian slaves.  We know that the Hatteras Island Indians were still living free at this time, and at least as late as 1756, so what Indians were enslaved in 1733?  The answer is that it could have been just about anyone, but many of the Tuscarora were sold as slaves after the Tuscarora War in 1711/1712.  However, if this slave was from the area, and the Tuscarora certainly were from near this area, why did he not just run away?  Perhaps this Indian was from elsewhere.

A second vital piece of information is that Richard Sanderson did differentiate between Indian and “mixed race”, because he mentioned a second as a “mustee fellow”.  At that time, a mustee was considered to be a mix between Indian and negro.  This too is important, because it may imply that the Indian was “married” to a black, enslaved woman, with whom he had the child, the “mustee fellow”.  Of course, this is speculation, but that might also answer the question of why he simply didn’t run away.  His wife was there, and his child, and those bonds will often outlive and outlast any else.  While he could have blended in, she could not, so they lived their life enslaved. 

For genealogists, to track this Indian and mustee fellow, the next step would be to follow Richard Sanderson’s son, Richard and his brother-in-law Henry Woodhouse who inherited the “mustee fellow.”

Posted in History, North Carolina | Leave a comment

Native Heritage Project – Status and Upcoming Goodies

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Roberta Estes

I thought I’d take a few minutes today to just chat with you folks about how things are going with the Native Heritage Project, the Native Names project and what the future holds.  If you recall, the Native Names project is compiling a list of all Native people with any kind of European name that might be found or tracked by people looking back in time for their ancestors.  That means of course, if you are Native and your name is Joe Smith, you’re on the list.  If your name is Joe Sees Thunder, you’re on the list. If your name is Joe or Captain Joe, you’re on the list.  If your name is Tah-lon-tee-skee, you’re not on the list, because no one will ever look for that name starting from the here and now.

This blog is the outcropping of that project.  I’m sharing the journey and goodies found along the way.  Sharing and preserving Native heritage.  While the blog was new this year, this is year 6 in the Native Heritage project as a whole.  So, how is it coming?

First, let’s look at some raw stats.  The Names document itself is over 2400 pages. It is indexed by surname, and all of the records for that surname are found together.  Actually, it’s divided into several documents by alphabet segment. 

Secondly, I also keep a spreadsheet of just the surnames.  On my spreadsheet is more than just the names, but in many cases, major sources.  For example, Paul Heinegg’s work is on there with every name he has catalogued, both Native and African.  Why, because those two groups are both counted as people of color, they often intermarried and it’s a wonderful resource.  Heinegg’s names are often found in both categories.  Another resource on my spreadsheet is the entire 1790 Free People of Color census for several states.  I don’t add the surnames to the spreadsheet until I’m done transcribing from the original document, so the big documents I’m currently working on aren’t yet reflected in the total I’m about to give you.  However, the total different surnames in the spreadsheet now stands at 5536 surnames.

I also keep a third separate Timeline document of historical events associated with the Native people, tribes and such.  Lots of maps and links to maps, original sources, etc.   This document is not focused on individuals specifically, but on tribal and migration history.  This document is also broken into different pieces by time period and is over 2200 pages.

Ok, so what historical documents am I working on now?

I’m wading through several documents.  I tend to work on more than one at a time because they get really old after awhile, and I need to be able to work on more than one to break the monotony. 

For example, the Carlisle Indian School records – about 8000 of them.  First, I extracted them from the National Archives website, tribe by tribe, by keyword.  Then I typed all of them into a spreadsheet.  Now I’m copying them into the Native Names document.  In the mean time, I found a book about the Carlisle School when I visited the Native bookstore in Cherokee, NC last month.  In that book is also a list of names garnered through lots of records from the school and other associated agencies.  I bought the book to cross check against my list from the National Archives.  I expected that there would perhaps be a few on both lists not on the other.  Imagine my surprise when few records were found on both lists.  I knew that there were supposed to be about 12,000 Native students in total, but judging from what I’m finding, I think the total may be more like 15,000 or even higher.  There are many, many names on their list not at the National Archives and vice versa.  So, of course, this means that I’ll need to do a second transcription of the new records, then add them to the Names document as well, etc.  Needless to say, this takes weeks to complete, as I really do have a “day job.” 

Another project I’m still working on is the transcription of the Revolutionary War service records, by state from the DAR records.  I’m currently working on Pennsylvania.  These records are difficult because the DAR did such a good job.  Now isn’t that a great irony.  Many of these Native people were referenced by many names that were similar, some as many as 10 or 12.  How do I index those?  How do I cross reference them?  Just little issues that have to be dealt with for each individual set of records.  Also, the type font is very small in the records I’m working from, and that means my eyes get tired quickly.  After Pennsylvania, I have to do Delaware and then all of the Southern states.  I’m looking forward to those records, so I don’t let myself peek ahead much.

I’m also working on the WWI service registrations.  I have completed all of the states east of the Mississippi and several west. However, the big one is sitting here looking at me – and that one is Oklahoma.  I will start it next and it holds a lot of really relevant records.  Of course, most of the tribes that once lived east of the Mississippi eventually wound up in Oklahoma and nearby states.  I have learned so much through this record set. 

I am also transcribing the Native names from the book Shawnee Heritage I by Don Greene with Noel Schutz.  I really debated about this one, as it is unsourced, and I know that at least one family (Sizemore) is incorrect.  However, I’m not transcribing all of the family information, just enough such that someone with that surname will be led to that resource.  And having read the book, I also know that even though there are errors, and he did not source his work, there is a lot of very valuable information here that will help people searching for their Native families.  This book is also difficult to work with because it lacks a standard format and I have to pick around for what I need.  I’m currently in the Ts and so there is light at the end of the tunnel.

You may have gathered that I write my blogs, for the most part, a few weeks ahead of time.  I try to release one posting every day.  I know that people really enjoy their Native “history fix” daily, and I’ve learned so much by writing these pieces.  I want to thank everyone who sends tidbits my way.  They are very valuable and I do use them.  Please, keep them coming.

Lastly, and now for the good stuff….there is so much yet to come.  In this past month or so, I’ve been “gifted” with three wonderful, and I do mean ecstatically wonderful, sources of information.  Two of these are unpublished but professionally gathered.  The good news is that they all hold very early records of the Native people.  Many of these have never seen the light of day before, coming out of the NC and SC state archives.  And there are hundreds and hundreds of pages of this information.  I was dumbstruck when I realized the magnitude of what I have here.  Now the bad news.  I really can’t start distilling this until I get done with a couple of the projects I’m already in the middle of.  I think it will take me at least a year to get through these records, if not more.  However, as I find wonderful tidbits, and believe me, there are many, I will, like always, publish them on the blog.  Anyone looking for mixed race people, records and families that are found in the VA, NC, SC migration corridor, you are in for a real treat.  It’s going to be your lucky year.

Posted in Military, Names, Schools, Shawnee | Leave a comment

Indian Patriots in the Revolutionary War from New Jersey

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Roberta Estes

Given that it’s the 4th of July, I thought something about Native people who served in the Revolutionary War would be nice for today.

New Jersey is a smaller state, but due to their position on the coast and the amount of shoreline, they held a critical position in the War.  Slaves were never permitted legally to serve.  Because of that, New Jersey struggled to raise the required number of men. 

In the Forgotten Patriots book, they tell us how New Jersey raised the required number of men.  An Act for the better regulating of the Militia on March 15, 1777 required that each militia captain “take a list of all able-bodies men, not being slaves…between the ages of 16 and 50 years, who are capable of bearing arms.” 

I’ve always wondered what each of the men who served took with them when they left for war.  Among the provisions that each man was to bring for himself were: “a good musket, a knapsack, a canteen, 12 flints, and 23 pounds of cartridges.”  In place of a musket, with all of its necessary equipment, the recruit was allowed to substitute a sword, cutlass or tomahawk.  The mention of a tomahawk is interesting. 

During the American Revolution, small groups of Indians resided in New Jersey particularly the Brotherton Indians in Burlington County.  Unfortunately, no clear information has been found as to whether these groups supported the American cause, although there is evidence that the Brotherton Indians worked at nearby iron works at Atsion near the reservation. 

Other than the unknown number of Brotherton Indians who worked at the iron works, only 7 Indians are known to have served from New Jersey.

Posted in Military, New Jersey | 1 Comment

East India Indians in Early Colonial Records

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Roberta Estes

Paul Heinegg, in his epic ongoing project documenting free people of color in the colonial US and early America recorded specifically and identified as such, East Indian Indians.  For purposes of clarification, these people were from what is now India today, a region then controlled by England. 

Over the years, there has been a great deal of speculation about “East Indians” and their exotic ancestry, especially in relationship to the identity and origins of some of the groups known as tri-racial isolates.  Some speculate that these East Indians as well as the isolate groups were really Portuguese, some speculate Jewish, some gypsy.  These East Indians weren’t anything other than what they were documented to be, they were simply indentured servants from India, pure and simple.

When I went through Paul’s work and extracted all of the Native American records for the Native Names project, I didn’t quite know what to do with the East Indians.  They weren’t Native Americans, but they surely were “of interest” as a group and could certainly potentially be mistaken for Native Americans by the use of the word Indian. They are not included in the Native Names project, but they are documented here, as a group, as well as on Paul’s website by family name.

Of course, the question arises of what happened to these people, most of whom were men.  We do find some answers, but the most likely scenario is that they married other “people of color” and were quickly assimilated.  We see some examples in the records included here.

Their blood may still run in the veins of their descendants today, 300-400 years later, some 12-16 generations removed from the immigrant ancestor.  This means that less than 1% of the DNA of this ancestor is found in their currently living descendants.  In fact, the percentage of DNA of that ancestor is less than 1% by the 8th generation.  By the 12th generation, it only 5/100th or five one hundredths of one percent.  An amount that would be entirely indistinguishable on any autosomal DNA test.  Autosomal DNA tests are only reliable above the 1% threshold, and generally not beyond 5 or 6 generations which translates to 6.25% (5 generations) or 3.12% (6 generations).  At that level, the DNA of our ancestors is still generally distinguishable.

Below are all of the East India Indians found by Paul in the original records.  Details for each person and situation are available on his website, www.africanamericans.com and http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/East_Indians.htm.

I want to thank Paul for his tireless work documenting early people of color.  I have summarized the entries below, but the research work is all Paul’s.

1.  Mary Dove, born about 1710, was a “Negro woman” slave listed in the Anne Arundel County, Maryland, inventory of the estate of Eleazer Birkhead on 28 April 1744 [Prerogative Court (inventories) 1744-5, 43].

A grandson of Mary Dove named William Dowry was still held in slavery in Anne Arundel County in 1791 when he sued for his freedom in the General Court of Maryland. In October 1791 a fifty-seven or fifty-eight-year-old woman named Ann Ridgely (born about 1734), who was the daughter-in-law of Leonard Thomas, testified in Anne Arundel County that Mary Dove was a tall, spare woman of brown complexion and was the granddaughter of a woman imported into the country by the deponent’s great grandfather. The deponent always understood that the grandmother of Mary Dove was a “Yellow Woman,” had long black hair, was reputed to be an East Indian or a Madagascarian, and was called “Malaga Moll.” Ridgely testified that Mary Dove had a daughter named Fanny who was the mother of William Dowry who petitioned for his freedom in the General Court of Maryland in 1791. She also testified that Mary Dove sued Leonard Thomas for freedom in Maryland, but before the suit was decided he moved with his family about twenty miles from Newbern, North Carolina, and took with him Mary, her three children, and her grandchildren Will and Sal. A certain Alexander Sands, commonly called Indian Sawony, was a witness for Mary Dove in her suit in Craven County, North Carolina, in 1749 and testified that her grandmother was an East Indian woman [Craven County Miscellaneous Records, C.R. 28.928.10, cited by Byrd, In Full Force and Virtue, 37-8].

2.  In Caroline County, Virginia, William Matthews, an East Indian, produced a warrant in Caroline County court on 13 February 1752 for taking up a runaway servant woman [Orders 1746-54, 296].

3.  Three members of the Weaver family, probably brothers, were called “East Indians” in Lancaster County between 1707 and 1711. They were John born about 1684, Richard born about 1675 and William born about 1686,

Lancaster Co., Va. – Richard Weaver, born say 1675, was called an East Indian by the Lancaster County court on 11 April 1711 when it granted him judgment against the estate of Andrew Jackson for 400 pounds of tobacco due by bill [Orders 1702-13, 262].

William Weaver, born about 1686, and Jack Weaver, “East Indy Indians,” sued Thomas Pinkard for their freedom in Lancaster County court on 13 August 1707. The court allowed them five days time to produce evidence relating to their freedom but ordered them not to depart the county to some remote county without giving security to return to their master within the time allowed. Neither party appeared for the trial on 10 March 1707/8 [Orders 1702-13, 183, 176, 185].

In Delaware, the indenture of East Indian servants was more common than of Indian slaves:

4.  An unnamed East India servant boy was valued at 2,500 pounds of tobacco in the 3 July 1676 inventory of the Talbot County, MD estate of Captain Edward Roe [Prerogative Inventories 2:177-8].

5.  Michael Miller of Kent County, Maryland, purchased an unnamed East Indian from Captain James Mitchel “but for five years” on 28 June 1698 [Proceedings 1676-98, 911].

6.  East Indian Thomas Mayhew was free from his indenture in Prince George’s County [Judgment Record 1728-9, 413]. (He was called “An Indian man named Tom” in the inventory of the Prince George’s County estate of Thomas Addison in 1727 [Prerogative Inventories 12:295-313].

Thomas Mayhew, born about 1708, may have been identical to “1 Indian Man Named Tom” who was valued at 32 pounds and listed among the slaves of the Honorable Thomas Addison, Esquire, deceased, on 10 August 1727 when his widow Eleanor Addison brought the estate to an appraisement in Prince George’s County, Maryland [Prerogative Court Inventories 1727-9, 12:295-313]. Thomas India petitioned the Prince George’s County court in March 1729 stating that he was free born, baptized in England, and imported with his mother into Maryland under indenture. However, he was detained as a slave by Madam Eleanor Addison [Court Record 1728-9, 413]. He was probably the father of Thomas Mayhew, born about 1735, who escaped from the Prince George’s County jail according to the 29 May 1760 issue of the Maryland Gazette. He was described as “of a very dark Complexion, his Father being an East-India Indian … formerly lived in lower Prince George’s County” [Green, The Maryland Gazette, 1727-61, 246].

7.  An East Indian named Hayfield was free from his indenture in Prince George’s County, MD in March 1781 [Judgment Record 1777-82, 671, 712-3].

8.  East Indian John Williams was free from his indenture in Charles County in January 1706/7 [Court Record 1704-10, 272, 288].

9.  East Indian William Creek petitioned and was successfully freed from his indenture to Samuel Chew in Anne Arundel County, MD in March 1736/7 [Court Record 1736-8, 126].  Three members of the Creek family were listed in the inventory of another member of the Chew family in 1737.

William Creek, born about 1710, or other members of his family were listed in the inventory of the Anne Arundel County estate of Samuel Chew on 6 January 1718: “2 East India Indians – 30 pounds” and the inventory of the Anne Arundel and Calvert County estate of another Samuel Chew on 15 October 1737: “Negroes Age: Peg Creek 40 – 54 pounds…Wm Creek 8 – 41 pounds, Ned Creek 6 – 30 pounds” [Prerogative Inventories 1718, 464-9; 1737-1739, 218-223]. He successfully petitioned the Anne Arundel County court for his freedom from his master Samuel Chew on 8 March 1736/7. He testified that he was born in the East Indies and carried as a young boy to England where he was apprenticed to an apothecary. Chew’s nephew testified that William played a prank by giving someone a love potion. This so offended the apothecary’s wife and daughter that the apothecary consigned William to the captain of a ship headed to Maryland [Judgment Record 1736-8, 126].

10.  An East Indian named Juba was free from his indenture in Anne Arundel County in 1763 [Judgment Record 1760-2, 166].

11.  East Indian Aron Johnson still had two and a half years to serve when he was listed in the 1 June 1729 inventory of the Anne Arundel County estate of Elizabeth Duhadway [Prerogative Inventories 15:251]. To one East India Indian named Aron Johnson having two years and a half to serve 7 pounds, 10 shillings.

12.  An unnamed East Indian had about 16 months to serve when he was listed in the 22 January 1732 inventory of the Baltimore County estate of John Stokes [Prerogative Inventories, 18:310].

13.  East Indian George Nulla was 20 years old and valued at 30 pounds in 1759 when he was listed in the Anne Arundel County estate of John Raitt [Prerogative Inventories 69:1-3].

14.  East Indians apparently blended into the free African American population. Peter, an East Indian who was one of the ancestors of the Fisher family, had a child by a white woman named Mary Molloyd about 1680 and “became a free Molato after serving some time to Major Beale of St. Mary’s County” [Anne Arundel County Judgment Record 1734-6, 83; 1743-4, 11].  

Mary Molloyd, born about 1660, was an Irish woman who came to Maryland as the indentured servant of Madam Vansweringen and was later the servant of Thomas Beale. According to the petition for freedom brought by her grandchildren in Anne Arundel County Court in June 1743, she had an illegitimate child named Mary by Peter, an East Indian servant who lived with Lord Baltimore in St. Mary’s County.

In Maryland, in estate records, there were six East Indians, six Indian servants and twenty-four “free Negroes” who still had time to serve.

15.  Rose Davis was born 11 August 1684 at the “Top of the Hill” plantation in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. She was baptized at Nottley Hall by a priest named Mr. Richard Hebert with Henry and Rose Wharton as godparents. Rose was thirty-one years old in August 1715 when she brought an unsuccessful suit for her freedom against Henry Darnall in Anne Arundel County Court [Court Judgments 1715-7, 93, 178, 244-6]. Rose was listed in the Anne Arundel County inventory of the estate of Henry Darnall (Sr.) in 1713:

In March 1779 her granddaughter Rosamond Bentley petitioned the Prince George’s County court for her freedom, and in August 1781 Rosamond and her brother William and sisters Mary, Eleanor and Margaret Bentley won their cases. In an apparent effort to minimize their African ancestry, Rose’s witnesses testified that the family descended from Mary Davis, a white English woman, and an East Indian man – instead of a “Negroe man” as stated in Mary Davis’s Bible. And her witnesses described Rose’s daughter as “Indian Polly” [Judgment Record 1777-82, 713-

16.  Maryland Prerogative Court (Inventories) Microfilm Roll 63, CD 1, ac 1238, Liber 2, 1676 –  pp.177-178 (CD pp.208-9) – Inventory of Capt Edward Roe 3rd day of July 1676 – 1 East India servant boy – 2500 pounds tobacco – (Talbot County)

17.  1732-1734, Volume 18,  p.310, Mr John Stokes of Baltimore Co, 22 January 1732 – 1 East India Indian about 16 mos to serve 2 pounds

18.  Windley, Runaway Slave Advertisements II: p.36-7, Annapolis Maryland Gazette, July 17, 1760, Upper Marlborough, July 15, 1760

Ran away from Mr. Hepburn’s Plantation, near Rock-Creek Bridge in Frederick County, on Saturday the 12th Instant, a Negro Man named Will, a little more than 5 feet high; he is of a yellow Complexion, being of a mix’d Breed, between an East-Indian and a Negro, has a large full Eyes, long Wool on his Head, and Lips.

19.  Windley, Runaway Slave Advertisements II, p.111, May 25, 1775

…living in Prince George’s County, near Upper Marlborough, on Sunday the 26 the of March, a negro man, named Sam, but generally called and known by the name of Sam Locker; between thirty and forty years of age, has rather long hair, being of the East-Indian breed; he formerly belonged to Mr. Isaac Simmons near Pig Point, in Anne Arundel County; the said Simmons now lives near Calvert County court house, and I suppose the fellow may endeavor to get down to his old master’s house.

20.  Accomack Co., Va., Orders 1697-1703, p.251, March 1699/1700,

Henry Trent brings his servant Nick an East Indian adjudged 11 years old.

21.  Richmond Co. Orders 1704-8, p.111, 6 February 1705/6, Petition of Sembo, an East India Indian Servant to Jno. Lloyd, Esq., for his freedom.

22.  Richmond Co., Va. Orders, p.156-9, Petition of Moota, an East India Indian, servant to Capt. Thomas Beale, surviving executor of Mr. William Colston, deced., for his freedom … ordered and judged that said Moota be free … ordered and adjudged that said Sembo be free.

23.  Richmond Co. Orders 1711-16, p.479, 2 May 1716, Anthony an Indian v. Long, The Order made last March Court for the Sheriff to summon Henry Long to answer what should be offered against him by Anthony, an East India Indian, is hereby discontinued.

24.  Spotsylvania Co., Orders 1735-38, p.440, Zachary Lewis, Churchwarden of St. George Parish, presents Ann Jones, a servant belonging to John West, who declared that Pompey an East Indian (slave) belonging to William Woodford, Gent., was the father of sd child which was adjudged of by the Court that she was not under the law having a Mullato child, that only relates to Negroes and Mullatoes and being Silent as to Indians, carry sd. Ann Jones to the whipping post.

25.  Stafford County, Va. – Martha Gamby, born about 1675, was an (East) Indian woman living in England on 5 January 1701/2 when Henry Conyers made an agreement with her that she would serve him in Virginia on condition that he would pay her passage back to England if she wished to return within the following four years. The agreement was recorded in Stafford County court about 1704 [WB, Liber Z:194].

26.  Westmoreland Co., Va. Orders 1705-21, p.59a, 25 June 1707, Ordered Mr. Daniel Neale be summoned to bee appear at the next Court held for the County aforesaid to answer the suit of William an East India Indian servant to the sd Neale relating to his freedom.

27.  Westmoreland Co., Va., Orders 1705-21, p.83, 30 March 1708, Will an East India Indian late a supposed slave to Mr. Danll Neale by his Petition to this Court setting forth that some tyme in yeare 1689 being fraudulently trappand out of his Native Country in the East Indies and thence transported to England and soon after brought into this Country and sold as a slave to Mr. Christopher Neale deceased father of his sd present Master And that hee had ever since faithfully served the sd Christopher and Daniel Notwithstanding which the sd Daniel though often demanded denied him his freedome And the sd Daniel being summoned to answer the sd complaint appeared and both parties Submitted the whole matter of the complaint to the Court All which being maturely & fully heard It is considered by the Court that the sd Will ought not to have been sold as a slave and that he is a freeman And doe therefore discharge him from all service due to the sd Christopher or Danll Neale.

28.  York Co., Va., Orders, Wills, Etc. no 14, 1709-1716, p.288, 16 November 1713, Joseph Walker, Gent., in open Court acknowledged his release & acquittance to Moll an East India Indian.

p.291, whereas an East India Indian woman named Moll (imported into this Colony by Joseph Walker, Gent., ye year 1700 & by him sold to Jno. Tullett, being desirous of freedom … acquit Moll from being a Slave. J. Walker

29.  York Co., Va. Orders, Wills, Etc. 15, 1716-20, p.82, 18 February 1716/7, Petition of Eliza Ives for service from her East Indian woman servt. for the trouble of her house in the time of her lying in is rejected.

30.  Bruton Parish Church, York and James City County:  p. 115, 12 August 1738, burial of ____ny a East Indian belonging to Honble William Gooch, Esq.

31.  Virginia Gazette: 15 April to 27 April 1737 – Ran away from Col. John Lewis’s in Gloucester … Mulatto Fellow named George … Ran away in Company with the above-mentioned was an East Indian, belonging to Mr. Heylin, Merchant, in Gloucester. John Lewis and John Heylyn.

36.  Virginia Gazette: 4 August 1768. Richmond County. Run away the 20th of May last, and East-India Indian, named Thomas Greenwich.

33.  Virginia Gazette:  7 March 1771. Run away from the sloop Betsy, Edward Massey commander, belonging to Mr. Thomas Hodge, out of Corotoman river, in Lancaster county, three servant men, viz., one named Samuel Tailer, and Englishman … One Virginia born Negro, named Alexander Richardson about 21 years old … The other an East Indian, upwards of 5 feet and a half high, about 22 years old, of a very dark complexion.

34.  Virginia Gazette:  John Newton, sevt, c. 20, an Asiatic Indian by birth [or mulatto according to another edition of the gazette] has been in Va. about 2 mos. but claims to have lived in England 10 years in the service of Sir Charles Whitworth; ran away from William Brown of Prince William County Virginia Gazette 13 July 1776 Virginia Gazette Purdie edition 19 July 1776, p.249 Headley

 35.  Craven County, NC Minutes 1772-1778, 12 September 1777, p.58c-d Peter Charles vs John Egge Tomlinson This Case being Ruled for Trial this Day the Court provided to hear the Parties upon the Examination of Witnesses The court was Unanimous of the opinion that the said Peter Charles is an East India Indian and justly Intitled to his Freedom. Therefore Ordered that he be Immediately Discharged and Set Free and the Defendant John Edge Tomlinson pay all costs.

Posted in East Indians (from India) | 16 Comments

Raleigh, a Wynganditoian

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Roberta Estes

This article, written by Andy Powell, was published in the February 2012 issue of the Lost Colony Research Group newsletter.  Thank you Andy for permission to reprint here.

“Raleigh a Wynganditoian, Richard the son of Baptist Tooker and Katheryne the daughter of William Berry all here Christened the Sunday 26th day of March” so reads the Bideford Parish Register of 1588; but just who was “Raleigh”?

Raleigh, the Indian was brought back to Bideford from Roanoke by Sir Richard Grenville following his capture there during a skirmish in 1586.

Of his origins, we can say that he is unlikely to have been a member of the friendly Hatteras Indians led by Manteo; much more likely to have been a member of a tribe allied to Wanchese, who had been involved in several skirmishes with the English previously onRoanoke.

“Raleigh” therefore, may not have started out as the most willing of pupils on his arrival in Bideford!

What took place during the following eighteen months before that Native Indian was christened upon the Font that still stands in St Mary’sParish Church today is unknown. Nevertheless, christened he was, on that fateful day in March 1588.

Whether Grenville was present for the ceremony, we cannot say for certain as we do not know the date of his return to Bideford after leading the town’s flotilla of ships to Plymouth in readiness for the fight against the Spanish Armada…. the same flotilla that was made ready with the original intention to sail to Roanoke as the relief voyage for the colonists early in 1588.

Sadly for “Raleigh”, his new life in England did not last long, for the same Parish register records the burial of “Rawly a man of Wynganditoia following of the day 2nd April 1589”, (meaning he died during the night of the 2nd.) The cause of his death was probably the same epidemic of Influenza that was to strike tragedy at the heart of the Grenville family when Sir Richard’s 16 year old daughter Rebecca also died from it only a few weeks later.

Perhaps the final question we can answer, on the “man of Winganditoia” enigma is where he lies buried today. According to a record dated 1792 in the Bodleian Library of Oxford, he was not buried as some suggest, in the church crypt, but in the Churchyard. Given that this record pre-dates the Victorian rebuilding of St Mary’s in the 1860’s, it seems certain that he still lays there, somewhere, today, his grave unmarked. Thanks however to the work of the Bideford 500 Heritage Group, (of which I am proud to be Chairman,) we hope that after more than 420 years, his last resting place will once again be commemorated in 2012.

Posted in Hatteras, History, Wynganditoian | Leave a comment

Oneida Interviews by Lyman Draper

Posted on July 1, 2012 by Roberta Estes

The Oneida removed to a reservation in Wisconsin beginning about 1820, a migration process that lasted until about 1880.  This move was influenced by a white man named Eleazor Williams who was a missionary among the tribe beginning about 1817.  Lyman Draper interviewed a number of tribal members in Wisconsin in 1877. 

We often read about Indian slavery, Indian captives and marriage among the Europeans, but seldom can we obtain any perspective relative to the frequency of these occurrences or how they affected different families.

By reviewing the various interviews, it’s possible to piece together a family history.  Some stories seem to conflict, but that could be due in part to the fact that English naming traditions had been adopted and people had the same first and last names in subsequent generations.

One extended family is discussed, that of Catherine Denny and Jacob Doxtator. 

Let’s start with Jacob who died in 1832, aged about 77, a chief of the Oneida.  Unfortunately, he drank a bit too much, got into a scuffle and had his neck broken.  Their sons were Peter who married a Stockbridge woman and went to live with the Stockbridge and about whom nothing more was known.  Son Cornelius, his father’s successor as chief, was killed in the War of 1812 at age 56, tomahawked and scalped in front of his two sons, aged 15 and 17 who were also fighting.  Jacob’s son George who married Aunt Polly, born of Delaware parents in Cape May, NJ, who was being interviewed, and daughter Dolly who married a John Denny, son of Abram Denny whose father was a French captive from the Mackinaw area (of Michigan) and a Mohawk mother.  Abram’s father also had a brother, Martin, who was separated from him when they were captives in the area of Niagara Falls.  They never heard any more about the brother. 

Jacob Doxtator’s wife, Catherine Denny, whose Indian name was “Two Kettles Together,” was the daughter of Abram Denney, although it is unclear if this is the same Abram Denny as discussed above.  He died during the removal to Missouri and Kansas.  Catherine aided her husband and fought physically in the Revolutionary War.  After he was shot through the wrist, in addition to loading and firing her own gun, she reloaded his as his injury prevented reloading. 

Jacob Doxtator was the son of Hon Yerry Doxtator and Sarah Martin who was captured as a Shawnee prisoner as a child, along with her sister, Katy, who remained among the Mohawk and never married. 

Hon Yerry Doxtator was the son of a German man named Doxtator and a Mohawk woman.  Another source also says she too was a Shawnee prisoner.  She also had a child or children by a German man named Schuyler whose nickname was Flathead.  His grandson was Moses Schuyler who led the settlement in Canada in 1857 with about 600 Oneida.  Moses father was Blatcop or Platcoff whose Indian name was “Old Legs” and he is noted as being a very able warrior, not a chief, but a counselor of the Nation.  Blatcop died when he was about 80 in 1819 or 1822.  Hon Yost Schuyler, remembered by Aunt Polly who was born about 1786 as being very aged when he died about 1810 and described as a Mohawk German may have been the father of Blatcup, Moses Schuyler’s father.

Hon Yerry Doxtator died about 1794 and it was noted that he was probably a Pagan as there “were but few then of the Christian Party.”

Catherine Denny and Jacob Doxtator were very clearly Oneida in every way, yet, ironically, in their family history, there is not one Oneida ancestor discussed.  Catherine’s father was the French man Denny and she probably had an Indian mother.  Jacob’s mother was Shawnee and his father was the child of a German and a Mohawk who may also have been a Mohawk adopted Shawnee captive.

Jacob Doxtator was born about 1762, so these intermarriages with Europeans took place in the early 1700s.  Intermarriage between tribes and with Indians captured from other tribes was routine and had been occurring for generations.

Other interesting facts also were revealed during these interviews.

The people interviewed mentioned that there was a lot of intermarriage between the Americans and the British with the Indians.  The British General Brant himself fathered at least one female child with an Indian woman. 

Skenando was a Tuscarora chief and apparently fought for both sides.  He was captured and held in a British prison until he agreed to aid the British as a condition of his release.  After the war, he returned to the Oneida 5 years later after realizing his error in judgment, confessed his error and asked forgiveness.  Apparently someone nearly killed him, but he survived and lived among the tribe for the rest of his life.  He was already an older man when he fought in the Revolution.  He was captured when delivering a letter that his warriors had shrunk from delivering.  In one location, it mentions that he was in his 70s in prison, although that’s somewhat difficult to believe, and we know that he had grown sons at that time due to Draper’s interviews.  Skenando could have been born in North Carolina if he were age 50 so born about 1720.  If he was ago 70, then he was born in North Carolina. 

When the war was over, apparently Brant made advances to persuade Skenando to remain in Canada, but Skenando said his case was different from the Mohawk Chiefs, as all of their people had fled to Canada and their lands were confiscated, but most of the Oneidas remained in their native locality and he would prefer to go back to his people.  Skenando’s Indian name was “the Deer” which was written as As-ga-non-ton-ha. 

Many Indian names are given, translated to English, which are quite interesting.  Hon Yerry Doxtator was known as “he who takes up the snow shoe”. Another Oneida war Captain is noted as “The Standing Bridge” and another, “the Lodging Tree.”  Silversmith is mentioned, but no one seems to know anything about him.  Two more Lieutenants are known as “Huffs Sticking Up” and “His Lips followed Him.” 

Henry Powless father, Paul Powless, was a chief and was known as the “Saw Mill.”  Paul died about 1847 at nearly 90 years of age (so born about 1758). It was reported that Paul used to speak about the settlement on Oriskany which was comprised of mixed Mohawks and Oneidas being burned.  He mentioned that it was “quite a settlement.”

The Indian name of a grandfather only referenced as Cornelius was “Drag him in the House.” 

Another war was mentioned as well, having taken place in 1764, noted as a “little war” when the Mohawks and Oneidas went against the Delawares on the Upper Susquehanna.  Note that in the War of 1812, the Delaware Chief is listed among the 6 Nations veterans.  In the 1877 interviews, Aunt Polly mentions that she was born among the Delaware in New Jersey.

Although these tribes seem to war occasionally, they also seem to intermarry relatively regularly as well.

Posted in Oneida | 11 Comments

What’s in a Name? – The Tuscarora in Transition

Posted on June 30, 2012 by Roberta Estes

As we know, most of the Tuscarora tribe went north to join the Iroquois Confederation, the last of them leaving Bertie County, North Carolina in 1804 in an exodus that took almost a century to complete. 

At the close of the Tuscarora War in 1713, many of the Tuscarora began to migrate northward and settle among the 5 Nations, becoming the 6th Nation.  They are the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, Cayuga and Tuscarora.  The Tuscarora were distantly related to the Iroquois tribe and were accepted back into the Confederation.

While the NC group signed a treaty in 1718 which resulted in the Indian Woods Reservation being laid out for them in 1722 in Bertie County, others moved northward.  In 1722 the 5 Nations accepted the Tuscarora as the 6th Nation.  The Bertie County group began to dwindle.  In 1722 there were 300 fighting men in Bertie County, meaning about 1500 people, assuming each fighting man represents 5 people in total.  In 1731, 200 fighting men, with about 1000 people.  In 1755 100 fighting men with a total recorded population of 301 people, so by this time, each fighting man only represented 3 people.  We don’t know if they counted children. 

In 1752 Moravian missionaries visited the reservation and they noted that “many had gone north to live on the Susquehanna” and that “others are scattered as the wind scatters smoke.”

In 1755, 104 people were left, and more continued to leave in the 1760s.  A series of deeds selling their land were signed as the last large group left in 1766 after selling the majority of their land in North Carolina. 

In 1802 the Tuscarora negotiated a treaty with the State of NC in which their lands would be held for them for 150 years and leased.  The treaty was never ratified. In 1804, the Northern Tuscarora returned for the rest of the Tuscarora remaining in North Carolina, leaving behind only “10 to 20 old families.”  Finally, in 1831, from New York, the Tuscarora Chiefs transferred what was left of the Indian Woods land to the State of North Carolina.

Most of the Tuscarora tribe relocated to New York.  Some stayed, and some assimilated, losing their separate cultural identity. 

We can track the tribe in New York through a series of documents.

The Tuscarora along with the rest of the Iroquoian tribal members served in the War of 1812.  They were in the midst of the battles, many of which occurred in their homelands. 

The War of 1812 roster, of sorts, is available at this link for the 3 Seneca Nations reservations, the Onondaga Nation, the Oneida and the Tuscarora.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nyrensse/indians.htm

These lists, aside from holding a great deal of genealogical information shows us something else very exciting.

This is a snapshot of a group of Native people whose surnames are in a state of transition from Native names to Europeanized names.

Of these groups, we find the following information:

Tribe/Reservation Total Unique Surnames Native Names English Names Transitional Names
Seneca – Allegheny 84 58 20 (34%) 27 (47%) 11 (20%)
Seneca – Cattaraugus 215 112 10 (9%) 44 (39%) 58 (52%)
Seneca – Cornplanter’s 112 103 10 (10%) 50 (45%) 43 (42)
Onondaga 83 52 1 (2%) 21 (40%) 30 (58%)
Oneida 11 7 0 4 (57%) 3 (43%)
Tuscarora 17 14 0 9 (64%) 5 (36%)

In the native tribes, every person had a unique name given to them in special ceremonies.  They did not have the problem of eleven men named John living in the tribe or the village, so they didn’t have a need for surnames to differentiate between people.

However, as they came into contact increasingly with Europeans and had to deal with and eventually live within the European legal and social systems, they adopted or were given Anglicized names.  How that happened is a fascinating process.  Today, with DNA testing, it’s very likely that tribal members with different surnames would match each other, indicating that they share a common ancestor.  Conversely, people with the same surname may not match.  In this case, that might not represent an undocumented adoption, but matrilineal naming practices or simply that two families adopted or otherwise obtained the same surname.

Surnames were often, but not always, adopted from white families or men with whom the Native people had established a relationship.  Some relationship were familial, but others were simply that of business or trade relationships, or that of neighbors and friends.  Other tribes who perhaps experienced less assimilation pressure may have intermingled with the Europeans less, and therefore adopted surnames in other ways.  We see some evidence of this on these lists of War of 1812 veterans.  Each of these men were born in the 1700s, probably between about 1762 and 1792.  These people spoke their Native language and lived on reservations among their own tribal members.  It is certain that they would have all had a Native name and it’s also clear that some of them had English names as well.  In some instances, it appears that their Native name, or perhaps the Native name of one of their family members or ancestors has been translated literally to English.

In the table above, Native names mean names like Ga-nih-sa-wak-koh which is unquestionably Native and in the Native language.  English names are those like Jacob Blacksmith.  Without knowing this person was Native, you’d have no clue from the name.  Transitional names are those like Old Crow where Crow is very likely becoming a surname. 

These names are often very interesting.  On the Allegheny reservation, we have Captain Bone, Bucktooth, Old Crow, Dodge Fatty (yes, really), Green Coat, Old Hutchinson, Long John, Daniel Killbuck, Sky Pierce, Amos and Brooks Red Eye, Old Sunfish, Chaw Tobacco, Young Logan and Two Canoes.  The genesis of some of these is obvious, such as Green Coat and Two Canoes, although I have to wonder why Two Canoes and not Three Canoes, etc.  But others are open to speculation. I think my favorite is Dodge Fatty.  This name probably did not have the context then that it has now, but it’s surely amusing to ponder. 

On the Cattaraugus Reservation, they had about twice as many veterans as Cornplanter’s Reservation and three times as many as Allegheny, yet they had many fewer people file claims with strictly native names. 

Their transitional names are interesting as well.  There were some that I had trouble determining whether were Native or on the way to becoming a surname.  They were not written with the traditional hyphenation of Native names, such as Wa-na-das.  These were Artoah, Canasawah, Harnyawns and Secoit.  See Cod may be the same as Secoit.  Transitional names included Thomas Beaver, Big Chief, George Big Deer, Little Billy, Blue Eyes and John Blue Eyes.  This may be an example of a surname taking shape.  Blue Eyes may be the original person with a Native name, translated literally into English, with John being his son or perhaps a sister’s son through matrilineal naming. 

Skye and Blue Sky were very common as well.  Then we have John Bone, John Bucktooth, perhaps related to Bucktooth on the Allegheny Reservation, and Young Chicken.  Clumpfoot causes me to wonder if this was a person with a club foot.  We have James Cornplanter, and on Cornplanter’s Reservation, we find Cornplanter himself.  Chief Delaware is also listed, along with Old Dennis and Destroytown.  I do wonder how that name came to be.  I see visions of a glorious warrior who destroyed an enemy’s town.  However, it could also have been that he got drunk and destroyed his own town.  That certainly would never be forgotten.

We have Captain Fishhook, Little Fool, Tom Foot, Green Blankett, three Halftown men and two Halfwhite men.  The Halfwhite surname is probably obvious, but Halftown?  Joe Hemlock may have been named for the Hemlock plant, which causes me to wonder if this is a very subtle way of saying this is the person you go to when it’s time to pass to the other side.  The first name of “Old,” which is clearly a description and may be a comparative name, as opposed to “Young,” which is also in evidence.  Old Hutchinson, Old Jacobs, William Jackett, Little Joe, Big John and Saucy John.  Saucy John just makes me laugh.  I just have to wonder how he obtained that name.  We also have Tall John and Little Johnson, Young King, Big Kittle, John Mohawk and Tall Neezer.  Try as I might, I can’t figure out what Neezer might be or mean.  It doesn’t appear to be English or French and it’s a word that I don’t recognize.  Old Fashion is unique as is Red Jackett.  Thomas Runner was probably a runner.  The name Salt and Water is obviously a very literal translation of an Indian name.  I wonder if this surname ever evolved into something Anglicized or if it was simply replaced in later generations with a different surname.  We have John Seneca, Tall Smith and John Snow along with Straight-Back and Captain Strong with Big Tall Chief.  We could have a comic book crew with some of these names and a darned good story line too.  John Turkey is on the list, along with Twenty Canoes, Two Guns and Chief Warrior, several Wheelbarrow men, Seneca White, John Whiteboy, White Chief, Yellow Blanket and Young Chief.  Was Twenty Canoes compared to Two Canoes?  Was this a statement of ownership and pride, or was it maybe about captured or saved canoes?  Did this person make canoes?  Wouldn’t we love to know.  And John Whiteboy, I’d love to see his paternal DNA results.  I’m betting that Blue Eyes is admixed too as are the Halfwhite men.

On Cornplanter’s Reservation, we also find few traditional native names, but some that are uncertain such as Caisuado, Elleck, Hanisahe, Onishunda, Sinajowa and Tayanakoh.  Transitional names include Young Baird, Beaver, Bigbag and David Bigbag along with Bigfire and John and Taylor Bigfire.  Both of these surnames may be in the act of becoming surnames as opposed to a given name.  I surely do wonder about Bigbag though.  We also have Big Kettle, Clack Chief and Black Face.  Black Chief maybe a reference to a type of chieftainship, not a physical reference, but then again, perhaps not.  The history of the Seneca might be forthcoming with information about their types of chieftainships.  Many tribes had both war and peace chiefs.  We find Bluesky, John Bull and one of my favorite, Sky Carrier.  What a beautiful, lyrical name and I have to wonder how this name was given to this person.  Captain Cobb is on the list, with Old Fish, John Fox, Little George, John Green, Old Hiram and Captain Jack.  The title, Captain, is given to warriors in wartime and in this case, has become equivalent to a first name.  Also present are Small John, Yankee John, which makes me wonder about how he obtained that name, Thomas Kettle, Captain Key, John Little Beard and Long Hair.  Native people had little body hair, so I wonder if this reference was to the fact that he could grow a little beard or perhaps that he always wore one.  Muskrat is a typical native name, translated, of course.  We have English Peter, Powderhorn and my all time favorite, Devils Ramrod.  Yes indeed.  That is his name and I do so want to know how he got it.  Another curiosity is Sharp Leg. We find Black Squirrel, but then we also find a Hannah Black Squirrel as an estate executor, so in that case, Black is not the first name, but Black Squirrel is the last name.  Again, possibly another surname in transition.  John Steeprock and Straight Back are on the list.  I wonder if this Straight Back is related to Straight-Back on the Cattaraugus Reservation. We have John Strong, Tall Chief, Henry Whiteman, Yellow Blanket and either Taylor Two Guns or Two Guns Taylor.  In this case, I can’t tell which is the first and last names.

The Onondaga have only one traditional Native name, but like the Cattaraugus and Cornplanter’s Reservations, lots of transitional names.  Names that could be transitions between Native and surnames are Antinahe and possibly Curlock, used without a first name.  John Antianger could also have a transitional last name.  We find Anthony Big Knife, Captain Commissary, Cornplanter, Captain Famer, Young Farmer, Fisher, Captain Frost, Old George, Jonas Green, John Hawket and several members of the Hill family which could be either English or a location.  We find Captain Isaac, Onondage Jacob, Captain John, Tall John, Captain Jones, Captain Joseph, Old Joseph, Thomas Kick and Jinks Mistaker.  That name is quite interesting and I wonder if it was translated from a native name of some sort.  Muskrat is obvious, followed by Captain Peter, Old Peter, Silverkick, Silversmith, John Smoke, Captain Thomas and John Tall Chief.  There have been several other men on the other reservations by the Silversmith name, but they have all had English first names, so I did not include them in the transitional names group. 

The Oneida Nation is much smaller.  The have no men with Native names and only three suggestive of transition. We find Jack and Old Jack Antoine.  Antoine is one of two names suggestive of a French influence in this entire 1812 veterans list, the other one being La Fort.  Peter Harnyos could have a transitional surname.  There are 3 men listed by the surname Skanandoah, although one is spelled with a final b instead of h.  One of the men has a first name of Dolly.  The Onondaga include a Thomas Shenandoah that I did not include as transitional.  However, looking at the executors for the 3 Skanandoah men have names like David Scanado and Elizabeth Canada, suggesting strongly that this surname too is in transition and could be found as either of these variants, or perhaps yet another name in future generations.

And finally, we return to the Tuscarora, the Nation where we began our article. They have no Native surnames, which isn’t really surprising when recalling that in the 1760s, they had already begun their transition to English surnames when signing their deeds in Bertie County.  Transitional names include John Beach, John Fox, Isaac Green, Peter Sky and Peter Blacknose.  However, when looking at the Peter Blacknose account, the executor of his estate was John Peter, leading me to wonder if his name wasn’t really Blacknose Peter.  Regardless, it’s clearly a transitional name and I’m left wondering how he obtained the Blacknose portion of his name.  It’s also interesting that for the Tuscarora, none of the transitional surnames were listed as Tuscarora surnames in North Carolina.  What follows is the entire list of surnames mentioned in Tuscarora deeds signed between 1766 and 1777 in Bertie County.

James Allen, Sarah Basket, Thomas Basket, William Basket, Betty Blount, Billy Blount, Sr., Billy Blount, Jr., Edward Blount, George Blount, Sarah Blount, Thomas Blount, Bille Blunt, Jr, Samuel Bridgers, William Cain, John Cain, Molly Cain, Wineoak Charles, Jr., Wineoak Charles, Sr., Bille Cornelius, Charles Cornelius, Isaac Cornelius, Billy Denis, Sarah Dennis, Billy George, Snipnose George, Watt Gibson, James Hicks, John Hicks, Sarah Hicks, Senicar Thomas Howell, Tom Jack, Capt. Joe, John Litewood, Isaac Miller, James Mitchell, Bille Mitchell, Bille Netof, Bille Owens, John Owens, Nane Owens, William Pugh, John Randel, Billy Roberts, Tom Roberts, Jr., John Rogers, Harry Samuel, John Senicar, Thomas Senicar, Ben Smith, John Smith, Molly Smith, Thomas Smith, Bille Sockey, William Taylor, Bridgers Thomas, Tom Thomas, Lewis Tuffdick, West Whitmel Tufdick, Whitmel Tuffdick, Isaac Whealer, James Wiggians, John Wiggins, Molly Wineoak and Bette Yollone [DB L-2:56; M:314-9].

Of these surnames, only two, Allen and Miller are represented on the list of War of 1812 Veterans.

In summary, this has been a very interesting exercise in viewing Native nations in transition as their names and naming patterns evolve.

Posted in Tuscarora | 13 Comments

Beaufort Co., NC Native Records

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Roberta Estes

Thanks to Kay Lynn Sheppard for extracting this information from her reference books.  If other folks would check their books for people noted as Indians, I’d be very grateful and so would our blog subscribers

Source: Beaufort Co., NC Deed Book 1, 1696-1729—Records of Bath County, North Carolina by Allen Hart Norris

    Page 15 (Item #36) – [no date] Lords Proprietors grant a survey to Capt. Nicholas Thomas Jones for 1900 acres for transporting 38 persons.  [Among those listed were] Betty an Indian woman, Ann a Mustee, Peter an Indian.

    Page 16 (Item #37) – [July 1, 1702] Cornelius Benington of Albemarle Co. appoints his friend Thomas Lepper of Pamtico, Bath Co., his attorney, to get from James Welsh of Bath Co. a barrel of pork or the value in skins now due unto him, by this Indian.  [I’m assuming that James Welsh is the Indian.]

    Page 33 (Item 181) [Sept. 10, 1707] – Bath County.  Tobias Knight an Indian, aged 12 years, of his own free will apprenticed himself to Charles Hopton until he is age 21.  At age 17 he is to have cows and calves good and merchantable.  At age 21 he is to have 2 good sows and pigs.  /s/ Tobias Knight [T] The Indian.

    Page 47 (Item 281) – [July 6, 1709] Robert Daniel of Bath Co. to Martha Wainwright for 5 shillings current money of NC and for love and affection delivers to Martha an Indian man named Guy, 3 negro men named Frank, George and Wan, a mustee woman named Diana, and negro woman named Maria

    Ibid (Item #282) – [July 6, 1709] Robert Daniel to Martha Wainwright for 5 shillings current money of NC and for the love and affection for my daughter Sarah born of the body of Martha, 3 negro men named Dego, Gratia, and Tom, an Indian man named Clytus, an Indian woman named Die.

    Ibid (Item 283) – [July 6, 2709] Robert Daniel of Bath Co., NC to Martha Wainwright for 5 shillings current money of NC and love & affection for my daughter Martha born of the body of Martha Wainwright, sell negro men Pompey, Peter, and Caesar, negro woman Kate & Indian man Cyrus.

 Source: In the Name of God, Amen!  Abstracts of Hyde Co., NC Wills; Probate 1709-1775 by Ellen A. Williams

    Page 8-9 – Cornelius Bell’s will dated Aug. 26, 1729 & probated at Dec. Court 1729.  Several bequests at the beginning of the will and then he gives his wife one Indian girl called Hanah.

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