AMERICAN INDIAN GENEALOGY HELP CENTER http://www.genhelp.homestead.com/notevry.html Not Every Indian is a Cherokee Copyright 2003 by Kathie M. Donahue, AG Families of the southeastern United States from the states of North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida and Alabama sometimes have a legend of Indian blood. For those families which harbor such a legend, they almost always point to the Cherokee as the tribe of origin. When the perusal of Cherokee Indian rolls and records, reveals no family connection, the logical next step is to check other records of the Five Civilized tribes, the rolls, enrollments and applications of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole in Oklahoma and other places. When examination of those records, yields nothing, what can a researcher do? First, Be Sure You Know How to do Genealogy It may be news to you, but learning how to do genealogy is a primary requirement in American Indian family history just as it is in any other sort of genealogical research. I shall be offering a special tutorial for Native American genealogy in the near future but, until then, beginners can avail themselves of the online tutorials at Ancestry and Family Search. Sound genealogical practice is basic to Indian family history. If you have relatives who are enrolled in tribes at this time, your family history research is basically just a matter of discovering the relative's history and establishing a connection with it by a study of your own direct-line generations. However, most people researching Native American family lines today, do not know of any enrolled family members and are often not even sure which tribe may "belong" to them. Consequently, a working knowledge of standard genealogical practice is essential. It's relatively easy to check lists and indexes of Indian records and genealogies; but establishing your own family line in time and space can be a daunting task. It's particularly difficult in light of the fact that most families do not know exactly in which generation the Indian blood was introduced. Indeed, sometimes the introduction of the Indian blood is further back in the generations than living descendants realize. The earliest Indian record in the southeast is the 1817 Roll of the Eastern Cherokee taken in the old nation. Forward from that time, almost all established rolls of Indian people are those belonging to the Cherokee or others of the Five Civilized Tribes. Keeping that date in mind, a comparison of time and place of the target generation in your genealogy will indicate the likelihood that the blood introduced was Cherokee or was that o some other nation. It's also important to realize that certain social pressures and taboos were at work down through the generations concerning the intermarriage of white and Indian or African individuals. Children of mixed blood couples were often shunned in white society and were not allowed the same social and economic considerations in the communitis where they lived as those which were provided to "purely" white individuals. Indeed, they were not often allowed to marry white partners, particularly in communities which were on the outer edge of the Indian nations. Within the nations, the mixing of the blood was not so much a matter to be noticed. Those mixed bloods who remained in the "bosom" of the tribe shared the same fate as the full-bloods, in the removals, particularly in Georgia where the government took the property of the Indians before the removals. But those who were living in nearby white communities and Indians who were married to white spouses, were separated from the Indian people either by the removals or by their desire to live as whites in white society. In both cases, there were, often, two or more generations of marriages between mixed blood individuals. If the mixed bloods were attempting to "pass for white", they would try to avoid any written record of the Indian or tri-racial blood in their families. Thus, their connections with the tribes and any Indian records were severed and the blood thinned further, each generation, until there were only a few characteristics of the Indian connections remaining in the family. Probably one of the strongest pulls on the mixed bloods was the desire to remain in the Indian culture in the old home places and with the old relatives and families. The Indians and mixed bloods seldom went anywhere away from home alone. When they moved west, after the removals, they went in groups consisting of extended families, related to one another (clans or tribes). They were furtive and armed and suspicious of strangers, particularly government men and soldiers. Having avoided the Trail of Tears, they were not anxious to be in close proximity with the kinds of people who enforced the removal orders. Many such groups moved into the hills and hollows of Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia; remnants remaining, still, today. The result of the pressure on the mixed bloods who were related to the Cherokee, and other southeastern tribes was that many went west to settle near their relatives who were "incarcerated" in the Indian Territory in the states of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico.....all around the territory. But not all went west. Many stayed, hidden away and living as invisibly as possible in their home states. They quietly kept their traditions of diet, medicine and religion. They kept close to one another in small groups and communities. In many instances, such families were never quite assimilated in white society to the point where the physical characteristics of Indian blood completely disappeared. Early, before the removals, there were some who were taken up into Indiana, Illinois and out into Kansas by the Quakers. The underground railway which whisked many slaves to freedom in the North, took mixed blood Indians as well. Also, the Moravians, who were among the Cherokee, took individuals to New England to be educated, some of which did not return to the tribe, but lived among the New Englanders. Whatever the reasons for the movements of the mixed blood peoples of the southeast, use of standard genealogical practice will reveal the changes in the families over the generations. It is important to watch the occupations of all such people. Those of Indian heritage often preferred occupations which were special to Indian people such as tanning, basket making, mid-wifery, leather and harness work, saddlery, horse training and trading, shoe making, hunting and trapping, and folk medicine. If they moved and you can find them among the same friends and neighbors year after year in the censuses, it is a strong indication of the tribal cohesiveness and security. But all during the time the Five Civilized Tribes were being moved and shoved about, the ancient tribes of the Carolinas, Virginia and Florida, were struggling in their own ways, having been driven, nearly to extinction during colonial times. Their blood, too, was diluted by African and white influx; their old home places taken over by strangers and their claims to land and property set aside. Even in their small, isolated cultural communities, they were sometimes attacked and driven out for no apparent reason except hate and jealousy. There are many sad stories of the treatment of such people, including the Melungeons. Recently, because of the new permissive attitude of society, these small groups of southeastern tribes have attempted to organize themselves into nations and to try to gain reservations and special Federal considerations for Indian people. Many are building enrollments now and are interested in the histories of families from the areas they claimed as their home places. Their base rolls are not public records, yet, so it is difficult to know if one should belong to one of these emerging tribes or not, without simply submitting a history to them and waiting to see whether you are accepted or not. Consequently the most common means of identification of a family relationship with a tribe remains the genealogical process of finding direct-line family members in close proximity with known Indian tribes. I am convnced, that most searches for Indian blood will bend, at least this far, toward proof. A visit to the area may help the research, in the end, as I know, as a researcher, that there are almost always things to be found locally, by resident historians, that cannot be discovered from long distance work, no matter how diligent the researcher. Between those two strategies, lie all the standard genealogical practice that you will need to learn and use. Let's begin with the first step. Get a Free Database - Personal Ancestral File Basically, sound genealogical practice consists of using a genie database such as Personal Ancestral File, a free program available online that will do everything you need to do with your historical records: build family trees and group records; share records with others; write books; organize pictures and photos; organize documentation; print reports and submit files to online sites. After your download, enter yourself as #1 in your file, then input the information you have on your immediate family. Don't forget your children and grandchildren (when sharing, you can tell the program not to include names and data of living persons to protect your family from identity theft) when you input data. If you have only approximate dates and vague ideas of places, you can preface same with terms such as: aft (after); bef (before); abt (about); prob (probably); poss (possibly). There are about 20 pages of word processor attached to each individual's data entry screen where you can write memoranda, stories, and/or transcriptions. There is also a documentation area where you can list sources, which will print afternotes in your reports. Consult a Genealogical Expert You will be rubbing elbows with many persons online, by snail mail and in research centers who are experts in their fields. When you take their time and attention with your queries and research problems, be sure you present them with printed reports or attachments that are up to date and complete. Genealogical experts usually use genealogical databases and usually prefer reports in ancestral or pedigree chart and family group record form. Such forms show the busy expert the extent of your work quickly and accurately. In order to share such forms online, learn to use the gedcom feature in your program. All of the best genie databases have a gedcom feature. If you are getting a program that doesn't use gedcom (genealogical data communications language), don't bother to use it. Without gedcom, your means of sharing information with experts is severely limited. I have thought, many times, over the years, that I would never again accept any extensive family records as basis for a search unless they were in gedcom form or were hard copies of pedigree charts and family group records. Wading through word processor reports, file folders containing copies of original documents, gleaning data from email, mapping family information from hand-written letters....these are very time-consuming for the expert. When new researchers bring such items to me on my library shift, I immediately help them organized that data into an electronic file or onto genealogical forms (ancestral or pedigree charts and family group records). Then, we can see what information has been gathered and what information is missing and needs to be found. Genealogical charts and forms, whether electronic (highly recommended) or hand-written are the best means of showing family information when asking for help or sharing. However, I have stepped back from requiring that because so many people are beginners and uninformed about such things.and I have an obligation to teach. So, those of you who have come to my feet to be taught, I hope you've got the message: USE A GENEALOGICAL DATABASE THAT INCLUDES GEDCOM FEATURES IF YOU ARE SHARING ELECTRONICALLY; OR PROVIDE YOUR INFORMATION IN PEDIGREE CHARTS AND FAMILY GROUP RECORDS IF YOU ARE SHARING HARD COPIES. Contact an accredited genealogist. Know How to Write a Query Queries are genealogical research questions. They can be posted on mailing lists, messages boards, in magazines and newsletters and sent to people by "snail" and "e" mail. It's best to ask one research question at a time. If you are posting your quey online, first, write it in your word processor. When you are happy with its content, select and copy it. Then, go out on the internet and choose some sites where you can post your query. I suggest Rootsweb mailing lists (you will need to subscribe) and message boards (both for surname, subject [Indian or name of tribe], and/or geographic area [county or other designation]). As you go from site to site, simple click in the message field of each post form and copy your query there. Then, go on to the next site and do the same thing. Your query will stay on the "clipboard", ready for you to use, until you copy some other item which will erase it. To write your query, try the following form: 1. Begin your query with the name of the person of interest, followed by his/her birth and death dates and places (so far as you know). 2. Follow that information with the marriage date and place; followed by the name of the spouse (again, so far as you know). 3. Write the name of the spouse, followed by the birth and death dates and places of the spouse. 4. If you know the names of the parents of the subject or his siblings, include those in your query 5. Ask your research question, following the query. EXAMPLE: "What tribes might (this person) have been a member of living in (the area)?" OR " What Indian Rolls are available for the tribes in (this area?)" OR " What county records would show these families?" Use a Research Log I am stressing these basic things because your work in Native American genealogy in the southeast U.S. will require a lot of looking in different sorts of records. One of the most important of these basic concerns has to do with using a Research Log. If you don't keep track of where you've been, you won't know where to look next. If you don't want to use the Research Log I have provided, use a spiral notebook with partitions in it and numbered pages; or a three ring binder with page dividers. The important thing about any kind of Research Log is that you provide a way to access it easily and that you refer to it each time after you have had a break in your research so that you don't re-invent the wheel. Understand the History You must learn to read history and understand the histories of the places and peoples with which you are concerned. This is vital in rounding out your personal history. County histories, state histories, histories of tribes and families.all these may be fertile ground for family research. The forces of history will show in the movements and events of the individual families. Wars, land openings, employment, natural forces and such, all have their effect upon human lives. Learn to Find References and Resources Public libraries and LDS Family History Centers are the primary sites for much genealogical research. The internet is an important resource, too. But archives and government repositories are also useful along with the collections of private and public universities and colleges. When using books in your search, find out the primary sources used by the author is presenting his or her material; that primary source may provide a broader base of information that could be useful to your search goal. Secondary Sources Newspaper articles, obituaries, biographies and genealogies are all examples of secondary sources. Be sure, when accepting information from such sources that you check to be sure the facts have been reported accurately. It is not possible to prove every point, always, but to base future research decisions on an unproved secondary source, is folly. It could lead you down the wrong path and through a lot of work that will be fruitless. The most commonly used secondary source, these days, are the online genealogies that are sprouting up everywhere like flowers in spring. Many of them are sprouting without any evident documentation. Beware of these. If you decide to use one, contact the author of the file and find out if he will share his documentation with you. Sometimes you will discover that the file was acquired from someone else, who, also, did not document. Please do not copy and reproduce such files, until they are proved. Your genealogy is mythology until it is proved. Researching Tribes of the Southeastern U.S. It is imperative that you understand which tribes were in the area(s) where your people resided. While long-distance romances may be carried on today with our wonderful means of communication, such was not the case in the old days. People married people with whom they were associated; and their associations were, generally close to home. If their neighbors were Indians, they may have married into those families. As you gain experience from tutorials, genie classes and actual research, you will discover how important certain basic genealogical activities and rules are. Using sound practices will speed up your work and help to keep you on the right track. The process of the work will lead you to pertinent records and files. Since the people you are seeking were not known to have been enrolled in any tribe, you will be using "regular" U.S. records such as censuses, court and county records, histories and biographies and the inventories of various archives and libraries. ************************************************************************************************************* Important Reference Books **************************************************** Rachal Mills Lennon TRACING ANCESTORS AMONG THE FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES, Southeastern Indians Prior to Removal Published by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Stories about Indian ancestors in the family tree are common among both black and white families whose roots go deep into the American Southeast, especially those with links to the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole (the Five Civilized Tribes). If the accounts of family elders can be believed, those ancestors lived in the not-too-distant past. Yet despite the strength of family convictions--and the prized portraits of forebears whose features suggest Indian heritage--most researchers who pursue these traditions feel they are chasing a phantom. This new work, Tracing Ancestors Among the Five Civilized Tribes, is designed to eliminate speculation and help you determine the truth about your Indian ancestry. It focuses on the toughest period to research--the century or so prior to the removal of the Southeastern nations to Indian Territory, the point at which records were regularly maintained. It provides the cultural, genealogical, and historical background needed to turn family stories into proved lineages. And it outlines a method of research that can carry you from the colonial period to the great tribal rolls of the mid-to-late nineteenth century, using the unique records kept by American, English, French, and Spanish governments. THE AUTHOR Rachal Mills Lennon traces nineteen branches of her family tree through five North American Indian tribes, although one of her more intriguing ancestors--the "Choctaw Princess" of family lore--remains a shadow among the pines at Dancing Rabbit Creek. She has been a Certified Genealogical Records Specialist since 1985 and is the author, editor, and compiler of five books, including Some Southern Balls and Florida's Unfortunates, as well as Southeastern ethnic case studies in the major genealogical periodicals. Paperback, 156 pp., 2002, ISBN 0806316888 ********************************************************************************************************************** Stuart E. Brown, Jr., Lorraine F. Myers POCAHONTAS' DESCENDANTS Published by Genealogical Publishing Co. The Pocahontas Foundation, based upon information furnished to it, has compiled a tentative list of the descendants of Pocahontas, a list set forth in the consolidated volume described below. This present volume, the third involving additions and corrections to the existing canon, contains more than 130 pages of changes and revisions, with a fifty-six-page index of well over 6,500 names. The name of the spouse of a Pocahontas descendant is indexed even though that spouse is not a descendant of Pocahontas, but the name of a parent of such a spouse is not indexed unless, of course, that parent is a descendant of Pocahontas. This new volume is an indispensable adjunct to contemporary Pocahontas scholarship. 197 pp., indexed, cloth. 1997. ISBN 0-8063-1542-3 ********************************************************************************************************************** Stuart E. Brown, Jr., Lorraine F. Myers, and Eileen M. Chappel Pocahontas' Descendants, A Revision, Enlargement and Extension of the List as Set Out by Wyndham Robertson in His Book "Pocahontas and Her Descendants (1887)" Combined with two volumes of corrections and additions. Published by Genealogical Publishing Co. John Rolfe and Pocahontas (m. 5 April 1614 in Jamestown) had a son Thomas, who fathered Jane Rolfe and (possibly) Anne Rolfe by different wives. Jane subsequently married a Bolling and Anne an Elwyn, from which unions issued an enormous progeny, numbering today in the tens of thousands. This present work, published under the auspices of the Pocahontas Foundation, is a revision, enlargement and extension of the lines as set out by Wyndham Robertson in his celebrated book "Pocahontas, Alias Matoaka, and Her Descendants. It builds on the work of all the best authorities, cites all available evidence, and arrives at scholarly and impartial conclusions about Pocahontas' descendants. With its updates and revisions it is truly the last word on the subject. Starting with the Bolling lines, which include the "white", "red" and "blue" Bollings, the book carries Pocahontas' descendants down to the present time, incorporating all the latest research on the subject. Such evidence as the "Volta List," the "Price List," and the "Blair Bolling List" is impartially presented, along with the Elwyn connection propounded by Mrs. Florence Carson. In addition, manuscript and printed sources were used in compiling this list of descendants, for each of whom there are given dates of birth, marriage and death and names of spouses and children (if known). In this definitive edition of "Pocahontas' Descendants," the two volumes of corrections and additions of 1992 and 1994 have been appended to the base volume of 1985, resulting in a consolidated volume of more than 700 pages, with indexes containing over 30,000 names! Given the breadth of its scholarship and the importance of its subject, genealogists will soon come to regard this work as a foundation stone in Virginia genealogy and a major contribution to our knowledge of old Virginia families. 716 pp., illus., indexed, cloth. (1985, 1992, 1994), reissued 2003, ISBN 0-8063-1407-9 ********************************************************************************************************************** John R. Swanton The Indian Tribes of North America Published by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. This is the definitive one-volume guide to the Indian tribes of North America, and it covers all groupings such as nations, confederations, tribes, subtribes, clans, and bands. It is a vast and impressive digest of all Indian groups and their historical locations throughout the continent. Formatted as a dictionary, or gazetteer, and organized by state, it includes all known tribal groupings within the state and the many villages where they were located. Using the year 1650 to determine the general location of most of the tribes, Swanton has drawn four over-sized fold-out maps each depicting a different quadrant of North America and the location of the various tribes therein, including not only the tribes of the United States, Canada, Greenland, Mexico, and Central America, but the Caribbean islands as well. According to the author, the gazetteer and the maps are "intended to inform the general reader what Indian tribes occupied the territory of his State and to add enough data to indicate the place they occupied among the tribal groups of the continent and the part they played in the early period of our history" Accordingly, the bulk of the text includes such facts as the origin of the tribal name and a brief list of the more important synonyms; the linguistic connections of the tribe; its location; a brief sketch of its history; its population at different periods; and the extent to which its name has been perpetuated geographically. As far as possible each tribe, or group, is treated as an independent entity, but the work as a whole forms an absolutely comprehensive picture of the Indian tribes of North America, and leaves no question unanswered about any tribal grouping, big or small. Along with the bibliography and index, and the imprimatur of its original publisher, the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of American Ethnology, Swanton's book is an authoritative digest of the Indian tribes of North America, and it is the one book that you'll need as a desk reference in your Native American research. 726 pp., maps, indexed, cloth. (1952), repr. 2003. ISBN 0-8063-1730-2. ******************************************************************************************************************* Theresa M. Hicks and Wes Taukchiray SOUTH CAROLINA INDIANS, INDIAN TRADERS, and Other Ethnic Connections Beginning in 1670 Good luck finding this wonderful book. It's out of print. It includes mentions, articles and genealogies of Indian and tri-racial persons of South Carolina. Very interesting and useful. ********************************************************************************************************************** Ian Watson CATAWBA INDIAN GENEALOGY Good luck finding this one, too. There is a copy in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. It is a good reference to the family lines of the Catawba Tribe of South Carolina. Not known if it is still in print. ********************************************************************************************************************** Frederick Hodge HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN INDIANS NORTH OF MEXICO This old reference (about 1904) in two bound volumes can probably be found in most public libraries, as it is a broadly used source. I like it because of its age and the detailed documentation for each of the different encyclopedia-style articles on the various tribes. Following is some material copied from it about Powhatan: From HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN INDIANS, North of Mexico; edited by Frederick Webb Hodge, part 2; Washington Government Printing Office, 1910; Smithsonian Institution; Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 30 Page 299 Powhatan (southern Renape pawa tan, 'falls in a current' of water. --Gerard). A confederacy of Virginia Algonquian tribes. Their territory included the tidewater section of Virginia from the Potomac s. to the divide between James r. and Albemarle sd., and extended into the interior as far as the falls of the principal rivers about Fredericksburg and Richmond. They also occupied the Virginia counties E. of Chesapeake bay and possibly included some tribes in lower Maryland. In the piedmont region W. of them were the hostile Monacan and Manhoac, while on the S. were the Chowanoc, Nottoway, and Meherrin of Iroquoian stock. Although little is known in regard to the language of these tribes, it is believed they were more nearly related to the Delawares than to any of the northern or more westerly tribes, and were derived either from them or from the same stem. Brinton, in his tentative arrangement, placed them between the Delawares and Nanticoke on one side and the Pamptico on the other. When first know the Powhatan had nearly 200 villages, more than 160 of which are named by Capt. John Smith on his map. The Powhatan tribes were visited by some of the earliest explorers on the period of the discovery, and in 1570 the Spaniards established among them a Jesuit mission, which had but a brief existence. Fifteen years later the southern tribes were brought to the notice of the English settlers at Roanoke id., but little was known of them until the establishment of the Jamestown settlement in 1607. The Indians were generally friendly until driven to hostility by the exactions of the whites, when petty warfare ensued until peace was brought about through the marriage of Powhatan's daughter to John Rolfe, an Englishman. (Se Pocahontas). A few years later the Indians were thinned by pestilence, and in 1618 Powhatan died and left the government to Opechancanough. The confederacy seems to have been of recent origin at the period of Powhatan's succession, as it then included but 7 of the so-called tribes besides his own, all the others having been conquered by himself during his lifetime. Opechancanough was the deadly foe of the whites, and at once began secret preparations for a general uprising. On Mar. 22, 1622, a simultaneous attack was made along the whole frontier, in which 347 of the English were killed in a few hours, and every settlement was destroyed excepting those immediately around Jamestown, where the whites had been warned in time. As soon as the English could recover from the first shock, a war of extermination was begun against the Indians. It was ordered that three expeditions should be undertaken yearly against them in order that they might have no chance to plant their corn or build their wigwams, and the commanders were forbidden to make peace upon any terms whatever. A large number of Indians were at one time induced to return to their homes by promises of peace, but all were massacred in their villages and their houses burned. The ruse was attempted a second time, but was unsuccessful. The war went on for 14 years, until both sides were exhausted, when peace was made in 1636. The greatest battle was fought in 1625 at Pamunkey, where Gov. Wyatt defeated nearly 1,000 Indians and burned their village, the principal one then existing. Peace lasted until 1641, when the Indians were aroused by new encroachments of the whites, and Opechancanough, then an aged man, organized another general, which he led in person. In a single day 500 whites were killed, but after about a year the old chief was taken and shot. by his death the confederacy was broken up, and the tribes made separate treaties of peace and were put upon reservations, which were constantly reduced in sized by sale or by confiscation upon slight pretense. About 1656 the Cherokee from the mountains invaded the lowlands. The Pamunkey chief with 100 of his men joined the whites in resisting the invasion, but they were almost all killed in a desperate battle on Shocco cr., Richmond. In 1669 a census of the Powhatan tribes showed 528 warriors, or about 2,100 souls, still surviving, the Wicocomoco being then the largest tribe, with 70 warriors, while the Pamunkey had become reduced to 50. In 1675 some Conestoga, driven by the Iroquois from their country on the Susquehanna, entered Virginia and committed depredations. The Virginian tribes were accused of these acts and several unauthorized expeditions were led against them by Nathaniel Bacon, a number of Indians being killed and villages destroyed. The Indians at last gathered in a fort near Richmond and made preparations for defense. In Aug., 1676, the fort was stormed, and men, women, and children were massacred by the whites. The adjacent stream was afterward known as Bloody Run from this circumstance. The scattered survivors asked peace, which was granted on condition of an annual tribute from each village. In 1722 a treaty was made at Albany by which the Iroquois agreed to cease their attacks upon the Powhatan tribes, who were represented at the conference by four chiefs. Iroquois hostility antedated the settlement of Virginia. With the treaty of Albany the history of the Powhatan tribes practically ceased, and the remnants of the confederacy dwindled silently to final extinction About 1705 Beverley had described them as "almost wasted." They then had 12 villages, 8 of which were on the Eastern shore, the only one of consequence being Pamunkey, with about 150 souls. Those on the Eastern shore remained until 1831, when the few surviving individuals, having become so much mixed with Negro blood as to be hardly distinguishable. were driven off during the excitement caused by the slave rising under Nat Turner. Some of them had previously joined the Nanticoke. Jefferson's statement, in his Notes on Virgina, regarding the number and condition of the Powhatan remnant in 1785, are very misleading. He represents them as reduced to the Pamunkey and Mattapony, making altogether only about 15 men, much mixed with Negro blood, and only a few of the older ones preserving the language. The fact is that the descendants of the old confederacy must then have numbered not far fro 1,000, in several tribal bands, with a considerable percentage still speaking the language. They now number altogether about 700, including the Chickahominy, Nandsemond, Pamunkey, and Mattapony (q. v.), with several smaller bands. Henry Spelman, who was prisoner among the Powhatan for some time, now in the house of one chief and then in that of another, mentions several interesting customs. The priests, he says, shaved the right side of the head, leaving a little lock at the ear, and some of them had beards. The common people pulled out the hairs of the beard as fast as they grew. They kept the hair on the right side of the head cut short, "that it might not hinder them by flapping about their bowstring when they draw it to shoot; but on ye other side they let it grow and haue a long locke haninge doune ther shoulder." Tattooing was practiced to some extent, especially by the women. Among the better sort it was the custom, when eating, for the men to sit on mats round about the house, to each of whom the women brought a dish, as they did not eat together out of one dish. Their marriage customs were similar to those among other Indian tribes, but according to other Indian tribes, but, according to Spelman, "ye man goes not unto any place to be married, but ye woman is brought unto him wher he dwelleth." If the presents of a young warrior were accepted by his mistress, she was considered as having agreed to become his wife, and, without any further explanation to her family, went to his hut, which became her home, and the ceremony was ended. Polygamy, Spelman asserts, was the custom of the country, depending upon the ability to purchase wives; Burk says, however, that they generally had but one wife. Their burial customs varied according to locality and the dignity of the person. The bodies of their chiefs were placed on scaffolds, the flesh being first removed from the bones and dried, then wrapped with the bones in a mat, and the remains were then laid in their order with those of others who had previously died. For their ordinary burials they dug deep holes in the earth with very sharp stakes, and wrapping the corpse in the skins, laid it upon sticks in the ground and covered it with earth. They believed in a multitude of minor deities, paying a kind of worship to everything that was able to do them harm beyond their prevention, such as fire, water, lightning, and thunder, etc. They also had a kind of chief deity variously termed Okee, Quioccos, or Kiwasa, of whom they made images, which were usually placed in their burial temples. The believed in immortality, but the special abode of the spirits does not appear to have been well defined. The office of werowance, or chieftaincy, appears to have been hereditary through the female line, passing first to the brothers, if there were any, and then to the male descendants to sisters, but never in the male line. The Chickahominy, it is said, had no such custom nor any regular chief, the priests and leading men ruling, except in war, when the warriors selected a leader. According to Smith, "their houses are built like our arbors, of small young sprigs, bowed and tied, and so close covered with mats or the bark of trees very handsomely, that notwithstanding wind, rain, or weather they are as warm as stoves, but very smoky, yet at the top of the house there is a hole make for the smoke to into right over the fire." According to White's pictures they were oblong, with a rounded roof (see Habitations). They varied in length from 12 to 24 yards, and some were as much as 36 years long, though not of great width. They were formed of poles or saplings fixed in the ground at regular intervals, which were bent over from the sides so as to form an arch at the top. Pieces running horizontally were fastened with withes, to serve as braces and as supports for bark, mats, or other coverings. Many of their towns were enclosed with palisades, consisting of posts planted in the ground and standing 10 or 12 feet high. The gate was usually an overlapping gap in the circuit or palisades. Where great strength and security were required, a triple stockade was sometimes made. These inclosing walls sometimes encompassed the whole town; in other cases only the chief's house, burial house, and the more important dwellings were thus surrounded. They appear to have made considerable advance to agriculture, cultivating 2 or 3 kinds of fruit trees. They computed by the decimal system. Their years were reckoned by winters, cohonks, as they called them, in imitation of the note of the wild geese, which came to them every winter. They divided the year into five seasons, viz, the budding or blossoming of spring; earing of corn, or roasting-ear time; the summer, or highest sun; the corn harvest, or fall of the leaf, and the winter, or cohonk. Months were counted as moons, without relation to the number in a year; but the arranged them so that they returned under the same names, as the moon of stags, the corn moon, first and second moon of cohonks (geese), etc. They divided the day into three parts, "the rise, power, and lowering of the sun." They kept their accounts by knots on strings or by notches on a stick. The estimate of population given by Smith is 2,400 warriors. Jefferson, on the basis of this, made their total population about 8,000. The tribes, in the order of their location on Smith's map, were as follows; Tauxenent, Fairfax co.; Potomac, Stafford and King George cos.; Cuttatawomen, King George co.; Pissasec, King George and Richmond cos.; Onawmanient, Westmoreland co.,; Rappahannock, Richmond co.; Moraughtacuund, Lancaster and Richmond cos.; Secacawoni, Northumberland co;' Wicocomoco, Northumberland co.; Nantaughtacund, Essex and Caroline cos.; Mattapony, Mattapony r.; Mummapacune, York r. (mentioned by Strachey); Pamunkey, King William co.; Werowocomoco, Gloucester co.; Piankatank, Piankatank r.; Pataunck (mentioned by Strachey) and Youghtanund, Pamunkey r.; Chickahominy, Chickahominy r.' Powhatan, Henrico co.; Arrohattoc, Henrico co.; Weanoc, Charles City co.; Paspahegh, Charles City and James City cos.; Chiskiac, York co.; Kecoughtan, Elizabeth City co.; Appomattoc, Chesterfield co.; Quioucohanoc, Surry co.; Warrasqueoc, Isle of Wight co.; Nansemond, Nansemond co.; Accomac, Northampton co. Several other names appear in later times as the broken tribes formed new combinations. The following were Powhatan villages: Accohanoc, Accomac, Acconoc, Accoqueck, Accossuwinck, Acquack, Anaskenoans, Appocant, Appomattoc, Arrohatoc, Askakep, Assaomeck, Assuweska, Attamtuck, Aubomesk, Aureuapeugh, Cantaunkack, Capahowasic, Cattachiptico, Cawwontoll, Chawopo, Checopissowo, Chesakawon, Chesapeak, Chiconessex, Chincoteague, Chiskiac, Cinquack, Cinquoteck, Cuttatawomen (1), Cattatawomen (2), Gangasco, Kapawnich, Kerahocak, Kiequotank, Kupkipcock, Machapunga (2), Machapunga (2), Mamanahunt, Mamanassy, Mangoraca, Mantoughquemec, Martoughquaunk, Massawotck, Matchopick, Matchut, Mathomauk, Matomkin, Mattacock, Mattacunt, Mattanock, Maysonec, Menpucunt, Menaskunt, Meyascosic, Mohominge, Mokete, Moraughtacund, Mouanast, Mutchut, Muttamussinsaci, Myghtuckpassu, Namassingakent, Nameroughquena, Nansemond, Nantapoyac, Nantaughtacund, Nawacaten, Nawnautough, Nechanicok, Nepawtacum, Onancock, Onawmanient, Opiscopank, Oquomock, Orapaks, Ottachugh, Ozatawomen, Ozenic, Pamacocac, pamawauk, Pamuncoroy, Pamunkey, Papiscone, Pasaughtacock, Paspahegh, Paspanegh, passaunkack, Pastanza, Pawcocomac, Peccarecamek, Piankatank, Pissacoac, Pissasec, Poruptanek, Potaucao, Potomac, Powcomonet, Powhatan, Poyektauk, Poykemkack, Pungoteque, Quackcohowaon, Quioucohanock, Quiyough, Rappahonnock, Rickahake, Righkahauk, Ritanoe, Roscows, Secacawoni, Secobec, Shmapa, Skicoak, Sockobeck, Tantucquask, Tauxenent, Teracosick, Utenstank, Uttamussac, Uttamussamacoma, Waconiask, Warrasqueoc, Weanoc, Wecuppom, Werawahon, Werowacomoco, Wicocomoco, Winsack. In addition to the authorities found in Arber's edition of Smith's Works, consult Mooney, Willoughby, Gerard, and Bushnell in Am. Anthrop., IX, no. 1, 1907 (J.M.) Pouhatan. -- Hennepin, Cont. of New Disov., map, 1698. Powhatan. -- Dela Warre (1511) in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., 4th s., IX. 5, 1871. Powhatanic confderacy. -- Kingsley, Stand. Nat. Hist., pt. 6, 151, 1885. Powhattans. -- Gallatin in Trans. Am. Ethnol. Soc., II, civ. 1848. Sachdagugh-roonaw. -- Ibid., 59 (Iroquois Name). Sachdagughs. -- Ibid. ********************************************************************************************************************************************** Sharon Malinowski, Anna Sheets, Jeffrey Lehman, Melissa Walsh Doig, Editors THE GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES, VOLUME 1, NORTHEAST, SOUTHEAST AND CARIBBEAN Published by Gale Research Inc. Every tribe from Abenaki to Wyandotte in the Northeast; Alabama to Yuchi in the Southeast; Arawak and Ciboney in the Caribbean is included. This encyclopedia includes wonderful informative articles about the histories and cultures of the tribes accompanied by complete bibliographical references and "Further Reading" on each tribal group. We tend to think in terms of a few tribal groups and that can limit our abilities as researchers to find the real facts. This encyclopedia will open horizons in our genealogical and cultural research. Following is an excerpt: PEEDEE Gorry, Conner; The Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, Vol. 1: New York, NY; page 468-470. Introduction The Pedee (pee-dee) Indians were a small tribe living on the banks of the Pedee River in coastal South Carolina when English colonists first arrived. In the most comprehensive study of the Pedee to date, The History of the Old Cheraws, Alexander Gregg said "of the meaning of 'Pedee,' nothing is known. It has even been made a question whether the name is of Indian origin; and the opinion has been advanced that it is not." Most likely, the Pedee split from a larger tribe, resettled on the Pedee River, and adopted its name.. Little is known of Pedee history and even less of their language, although historians suppose they formed a part of the great southeastern Siouan tribes. In discussing the Pedee in Red Carolinians, Chapman J. Milling cited James Mooney and others as "establish[ing]chiefly by linguistic criteria, that these Indians...belonged to the Siouan stock." One explanation for the dearth of information regarding the Pedee is that they had been reduced to such small numbers by the time of white colonization as to escape inquiry. Mooney estimated that there were 600 Pedee living in South Carolina in 1600. They are not mentioned in the comprehensive census of 1715. Though oral accounts from 1808 suggested that there were about 30 Pedee still residing on white settlements, assimilation into larger tribes such as the Cheraw resulted in the Pedee no longer being considered a distinct group. History Since there is no extant oral tradition concerning their aboriginal ancestry or origins, information regarding the Pedee before extensive white contact must be reconstructed through archeological excavations, comparison with their closest neighbors, and conjecture. Historians concur that the Pedee most likely belong in the Siouan family of tribes, since their traits so closely resemble those of the Creek, Catawba, and others. It is surmised that the Pedee split from these Siouan ancestors following their migration to South Carolina, the supposed birthplace of the Pedee. According to John R. Swanton in Early History of the Creek Indians and Their Neighbors, accounts from Spanish slavers indicate that the Pedee may have been "the first natives of the Carolinas to be visited by the white men." Though it is known from field journals and similar sources that the Pedee fought with Captain Bull's troops in the Tuscarora War (1712) and in the Yamasee War (1715-1716), the first official mention of the Pedee Indians in colonial records is from an entry for July 16, 1716, in the Journals of the Commissioners of the Indian Trade. The Pedee enjoyed a healthy trade with their English allies during this period, bartering deer skins, foodstuffs, and wampum for guns and ammunition. Along with trade agreements, the Pedee also had a peace accord with the colonists whereby the English promised protection from their enemies and judicial intervention. The Pedee apparently convince their Cheraw neighbors of the benefits of such a peace, because the entry on February 12, 1717 in the Journals of the Commissioners of the Indian Trade says "Tom West, a Pedee Indiancome in Behalf of the Charraws to conciliate a Peace with the Government." The agreements between the English and the Indians would prove integral to the latter's survival during the many intertribal wars of the 1700's in South Carolina. The English interceded on behalf of many tribes to maintain peace and prosperity. If an agreement could not be reached, the English often negotiated to help tribes resettle in areas far removed from their enemies. In the 1720s the Keyauwee, Saponi, and Tutelo were relocated along the shore of South Carolina. Some Cheraw and Pedee also moved to the new settlement. Milling and Swanton believed that these Indians later moved father north in Robeson County, North Carolina, and, therefore, were the ancestors of the Lumbee Indians. In the 1730s, colonization of the South Carolinian coast intensified, causing a subsequent increase in intertribal warfare as Native American people competed with European settlers and among the various tribes for land and provisions. They English fostered a mutually beneficial relationship with the Pedee during this period. For example, in 1744, the English Provincial government convinced the Catawba to maintain their unity with the Pedee even after four Pedee Indians were accused of killing seven Catawba. Some Pedee did not trust the Catawba to remain faithful to the agreement, however, choosing instead to become settlement Indians. While the colonists quelled rebellion among the tribes so that they would remain faithful to their English allies, the French attempted to divide the Indian forces. The English were aware of this, and, after the Albany conference (1751), united the Indians into two broad groups that they called the Northward and the Southward. The Pedee were included in the Southward group of Indians who joined the British in the French and Indian War. In a letter from Documents Relating to Indian Affairs dated November 21, 1752, the Catawba chief stated in part that "there are a great many Pedee Indians living in the [white] settlements that we want to come and settle amongst us. We desire for you to send for them." Provincial Governor Glenn related the Catawba request to the Pedee and from that point, the two tribes were regarded as one. The colonial records last referred to the Pedee in 1755, when they cited the murder of some Pedee settlement Indians by the Cherokee. Although the few remaining Pedee were able to survive by uniting with the more powerful Catawba, their traditions, language, and culture were not salvaged. Culture - Religion Milling stated, "The culture of all the [Southeastern Siouan] groups was practically identical." Therefore, the religious culture of the Pedee can be inferred from general characteristics of Siouan religion. Their religious culture included idol worship probably related to fertility rites. Gregg detailed their belief in "two spirits, the one good and the other bad." The good spirit was the creator of man and the earth. This spirit provided man with sustenance and the ability to hunt and gather. To this end, the good spirit taught them to hunt, fish, and farm the land so that they might prosper. The bad spirit was most commonly associated with the onslaught of disease, famine, natural disasters, and general hardships visited upon the earth. Language Nothing is known of the Pedee's language except that it was a member of the Siouan, also known as Dakotan, family of languages. This determination was made through cultural, geographical, and historical parallels. In The Siouan Indians, W.J. McGee inferred the Pedee's Siouan stock "in part from geographic relation, but chiefly form the recorded federation of tribes." He argued that the federation of tribes formed because of the "conformity in mode of thought which is characteristic of people speaking identical or closely related languages." Buildings The Pedee lived in settlements grouped near fresh water sources, usually the Pedee River or nearby tributaries. They built circular homes made of tree bark. House raisings were a community project. The Pedee used sweat lodges in purification rituals, but no description of these structures exists. Subsistence Methods of hunting gathering, and food preparation are the areas of Pedee culture about which the most information is available. When the English first began colonizing the coast of South Carolina in the eighteenth century, the Pedee were semi-nomadic river dwellers who farmed small plots of land to grow vegetables and grains. The Pedee also cultivated corn, preparing it by "beating it till the husks came off, then boiling it in large earthen pots,: wrote Gregg. The corn was then pounded into a meal with a stone mortar. They used stone axes to fell trees and then lit the area on fire, a method known as slash and burn. The Pedee gathered wild fruits, nuts, and roots native to the area including chestnuts, black mulberries, wild potatoes, plums, strawberries, and sassafras. Acorns were an integral part of their diet and they collected six different varieties which were eaten raw or used to make bread. The Pedee used salt in their food, probably obtained from tribes to the north. They hunted deer and other small game using bows and arrows, trading the dressed skins with the English for guns, knives, and ammunition. Clothing and Adornment Descriptions of the clothing worn by the Pedee was given no attention in the historical accounts of the tribe. Gregg described a small pottery vessel excavated from a Pedee archaeological site, however, which may provide a clue to one of their practices. The artifact "is very small, not holding more than a gill [four ounces], and seems to have been used for paint, or some other valuable liquid." Cinnabar, which neighboring tribes used as body and face paint, may have been the substance intended for the vessel. Healing Practices "Common to many Native American tribes, the Pedee practiced the sweat lodge ritual, especially after contact with Europeans and their foreign diseases. At the height of the sickness, they would enter the sweat lodge, remain inside until they were unbearably hot, and then plunge themselves into the icy Pedee River. This was not a successful treatment for diseases such as small pox, however, and the Pedee perished in large numbers." Conner Gorry Shamons, believed to have received supernatural healing power, also were prevalent in Pedee society. The shamans used the wild herbs and plants of the region to cure illnesses, and, according to Gregg, "the knowledge of some of the most valuable plants now in use was derived from them." Customs Archaeological excavations have provided many clues as to the death and internment customs of the Pedee. Arrowheads and tobacco pipes, objects believed to be important to a satisfying afterlife, have been uncovered in Pedee graves. In addition, important members of the tribe were interned in sepulchers. When a Pedee was murdered, rock cairnes were erected at the sight, with the number of rocks corresponding the the number of fatalities. Widows were respected: young men were expected to provide for their well being. This sense of community responsibility was an important part of the Pedee lifestyle in other ways as well. For instance, if a Pedee community member's house was destroyed, they immediately held a large feast for the tribe. An elder would make a speech, after which everyone was required to make a donation to the person suffering the loss. Finally, the Pedee observed the custom of an annual holy fire, whereby the trees that had been felled to clear a piece of land were kept burning in a bonfire. According to Gregg, the fire inevitably spread to the grasses and secondary growth, "an ancient custom of the Indians." Current Tribal Issues The Pedee occupied a short period in the history since the discovery of the New World. Colonial documents mentioned the Pedee for a scat 50 years. It is not incumbent upon archaeologists to furnish more clues regarding the life and history of this tribe. Unfortunately, some of their culture will never be recovered. Bibliography and Further Reading Carroll, B.R. Historical Collections of South Carolina. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1836. Colonial Records of South Carolina. Documents Relating to Indian Affairs. Columbia: South Carolina Archives Department, 1958 Colonial Records of South Carolina. Journals of the Commissioners of the Indian Trade. Columbia: South Carolina Archives Department, 1955. Gregg Alexander. History of the Old Cheraws. New York: Richardson and Company, 1867 Hodge, Frederick Webb. Handbook of the American Indians North of Mexico. New York: Pageant Books. 1959. McGee, W.J. The Siouan Indians. 15th Annual Report, Bureau of America Ethnology. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1897. Milling, Chapman J. Red Carolinians. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1940. Mooney, James. The Siouan Tribes of the East. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1894. Swanton, John R. Early History of the Creek Indians and Their Neighbors. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of American Ethnology, 1922. _________. Indians of the Southeastern United States. Bulletin 137, Bureau of American Ethnology. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1944. ********************************************************************************************************************************************** Barry T. Klein REFERENCE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN 9th Edition available from: Everything from addresses and phone numbers of Indian reservations, communities and tribal councils; to museums, media communications and financial aid. If you are a serious researcher, this book is a MUST HAVE. With a volume like this, you will be well-informed. ********************************************************************************************************************** Lewis Preston Summers ANNALS OF SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA, 1769-1800 Published by Genealogical Publishing Co. Although Mr. Summers' genealogical masterpiece covers the territory west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, including areas now in Kentucky and West Virginia, the work focuses primarily on the Virginia counties of Botetourt, Fincastle, Montgomery, Washington, and Wythe, including the present-day West Virginia counties of Boone, Cabell, Fayette, Greenbrier,, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, McDowell, Mason, Mercer, Mingo, Monroe, Putnam, Raleigh, Summers, Wayne, and Wyoming. Documents featured in the Annals include minutes of the county courts, marriage licenses, abstracts of deeds and wills, surveys of lands, and lists of soldiers. In addition, there is an exhaustive list of Revolutionary War soldiers from Southwest Virginia, compiled from the most reliable sources. Numerous illustrations and three large fold-out maps add to the book's considerable authority. The unusual length of the work--1,757 pages plus numerous unnumbered illustrations and maps--has compelled us to reprint the work in two parts rather than in a single, ungainly volume. ********************************************************************************************************************** William Wade Hinshaw INDEX OF ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN QUAKER GENEALOGY Published by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. The six volumes of Hinshaw's legendary Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy were published between 1936 and 1950, just prior to the author's death. In the nearly fifty years since its completion, the Encyclopedia has remained the pre-eminent reference work in Quaker genealogy. For records of birth, marriage, and death--carefully recorded in the monthly meeting records of the Carolinas, Tennessee, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Ohio-- there simply is no substitute for Hinshaw's Encyclopedia, especially when you consider that Quakers didn't officially record their vital statistics until some time after 1850. And for records of removal, showing the movement of the Quaker population from one meeting to another and from one state to the next, there is, again, no substitute for the Encyclopedia. Indeed, almost no class of records, religious or secular, has been kept as meticulously as the monthly meeting records of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and Hinshaw's careful transcriptions of these records have left the Encyclopedia without any serious rival. Still, for all its gilt-edged data and its reams and reams of vital records, the Encyclopedia has a flaw: it does not contain an every-name index; instead, each volume has a separate surname index. So not only does the researcher have to examine six separate indexes, he also has to check out every reference to a given surname--page by page. Needless to say, this is a cumbersome and tedious procedure and is certainly not in the best interest of the researcher, who for fifty years has endured this lapse with surprising fortitude. Now, however, comes an index to Hinshaw--the index, one might say--and all impediments to research are immediately overcome. Here in one mammoth volume--in a single alphabetical sequence--are the 600,000 names found in the great Encyclopedia. Each entry in this index contains the surname, the given name, and the volume number and page number wherein the name can be found. Simple! A straight forward index that enables the researcher to pin down his quarry with maximum efficiency. For those who own the Encyclopedia, or even individual volumes of the Encyclopedia, this is a godsend; for those hoping to find out if any of their ancestors appear in the Encyclopedia, this is as good as it gets. For those with Quaker ancestry, this is a researcher's dream. Paper, 1155 pp., 1999 ISBN #080316063 ********************************************************************************************************************** Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking THE SOURCE, A GUIDEBOOK OF AMERICAN GENEALOGY Revised Edition, Ancestry, 1997 Every type of U.S. record of genealogical value is covered in this marvelous volume, which is an absolute necessity for every home genealogical library. All ethnic groups and periods of time are included. The authors have written clear and concise instructions at every level and included high quality examples and illustrations in every chapter. If you don't have this book on your shelf, you are probably not getting ALL of your research questions answered. ********************************************************************************************************************** to be continued....... |
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