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I am new here and this is my first post. Hope I am putting it in the correct place.
My ninth great grandmother was Kesiah ( 1618-1676) of the Nansemond Indian tribe. She was the daughter of the chief who reportedly was Robin the Elder. She married John Bass (1616-1699) in 1638. She then took the name Elizabeth.
I descend through their son William (1654-1741) and Catherine Lanier (1650-1690) and William’s son John ( 1673-1731) and Love Harris. The Bass family line from William is from the A ha
Hapalo group which is exceedingly rare and very old. There was other marriages of Bass and Indians. The Chowanoke tribe for sure.
My family has always known they were descended form the Native American. Most stories were about the Cherokee and the Blackfoot. It is possible that we are actually descended from the western Blackfoot tribe, but that is unproven at this time. I am sure about the Nansemond.
This Bass family was very instrumental in the establishment of the Jamestown settlement. A great grandfather Humphrey Bass was an investor in the Virginia Company and his son Nathaniel was a sea captain who made voyages to Jamestown with supplies and to repopulate it. There is a lot of history about the Bass family in Virginia and North Carolina.
I am hoping get information from this group that will help me separate the facts from the myths and learn more about our Native American ancestors. Thanks for having me as a member.
Welcome to Saponitown, Carver. Using the search you should be able to find complete genealogy and migration pattern for John and William Bass descendents. If you connect to the Basses of Person and Durham Co, NC then I can help you with any specific questions. They are my neighbors and family. I don’t have a direct Bass line but if you check my signature I’m sure you will find some overlap.
Again, welcome to Saponitown.
Where are you in your search? What questions are you trying to answer? Which of John and Love’s sons do you descend from?
I have my line traced from me to John Bass and Keziah Elizabeth the Nanesemond. I descend from William son of Keziah.
I feel good about my line but it is always possible one could change. It is still a work in progress. My Bass line migrated to northern Virginia, now West Virginia into Mason County along the Ohio river and across the river in Meigs and surrounding counties of Ohio.
I am now trying to fill in the children and siblings of my ancestors and learn more about the marriages into various tribes and perhaps African ancestors. It is slow , but I am making some progress. I wonder if I have any cousins on this site ?
Carver;37753 wrote: I have my line traced from me to John Bass and Keziah Elizabeth the Nanesemond. I descend from William son of Keziah.
I feel good about my line but it is always possible one could change. It is still a work in progress. My Bass line migrated to northern Virginia, now West Virginia into Mason County along the Ohio river and across the river in Meigs and surrounding counties of Ohio.
I am now trying to fill in the children and siblings of my ancestors and learn more about the marriages into various tribes and perhaps African ancestors. It is slow , but I am making some progress. I wonder if I have any cousins on this site ?
If you haven’t seen this thread, it should be a good start.
http://saponitown.com/forum/showthread.php?167-Bass-Family-History&
What specifics that aren’t in this thread do you want to know? The Bass family has quite a bit of research available, much of it here at Saponitown….. and you undoubtedly have some cousins here 😉
Carver;37753 wrote: I have my line traced from me to John Bass and Keziah Elizabeth the Nanesemond. I descend from William son of Keziah.
I feel good about my line but it is always possible one could change. It is still a work in progress. My Bass line migrated to northern Virginia, now West Virginia into Mason County along the Ohio river and across the river in Meigs and surrounding counties of Ohio.
I am now trying to fill in the children and siblings of my ancestors and learn more about the marriages into various tribes and perhaps African ancestors. It is slow , but I am making some progress. I wonder if I have any cousins on this site ?
Carver, my line of Basses were in Gallia County Ohio in the early 1800’s. They were Frederick Bass who I believe was the father of my GGGreat Grandmother Elizabeth. Frederick was listed in an Anson County North Carolina Census before showing up in Gallia County Ohio.
This is also my line. Frederick was the father of Jonathan Bass who married Elizabeth Short, they were my 4 great grand parents. We really need to talk . You are the first response I have ever had about the Bass family from southern Ohio and northern West Virginia. Thank you for your reply.
The Bass file by John Bass is an excellent genealogical file on the Bass family. A few years ago I searched for it and found it right here on this site. I have used much of the information and I recommend it to any Bass researcher.
It was very good of Brenda Dillon to post this. The complete file is a highly sought after genealogy by any person working on the Bass family. I hope it will be put up again somewhere on the internet someday, I think Brenda Dillon has passed away since she posted this part of it.
I have heard that some of the Nansemond shun William’s lines because “they have African blood”. Are they talking about William Basse b.1654 married Catherine Lanier? Are they saying Catherine was African or some of their children married African or do I have the wrong William?
Can either of you shed any light on the genealogical basis for this belief? Why the African blood would make them any less ndn also boggles my mind but that is an entirely different subject.
Yes this gets very sensitive for some people. I have had a cousin who is a direct male descendant of the Bass family test his male Y DNA. I have done the autosomal test for maternal and paternal. My Bass family is from the A Hapalo group which I have already stated.
We have the marriage of John Bass to Keziah the Nanesmond daughter of the chief. These early marriages of the white European Males into the Nansemond and other tribes was to assure peace among them after some bloody massacres, including the one at Bass’s Choice plantation. You can do a Google search for that and find plenty of information.
John Bass was the son of Captain Nathaniel Bass and Mary Jordan of England whose father was Humphrey, who was an investor in the Virginia Company which funded the Jamestown settlement. Captain Nathaniel Bass brought people and supplies to Jamestown on more than one occasion. From John Bass through Humphrey and into England and all of THEIR descendants the Bass family is from the R Hap group. William Bass born 1654 the son of Keziah who married Catherine Lanier is from the A group. So what we have here is an out of marriage occurrence. All of the other children of John and Keziah are from the R group also, except William. Only William is from the A group. That group is African and it is the oldest known DNA at this time. So all of the descendants of William and Catherine are African/black and Native American. According to the administrator of the Bass DNA project John Bass born 1673 was exhumed for a DNA project. John married Love Harris. So I am tri racial and very proud of it.
As for the Nanesmonds shunning this Bass family. It is because they believe (falsely) that there were two Bass men by the name of Nathaniel, Captain Nathaniel and gentleman Nathaniel. There is no evidence of another by the name of gentleman Nathaniel in Virginia. It was the same Captain Nathaniel. Then after Nathaniel’s death his will was in London and his two sisters and two brother in laws, one was a lawyer, was in line to inherit his estate if they could prove he did not have children. So the lawyer drew up a document and submitted to the court on which the sisters said that ” To the best of their knowledge, Nathaniel died without issue”. In other words as far as we know he did not have children. His children where all in America and who was going to bother to look for them. So anyhow that swindle gives the Nansemonds anther issue to claim that my Bass family is not related to them. The Nansemond steadily refuse to take a DNA test.
I did all of this from memory so I may have an error somewhere but that should give you an idea of the Bass/Nansemond disagreement
Thank you so much for your reply. It amazes me how many “recognized ndns” refuse to do DNA testing. I think sometimes they have built up the history that they want to believe and don’t want to know the truth.
I knew about the English document disinheriting Nathaniel’s children. I also knew that William and several others (including my Henry Newton) had to appear before the court and prove their ndn blood while traveling in VA. I did not know that William’s DNA was different from his “siblings”. Perhaps he was an Angolan indentured servant associated with John Basse who took the Basse name but he still was part of the same group that came out of VA with these mixed-blood groups.
One source says Catherine Lanier was full-blood Nansemond. If so, then in a matrilineal society, his lines would be MORE Nansemond than the others, right? >;-)
Although I was raised “white” (sorta) I now identify as triracial, loudly and proudly. All my regalia beadwork is black, red and white.
I wish I knew who the father of William was, but I don’t know if I will ever find out. But stranger things have happened.
In a way I can understand why the Indians do not want to accept their “white” cousins. I don’t know if any other race of people have been treated worse than the Native Americans. As far as I am concerned this is their country and it was stolen from them.
I also wish I knew more about my Native American ancestors. I really don’t know how to celebrate my lineage, I have not taken an Indian name and I do not know much about the culture. But I am still proud to be part of them.
I have found more information about my ancestors in the Free Blacks of the South than any other place. Mine too had to swear warrants and go to court to prove they were not black. It was not easy to be black in the south at that time and I am sure that is why the traveled to Ohio and settled.
And as for the names these women had, they sounded “white English” but many were Native Americans who took those names after their marriages. Trying to trace your Native American blood from over 400 years ago is a tough nut to crack.
Carver;37762 wrote: I wish I knew who the father of William was, but I don’t know if I will ever find out. But stranger things have happened.
In a way I can understand why the Indians do not want to accept their “white” cousins. I don’t know if any other race of people have been treated worse than the Native Americans. As far as I am concerned this is their country and it was stolen from them.
I also wish I knew more about my Native American ancestors. I really don’t know how to celebrate my lineage, I have not taken an Indian name and I do not know much about the culture. But I am still proud to be part of them.
I have found more information about my ancestors in the Free Blacks of the South than any other place. Mine too had to swear warrants and go to court to prove they were not black. It was not easy to be black in the south at that time and I am sure that is why the traveled to Ohio and settled.
And as for the names these women had, they sounded “white English” but many were Native Americans who took those names after their marriages. Trying to trace your Native American blood from over 400 years ago is a tough nut to crack.
Carver, I agree with you wholeheartedly about the treatment of the Native Americans. I strive to connect with my Native American identity but I descend from more than one tribe and am also called a “Tri Racial Isolate”. My Grandmother always said we were Cherokee but I have not been able to make that connection. They migrated from the Louisa County area of Virginia around 1835 to Southeastern Ohio. Their surnames were Napper, Thacker, Freeman, Dorton, Branham and Bass. Some of these names appear in Monacan, Saponi, Nansamond and other associated tribal name lists. My Nappers are descended from Gilbert Gibson of Louisa County and the Branhams are of Monacan Descent. The Freemans are of Chowan descent. These are my mothers people and my fathers people were European who were early settlers in the Jamestown area. So what that makes me I don’t know 🙂
I was also raised in a triracial isolate. This area was called Shakerag and was in southern Person and extreme northern Durham co, NC. It also included the Knapp of Reeds area of Granville co,NC. Part of this area became Camp Butner in 1940s and much of the “tribe” was dispersed.
This link is posted on several other threads but is also appropriate here. It is long but well worth the time to read it. It leans heavily on Paul Heinegg’s work.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gowenrf/malangu.htm
This link is a slightly different take on the same families and migrations. The first link maybe overplays the African component and the second link perhaps overplays the ndn component.
http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1023&context=robert_thomas
I think the truth is somewhere in between. I also think that here at Saponitown, sometimes the integral nature of the African component is downplayed or overlooked. Not trying to offend anyone, we all come here to find our ndn blood so it is understandable. But to understand who we TRULY are, awareness and acceptance of the role of the freed Angolan indentured servants from 1619 until about 1680 in these mixed-blood families is an absolute must.
Dreaminghawk;37772 wrote:
I also think that here at Saponitown, sometimes the integral nature of the African component is downplayed or overlooked. Not trying to offend anyone, we all come here to find our ndn blood so it is understandable. But to understand who we TRULY are, awareness and acceptance of the role of the freed Angolan indentured servants from 1619 until about 1680 in these mixed-blood families is an absolute must.
I agree that no understanding of this group is complete without looking at all three racial groups and the effect of slavery. In another thread you talked about wearing the colors red, black and white as symbolic of our triracial group. Those colors hold the same significance for me as well. While we may not all identify exactly the same way I would venture to guess that almost all of us are a mixture of all three groups. According to my DNA analysis this is certainly the case for me. Even if someone were only a mixture of two the larger group includes all three and so respect is due regardless.
To me the over-simplified black-white dichotomy is one of the biggest unhealed wounds of America as a nation. It is also a big part of Saponi history and is the biggest reason behind a lot of migrations and a big contributing factor to the relative scarcity of family oral history. The seeds of this discord have been sowed over many generations.
Here at SaponiTown I can’t say that I have seen the African component downplayed. Perhaps overlooked at times, but not intentionally. In the larger group of people with shared history who identify as Saponi/Blackfoot/Melungeon etc it seems there are always certain sub-groups that minimize one of the three core groups. Groups doing DNA analysis who downplay or deny American ancestry, groups who demonize the European component, groups who do not recognize the contribution of Africans.
With many users here at SaponiTown there is no way to know what people look like unless they include a picture. There is no way to tell how people identify unless they say. Even if you do know what people look like – the way they identify inside is often not how people see them on the outside.
Personally I concentrate on posts regarding my specific family ancestry. I don’t want to speak for anyone but myself and don’t want to speculate on other’s histories. Disputes about genealogy, DNA, belief systems and tradition can get contentious as we all know.
Slavery was the defining factor in my family history. All my ancestors left the South because of it, many under threat of death or violence. THeir beliefs in equality were so strongly held that cousins of mine like the Coppocks eschewed the non-violent stance of the Quakers in order to attack pro-slavery forces pre-civil war, and were hung for treason. Others helped organize the Underground Railroad. This is the part of my history that I feel is mine to tell.
There is much more essential history to be aware of. Particularly around Black Indian identity. The first place I felt acceptance of my mixed heritage was in that community. So personally I can’t separate any of these groups from each other. Seminole history in particular I find very relevant. But at the same time I don’t feel these are my stories to tell.
All this might be a tangent from the Bass family and Nansemond tribe though 🙂
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