[rockhound]

Forest wrote: As a point of clarification, I went back and reviewed our 1990 Petition for State recognition, to see what had been stated regarding the Collins, Gibson, and Bunch families in the 1755 tax list for Orange County. They are referred to as “Indian” in the petition, with an explanation of how the term “mulatto” was commonly applied to persons of mixed Indian descent. It does not identify them as Saponi, and I am not aware of any early record that does identify the Bunch family as Saponi. I will be happy to send the entire text (about 3 paragraphs) if anyone needs it. Some of the Gibsons end up in Macon, where some of them apply as Cherokee to the Guion Miller Commission. They are rejected, but the agent notes their Indian appearance in a handwritten note on the application.

Please be aware that the “Petition for State recognition for the Eno-Occaneechi Indian Tribe” (now the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation), submitted in 1990, is based on information availible in the mid to late 1980’s, and if it were to be re-written now, based on what we know now, it would no doubt be much more well written. We’ve learned a lot since then, both in terms of actual information, as well as in writing style.

My personal belief is that the Bunches were of Indian descent; early direct documentation for that seems to be lacking at this point.

Forest,

Are Moses and Mary Riddle (Ridle, Ridley) discussed in the 1990 Petition for State Recognition for the Eno-Occaneechi Indian Tribe?

[whitehawk]

tarcarion wrote: Forest,

Having seen the freeafricanamericans. com site before, I again refered back to it and found this in reference to the discussion of the Bunch’s being Saponi. Not that this snippet “proves” Saponi descent, but it definitely suggests it.

“John2 Bunch, born say 1692, owned land adjoining Gideon Gibson’s land, and he probably named his son Gideon for him. He sold the land that “my father Paul Bunch bought of James Kelly on Occaneche” on 28 August 1728 and purchased 100 acres in Bertie County on the south side of the Roanoke River near Tuckahoe Marsh on 12 May 1729….”

And the exact page link: http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/Brooks_Byrd.htm

Jim

Tarcarion, The Gideon Gibson mentioned in the text is believed to be my ancestor. My ancestor George Rawlinson, also found on the freeafricanamericans website, married his daughter Tabitha Gibson. The James Kelly mentioned in the text is my ancestor too. He was born in the Isle of Wright, VA in 1700 and his son was James Kelly also, born 1736 in Edgecombe Co, N.C. He married an Evans(name not known) in 1756. His son was William Kelly, born 1759 in N.C. and he was a R.S. in the 10th N.C. Reg. Cont. Line. After the War, he moved to Cheraws District, S.C., where he married a woman named Elizabeth(Last Name Uknown) born around 1775 in S.C.(She is believed by my family to be Native American). It has been passed down that the Kellys were mixed raced and from the areas where they have been found in records and the association with Bunches and Gibsons, it seems that they most likely were. Whitehawk

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