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There were many Indian slaves. I have them in my family and even the many “Free Issue” (Indians) were slaves that were freed early. For example the people in Freetown, which is about five miles east of Greentown which is about five miles east of Fort Christanna, were free because their owner freed them in the early 1800’s or late 1700’s and gave them a big chunk of land.
The thing that confuses things is Indians and Blacks mixing. The history of when Blacks and Indians begin having mixed children is unclear for me but it seems that likely back into the 1700’s there were the Mulatto people beginning to intermarry. If a mulatto was 90% Indian and a slave because there was one drop of Black blood, people may have still considered him Indian and called him an Indian Slave.
As far back as I can go on my mother’s side this is what I see with an occansional White person and Black person marrying into this Indian-Mulatto clan. The oral history in the family states some Indians in our family were Slaves but again I don’t know if they were full blooded.
The community that my mother is from is Greentown and it is a tri-racial isolate. When the Fort closed the Indians that remained formed the base for several communities. One grew into what is now Greentown. See map. GT is within the 36 square mile border of the reservation.
Go to this map site and type in Lawrenceville, VA
The Fort was between Ezzle, Diamond Grove and Merchant.
Use the zoom out view to see more.
This is very true. Alot of the “slaves” were actually listed as apprentices and were released upon the owner’s death. The Walkers, for example, of Greensville and Brunswick Counties, that were listed in the Free Persons of Color books were all described as yellow complexion or mulatto and were released upon the death of William Walker.
I have a copy of an apprenticeship for my great great uncle that endentured him til the age of 21. He would be provided clothing, food and lodging for his work. This was dated in the late 1890’s. That tells you how long this practice went on. It was much easier to have them placed as apprentices than slaves as it was illegal to “own” a slave at the turn of the century. Funny how they could scam the law eh?
Crystal
Emma Interseting theory. It fits with my family oral history. My Great Great Grandmother Ann Walker said that she was kidnapped as a child from a reservation. I am struggling with the reservation part of this. What reservations were there in VA or NC in the 1800’s?
So, Emma your theory fits here.
Barry
Lynette Jeffries spoke of how some slaveowners preferred Indian slaves to African slaves and that documentation about this could be found. I’m really glad to see some of it. Good work. I think you’re right on the mark about Indians in occupied territories, once their own, being stolen into slavery. My hunch is that it was pervasive.
Found this reference on Rootsweb-lists for Bird thought it might be of interest reference Indian Slaves etc.
Book Title: In Full Force and Virtue: North Carolina Emancipation
Records
1713 to 1860 — By William L. Byrd III.
Five years in the making. These records contain a wealth of information wherein Masters expostulate to the court the reasons for wishing to free their slaves. The petitions reveal relationships between diverse cultures and races, and many of them depict those relationships on an intimate level. Long obscure, these records have mostly remained out of reach of the general public. The purpose o f this book is to make them available to laymen and scholars alike. The sad plight of the slaves is brought to life by these recorded pleas
for liberation. Many petitions pertain to enslaved Indians, particularly Indian women and children. East Indians and West Indians are also represented in these transcriptions. Indian slavery was one of the most pressing grievances of Native Americans located in the State of North Carolina. These records are full transcripts — not abstracts. They contain the full text of each of the emancipation records. These transcriptions from the North Carolina State Archives are grouped by county:
BERTIE, Buncombe, Caswell, Chatham, Chowan, Craven, Cumberland, Duplin, Edgecombe,
Franklin, Gates, Granville, Guilford, Halifax, Lincoln, New Hanover, Orange,
Pasquotank, Perquimans, Randolph, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry, Wake,
Warren, Wayne and Wilkes. Supplemental sections containing acts of emancipation
by the General Assembly, emancipation laws, Quaker documents, and a full
name plus subject index are included. 1999, 358 pp., 8.5×11, paper, $54.00
#B961 Pre-Publication price until 31 August 1999–$4850
$4.00 Shipping & Handling
Order from: Heritage Books, Inc.
1540-E Pointer Ridge Place
Bowie, MD 20716
This is a super article I want to be sure gets linked over here.
“Africans and Indians: Only in America” by William Lee Katz
The very notion of “Black Indians” still has most whites shaking their heads in disbelief or smiling at what appears to be a joke, an unlikely play on words. No one remembers any such per-son in a school text, western novel or Hollywood movie. None ev-er appeared. Even in African American families Indian connections were occasionally mentioned, but not as part of an historic process. Despite the vital role of remembrance for people of color, a gallant heritage remained hidden.
To see the entire article click:
http://www.williamlorenkatz.com/html/africansindians.html
[This message has been edited by Linda (edited 08-09-2001).]
Ron, I found this in TIMELINE which is information extracted from the Haithcock Books found on my website.
1725– Virginia
JOHN HATCOCK- probably born c.a. 1725 to 1745; married by 1766 to Maria Margred Helmer, daughter of Leonard Helmer of German Flats, New York. John and Maria’s children are: John bca 1779, Anna bca 1781, Josy bca 1783, Jacob bca 1785, Nicholas bca 1787, Daniel bca 1789, Margaret bca 1791, William bca 1795. In the 1810’s the Hathcock-Helmer families are found residing in Greene County, Ohio with the Haithcock, Jefferies, Corn, Guy, Bullen, Tutelo-Sapponi ancestors.
1728–
On September 28, 1728, John Hescott was granted 310 acres on the first creek above Fort Christianna variant of Hethcock/Heathcock
I don’t recall any English surnames at all associated with Saponi people at Fort Christanna, not that I’ve read everything, but the name Hathcock keeps coming up in everything I’ve seen from there on out.
My understanding is that it’s a core Saponi name, although it seems more common in Ohio than here. My second cousin has some Hithcock relations we’re trying to ascertain the significance of. Our family was in Vernon County, WI. He’s got some other common Saponi names floating around on sidelines in his family tree and we’re suspecting a branch of Saponi refugees ended up there. On my side there was a “Blackfoot” identification. Do you know anything about that? I hear the Ohio people carried a tradition of Blackfoot=Saponi historically. I really need to know more about that.
Emma, I re-read your post from 5-8 (and cleaned up some returns left in the cut and paste, don’t mind me, I’m compulsive about that.)
I wonder what Paul Heinegg has to say about evidence like that — it’s clear that there were Indian slaves in the upper south. His assertions that the “tales” of Indian ancestry were fiction needs to be straightened out. I need to see what these stories are he’s reporting, who was being spoken of, etc. There needs to be some scrutiny on this data before it’s put up there as representing the whole.
I just read this message and one things strikes me strangely. Out West, Mulatto is generally comprehended as White and Black blood. I understood that there were political/racial differences between Afro-Americans and Indians of some African descent in the previous centuries. Maybe this is why so many Indians out West were listed as Mulatto. I know for a fact that many inside I.T. and outside would not have indicated their Indian heritage even if it were obvious…I do know of the problems they faced… Strange!
MmeTroislangues
Do you mean to say that Indian people in IT would voluntarily list themselves as mulattoes rather than Indian? Interesting. Can you explain their logic? Why did that seem safer?
I’ll give the example of Texas Indians. My Creek ancestors were either listed as White, Black or Mulatto. When the Indians were being forced from Texas, my family migrated to Oklahoma, Muskogee Co., the Creek Nation. They still had the mindset of Texas Indians and were afraid to be listed as anything other than Black. This same ggrandfather was Mulatto when his first or second wife was also fullblood Indian. They had NO land rights as Indians, not even in Texas. Strange considering how Black people are treated. In that case, Blacks had the right to own lands. When the Sooners or White immigrants were making their rush on Indian lands in Oklahoma I.T., many Indians were killed on a regular basis. They would tell them to come and claim their individual lands and Whites would ambush them. I guess so many were scared off and many of those became permanently Black or White. Same as ‘colored’ in Chetopa, KS. Black and Indian (mixed or fullblood) were just plain ‘colored’ folks lol!…until 1900 or so.
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