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My Grandmother on my fathers side is Cordelia Workman
Born 1914 Greenbrier Co. WV
Her Mother Her Father
Mahalia Baldwin James Workman
Born 1895 Born 1861
Both from Greenbrier Co. WV
Mahalia’s father Joseph Baldwin b: 1853 Tazwell Co. VA
Joseph’s parents:
Abijah Baldwin b: 1805 Ashe Co. NC
Mahalia Sizemore b: 1811
Listed for Mahalia Sizemore’s parents
Ed Sizemore b:1788 and Annie Baldwin b:1786
Ed’s parents George Edward Sizemore b:1750 and Ann Hart b:1750
James Workman’s parents:
Charles Workman b:1819 Monroe Co WV
Phoebe Baily b:1822
Charles Workman’s parents:
Joseph Workman b: 1790 PA
Elizabeth Reed b:1793
other surnames of my family from the Greenbrier Co. WV area: Yates, Anderson, Shaver, Cox, Rineholt
I hope this may be of some help
Hi SenecaSaponi,
Sorry about the late response. My great grandmother Augusta Hemmings that I talked about in the first post married William “Will” Anderson Young. Not sure where the Anderson came from, but his siblings married into Guynn, Ayers, Bowman and Richardson families. I know People from this area (Surry, Stokes Counties NC, Patrick Co VA) moved to Tazewell Co, and there are a lot of Sizemores in Stokes and Surry claiming Indian blood. I have very little on the Workmans. What I have on mine line is:
James Hendrick/Hendricks (Son of Zachariah Hendrick) was born 1782 in Cumberland Co, VA, and died December 21, 1859 in Raleigh Co, VA (now West Virginia). He married Lucy (Workman?). She was born in Carroll County, VA, and died Abt. 1850 in Patrick Co, VA.
My reference for James Hendricks wife Lucy being a Workman is:
who says that his source was from the Smith-Riffe Collection of the West Virginia State Archives. He has at least one mistake in that he says Permelia Ann married Granville Willis when it was Greenville Willis. The eighth reply to the above post says “I have the same information as you, thru the Raleigh Co. Historical Society, but information says Lucy Worsham was the wife of James. My info was also from the Smith Riffe Collection.” I had thought that Workman might be correct because of the Workmans on the Guion Miller Roll and BeeLeaf’s knowledge of Indian Workmans in Patrick County. But Zachariah Hendrick’s, James’s father, revolutionary war pension application http://southerncampaign.org/pen/s38018.pdf mentions a George Worsham helping him, so Worsham may be correct. In the Rev War pension, Zachariah says he “removed from the county of Pittsylvania to the county of Patrick where he now resides”. In the 1767 A List of Tithables for Pittsylvania County, http://www.combs-families.org/combs/records/va/pittsylvania.htm, a Robert Worsham appears two places down from Moses Ridle the Indian.
Continuing with my line:
My great great grandmother, Permelia Ann Hendricks, was the second of thirteen children born to James Hendricks and Lucy on Nov. 28, 1823, died Dec 11, 1912. She married Greenville Richard Willis, JR. December 23, 1847, son of Greenville Willis and Sarah Thompson. He was born May 07, 1824, and died January 11, 1908.
The fourth of eight children born to Greenville Richard Willis, JR. and Permelia Ann Hendricks was my great grandmother, Virginia Caroline Willis, born Dec. 6, 1856. Her picture is on the first post of this thread.
What I have on the Willis line is:
Joseph Willis was born Bet. 1770 – 1775, and died February 02, 1832. He married Sarah “Sally” Nowlin, June 4, 1794, daughter of James Nowlin and Ursula Patterson. She was born 1776 in ?, and died April 13, 1862 in Patrick Co, VA.
Greenville Willis, Sr., the fourth of eight children, was born about 1795, Carroll County, VA and died April 11, 1865, Carrol County, VA. He married Sarah “Sally” Thompson 1823, daughter of John Thompson. (Greenville Willis was named in 1795 and The Treaty of Greenville was signed at Fort Greenville, on August 3, 1795, following the Battle of Fallen Timbers which makes me wonder if he was named for the treaty. Greenville Richard Willis Jr. was the first of seven children born to Greenville Willis Sr. and Sarah Thompson was born May 07, 1824; died January 11, 1908. Although it may only be coincidence, both Willis and Thompson appear among Catawba names see http://www.palmettoroots.org/Catawbas_Revolution.html. Willis killed at Rocky Mount is fifth on the list and you’ll see Thompson a couple of times as well as Tompson.
A second cousin of mine told me of a distant relative who had spent a lot of money with a professional genealogist to research his various lines which include the Greenville Willis line. The genealogist is supposed to have said that Virginia Caroline Willis was eastern Siouan. Her picture looks like it and her description, black hair, eyes, dark skin sound like it. I tried to contact the distant relative several times to see what the proof was that the genealogist found. Finally he agreed to meet at a family reunion but they got the date wrong! He was robbed and killed not long after that.
The Monacan Tribe’s website http://www.monacannation.com/history.shtml used to include this information a few years ago: “…Arthur Gray, who began an Episcopal mission program for the Indians at the Bear Mountain location in 1907. In an article, he wrote, “. . .they call themselves ‘Indian men’ and Indian women’. As to family names, there are four that comprise the population: Johns, Branham Adcox, and Willis.” http://searches2.rootsweb.com/th/read/AMERIND-US-SE/2000-04/0955895692 has archived it. http://www.joepayne.org/brightstar.html and http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/WILLIS/2003-02/1044598955 has a Monacan roll and you can the Willis name scattered around. (The roll also includes a William Robert Bowman).
From the Patrick County Genealogy Society link BeeLeaf posted http://www.pcgsva.org/About%20PCGS.htm:
“Chief Kenneth Branham of the Monacan Indian Nation of Lynchurg, VA was the speaker of the Tuesday, November 13, 2001 program …. Chief Branham spoke about researching your Monacan ancestry. Monacan family names in Patrick County include Hicks, Lawless, Clark, Roberts, Willis and Terry. … Chief Branham is cousin to Lorraine “Littlewolf” Griffith of the Wolf Creek Cherokee Tribe whose tribal office is now located in Patrick County. “
Since a professional genealogist said that Virginia Caroline Willis was eastern Siouan and Chief Branham of the Monacans says that there are Willis’s in Patrick County related to his Monacans (Virginia Caroline Willis lived and died in Patrick Co), the simplest explanation for Virginia having Indian blood is that it came from the Willis line. Another reason that ties into this is a quaker and apple orchard connection.
The entry entitled Monacans p. 195 in The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture Vol 7 Ethnicity edited by Celeste Ray mentions orchards 3 times in the short article:
Nearly all Virginia Indians were denied access to public education until the 1860s, and the Monacan in particular were often pressed into servitude under a peculiar “race” based system of debt peonage on Amherst County orchards and tobacco farms until the mid 1960s….With the coincidence of public school integration, the civil rights movement, and changes in the local economy (notably, the demise of the orchard industry through strict enforcement of the minimum wage laws) the Monacans began to assert greater autonomy as individuals and as a distinct Indian community….Recalling their years of tenant farming on local orchards, Monacan women now make fruit preserves as a symbolic stable of the tribal diet.
My grandfather Marcus Hiatt had an apple orchard, his father William Franklin Hiatt had one and made government licensed apple brandy before prohibition (although he didn’t believe in drinking alchohol!), his father Ephraim Hiatt had one and his father Josiah Hiatt had apple orchards. I imagine it keeps going on back before Josiah quite a ways. From notes written by a relative who knew William Franklin Hiatt and Virginia Caroline Willis: ”They planted an orchard, for Bill had learned all about apples from his dad (Ephraim) and his grandpa (Josiah). He planted many trees that are no longer in existence today, Buckingham, Limber Twig, and Vine Apple. He also planted cherry trees and grapevines.” The red delicious apple was developed by a quaker Hiatt whose ancestors had moved from this area to the Midwest. http://www.quakernet.org/MonthlyMeetings/PennValley/history-hiatt.html Orchards and apple orchards especially were and still are a big part of the local economy in this part of Patrick County.
My line of Hiatts used to be quakers until Josiah quit and joined the Moravians. This part of Patrick was settled by Quakers. Evidently, the Monacan area was settled by Quakers also. From the Monacan Nation website http://www.monacannation.com/history.shtml “as late as 1758 they (Monacans) were to prove so troublesome to the Quakers at Goose Creek (near Bedford) that the settlement had to be abandoned for two years before being reclaimed.” Another source states, “It is quite possible that this can be explained by the Quakers choosing for settlement one of the best known Indian east and west Blue Ridge trail crossings and also their site was near an Indian burying ground of some significance.” From the book Lynchburg by Dorothy Potter, p 19 “Almost four centuries after their ancestors found refuge in central Virginia, the modern Monacan hunt for bargains, not game, next to their neighbors of all races – thus fulfilling the ideals of the Quakers, the next group to find a home on these hills”
I think the quakers would have treated the Indians better, that’s why Indians stayed in the Monacan area as well as the Patrick/Surry/Stokes areas. From The Shawnee and the War for America by Colin Calloway p.121 ‘Black Hoof wrote to Jefferson thanking the government for sending the Quakers: “They are good people and concerned for our welfare and have done a great deal for us in instructing our young men in a good way and how to use the tools se see in the hands of our white brothers.”’ From A Spirited Resistance – The North American Indian Struggle for Unity 1745-1815 by Gregory Dowd p.69 “His position gained strength among the leaders of the very people he had so recently separated from, in part because even the nativists had a certain fondness and respect for Quakers, as Neolin (Delaware prophet) had indicated when considering surrender in 1765.”
As the Indians lost their land and became assimilated in a white society, who else would help them? You would expect an Indian Quaker connection. The Surry Co NC, Patrick Co VA area I’m from had a strong Quaker influence as well as Guilford Co http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilford_County,_North_Carolina which you see from time to time on the Saponitown Forum.
A lot of posts on the Forum refer to Pittsylvania Co VA. Some settlers to the greater Goinstown area came from there. From http://www.pcgsva.org/Upcoming%20Programs.htm “The Scots Irish … In Patrick County, most emigrated from Pittsylvania and Halifax Counties. Among the surnames are: … Bowman, and Pack.” (Indian Bowman’s came from Lincoln Co NC? http://www.saponitown.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2202 #15)
An Abbreviated History of Pittsylvania County, Virginia located at http://www.victorianvilla.com/sims-mitchell/local/clement/mc/abb/03.htm has numerous references to quakers such as :
It is not surprising to find the first settlers of our county to be Quakers from Pennsylvania. In the year of 1738, Isaac, … of Chester county, Pennsylvania, made several entries for land along Banister River, where they first made their homes. They later moved westward to what is now Patrick County, then to North Carolina and Tennessee.
Some of the Indian Quaker connections I found follow.
The William and Christopher Hiatt missionaries mentioned below are from the Westfield Quaker Meeting in Surry County NC and relatives. From http://www.bransoncook.systemaxonline.com/RevThomasBeals.htm …” In the year 1775, twenty years before Wayne’s Treaty with the Indians at Greenville, Thomas Beals, accompanied by his nephew Bowater Sumner, William Hiatt and David Ballard, started to pay a visit to the Delaware Indians and some other tribes. After passing a fort not far from Clinch Mountain in Virginia,…..On 25 Mar 1780 Thomas Beals, William Hiatt, Christopher Hiatt and David Ballard were granted certificates to travel to the Ohio River to be near and labor with the Delaware Indians.” Evidently, the path they journeyed for a large part of the trip was what is now Highway 58 which goes across southern Virginia. From a Charlotte Observer article by John Bordsen on the community of Galax VA, http://www.newsobserver.com/438/story/1218129.html “The main highway through Galax — U.S. 58/221 — was the westbound road to the Cumberland Gap in colonial times.” Galax, VA was settled by Quakers from Surry Co, NC. Highway 58 leads directly to Clinchport, VA and would have been the way my ancestor James Hemmings traveled there as well as the way his neighbor in Goinstown, Lewis Goings, traveled to Hawkins Co., TN.
From http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~quakers/westfield.htm
The Westfield Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, better known in this area as “Old Westfield”, is the oldest church in Surry or Stokes County and probably the oldest religious group in Northwest North Carolina this side of the Moravian settlements of what is now Winston Salem. The Meeting dates back to the 1760’s when pioneer Quakers from New Garden (now Guilford College) crossed Quaker Gap of the Sauratown mountains to plant a new community in the valleys of Big Creek and Tom’s Creek.
From http://www.ibiblio.org/dig/html/split/report48b.html
At least 20 Occaneechi descendants also applied; all were rejected by the commission as not being of Eastern Cherokee ancestry. Among these were Aaron Thomas Guy, … Aaron Guy stated that his mother was a free woman of color, born free and raised by the Quakers in Guilford County, North Carolina. There is also testimony from a former slave who knew Henry Guy, Jr., to the effect that he was an Indian,
From http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/QUAKER-ROOTS/2007-05/1178142446
Does anyone have the surname Austin from the Cub Creek meetings? I’m looking for Richard Austin born ca 1685-95. He had a brother named John who married a Saponi woman. John Jr., I believe became a Quaker. I don’t know if the Austins were or not.
I need to know who Richard Austin’s wife was. His daughter Elizabeth married Lt. Isaac Vernon born 1715 in Cub Creek. The Vernons were disowned Quakers.
(She may be referring to Cane Creek Quaker Meeting founded in Alamance Co. NC in 1751. Vernon is a fairly common name where I’m from. I only knew one Vernon girl who looked like she may have had Indian ancestry, very dark skinned for a white but with blue-grey eyes.)
I found the following Quaker Indian links from the online book New River Notes which has compiled historical information for the Upper New River Valley of North Carolina and Virginia. From the webpages http://www.newrivernotes.com/va/swift/swift0.html
Some of the mixed race Saponi-Europeans appear on militia rosters in 1777 but are not seen after 1779. Mixed race names of this group are Riddle, Collins, Bunch, Bollins, Goins, Gibson, and maybe Sizemore…Three to five men that appear on the Draper Swift militia roster appear to be part Croatan/Lumbee Indian and 1 or 2 of the names are in the Quaker part of the list.
Examining the non-Quakers who are on the Draper list, but not on list “3” we find that the few whose genealogy can be traced come from Surry Co., NC (Timothy Spencer, Isaac Little, the Winfreys, Quaker Stephen Bond). Some of the other names are SE North Carolina Indian names and that the Croatan/Lumbee Indian genealogies and are not on the internet, although, again families with these names settled in Surry/Stokes Co., NC.
From http://www.mgcenter.org/genealogy.html
According to Haithcock & Haithcock (1996) and Berry Brewton’s “Marginal Groups” immigration of tri-racial people into southeastern Ohio began in the 1790s…. Some lineages have been traced to the Saponi and Tutelo Indian tribes of the Roanoke River area of Virginia…. Many of these families came to Ohio at the request of the Quakers and a number settled in and around the Quaker community of Chesterhill.
From http://www.fgcquaker.org/library/fosteringmeetings/0602.html
return to the 1660’s, when a few isolated settlers were filtering into the area of the Great Dismal Swamp in southeastern Virginia and northwestern North Carolina. Without Quakers and their testimony of peace … would early settlers’ relationship with the Native Americans have been as peaceful? Quaker-vacant central Virginia experienced devastating Indian wars in the 1670’s, as did Puritan Massachusetts-also devoid of Quakers! …
Would the absence of Indian-European strife in Carolina have persisted had their not been a Quaker governor, John Archdale (governor from 1683 – 1686 and 1695 – 1696) , guaranteeing that Indians would not be enslaved and would serve in equal numbers with whites on juries when their rights were in question?
…Come the 19th century, the Carolina landscape would have looked much different without the tidy Quaker farms stretching from Randolph County to Rockingham County and Pasquotank and Perquimans to Surry and Yadkin
(Quaker farms stretching from… Pasquotank and Perquimans to Surry and Yadkin – that’s most of the NC counties on the VA border)
From Jefferson and the Indians by Anthony Wallace page 277:
“A second school (the first one is the Brafferton Institution at the College of William and Mary) was established at Fort Christanna, near the large Saponi village, where for a time a Quaker schoolmaster taught as many as one hundred students. When the school at Fort Christanna was closed, the schoolmaster-universally praised by Indians and colonials alike-was transferred to William and Mary.” (http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=2769 says that Charles Griffin was an Anglican although very strongly influenced by Quakers. From this website, “While Governor William Glover (NC governor) had maintained a favorable opinion of Griffin, by 1709 he felt Griffin’s experiences among Quakers led him from the Anglican faith.”)
Found a few Catawba Quaker connections mainly dealing with Samuel Wyly.
From the book The Carolina Backcountry on the Eve of the Revolution By Charles Woodmason on page 7, note 7: “Samuel Wyly, one of the Irish Quakers, had come to the Waterees in 1752. He became a leader among the Quakers, established a store, became a justice of the peace, was placed in charge of the nearby Catawba Indians, …”
From South Carolina Postcards By Woody Howard, Davie Beard p14: “Haigler was the king of the Catawbas and became good friends with Camden’s Quaker leader, Samuel Wyly. He and the Catawbas protected the colonists during an Indian War.” From Red Carolinians by Chapman Milling p252 “Haigler was succeeded by Colonel Ayres as king of the Catawba Nation. His people soon became dissatisfied with him, however, and asked Mr. Samuel Wyley, a white friend, to conduct an election for a new ruler.”
I had always thought that the Harris families in the greater Goinstown area were probably of Catawba or Cheraw descent. On Saturday, August 11, 2007, http://melungeons-malungeons.blogspot.com/ posted an article about Raccoon Company. It say
James Harris was part of this company who were identified as ’50 Pee Dee Indian riflemen’ led by Captain John Alston. Another describes them as Racoon Company or ‘Foot Rovers’ of 50 Peedee, Waccamaw, Cheraw and Catawba riflemen — they were said to be ‘crack riflemen’ –So far James Harris is the only one I have identified in this company.
There’s several online revolutionary war pension applications for this James Harris. The one the author used is http://www.rootsweb.com/~vapatric/jamesandkeziahharrisw11223.htm. http://southerncampaign.org/pen/index.htm has applications for eight separate James Harris’s with the last one being the Patrick Co one. From the pension application:
James Harriss a resident of the County of Patrick and state of Virginia …That he was drafted in the army of the United States in the Spring of the year 1776 in the Company of Capt. William Jamerson in the County of Orange and state of North Carolina, and was attached to the Regiment commanded by Col. Archibald Lytle at Hillsboro [sic: Hillsborough], in said County and State, and marched from Hillsboro, with said regiment through Cheraw to Charleston in South Carolina, where he was placed under the command of Col Thompson, who commenced immediately on his arrival, throwing up a breast work on the East Side of the Island. This affiant was in the battle and fought under Colo Thompson against the British at Sullivan’s Island … retreated back to Hillsboro and was there placed under Capt William Guinn …in pursuit of the Tories on Rocky run and …in Orange and the adjacent counties in North Carolina….This affiant was born in the County of Dinwidie [Dinwiddie] in the State of Virginia about the 14th of January 1748 and remained there untill the year 1775 at time he moved to the county Orange N. Carolina. Resided Orange N. Carolina untill the year 1781 and then removed to that part of the County of Henry in Virginia which now constitutes Patrick County and has resided there ever since and still resides there…Kezira Harris, a resident of Patrick County…was married to the said James Harris in the County of Rockingham, State of North Carolina, on the [blank space] day of April 1802[?…
NOTES:
James Harris is listed in numerous documents as “mulatto” and “free colored person.” In the pension file is a letter dated 13 Feb 1836 from a James M. Read of Patrick County to the War Department asking if free Negroes were entitled to pensions for Revolutionary War service, his motive “being only the prevention of fraud.” He stated that Harris was “as black as half the negroes of the county.”
I would think about the time frame when the statement was made – 1836. Remember the Indian Removal Act of 1830, there weren’t supposed to be Indians here. Andrew Jackson was president. The Choctaws were removed in 1830, the Creeks in 1836, the Chickasaw in 1837, the Cherokee in 1838. I would also think about the year he was drafted, 1776 and the attitudes of arming free blacks. From http://www.americanrevolution.org/blk.html “When Congress instructed the states in September 1776 to raise 88 infantry battalions, few African-Americans were left in the Continental Army. Southern opposition had resulted in the exclusion of most black men.” It’s very well possible that James Harris was Indian.
That James Harris was born in Dinwiddie County, VA confused me as to whether he could have been a part of Raccoon Company composed of Peedee, Waccamaw, Cheraw and Catawba riflemen. But he says he “marched … through Cheraw to Charleston in South Carolina, where he was placed under the command of Col Thompson”. Thompson was the name of an Indian trader with the Cheraw Indians who bought land from them. You can find his namesake Thompsons Creek which flows into the Pee Dee River just west of Cheraw, South Carolina on the map. I imagine Col. Thompson was a descendant of the Indian trader.
From The Indians’ New World by James Merrell:
P86 The events of 1715 remained fresh to those who had escaped death during that spring (Yamasee Indian war), and survivors of the trade wars passed their memories along to the next generation. Thomas Brown, just arrived from Ireland, got his start in the mid-1720s with stock purchased from John Thompson …
P168-169 In 1735, settlers at the Congarees complained that Thomas Brown’s post, a popular gathering place for Indians, was a public nuisance, and authorities in Charleston ordered Brown to move. He managed to stay, but his mentor, John Thompson, was not so lucky … Two years after the challenge to Brown, farmers along the Pee Dee River accused Thompson of buying land from the Cheraw and Pedee Indians without official permission and, worse, turning the natives against the new immigrants….Thomas Brown would never instruct some young man on the rise as Thompson once had tutored him. It was the end of an era, an era whose passing Catawbas might well mourn. For all their faults, traders generally had shown a willingness to abide by the rules native society laid down. They slept with Catawba women, fought alongside Catawba men, and sat in council with Catawba leaders. Moreover, traders valued Indians as hunters and were uninterested in trying to change them or get rid of them.
Evidently Thompson passed his name on to the Indians. Again from The Indians’ New World
P151 When Hagler arrived in Charleston in 1750 to receive his first commission as chief, Glen asked him who his war captains were and then issued five more to the men the new eractasswa named. A few years later, Hagler was back to request still more. Glen, while handing the documents to captains Harris and Thompson, …
The Catawba Indian Genealogy Book by Ian Watson is online at http://www.ianwatson.org/catawba_indian_genealogy_2004.pdf. Page 93 gives the Revolutionary pay list of 1780 with John Thompson at number 26 and Col John Ayers (spelled as Eayrs) at number 22. (On page 83 the author gives his reasons why he thinks the Catawba Harris, George, and Brown families got their names from the Cheraws. The Thompson name may have got into the Catawbas by way of the Cheraws also). Thompson is the name of a family of Indian descendants in Patrick County, VA that I imagine comes from the Catawbas as well as the name of my great great great grandmother Sarah Thompson who married Greenville Willis Sr. in Patrick County.
Other references to Raccoon Company that I could find online are from http://www.thetandd.com/articles/2007/03/12/features/doc45f480082152b218049844.txt
Pee Dee ancestors moved from Pee Dee Indian Old Town in Marion County in 1738 to a reserve set up for them by the colonial government on the lands of James Coachman in Indian Field Swamp, located in what is now Dorchester County. Many tribal members moved upriver to the forks of the Edisto River, and a number of them received land grants in that area for service in Capt. John Alston’s “Raccoon Company,” a company of 50 riflemen that served during the Revolutionary War, according to the history of the PDINBC compiled by historian J. Michelle Schohn.
“Many of the Pee Dee Indians of Orangeburg County still reside on the original land grants of the 1800s,” Vereen said. “Traditionally, our territory has been between the forks of the Edisto River in Orangeburg County.
And from http://www.geocities.com/wm9600/peedee.html:
REVOLUTIONARY WAR
The swamps in this area were those Francis Marion used to outfox the British during the Revolution, and the Pee Dee served with him. In 1775, Capt. John ALSTON ( Alston Family ) formed a company of riflemen, “Foot Rovers” or “Foot Rangers,” from the Pee Dee Indians living near the Great Pee Dee River. Lt. James COACHMAN (nephew of the James Coachman who brought the Pee Dee onto his land in Berkeley Co.) recruited those Pee Dee living on his land on the Edisto River. They were known as “Raccoon Company .” Those living on Coachman’s land served under Col. William THOMPSON , and received land grants following the war. There were connections between the Alston, Coachman, Marion, Thompson and Smith families.
Chavis serving in Raccoon Company were: Elisha, John, Philip and William Chavis. Many other family names are listed with them. If I am not mistaken, Elisha is our ancestor (father of Jim and Frederick Chavis?). Some of the surnames listed are common to the Lumbee ( 2 ) as well: William BEAR, Robert BIRD, William LOWREY , Thomas OXENDINE. The Lumbee lived along Drowning Creek (Lumber River) in North Carolina, west of Cape Fear. When the Lumber River crosses the South Carolina border it becomes the Little Pee Dee. The Little Pee Dee flows into the Great Pee Dee and empties into Winyah Bay (Georgetown).
http://www.bartholomew.scgen.org/Newsletters/Rice-Planter-2003-Volume-11-Issue-2.pdf (see More Than Just the Chavises on p 11) talks about Raccoon Company and Pee Dee ancestry and mentions names like Willis, Thompson, Shadrak (as a last name), Gibson and many others.
So James Harris served under Col. William Thompson just like Raccoon Company. With his dark skin maybe he really was part of the company. If so then this is one connection between the greater Goinstown area and South Carolina Indians. Descendents of James Harris might like to read about the Battle of Sullivan’s Island where Harris served under Col Thompson (spelled as Thomson on the webpage) here http://www.myrevolutionarywar.com/battles/760628b.htm.
Catawbas did live in Virginia for a while. From Red Carolinians by Chapman Milling Univ of SC press 1969
P253 Toward the close of the war the entire tribe, except those actually serving with the army, removed as far north as Virginia, where they remained until the Battle of Guilford Courthous, in which some of them took part.
Where did they go in Virginia? From http://www.oldhalifax.com/county/CatawbaHistory.htm
In 1762 a small party of Shawnee killed the noted chief of the tribe, King Haiglar, near his own village. From this time the Catawba ceased to be of importance except in conjunction with the whites.
In 1763 they had confirmed to them a reservation, assigned a few years before, of 15 miles square, on both sides of Catawba river, within the present York and Lancaster Counties., S. C. On the approach of the British troops in 1780 the Catawba withdrew temporarily into Virginia*, but returned after the battle of Guilford Court House, and established themselves in 2 villages on the reservation, known respectively as Newton, the principal village, and Turkey Head, on opposite sides of Catawba River. (*The northern part of Halifax County, Virginia, was called Catawba, with a creek and church of the same name. This is in the area now called Nathalie.)
From another revolutionary war pension application http://ftp.rootsweb.ancestry.com/pub/usgenweb/ga/elbert/military/revwar/pensions/adamsjas.txt
…old & young turned out volunteers at Coles ferry……& General Green who had the command in chief This army was at that time composed of Regular Militia & volunteers, Col Lee & Col. Washington with their cavalry were there & many Catawba Indians. Deponent found General Greens army as aforesaid at Hallifax Court house from which place he was marched in pursuit of Wallace towards Hugh Dobbins, a place called the red house. said Dobbins was a noted Tory but before Genl Green got to Dobbs he heard that Wallace had gone to Hillsborough he turned after him but before he got to Hillsborrough he heard that Wallace had gone towards Gilford Court house on the South side of how river. General Green pursued on the North side of Haw River & headed Wallace near Gilford Court house where a severe battle was fought.
(Cole’s Ferry is in Halifax County, Virginia on the Staunton River which with the confluence of the Dan River forms the Roanoke River. The community of Nathalie which was formerly called Catawba is close to Cole’s Ferry being a few miles southwest.)
If an enemy army was approaching and you had to flee, where would you go? Most likely you would relocate among family and friends if possible, not strangers. Perhaps that’s why they went to Halifax County, Virginia. There are a lot of posts about Halifax County, Virginia on the Saponitown Forum. The state recognized tribe of Person County Indians (now known as The Sappony) spill over from Person County, North Carolina into Halifax County, Virginia (see http://www.sappony.org/). Looking at http://lumbeeindiansandgoinsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/02/halifax-county-va-early-records.html, you see names such as Aggy Blevins, Shadrach Gowin and Peter Rickman from the Halifax County Virginia Court Orders for May Court 1765. http://www.newrivernotes.com/va/hali1782.htm has the 1782 Halifax County Personal Property Tax List where you see names like Griffin, Going, Moore, Bolin, Bolen, Thomas, Thompson, Harris, Boman, Lewis, Nichols (although I’m not sure which of these are Indian and which are white). It explains the contradictory information in the Sizemore Guion-Miller application 417 “Some accounts fix the place of birth as Halifax Co, VA while others say it was… in the Catawba Reservation”. I think it’s possible that some of the Catawba married into the Saponi and stayed behind in Virginia and migrated westward with them into Patrick Co and other areas. Perhaps that’s why there are people who claim Indian descent in my home area with names like Ayers, Scott, Thompson, Thomas (and maybe Harris, Willis, Bowman, and Sizemore) can find their last names listed on Catawba documents.
This might be better placed in Material Culture or Family & Tribal Lore, but since it’s about this area, I thought I’d include it here.
When I was growing up, my mother and father who were from Patrick County, talked about how wonderful the chestnut trees were until the blight killed them off. Chestnuts were plentiful and people would go into the woods and gather them to trade for goods at the store, the lumber was straight, easy to work with and very rot resistant. My grandfather had a few buildings composed of the lumber, he was a steward at Chestnut Grove Methodist Church, so named because of a grove of chestnut trees. If the chestnut was important to the local people, it would have been important to the Indians also. At one time the Tutelos lived in the mountains around Salem VA so I know they used them. This site http://www.indianvillage.org/village.html used to say that the village was a reconstructed Tutelo village and that the bark used for the houses would have been from chestnut trees, but they’ve changed it. John Lawson never got to the mountains and he talked about them: “The Chesnut-Tree of Carolina, grows up towards the hilly Part thereof, is a very large and durable Wood, and fit for House-Frames, Palisado’s, Sills, and many other Uses. The Nut is smaller than those from Portugal, but sweeter.” William Byrd didn’t reach the mountains either in his survey and he also talked about them: “Near the camp grew several large chestnut trees very full of chestnuts. Our men were too lazy to climb the trees for the sake of the fruit, but, like the Indians, chose rather to cut them down, regardless of those that were to come after.” (That may sound unIndian like but I believe it was because the chestnut was sort of a weedy tree, taking over a spot. There would have plenty more in the future).
I recently saw a book on the American Chestnut by Susan Freinkel in which Patrick County figures prominently.
P.12 …Patrick County also lies in the heart of the historic chestnut belt, and that it was once one of the biggest producers of chestnuts and chestnut products in the region.
P16 The Native American tribes that shared the forests with American Chestnuts were equally reliant on the trees. Here was a source of food that unlike acorns, didn’t need to be boiled for hours to be palatable, these nuts were sweet right off the tree. It is small wonder the Cherokees developed rough chestnut orchards in the woods by burning competing trees.
P17 the Iroquois celebrated the sustaining gifts of the tree in the story ‘Hodadenon and the Chestnut Tree’…”the nuts, he declared were a sacred food, to shared forevermore with all who wanted them”….
But it was in Appalachia in places like Patrick County, Virginia, where the ties between the chestnut and people were most tightly bound. Chestnuts were big trees everywhere, but this land gave rise to giants, trees a dozen feet wide, and ten times as tall.
P18-19 Farm conditions along the Blue Ridge were hard, but in the abundant chestnut trees settlers found a singular source of wealth. Those tough enough or desperate enough to brave the hardships of farming out a homestead in the middle of the wilderness were rewarded by a companionable ally, a tree of seemingly limitless largesse. Here they found chestnut trees so enormous that a few supplied all the logs a man needed to build a cabin for his family. The wood was light, strong and so easy to split that to make a rail fence, one man marveled, one could just cut the length needed “stick a wedge in it an’ it’d just pop open.
P21 By the beginning of the 20th century, chestnuts had become one of the most important crops in Patrick County and neighboring counties,…
P23 According to the U.S. Agricultural census of 1910, Patrick County produced more nuts than any other county in the state: nearly 160,000 pounds, almost all of it chestnuts. The 360,000 pounds of nuts harvested by Patrick County and its four neighboring counties represented nearly half of Virginia’s entire nut crop of that year.
P72 It’s not hard to catch whiff of that sorrow in places such as Patrick County, Virginia, where chestnut trees once made up as much as 25 to 36% of the forest.. Even now, the long-gone trees remain a steady presence in family stories, as I learned during a visit to the county.
This url http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF2202/Freinkel/Freinkel.html tells a little about Freinkel’s book and Patrick County.
On a related note, at one time my father cut down trees for a sawmill. He taught me the trees that grew in the area. He also used to gather ginseng that grew there. My mother showed me several of the plants that grew there and some their uses, plants like ratsvein, mountain tea, and yellowroot. I never could find ratsvein and mountain tea listed by name in those books, but I do recognize the pictures of them called by other names.
The website http://www.ibiblio.org/dig/html/split/report48b.html in talking about the Occaneechees, says “Herbal remedies were widely used, and many are still remembered. Sassafras, ground ivy, mint, ratbane, pinetops, plantain, and wild cherry were but a few of the plants used for medicinal purposes” The name ratbane is very similar to ratsvein and I’m sure it’s the same plant. It’s a little plant in which you can make a tea out of 4 or 5 of its leaves which helps alot if you have to go to the bathroom too often at night.
If anyone is interested Our Geneology Society is going to have a speaker on Oct. 5, 2008. He is going to talk on the Saura Indians from our area and also answer any questions about Goinstown that are brought up. This is in Mayodan, NC at our local library. Mayodan is just inside the NC/Va line in Rockingham Co., NC. It’s a few weeks off, so if anyone wants more information let me know and I’ll be glad to help anyway I can.
saj wrote: Cherosage,
From what I’ve seen so far, Gwin is also Gwinn, Gwynne, Wynne and even Winn. Mordecai left his will listed under Gwinn. Can’t find any last name for wife Elizabeth. He born in Va c1720. I can’t even remember what I typed in but I googled and ended up with Melungeon related surnames with Gwin as also see Winn in 1850 Va. census. Thought that was interesting. Mordecai’s will lists his children. Saj
Sue: I just found her name also spelled Gwen and Gwenn. Is this Melungeon list from the derogatory usage of the term or an actual grouping? This may be interesting. The plot thickins.
Bob.
The meeting wil start at 2:30PM on 10-5-08. It will be at the Mayodan Library. The address is 101 N. 10th Avenue, Mayodan, NC 27027. the speaker’s name is Doug Belcher. 🙂
SenecaSaponi wrote: Hi Shirley
I have Abijah’s parents as Stephen Baldwin and Nancy? from Ashe Co., NC
Stephen’s father as Elisha Baldwin b:1750
As far as Yates my gg grandmother was Elizabeth Yates b:1827 married to Ernest Robert Rineholt b:1818 married 2/4/1846
Elizabeth Yates parents:
John Yates b:1787 Culpepper VA and Nancy Malinda Anderson b:1787
Nancy Anderson parents:
Robert Anderson b: 1760 Augusta Co., VA and Margarett Young
Len
Don’t know if you are still around Len, but I found some good Baldwin links…moreover there are many family names familiar to saponitown…imagine that:)
Shirley
http://genforum.genealogy.com/baldwin/messages/6635.html
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncallegh/ashe1830.html
http://www.newrivernotes.com/nc/ashedeed.htm
http://newsarch.rootsweb.com/th/read/MOCLAY/2006-10/1160938674
http://poefamilyresearch.net/NC/PoeNorthCarolinaAsheCo.htm
Bob,
The list I came up with was from the Melungeon website with related surnames in 1850 censuses. Some are what are referred to as core group surnames and others have married into…related as they say. Saj
This could mean that those of the family who did stay east may have been related to these Melungeon core families.
SO, what’s this mean to us?
Bob
Hi Saj,
Has anyone in this forum had any luck figuring out where Sandford Barnes (born 1829) came from in the 1850 Rockingham Co. NC Census? Some of his descendants have Everett in their names, which makes me suspect he’s tied to the Barnes-Council-Duck line, but I’ve not been able to prove that yet. I know he married Frances Corn and moved up into Virginia, and that was the last information I have found on him.
Any thoguhts?
Thanks!
Four Cats
Four Cats,
I’ve been wanting to reply to this but I can’t stop getting confused on all of it! Getting too sidetracked. Have you ever suspected a connection to Turbyfield or Chesley Barnes who came into Rockingham co NC from Buckingham co Va? Some of the descendants, and I’ve only touched on a few, have Sanford in their names. First or second. Anyway, Turbyfield or Turbefield also is mentioned in a couple deeds with the Goins in the Lumbee Goins study? Also, the Frances E Corn married to Sandford Barnes is the niece of Mary Corn who married Charles Madison Allen. They are mixed in with the Shelton and Napier lines. All I found last on Sanford Barnes was in the 1860 Patrick co Va census. And then Poof! Some people suspect that there is another native connection from Delphia Walden (Walling) and then her mother-in-law Phyllis purported to be American Indian married to Isaac Martin. Descendants of these coming right down to your Frances Corn. And to Mary as well, of the generation before. Saj
Thanks Saj,
Usually the Saponitown site automatically e-mails me when someone replies to my posts, and I’m sorry I missed your response earlier.
You are not alone in being confused with the Stokes Co. families, and I exhaust all other possibilities before I dive into a lead heading in this direction. Many of these families moved west from the Chowan and Nansemond County areas, following the rivers west. They jumped the VA/NC line numerous times, making them even more elusive to track.
Yes, I have noticed Turbefield Barnes a few times in the Rockingham area, which may be a a more likely candidate as Sandford Barnes’ parent. Another researcher and I are currently looking into the nearby John A. Barnes/Martha Washer line, which descends from the Arthur and Agnes Bass family of Greensville, VA. Unfortunately, that John Barnes (b. 1855) stayed in the area, and did not marry Malissa Creed and move into WV.
The Allen family has had ties with the Barnes’ since their early days in Isle of Wight and Nansemond Counties, and this is usually a good sign we’re on the right track. I’ve already found this line of Barnes having a few marriages into the Nansemond and Tusacarora tribes, and I am guessing this line in Stokes County has some ties to the Lumbee or Saura tribes? I have briefly looked at information on the Napier, Sheldon, and Walden families, but have not associated them with the Barnes’ until now.
Thanks for that bit of info, and I’ll have a look!
Best Regards,
Four Cats
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