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John Trulinger sent me this article on the Person County Indians and I am posting it here so others can read and also so it can go into the archives.
I really encourage folks if you have articles to post them. Sometimes we might not always agree with what is stated in the articles but it is a good thing to get everything out on the table and let folks make up their own minds.
THE INDIANS OF PERSON COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA
HISTORY OF A PROUD AND HANDSOME TRIBE OF INDIANS NEAR ROXBORO MAY BE CONNECTED WITH LOST COLONY MYSTERY; ABOUT 70 FAMILIES LIVE IN EXTENDED FARMING COMMUNITY
By Tom MacCaughelty Taken from:
Durham Morning Herald, March 21, 1948
Straddling the North Carolina border in the secluded hills east of U.S. Highway 501 is a community of American Indians whose history has remained as much a mystery as the fate of the Lost Colony.
Commonly termed a “mixed-blood” group, these proud people are probably the product of marriages long ago of whites and Indians, and, in fact, have a tradition among themselves which says they are remnants of the Lost Colony.
In color they vary between blondes and even red-heads with grey or blue-gray eyes to tawny and sometimes swarthy brunettes with hazel, brown, or black eyes. Some have the straight black hair associated with pure Indian, while others have differing shades of brown hair, either straight or wavy.
In general appearance they are well- dressed and clean. They are a handsome people.
Their history is mysterious. As Indians, they never have been positively identified. Can they be, as their tradition holds, the longsought descendants of the friendly Indians who received the colonists of John White?
Strangely enough, among the approximately 350 people in the scattered farming community, only six family names are represented: Johnson, Martin, Coleman, Epps, Stewart (also spelled Stuart), and Shepherd. Stranger still, three of these names correspond closely with those among the list of Lost Colonists: Johnson, Colman, and Martyn. But theirs are common English names long familiar in North Carolina, and intermarriage with the proximity to whites would be expected to extend such names among them. (A seventh prominent name among this group is Tally.)
As far back as anyone knows, these people have displayed the manners and customs of white settlers, but in this they don’t differ from identified Indians.
Unfortunately, as far as settling the question goes, not a single Indian word had been passed down to the present group. If their former manner of speech could somehow be resurrected, there would be a good clue to their identity; for then experts could judge with some degree of accuracy whether they indeed originated among the coastal Algonquin language tribes. If so, there would be a good argument for the Lost Colony theory. If their language were Siouan or some other branch of the inland tongues, the score would be against the Lost Colony tradition.
Dr. Douglas LeTell Rights, author of “The American Indian in North Carolina,” (published by Duke University Press in 1947) says that there is a possibility that the people, officially designated as Person County Indians, are descendants of the Saponi, originally a Siouan tribe. He notes that Governor Dobbs reported in 1755 that 14 men and 14 women of the Saponi were in Granville county. Person County was once a part of Granville county. ( Dr. Rights also suggests that these Indians in Person County may be a branch of, or have mixed with, the Indians of Robeson County. The people themeselves deny being a branch of the Robeson County Indian, but say that there have been a few marriages between members of the two groups.)
The Person County Indians, if they are of the Saponi, couldn’t choose a more highly regarded tribe. (Col. William Byrd, in his History of The Dividing Line describes this tribe.)
Whether a remnant of the Lost Colony, or of the proud Saponi, or of some other group, these people have lived in the rolling hills and high plains northeast of Roxboro for countless generations. No one knows how long.
According to E. L. Wehrenberg, for 17 years principal of the community school, it was not until 1920 that they were officially recognized by act of the North Carolina legislature as Person County Indians. Before that, however, they had always insisted upon being treated either as Indians or whites. Back in the days of subscription schools, they hired their own white teachers; and under the present county school system have always had white or Indian teachers.
Wehrenberg estimates that there are about 70 families in the group. and that about two-thirds of the people live in Person County and the rest across the line in Virginia. This proportion has changed from time to time he says.
Thanks Brenda, and thanks John. I read that in Richard Haithcock’s book and I’m glad to have it here. I see the Stewart name showing up in Person county, which I take it is near Granville county, where the Stewarts were who ended up in Vernon County, WI and left so much genealogical data with the BIA.
Brenda Collins Dillon,
I stumbled onto this today. Apparently, the Collins name is closely associated with the Mattamuskeet Indians of coastal N. C.
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~jmack/algonqin/matta1.htm
Brenda Collins Dillon,
I stumbled onto this today. Apparently, the Collins name is closely associated with the Mattamuskeet Indians of coastal N. C.
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~jmack/algonqin/matta1.htm
Wow! I checked out the site. It appears very well put together with a lot of documentation. I didn’t take time to go through everything but will return.
Yes, it is good. I want to study it well, myself. I saw several names that are variants of some in our family and it was poignant to see all these documents of young children being apprenticed.
They are called the Sappony now. Here is the link to their website.
http://www.sappony.org/index.htm
Hi Sammarroq,
Can you please tell me where your Duke ancestors are from, as I’m wondering if my wife’s Duck ancestor is mispelled?
According to a family story, my wife’s great-grandmother, Margaret Duck (b. ca. 1888) reportedly walked out of an Indian village in Isle of Wight and married into the Butler family. The Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Tribe are not familiar with this family, and I’m wondering if anyone else has run across this name?
Kind Regards,
Four Cats
Descendant of, and researching the Barnes, Cannon, Creed, and Mitchell families.
Four Cats wrote: Hi Sammarroq,
Can you please tell me where your Duke ancestors are from, as I’m wondering if my wife’s Duck ancestor is mispelled?
According to a family story, my wife’s great-grandmother, Margaret Duck (b. ca. 1888) reportedly walked out of an Indian village in Isle of Wight and married into the Butler family. The Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Tribe are not familiar with this family, and I’m wondering if anyone else has run across this name?
Kind Regards,
Four Cats
<O:p</O:p
Descendant of, and researching the Barnes, Cannon, Creed, and Mitchell families.
Duke is my maternal grandmother’s line, which I don’t have too much on…but here is what I do have.
Mary Duke
Born: abt 1701
[city], Hanover, Virginia, USA
Died: 1729
[city], [county], South Carolina, USA
She married:
John Crawford
Born: 1701
[city], Hanover, Virginia, USA
Died: 1759
[city], Craven, South Carolina, USA
father of Mary:
Thomas Duke
Born: 1672
[city], James City, Virginia, USA
Died: abt 1704
James City, [county], Virginia, USA
m:
Elizabeth Marston
Born: abt 1676
Died: Dec 1729
Charles City, [county], Virginia, USA
father of Thomas:
Henry Duke
Born: abt 1640
James City, [county], Virginia, USA
Died: 1714
James City, [county], Virginia, USA
Henry Married:
Elizabeth Soane
Born: 1650
James City, [county], Virginia, USA
Died: 19 Feb 1679
James City, [county], Virginia, USA
father of Henry:
Thomas Duke
Born: abt 1616
Aylesford, Kent, Suffolk, England
Died: abt 1655
James City, [county], Virginia, USA
Thomas Married:
Mary Barham
Born: abt 1620
[city], [parish], Kent, England
Died: 7 Jun 1671
James City, [county], Virginia, USA
Shirley
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