Virginia's First People

Virginia Indians Today

Upper Mattaponi

For centuries the ancestors of the Upper Mattaponi People have lived in villages along the waterways of Virginia, the land known as Tsenacomocco. They lived in union with the land, the first farmers of America, harvesting corn, beans and squash and hunting deer in ways still employed today. Like their neighboring tribes, they spoke the Angonquian language and when the British came in 1607 they were prosperous people under the leadership of Chief Powhatan, the Paramount Chief of over 30 neighboring tribes. The first recognized map of the region, Captain John Smith’s map of 1612, indicates the present location of the Upper Mattaponi corresponds correctly with a village marked on his map as Passaunkack.

When the British landed at Jamestown in 1607 the people of the Mattaponi River were soon to go through a major transformation. By the mid 1600s the upper reaches of the Mattaponi River was still frontier land and other tribes had been forced by the British into the area. A 1673 map drawn by August Hermann indicates the largest concentration of Indians near the village of Passaunkack, home of the Upper Mattaponi People. Bacon’s rebellion of 1676 led to the Peace Treaty of 1677, signed on behalf of the Mattaponi by Werowansqua Cockacoeske, Queen of the Pamunkey, and a reservation of Chickahominy Indians and some of the Mattaponi Indians was established near the village site of Passaunkack. During the 1700s the Chickahominy migrated back to their homeland close to the Chickahominy River. Those people that remained at Passaunkack were the ancestors of the modern Upper Mattaponi Indian Tribe.

Through the 18th and 19th centuries the Upper Mattaponi were known as the Adamstown Band, with so many of their tribal citizens having the last name Adams, possibly named for the last British interpreter in the area, James Adams. By 1850 large nucleuses of at least 10 Adamstown families continued to live in the same area and were still farmers and hunters just as their ancestors had been. A Civil War map of 1863 continued to designate the area as Indian Land, and by the 1880s the Adamstown band had built their own school. Because of the racial climate of the times, the Adamstown people had few rights and found it very difficult to prosper financially. Even so, they valued an education and the first federal funds were requested in 1892 to help support education of the Adamstown Indians.

In the early 20th century, a revival of culture spread throughout the Indian Tribes of tidewater, Virginia and the Adamstown Band officially changed it’s name to the Upper Mattaponi Indian Tribe, incorporating under the laws of Virginia and properly reflecting their long history on the upper reaches of the Mattaponi River.

Cont. here:

http://virginiaindians.pwnet.org/today/upper_mattaponi.php

Arlene Eakle's Virginia Genealogy Research Notebooks

Arlene Eakle’s Virginia Genealogy Research Notebooks

Arlene Eakle’s Virginia Genealogy Research Notebooks: Now you can get extra help with your Virginia genealogy research using these aids collected by and used daily by Dr. Arlene H. Eakle. Maps, little-known name lists, migration patterns, record checklists, jurisdiction facts, source collections, surname lists by locality–aids that will shorten your prep time and ensure that you find your hard-to-find ancestors.

CONTENTS

I: Maps by John R. Hildebrand: Benjamin Borden Grant, Conveyances in Borden Grant, 1741-80, Meeting Houses in Beverly Manor and Borden Grant, Beverly Manor. Map Portfolio, 1853: Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee. Pilgrimage for Mothers and Widows, 1917. Virginia Women, West Virginia Women. Records Lost in Virginia Counties. Guide to Counties of Virginia. County Records in Virginia State Library. Notes on the State of Virginia Population. Newspapers, West Virginia, 1858.

II: Virginia Migrations–into Woodford County KY, into Rowan County NC, Scots-Irish, from New York. Boundaries–Lost State of Franklin, Fincastle County. Settlements–Treaty Line of 1763. Proposed Franklin. Land Companies: West Augusta, Loyal Land Company, Greenbrier Company, Ohio Company of Virginia, Transylvania, Kentucky, Vandalia, Westsylvania, Indiana. Votes on Federal Constitution, 1787-1789. Map Portfolio: Virginia Military District, Ohio, Virginia/Maryland 1831, Counties in 1775, Highways into New Lands. Justices of the Peace, 1757-1775. Virginia Parish Registers, Publications List of Virginia State Library. Births and Deaths 1712. Early Virginia Families–by Region. First Settlers at Jamestown. 100 Wealthiest Planters.

III: First Meeting: Society of the Cincinnati in the Commonwealth of Virginia, List of Members. Virginia Soldiers in the U.S. Army 1800-15. Map: Virginia and Maryland. In the Beginning, All Was Virginia. Iberian Publishing Company: Virginia Marriages. Map: Indian Localities. Earliest English Names. Charter: 23 May 1609, List of Subscribers. Population in Virginia–Number of Tithables. Map: Route of George Rogers Clark. Map: Historical Diagram of Virginia. Tories and Soldiers in Virginia. Cursory Analysis of Adventurers of Purse and Person. Map: Tidewater America. Engagement of Northampton–A List. A List of the Fleet from Virginia 9 June 1700.

IV: Virginia Names. Established Churches in the Colonies 1775. Estimated Religious Census 1775. Map: Church on the Eastern Shore. Map: James City Virginia. The Meeting of the Merchants 1770. List of the House of Burgesses 1723. The Association in Williamsburgh 1770. Williamsburgh Signatories. Map: Indian Demarcation Line 1763. Virginia Colonial Abstracts. Maps of Virginia Territory in Ohio: Highland County, Ross County. Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations. Draper Manuscripts. Lists of the Living and the Dead in Virginia 1623. Some Grants of the Virginia Company. Virginia Cavalcade.

V: Map: Land Claimed by the Indiana Company. Land Speculations–Assets for Quick Return. Indiana Company Accounts. A Select Guide to the Manuscript Court Records of Colonial Virginia. Court Chart for Virginia. Maps: Virginia in Context, Virginia Migration from Tidewater Settlements, Gloucester County Churches, Mitchell’s Map of North America 1775: Virginia Section. Soldiers at the Battle of Point Pleasant. West Augusta: Research in Virginia’s District of West Augusta. Original Map of District of West Augusta, West Augusta and Ohio Valley Surnames–An Alphabetical List. Maps: French Occupation of Ohio Valley, Western Land Cessions 1780-1802, Western Parts of Colony of Virginia. Muster Rolls–Frontier Defense on the Upper Ohio 1777-1778.