Friday, August 29, 2008

GREAT NEWS!!!!! Summer Sizzling Sale Extended to Sept. 30th


This just in!!!

Dear Group Administrator,

Due to popular demand Family Tree DNA is extending its Sizzling Summer Sale until September 30th! This promotion is geared toward bringing new members to your projects by offering the following big incentives:


Product Promotion
Original
Sale
Y-DNA12 Free mtDNA
$189
$99
Y-DNA25Free mtDNA
$238
$148
Y-DNA37Reduced
$189
$119
Y-DNA37+mtDNAReduced
$339
$189
Y-DNA67Reduced
$269
$218
Y-DNA67+mtDNAplusReduced
$409
$288
mtDNAplusReduced
$189
$149

The purpose of this sale is to grow our database and at the same time help our Group Administrators encourage those “fence sitters” to climb off the fence and join your project.

To date, the reaction has been very strong and we feel the benefit to the database and to your projects justifies the extension of this promotion. We would also like to thank all of our Group Administrators who have sent details of this promotion out by email or by postings to blogs and lists. It is clearly working, and we ask that you continue your efforts to make this promotion a growth vehicle for your projects.

IMPORTANT: This promotion requires that payment is either made by credit card or received by the conclusion of the sale on September 30th, 2008.

As always, thank you for your continued support!


Bennett Greenspan

Monday, August 25, 2008

The Status of the Negro in Virginia



STATUS OF THE NEGRO IN VIRGINIA
During the Colonial Period
BY
GERALD MONTGOMERY WEST, M.A.
Submitted as one of the Requirements for the
Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the
School of Political Science,
Columbia College.
NOV 8 1915

CHAPTER I.
Fundamental Law of the Colonies.

"About the last of August came in a Dutch man of warre
that sold us twenty negars," wrote John Rolfe in 1619'.

Thus, briefly and incidentally, was chronicled an event
fraught with such momentous results — the introduction of
slavery into tho Anglo-American colonies.

In order to determine the legal condition of the negro at
this, his first and enforced appearance in those colonies, as well
as subsequently, it will be necessary to examine the various
charters of the colonies and the English common and statute
law.....
Read the book here

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Melungeon Historical Society blog

A great new blog for Melungeon researchers just went live at:

http://melungeon-historical-society.blogspot.com/


The mission statement of this new blog reads in part:


The Melungeon Historical Society blog is a resource for anyone who would like to know more about the mixed-ethnic people of Southern Appalachia known as Melungeons.

This blog is owned and operated by the Melungeon Historical Society, a non-profit organization made up of scholars, Melungeon descendants and others interested in discovering and preserving the heritage of the Melungeon people.
Be sure and visit as articles are to contributed by a rotating lists of authors and guests. There should be something of interest for everyone.

Friday, August 22, 2008

An Indian Boy's Story


An Indian Boy's Story, by Daniel La France (Ah-nen-la-de-ni).
Editor, anonymous
Published: The Independent, Volume 55, Pages 1780-1787, New York City,
July 30 1903

Ah-nen-la-de-ni, whose American name is Daniel La France, told his own tale in neat typewritten form, and has been aided only to the extent of some rewriting and rearrangement. -- EDITOR] I was born in Governeur Village, N. Y., in April, 1879, during one of the periodical wanderings of my family, and my first recollection is concerning a house in Toronto, Canada, in which I was living with my father and mother, brother and grandmother. I could not have been much more than three years old at the time. My father was a pure-blooded Indian of the Mohawk tribe of the Six Nations, and our home was in the St. Regis reservation in Franklin County, N. Y., but we were frequently away from that place because my father was an Indian medicine man, who made frequent journeys, taking his family with him and selling his pills and physics in various towns along the border line between Canada and the United States. This house in Toronto was winter quarters for us. In the summer time we lived in a tent. We had the upper part of the house, while some gypsies lived in the lower part. [missing image] All sorts of people came to consult the "Indian doctor," and the gypsies sent them upstairs to us, and mother received them, and then retired into another room with my brother and myself. She did not know anything about my father's medicines, and seemed to hate to touch them. When my father was out mother was frequently asked to sell the medicines, but she would not, telling the patients that they must wait until the doctor came home. She was not pure-blooded Indian, her father being a French Canadian, while her mother, my grandmother, was a pure-blooded Indian, who lived with us. What made it all the more strange that mother would have nothing to do with the medicines was the fact that grandmother was, herself, a doctor of a different sort than my father. Her remedies were probably the same but in cruder form. I could have learned much if I had paid attention to her, because as I grew older she took me about in the woods when she went there to gather herbs, and she told me what roots and leaves to collect, and how to dry and prepare them and how to make the extracts and what sicknesses they were good for. But I was soon tired of such matters, and would stray off by myself picking the berries -- raspberry and blackberry, strawberry and blueberry -- in their seasons, and hunting the birds and little animals with my bow and arrows. So I learned very little from all this lore.

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Picture from this site

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Lumbee Surnames: Who Knew There Were So Many?

Artwork by Hatty Ruth Miller, Lumbee  artist
Genealogical materials

BRIT004. Britt, Morris F. "Appendix T. List of Lumbee surnames with dates of appearance in the greater Lumbee Settlement (N=523 surnames) 1740-2007." 107 pages. Key source Key source

Publication type: Unpublished manuscript (appendix to forthcoming book)

Full text: PDF files of sections of the manuscript can be downloaded from the table below.

Morris F. Britt has been compiling Lumbee surnames since 1986 (see his "Indian names in Robeson County," Robeson County Register 1.3 (August 1986): 113; item 1027). He began thinking there were about a dozen names; then, in examining the 1990 federal census for Robeson County, he found that there were 120. He went on to study the 1910 federal census for Robeson County (see his "Robeson County Indian names: An analysis based upon the Census of 1910," Robeson County Register 6.3 (1991): 120-122; item 1039). He continued compiling surnames as part of his research for a forthcoming book on Lumbee origins. Once he recorded additional names discovered by Jane Blanks Barnhill for her book of Lumbee cemetery records, Sacred Grounds: "Gone but Not Forgotten" (see item BARN002), his list had grown to 523 documented surnames and—with his detailed recounting of the sources in which he found each name—107 pages.

In his preface to this list, Britt explains that he has included "not only the most frequent, prominent 'core' Lumbee surnames but all such names, however infrequent, ever identified in the Settlement from the 1740s to the present" (p. 3). He also lists the sources from which he derived the names: "land and tax records, cemetery records, death certificates, census reports, wills, deeds, petitions for acknowledgment, military and church records, and newspaper notices" (p. 3).

Britt offers important advice to researchers in his preface. To summarize: (1) many names in Robeson County can be Lumbee, White, African American, or all three; thus, a surname alone does not guarantee Lumbee ancestry. (2) Lumbee ancestors have been listed with a wide range of designations in historical records, including Mulatto, free persons not White, and free persons of color. In early Robeson and Bladen County census records and tax lists, the designation Indian appeared only once (in a 1768 Bladen tax list). Therefore, Britt says, "As a cautionary note, you cannot take any single-entry racial designation, White, African-American, or Indian, 'as gospel' " (p. 2).

Britt provides this list of surnames—in advance of the publication of his book—as an aid to researchers. It should prove especially valuable to those seeking enrollment in the Lumbee Tribe. In his documentation of the sources in which he found each Lumbee surname, Britt notes whenever the surname was "self-identified as Indian in the 1900 federal census of Robeson County." He also notes whenever a surname is included in Carol Smith Oxendine's 1982 document, 1900 Federal Census information of Indians of Robeson County (see item 1023). Smith's document lists both people self-identified as Indian in the census and those verified as Indian through research. When referring to this document, Britt uses these phrases: "1900 Robeson County Indian Census schedule," "1900 Indian Census Schedule," or "1900 Indian Census Schedule of Robeson County." One of the Lumbee Tribe's requirements for enrollment is tracing ancestry back to people listed as Indian in the 1900 federal census of Robeson County.

Because of the length of this document, it has been divided into ten parts. All researchers should download and read Part 1, which includes Britt's preface explaining how the list was compiled and offering advice to researchers. The table below shows the first and last surname included in each part of the document.

List of Lumbee surnames with dates of appearance in the greater Lumbee Settlement (N=523 surnames) 1740-2007

Part 1 Title page, introduction, Adams—Alford
Part 2 Alford —Braveboy/Braboy / Brayboy / Braceboy
Part 3 Braveboy / Braboy / Brayboy / Braceboy—Carsey
Part 4 Carter—Davis
Part 5 Davis—Groom
Part 6 Groom—Knights
Part 7 Kober—Mitchell
Part 8 Mitchell—Quick
Part 9 Quinto—Sweat / Sweet
Part 10 Sweeting—Young (end)

Home Page URL: lumbeebibliography.net

This page was updated on May 7, 2008 1:18 PM





Copyright © 2007, Glenn Ellen Starr Stilling. This document may be reproduced only if this copyright notice is reproduced with it.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Summer Sizzling Sale at Family Tree DNA


Just received from Family Tree DNA. These prices are unbelievable. I hope everyone will take advantage of them.

===================================================================

Dear Group Administrator,

In June, Family Tree DNA ran our most successful promotion ever, in which we offered a significant discount on many of our test upgrades.

Now that our lab has had time to process the high volume of orders generated by that promotion, we are ready to challenge the record that we set in June by returning to you with our “Sizzling Summer Sale.” This time, the promotion is geared towards bringing new members to your projects by offering the following big incentives:

Y-DNA12 orders include a FREE mtDNA test (Y-DNA12+mtDNA promotion price of $99; normally $189)
Y-DNA25 orders include a FREE mtDNA test (Y-DNA25+mtDNA promotion price of $148; normally $238)
Y-DNA37 orders price REDUCED to $119 (normally $189)
Y-DNA37+mtDNAPlus orders price REDUCED to $189 (normally $339)
Y-DNA67+mtDNAPlus orders price REDUCED to $288 (normally $409)
mtDNAPlus price REDUCED to $149 (normally $189)

This promotion goes into effect immediately and will be available until August 31st, 11:59PM CST.

We would also like to make you aware of a change in shipping costs. Since our inception we never increased our shipping charge, even though in the meantime USPS has increased its rates 6 times. For that reason, our shipping cost will increase by $2, effective immediately. We appreciate your understanding.

As always, thank you for your continued support!

Family Tree DNA
Best Regards


Bennett Greenspan
President

Artifacts from Vardy, Hancock County,Tennessee


Katherine Vande Brake, Professor of English and Technical Communication
King College, Bristol, TN

The items from Vardy that E. W. King Library at King College contributes to the DLA collection restate the themes so clearly outlined in Michael Joslin's introductory essay to the digital library project--community, isolation, religion, literacy, and hard work. However, these photographs, records of the Vardy Presbyterian Church, and other documents also expand the collection in an important way. Many of the people who lived in the Vardy community were descendants of the Melungeons and can trace their family lines back to the first Melungeons in Tennessee--Vardiman Collins, Shepherd Gibson, and Irish Jim Mullins who came to take up land grants in what was then Hawkins County shortly after the end of the Revolutionary War. So the Vardy artifacts provide an opportunity to see and understand how a significant Appalachian minority group lived and worked in the first half of the twentieth century. They also show the effect of missionary work in the southern mountains
Vardy, named after early settler Vardiman Collins, is a narrow valley between Powell Mountain and Newman's Ridge just north of Sneedville, Tennessee, the county seat of Hancock County.
In the early twentieth century there were many families both farming in the valley and living on either Powell Mountain or Newman's Ridge. In many ways it was like other similar Applachian communities--isolated by geography but self-sufficient. People raised what they needed for food, bartered with their neighbors, built their homes from the lumber readily available on their land, worshiped in small churches they could walk to, worked together on house and barn raisings or homemade quilts, paid their taxes, and sent their young men off to war when the nation called for them. Selling timber, tobacco, and moonshine liquor were ways to raise cash. In fact one Melungeon woman, Mahala Collins Mullins, was famous for two things--the quality of her moonshine and her size.
There was some history of trouble at the courthouse in Sneedville when certain valley residents had gone to vote in the 1840s. They were told they couldn't vote--it was against the law for "free persons of color." Records show that fines were levied. Other records show that the proud Melungeons refused to attend a segregated Negro school, instead they built a "subscription" school in their valley and hired their own teacher.

continue here
Digital Library of Appalachia

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Quadrule Indians, Harlan County Kentucky


Image is from website: Nature Preserves KY

Quadrule Indians in Harlan County Kentucky

When I was a little girl, my grandmother used to tell us the story about our
Indian heritage, Indian was the word she used. She told us that our heritage came from the Quadrule Indians who lived on Wallins Creek in Harlan County Kentucky. She said the Cherokees were in Harlan too, but Quadrules were NOT Cherokee Indians, that they were more advanced, and friendly, and that they made beautiful pottery. Grandma said they were there when the first white man came, and they had always been there. She said the women were very beautiful, and that they married in with the white settlers. I used to love hearing grandma tell this story, and she told it from the time I was little, until she passed away when I was 27 years old. In all these years, as soon as I could read, I have searched for the word Quadrule, and have never found it among any Native American tribes. I've never found it to be a clan of any tribe. This is a wonderful story in my family, and I mostly just considered it that--- a grandma story and we loved hearing it as children. One day I found an unpublished manuscript on Harlan County Kentucky, and contained in this manuscript was a story of the Quadrule Indians. Needless to say, I started my search to find more written words on these Indians whom I have loved since I was a child.


Cont. here:

http://historical-melungeon.blogspot.com/2008/08/quadrule-indians-harlan-county-ky.html

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Rockingham NC Records


Matrimony Creek Baptist Church Records ***************************************************************************

I am enclosing a transcription of part of the records of the Matrimony Creek Baptist Church for the Rockingham Co. N.C. Archives. Judy Wright Matrimony Creek Baptist Church-Rockingham Co. N.C. Matrimony Church was once part of the Strawberry Association of Va. and JamesRAY and others from Marribone Baptist Church, Henry Co. Va. came to visit thischurch Feb. 19, 1791. This church is in Rockingham Co. N.C. almost up to the Henry Co. Va. border and almost over to the Stokes Co. N.C. line. This is only a partial listing, records are available at University of N.C. at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, N.C. Sept. 1776 Members: continue here **************************************************************************
The records for this work have been submitted by Judy Wright, unless otherwise indicated. [©1997 All rights reserved] *************************************************************************

Dr. Simpsons Birth Books, Rockingham County, NC

Dr Joseph H. SIMPSON, born Guilford Co. NC, 4 Feb 1838, married Margaret FAUCETT BRANNOCK, widow of Tom BRANNOCK who was killed in the War Between The States. Dr. SIMPSON and his wife Margaret lived their married life in Rockingham Co. He died 4 Feb 1893 at "High Rock"in Rockingham Co. NC, and is buried in the SIMPSON Cemetery in Guilford County. Dr SIMPSON kept two books on the babies that he delivered, which were in Caswell, Rockingham, and Alamance Co. NC. He averaged delivering a baby each month for 32 years. Copied from the Birth Records: Certified by me a Notary Public of Guilford County to be a true and exact copy of births as recorded by Dr. J. Hawkins Simpson. N.E. Green, Notary Public 3-2-74 My Comm. Expires: Feb. 25, 1876
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ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, NC - WILLS - Index, Rockingham Co. N.C. Will Bk. 1 =============================================================== file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Judy Wright jtillison@msn.com
continue here

Friday, August 1, 2008

Occaneechi-Saponi Descendants in the Texas Community of the North Carolina Piedmont

by Forest Hazel

In the past, archaeological research in eastern North Carolina and Virginia has tended to concentrate on bits and pieces of history, telling only parts of the whole story. Seldom has an effort been made to connect the information gleaned from the ground, revealing a picture of Indian life in the past, with groups of Indian people in the state today. Often this is because of the uncertainty of the actual tribal origins of many of the Indian groups presently living in North Carolina. The Meherrin of Hertford and Bertie counties, for example, are almost certainly a mixture of Nottoway, Chowan, and Coastal Algonquin, as well as Meherrin, ancestry. In many cases, archaeologists have not been aware of the existence of Indian descendants in the areas where archaeological work has been done, or have not taken the time to investigate whether or not a connection exists between the living Indians and the sites being studied.

In 1983, when the Research Laboratories of Anthropology at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill began work at the Occaneechi village on the banks of the Eno River near Hillsborough, North Carolina, archaeologists were not aware that there might still be descendants of these villagers living in the area. Yet, within 15 miles of the site are two distinct communities of Indian descendants, both of which conceivably could have had connections with the Occaneechi village. Over the past six years the author has made an in-depth study of the history of one, the Texas community, and a cursory examination of the other, the Burnette's Chapel community. This is a summary of the information dealing with the Texas community (more commonly known as Pleasant Grove). This information strongly suggests that these families were Saponi who did not die off or wander away into oblivion, but who remained in their old homelands. Gradually, they were deprived of their lands and, ultimately, were deprived of their very identity as Indian people.

The story of the Texas community is more or less complete. It is an instance where the Indian people living today in Orange and Alamance counties can learn something about how their ancestors lived and take renewed pride in their sense of history. Archaeology here has an opportunity to make the past relevant to the present in a way which is often not possible.

The Texas community is located in the rolling farmland of northeastern Alamance County, in the northern Piedmont of North Carolina. Most of it is contained in Pleasant Grove Township, but it also spills over into adjacent parts of Caswell and Orange counties. It is more commonly known today as Pleasant Grove community. The "Texas" name is of unknown origin; however, it is known to date at least as far back as the 1890s. William Spoon's 1893 map of Alamance County labels a road in the northern section of Pleasant Grove Township as "The Texas Road," and labels the section below it "Texas." This name also occurs on Spoon, Lewis, and Camp's 1928 map of Alamance County, although "Texas Road" is used to identify a different road in the same area. Folk etiology gives two reasons for the name: (1) it was called Texas because the appearance of the people living there resembled that of Indians or Mexicans; and (2) the section was a rough place, like the "wild west," and so it was called Texas. Research has not revealed any other clear or definitive reasons for the name.

Excavating Occaneechi Town: Archaeology of an Eighteenth-Century Indian Village in North Carolina by R. P. Stephen Davis, Jr., Patrick Livingood, H. Trawick Ward, and Vincas Steponaitis. Web edition © 1998, 2003 by the Research Laboratories of Archaeology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

continue here