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

5 comments:

Vance Hawkins said...

The following was taken from the book mentioned below. I post it here because he too quotes Forest Hazel.

Altho the above article form Forest is great, it leaves the impression that Mr Hazel, foremost living expert and researcher of these people, believes that no descendant of the group of Occaneechi-Saponi members moved westward, which is far from the case. It was email responses from him to my querries that inspired me, and helped me form many of my positions on the origin of the Melungeon People. The following helps explain the origin of several Melubngeon surnames. I hope yall will let this be posted. Thank you.

North from the mountains: a folk history of the Carmel Melungeon Settlement ..., parts of pages 47, 48 and 49.

By John S. Kessler, Donald B. Ball

The implications appear pretty clear. Of the 8 surnames presently traceable to other mestizo populations, 6 are associated with various, generally smaller settlements in the mid-Atlantic states of Delaware, Virginia and both Carolinas. Specifically, these names are Bunch, Collins, Gibson, Goins, Harmon and Williams. Proceeding for the moment on the assumption that the core Melungeon Population resulted in part from direct migration by members of these groups,

. . . only one surname appears to be potentially traceable to a single point of potential origin – Gibson . . .

Within the mid-Atlantic Coastal area, available sources associate the surname Gibson . . . with a single group – the Occaneechi-Saponi descendants residing in the Texas Community in Alamance (and adjacent portions of Caswell and Orange Counties), North Central North Carolina. . . . A recently (page 48) [#52] published history of this Mestizo settlement has brought to light information regarding its relationship to a possible – though potentially circumstantial – contributing source of Melungeon ancestry.

[#52] Forest Hazel – “Occaneechi-Saponi Descendants in the North Carolina Piedmont: The Texas Community,” Southern Indian Studies 40, 1991 : 2-29.

Based on Hazel's research, the remnants of the merged Occaneechi and Saponi Indfians still presiding in their Piedmont homeland settled in about 1757 in what came to be called the Texas Community in Alamance County, (north central) North Carolina. As determined by Hazel, Miller, Swanton. As determined by Hazel, the following surnames are known or thought to be associated with the group (with the earliest presently known appearance of each surname noted in parenthesis): Bunch (1750s), Burnette (1760), Collins (1750s), Corn (early 1800s), Gibson (1750s), Guy (1757), Haithcock/Halthcock/Haitcock (1757), Jeffries (1756), Parker (1752), Stewart/Steward ca. (1760), Watkins (1757), Whitmore (1757).

For the purpose of examining sources of Melungeon origin, it is appropriate to take special note of Hazel's observations that

“There is some evidence that the area of Alamance and Orange Counties may have still had a few settlements of Indians which never left the region, and who consolidated with the Saponi to form the Texas Settlement after the Revolutionary War. Various tax lists for Orange County in the 1750s include several families of so-called mulattos bearing the surnames of Bunches, Gibsons, Collinses . . .

“Some of the . . . Bunches, Gibsons, Collinses, appear to have moved west . . . [ p. 49] and formed the nucleus for the nucleus of the so-called Melungeon Settlement in the vicinity of Hancock County, Tennessee.”

other sources –

Price, “Mixed Blood Populations”
Hazel, Occaneechi-Saponi Descendants

Vance Hawkins said...

The following was taken from the book mentioned below. I post it here because he too quotes Forest Hazel.

Altho the above article form Forest is great, it leaves the impression that Mr Hazel, foremost living expert and researcher of these people, believes that no descendant of the group of Occaneechi-Saponi members moved westward, which is far from the case. It was email responses from him to my querries that inspired me, and helped me form many of my positions on the origin of the Melungeon People. The following helps explain the origin of several Melubngeon surnames. I hope yall will let this be posted. Thank you.

North from the mountains: a folk history of the Carmel Melungeon Settlement ..., parts of pages 47, 48 and 49.

By John S. Kessler, Donald B. Ball

The implications appear pretty clear. Of the 8 surnames presently traceable to other mestizo populations, 6 are associated with various, generally smaller settlements in the mid-Atlantic states of Delaware, Virginia and both Carolinas. Specifically, these names are Bunch, Collins, Gibson, Goins, Harmon and Williams. Proceeding for the moment on the assumption that the core Melungeon Population resulted in part from direct migration by members of these groups,

. . . only one surname appears to be potentially traceable to a single point of potential origin – Gibson . . .

Within the mid-Atlantic Coastal area, available sources associate the surname Gibson . . . with a single group – the Occaneechi-Saponi descendants residing in the Texas Community in Alamance (and adjacent portions of Caswell and Orange Counties), North Central North Carolina. . . . A recently (page 48) [#52] published history of this Mestizo settlement has brought to light information regarding its relationship to a possible – though potentially circumstantial – contributing source of Melungeon ancestry.

[#52] Forest Hazel – “Occaneechi-Saponi Descendants in the North Carolina Piedmont: The Texas Community,” Southern Indian Studies 40, 1991 : 2-29.

Based on Hazel's research, the remnants of the merged Occaneechi and Saponi Indfians still presiding in their Piedmont homeland settled in about 1757 in what came to be called the Texas Community in Alamance County, (north central) North Carolina. As determined by Hazel, Miller, Swanton. As determined by Hazel, the following surnames are known or thought to be associated with the group (with the earliest presently known appearance of each surname noted in parenthesis): Bunch (1750s), Burnette (1760), Collins (1750s), Corn (early 1800s), Gibson (1750s), Guy (1757), Haithcock/Halthcock/Haitcock (1757), Jeffries (1756), Parker (1752), Stewart/Steward ca. (1760), Watkins (1757), Whitmore (1757).

For the purpose of examining sources of Melungeon origin, it is appropriate to take special note of Hazel's observations that

“There is some evidence that the area of Alamance and Orange Counties may have still had a few settlements of Indians which never left the region, and who consolidated with the Saponi to form the Texas Settlement after the Revolutionary War. Various tax lists for Orange County in the 1750s include several families of so-called mulattos bearing the surnames of Bunches, Gibsons, Collinses . . .

“Some of the . . . Bunches, Gibsons, Collinses, appear to have moved west . . . [ p. 49] and formed the nucleus for the nucleus of the so-called Melungeon Settlement in the vicinity of Hancock County, Tennessee.”

other sources –

Price, “Mixed Blood Populations”
Hazel, Occaneechi-Saponi Descendants

Vance Hawkins said...

The following was taken from the book mentioned below. I post it here because he too quotes Forest Hazel.

Altho the above article form Forest is great, it leaves the impression that Mr Hazel, foremost living expert and researcher of these people, believes that no descendant of the group of Occaneechi-Saponi members moved westward, which is far from the case. It was email responses from him to my querries that inspired me, and helped me form many of my positions on the origin of the Melungeon People. The following helps explain the origin of several Melubngeon surnames. I hope yall will let this be posted. Thank you.

North from the mountains: a folk history of the Carmel Melungeon Settlement ..., parts of pages 47, 48 and 49.

By John S. Kessler, Donald B. Ball

The implications appear pretty clear. Of the 8 surnames presently traceable to other mestizo populations, 6 are associated with various, generally smaller settlements in the mid-Atlantic states of Delaware, Virginia and both Carolinas. Specifically, these names are Bunch, Collins, Gibson, Goins, Harmon and Williams. Proceeding for the moment on the assumption that the core Melungeon Population resulted in part from direct migration by members of these groups,

. . . only one surname appears to be potentially traceable to a single point of potential origin – Gibson . . .

Within the mid-Atlantic Coastal area, available sources associate the surname Gibson . . . with a single group – the Occaneechi-Saponi descendants residing in the Texas Community in Alamance (and adjacent portions of Caswell and Orange Counties), North Central North Carolina. . . . A recently (page 48) [#52] published history of this Mestizo settlement has brought to light information regarding its relationship to a possible – though potentially circumstantial – contributing source of Melungeon ancestry.

[#52] Forest Hazel – “Occaneechi-Saponi Descendants in the North Carolina Piedmont: The Texas Community,” Southern Indian Studies 40, 1991 : 2-29.

Based on Hazel's research, the remnants of the merged Occaneechi and Saponi Indfians still presiding in their Piedmont homeland settled in about 1757 in what came to be called the Texas Community in Alamance County, (north central) North Carolina. As determined by Hazel, Miller, Swanton. As determined by Hazel, the following surnames are known or thought to be associated with the group (with the earliest presently known appearance of each surname noted in parenthesis): Bunch (1750s), Burnette (1760), Collins (1750s), Corn (early 1800s), Gibson (1750s), Guy (1757), Haithcock/Halthcock/Haitcock (1757), Jeffries (1756), Parker (1752), Stewart/Steward ca. (1760), Watkins (1757), Whitmore (1757).

For the purpose of examining sources of Melungeon origin, it is appropriate to take special note of Hazel's observations that

“There is some evidence that the area of Alamance and Orange Counties may have still had a few settlements of Indians which never left the region, and who consolidated with the Saponi to form the Texas Settlement after the Revolutionary War. Various tax lists for Orange County in the 1750s include several families of so-called mulattos bearing the surnames of Bunches, Gibsons, Collinses . . .

“Some of the . . . Bunches, Gibsons, Collinses, appear to have moved west . . . [ p. 49] and formed the nucleus for the nucleus of the so-called Melungeon Settlement in the vicinity of Hancock County, Tennessee.”

other sources –

Price, “Mixed Blood Populations”
Hazel, Occaneechi-Saponi Descendants

Vance Hawkins said...

Exerpts from the website below --

http://www.ibiblio.org/dig/html/split/report48.html

Beginning with the Revolutionary War, a movement began in two directions from the Greensville County area. One was southwest to form the Texas community while the other was west to Ohio and Indiana. A third migration was from the Texas community to the mountains of western North Carolina, to what became Macon County, North Carolina. Each of these will be discussed later. . .

Please read the whole article. I just excerpt the bit mentioning the same Texas Community above, and now this next paragraph because it mentions the so-called "Portuguese community" -- mised race people wre called Portuguese even though they were mixed race -- White/Black/Indian.

The third and final case, Jeffries vs. O'Brien Guinn et al. (Rush County Clerk of Courts 1869), is the most detailed of the three, and provides more information about the situation of the Indian people while they were living in the Greensville County, Virginia, area. This information is contained in the depositions of four witnesses called by William M. Jeffries to give evidence as to the race and background of his parents. Four persons gave depositions; three of them appear to have been white while the fourth, Shadrack Jeffries, was an Indian and a relative of William Jeffries. All agreed that: (1) Jeffries mother was of Indian and white ancestry; (2) she was born in Northampton County, North Carolina, near the Virginia line; (3) she did not associate with blacks; (4) his father was Macklin Jeffries, of Greensville County, Virginia; and (5) Macklin Jeffries was a mixed-blood Indian. The testimony of Susan Wooten is particularly interesting in that she states that "Jeffries' mother associated with White people and those who had Indian blood with regard to her Indian blood. She descended from an old Indian settlement in that neighborhood." This indicates that: (1) there were a fair number of these Indian people in the area who had social (as well as kinship and marriage) ties; and (2) they stayed in some distinct geographic location. Jeffries's mother, who was named Mary Turner, could have been Nottoway, Saponi, Meherrin, or a member of some other tribe. All three of these tribes lived in that general area and, although the Turner name was found among the Nottoway prior to their absorption into the general population, the "settlement" may also have been that of the Saponi of Greensville County, Virginia, or the so-called Portuguese settlement near Gaston, in Northampton County, North Carolina, where the Turner name also occurs. It may also refer to another settlement entirely. Susan Wooten was born, by her reckoning, in 1799, so the settlement she refers to could have dated to the mid-1700s, if she thinks of it as an "old" settlement. It could conceivably even refer to Junkatapurse, which may have been inhabited until the 1740s.

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

These so-called "Portuguese" were mixed race. Interesting . . . Again these excerpts are scattered. Please read the whole article.

Thank you.

Joanne Pezzullo said...

For the sake of space see the link below for further discussion.

There are many 'so called experts' in the field of Melungeon History today -- few, if any at all, have combined the research of these people -- their genealogies, their settlements, the times in which they lived and foremost --what the 'eyewitnesses to history' had to say about them.

The postings by Vance Hawkins is nothing more than what a few of what he calls 'experts in Melungeons' have written over the years -- outdated research that is 20 years or older.
Joanne Pezzullo

http://boards.ancestry.com/topics.ethnic.melungeon.melungeon/1886/mb.ashx