Tuscarora Roots of the Webb Family

 

 

 [ The People Known as Redbone ]

 

 

 

  

The Tuscarora Indians of Florida

 

How the descendants of exiled Indians

found their place in the Florida frontier.

 

 

 

Written and Compiled by:

David J. Webb

2006

 

 

Copyright ©2006, David J. Webb, all rights reserved.

Citations may be used with the permission of the Author.

 

“Granddad, where did our family come from? What tribe was your family?” “The past is in the past, we can’t worry ‘bout that.” – That was all that you would get out of Jake Stokes, my mother’s grandfather. He was forbidden to talk about his Indian ancestry as a child, and wasn’t about to change in his later years. Obvious to all who met him, Grandpa Jake was at least half Indian. As we will later find, nearly all of his ancestors were Indian, or mix-bloods, originating with the Tuscarora and other North Carolina Tribes. Jake met his wife, Grandma Pearl, in 1927. Pearl was of Indian, Welsh, and Scottish descent as we will find. She would brag of her Indian features, and “straight as a string” black hair of youth. Most of what I will present comes from genealogical research, including vital records, census, and court minutes.

 

Researching the genealogy of mix-blood Indians is especially difficult. Mixed Indian communities were given numerous labels by their White neighbors and by government authorities. These “socially recognized” labels varied depending on their racial make-up. Names included Mustees (Indian and Black), Mulatto (White mixed with Black, but for other reasons this term described Indian and White mixtures as well), Mestizo, a half-breed, or half-blood (Indian and White), and Portuguese, a term which did not generally indicate that the individual was of Portuguese, descent, but rather

described their features. All of these people, including full-blood Indians were classified in legal documents as “Other Free Persons,” or “Free Persons of Color.” ^{23, p170} This often serves as a closed door to most genealogical researchers. When researchers who identify as White see “Free Person of Color” applied to their ancestor, they assume they have the wrong person. This is why when I began my research I found almost all of Jake Stoke’s lines seemed to begin in enigma, where other researchers could go no further. To make matters more confusing, many of these mixed families owned slaves. Jake’s Stokes, Godwin and Lewis lines are prime examples, tracing back to Indian communities along the North Carolina and South Carolina border in the early to mid 1800’s. In this work I will retrace my family’s steps back to these remnant Indians they came from and ultimately to the historic Tuscarora tribe.

 

Tuscarora families who settled together in Florida between 1828 and 1900 include the surnames of Stokes (descended from Milly Chavis), Godwin, Gibson, Smith, Lewis, Driggers, Sweat, and Lowry among numerous others (see appendix). Nearly all of these families are traced to individuals who are first noted in records as Tuscarora Indians. In Florida they settled in an area largely untouched by Europeans. They found a refuge free from the rampant persecution they faced in the Carolinas.

 

The End of Empires

The Tuscarora were once the most powerful tribe in the Eastern Carolinas/ Virginia and perhaps the most powerful in the Southeast. They are of Iroquoian stock; their closest linguistic cousins are the Mohawks of New York. They broke off from their northern cousins between 500- 1,000 years ago by most estimates. Today the Tuscarora are spread between the New York Reservation with the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy, and those who remained in North Carolina. In North Carolina there are still Tuscarora communities such as the Southern Band Tuscarora in Bertie County— their historic territory, as well as to the south in Robeson County. Some North Carolina Tuscarora maintain religious and social ties with the Haudenosaunee, although they chose to remain in their homeland.

 

In the early eighteenth century, after decades of genocide and warfare with the invading Europeans the Tuscarora absorbed several less powerful tribes into their own. Many of these nations had been broken by the White invaders. Seeking protection of the Tuscarora were the Nansemond (and other Powhatan), the Nottoway, the Gingaskin, the Chowanoc from the Bennett’s Creek Reservation, as well as some Saponi (Siouan) from Fort Christiana. Jake Stokes had ancestors (Parkers; Godwins) living on the Bennett’s Creek Reservation. These, and other tribes soon married into, and were adopted into the more powerful entity—the Tuscarora.

 

On February 11, 1715 a treaty of peace was made which ended the infamous Tuscarora War. The Tuscarora had suffered terribly at the hands of the Colonials. The war killed thousands of Tuscarora, and thousands more were sold into slavery³.

 

The familiar story is that after the war most Tuscarora fled to New York to join the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy/ 5 Nations: the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca) but this was not the case. In fact about half of the Tuscarora (1,500) moved to New York. The other half (1,000- 1,500) fled to Virginia, some assuming tributary status under the Colony, but most returned to North Carolina⁴.  Eventually, the descendants of these families spread from Virginia to Florida, and even to the West.

 

On June 5, 1717 these Tuscarora were “given” (from land that was once theirs) 41,000 acres as a reservation. Many of the families who comprise the Lumbee and other modern-day remnant groups can be traced back to the Tuscarora Indians of North Carolina and Virginia. These families resided in Bertie County NC, on the Indian Woods Reservation in the early 1700’s.¹⁰

 

Due to the unimaginable hardships they faced, these Tuscarora families began to scatter from the reservation into the North Carolina Countryside, which at that time was frontier, with very few Whites residing there. In 1730 only 300 individuals remained on the Reservation. Many ended up to the West in Edgecombe County, and later to the South in Robeson and Bladen Counties and in South Carolina. These included the ancestors of Jake and Pearl Stokes, also the ancestors of the modern Lumbee and Tuscarora there.

 

“Before 1835 the Indian people of the region that later became Robeson County were not ethnically categorized. The land was very sparsely settled… while the ancestors of the Lumbee and Tuscarora were not ethnically categorized, several extended family groups migrated into this region from named—i.e., categorized—Native American groups, including the Cheraw and Tuscarora.” ^{23, p.li}   In other words, by moving away from their historic tribal land these families lost their tribal and ethnic identities. The dominant White government later decided to lump them with other “people of color.”

 

By the time these Indian families began to scatter they had already lost much of their traditional tribal governance, clans, and social construct. Dr. Peter Wood, an historian, acclaimed author and professor at Duke University wrote extensively about Tuscarora descendants remaining in North Carolina. He said: "It is important to stress at the outset that since these persons claim to be a significant remnant of the Tuscarora tribe, rather than the continuous center of that tribe therefore, they have not felt able, or compelled, to try to maintain a continuous and documented institutionalized self-governance over the past 250 years. Nor would it be appropriate or logical to expect such a record from this largely forgotten remnant of an already recognized and well-known tribal group." ¹⁰

 

The Survivors: Retracing Their Steps       

Entire villages were massacred and burned to the ground. Families were killed and if women and children survived they were captured and sold into slavery to work in the Caribbean. There were even documented cases of the government deliberately infecting Indians in the Carolinas with smallpox or cowpox. As reservation land was progressively taken by Whites, more problems and legal troubles arose. Soon these families appear to the west in Edgecombe County NC in 1736, “placing them squarely in the pre-war territory of the Tuscarora.”¹⁰ At first this area was sparsely populated by Whites, but this didn’t last long.

 

Soon, as Whites encroached, these remnant Tuscarora moved from Edgecombe to the swamps near the disputed North Carolina/ South Carolina border. By the late 1700’s many of these families were deeding land in Bladen County, which became Robeson County, North Carolina and in nearby South Carolina. This region offered safety for the time being as it was “ineffectively governed by anyone, and thus inhabited by peoples who were not easy to see or engage.” ^{23, p.241}

 

Almost every line from Jake’s family (Stokes, Lewis, Godwin, Tyner,  etc.) can be traced back to Marlboro County, South Carolina and/ or neighboring Robeson County/ Bladen, where thousands of Tuscarora descendants live today. Today there are at least eight separate groups of Tuscarora living in Robeson County in addition to the Lumbee Indians (who are different only in name—the same families). The Tuscarora in Robeson still practice Iroquois ceremonies, and maintain Longhouses, the center of Iroquois religion. Tribal meetings, social dances and ceremonies are held in the Longhouse. Tuscarora culture

is still alive and well in North Carolina.

 

 

What Indians?—Changing Labels to Eradicate a Race

 

In 1835, the constitution on North Carolina was revised, instituting a state-wide disenfranchisement of Indians people. Indians—mixed, or full blood, were now officially “free persons of color.” This included “the ancestors of the present-day Lumbee and Tuscarora….” ^{23, p159}  

As “free persons of color” Indians “lost the right to keep and bear arms, to vote, to testify against Whites in court, to sit on a jury, to attend state-supported schools, and to select ministers for their churches. Most of these are rights that turned out to be directly related to land ownership, although the possession of property by free persons of color did not come under direct legislative assault.” ^{23, p159}  

In the mid 18^th century local Whites from Robeson County were asked to testify, under oath, on the history of the Indians there. There was much confusion as to the origins of these “other free persons of color” who kept to themselves in the swamps. They did not mix with Blacks, and rarely mixed with Whites. The Indian’s White neighbors testified that these people “were never slave” but “were always free”. Yet the label “free persons of Color” stuck until 1885 when they were legally classified as Indians. ^{23, p.li}  

 

In 1872, when describing these free persons of color in court, under oath, most Whites insisted that they were Indian, not Black.

 

“I think they are a mixture of Spanish and Portuguese and Indian. About half of them have straight black hair, as many of the characteristics of the Cherokee of our state…. I do not think that there is much Negro blood at all; about half of the colored population that I have described have always been free…. They are called ‘Mulattoes’; that is the name they are known by, as contradistinguished from Negroes…. At the close of the Revolution War they [the Lowry family] were rich, their riches consisting mostly in slaves.” ^{23, p.167}

 

“I think the father [of Henry Barry Lowry] was Indian; I think the family has about the characteristics of the Cherokees of our state. The mother was named Cumbo [also Indian], and I think that it is likely that there may have been some White blood in the Cumbo family. ^{23, p.166}

 

In the same hearing a local pastor wrote:

“We would premise in the first place that [they] are free from all taint of negro blood. They are said to be descended from the Tuscarora Indians. They have always claimed to be Indian and disdain the idea that they are in any way connected with the African race.” ^{23, p.170}

 

 

In addition to living in Robeson County, Jake’s family also lived “south of the border.” Local Indian family histories speak of people moving back and forth over the state line, while maintaining “kinship, social and religious” ties. ^{23, p.171} An 1759 petition featuring the Jones, Lewis, and Chavis families states that they are “free persons of color being of Indian ancestors.” They were contesting the poll tax “imposed on free persons of color, for the sum of $8 each.” “Other free persons” had to pay a poll tax. The petitioners were “of Indian blood, that is to say Frederick Lewis and Durany Chavis… pray to your honorable body to say whether by free persons of color they mean to include descendants of Indians, or only those who are mixed with negro blood, in order that they may know whether they are liable for this tax or not.” ^{23, p.171}

 

Stories of the “tied Mule” still linger among our relatives who remained along the NC and SC border. This was one common strategy used by Whites to vacate Indians from their land. “A neighboring White farmer would tie his mule on an Indian’s land, or put a fresh-killed hog in an Indian-owned smokehouse, raise the sheriff and claim theft; then a locally convened all-White jury would force a land sale for payment of the fine.” ^{23, p159}

 

In an 1857 North Carolina court case that made it all the way to the Supreme Court, William Chavis was indicted under a law prohibiting free Negroes from carrying guns. Chavis’ appeal focused on “whether a free person of color could be charged under laws pertaining to free negroes; the decision was no.” ^{23, p.172}   It was deemed that “free persons of color” are not synonymous with “free negroes.”

 

There are numerous other examples of foul treatment, ending in many individuals and entire families being deemed “outlaws” such as Gideon Gibson, and Henry Barry Lowry. Oftentimes the only crime committed was not paying the poll tax. One can only imagine the hardships Jake’s family endured, and why they ultimately fled the Carolinas. These uprooted Indian families must have been praying for a new, free start in Florida.

 

The Move to Florida

It is no surprise that these Indian families fled their homes in the Carolinas to make a new life in Florida, and to forget their painful past. One author states that upon leaving their previous home, these Indian families made a solemn vow “never to tell from where they came.”¹⁶ Grandpa Jake was a perfect example of this, never discussing his family’s past. Indian families often had to relocate multiple times within a generation due to White encroachment and land-grabbing. In addition to this, legislators made it virtually illegal to be Indian with measures such as the Indian Removal Act.

 

 

 The first Stokes to come to Florida followed this exact migration route. Some made the move directly from Marlboro County, South Carolina (adjacent to Robeson County, NC) to Florida; others took longer— staying in Southern Georgia before continuing south. Mr. Hill describes both of these patterns. As he states above, some of the earlier immigrants settled in Western Florida. Some of these families continued west to Louisiana, where they are known as Redbones. Others

 

 spread to the Alabama border, including the Gibsons, who mixed with the local Creeks and are now known as the “Poarch Creek Indians.” Some of our ancestors, such as Burrell Thomas Stokes, and Isham Lewis served alongside the Poarch Creeks in the Florida Militia—in the Seminole War. The Poarch Creeks are today a federally recognized tribe and operate a 1,700-seat high-stakes bingo hall.²¹

 

The Stokes’ soon continued south, from North Florida into Central Florida, settling from Alachua to Polk County, and still continued to move around the area at least once a generation. When other family members later joined them at their new communities, they came directly from South Carolina and Georgia, bypassing North Florida. The other families who joined the Stokes there were

all of mixed-Indian descent (including at least 17 Lumbee/ Tuscarora surnames, some of which only exist there). All of this can be seen in census records—the moving and the names of neighbors. Although they followed the same routes, it appears that Jake’s ancestors had unique stories. Below, I will discuss each of our Indian lines, and how they made their way to Florida.

 

 

 

The Stokes Family

 

This researcher was actually in the dark about much of his mother’s family history until May of 2006.

 

 

 

 

I, as the rest of my family, was under the impression that Jake Stokes was of Seminole descent, and that explained his appearance. This was all that was offered to us of the family history. Then, while having an e-mail discussion with Pony Hill (an expert on SE Indians remnant groups) about my father’s family who are enrolled Tuscarora of North Carolina, I mentioned that my mother was a Stokes of Seminole descent. He replied that the Stokes are known among Marlboro County, SC Indians, and are descended from the Chavis family. Further research confirmed Mr. Hill’s claim.

 

The Stokes family appears to be descended from a David Stokes who came to America from England. His son Thomas Stokes married the daughter of Milly Chavis in about 1780.

 

Before this, from 1736 onwards, these Chavis, Kearsey, Cumbo, and Lowry families were all residing on the Tuscarora reservation. ¹⁰ James Lowry and his Tuscarora wife, Sarah Kearsey were recorded there. ⁶ These families would later move to what is now Robeson County and make up the core of the Lumbee and Tuscarora tribes there—some continued to Florida.

 

Ishmael Chavis (Chavers) was a descendant of Bartholomew Chavis, recorded on the Tuscarora Indian Woods Reservation in Bertie County. Also living near him were William and Phillip Chavis. These three individuals later migrate to Bladen/ Robeson County in 1771 and are the ancestors of many Tuscarora living there today. ²⁴  Their brother Richard was the ancestor of Jake Stokes, he moved to neighboring Marlboro County, South Carolina. There he had his daughter Milly Chavis, her grandson was Absolam Stokes (born: about 1790).

 

In Marlboro County, SC, the Chavises are referred to as having “straight as an arrow, raven locks, prominent raised cheekbones, complexion brownish red.” It was also said that they “scorn (refuse) to associate with Negroes, cannot with the better class of Whites, and yet many of them are good people, industrious, honest, humble citizens.” ²⁶

 

Absalom Stokes was part of the Indian migration from South Carolina to Northwest Florida. Absalom was born in South Carolina in 1790. In 1820 he was still living there (SC Federal Census Index SCS2a 1206648). By 1850 Absalom was living on the Choctawhatchee River in Walton County in the Florida Panhandle (FL Federal Census Index FLS5a 1647344).

 

Absalom’s son, Burrell Thomas Stokes (born: 2/23/1817), served in the Florida Militia as other Mix-bloods did at this time, noted by S. Pony Hill. Thomas was married to Levicy Altman (born: 3/1/1824). Levicy was also Indian (as seen in her photo), although at this time her origins are unknown. Some family history indicates that she was Cherokee, and may have been adopted, although this author is unsure. They later settled in Central Florida, on the Kissimmee River in Polk County. Burrell Thomas and Levicy’s son, Daniel Webster Stokes (born: 3/15/1859) married Virginia Lucretia “Babe” Lewis (born: 2/14/1862). They were Jake’s grandparents (see photos in appendix).  

 

The Lewis Family

The Lewises are often referred to in records pertaining to “other free persons.” A Frederick Lewis is named in an 1859 petition to escape the poll tax. ^{23, p.171} A James Lewis (which is probably Isham’s father, James) is documented as a resident of Bladen, now Robeson County in the early 1800’s. ²⁷  On the 1880 census the Lewises note that they once lived in NC and South Carolina, which leads one to believe that they were near the border. Others just left this blank. In Florida, they married heavily into the Stokes, Rhoden and Arnold families. The Arnolds are well documented as Powhatan/ Pamunkey Indian (see family photo, all individuals look mixed-race).

 

Jake’s grandmother was Virginia “Babe” Lewis. (see photo). Babe’s father was Isham Lewis (see photo, he very much resembled cousins in Robeson County), Babes mother was Lucretia Kirkland. They were married in Bullock County, Georgia. The Kirklands are known among Georgia’s Redbone Indians. Isham and his wife Lucretia could not read or write—common for Indians (1880 census). Their family is documented as owning slaves in Georgia, which was not uncommon for other mix-bloods. Many Cherokee and Creeks owned slaves as did Tuscarora and Lumbee, including members of the Chavis and Lowry family.

 

 

 

 

 

Year after year the birthplaces were left blank on census records. This follows the pattern of other Indians trying to escape new laws in the Carolinas. In 1880 Isham and Lucretia lived in a town called Locklear, in Manatee County, FL. Their neighbors answered the census similarly, and also had Indian surnames, such as Kearsey, Parker, Lowry, and Locklear (for whom the town was most likely named). The Locklears originated among the Lumbee and Tuscarora. Isham’s first marriage was to Matilda Gibson, who, as a Gibson was probably also Indian.

 

Oddly, when Isham died, he was buried at an unmarked grave, at an unknown location on Brahma Island, a small Island in the Kissimmee River.

 

The Godwin Family

Dolly Godwin, Jake’s mother was the daughter of two mix-blood Indians. Her father was Lewis Godwin and her mother was Josie Monts de Oca. Josie was descended from a Spaniard who came to Florida and married and Seminole woman named Mary. Lewis Godwin’s family followed the migration route from North Carolina. ²⁵ Lewis’s ancestor, James Godwin lived and owned land in Sampson County (adjoining Robeson) in 1792. His brother, David was married while living in Bladen County (now Robeson) in 1770. The entire family was there, among the other Indians.

 

In 1782 Alexander Godwin, cousin of James’s joined the Bladen County Militia, under Captain Dupre. The report describes Alexander Godwin, 31, born 1744, as dark complexioned, with brown eyes, and black hair. Today, some distant cousins are now members of the Lumbee, the Tuscarora in Robeson, and the nearby Waccamaw Siouan Tribe, who moved through Bladen (now Robeson) County. The Waccamaw Godwins married into the Webbs and Mitchells, descended from Chief Billy Mitchell of the Tuscarora.

 

Jake’s Godwins also trace back to the Bennett’s Creek Reservation which was at the time inhabited by Tuscarora and other tribes. James Godwin, ancestor of Dolly, was the son of Mary Parker, whose family is well documented as being among the last Tuscarora on the reservation after 1730 (along with the Webbs).

 

 

The Gibson Family

 

 

Nettie Pearl’s mother was Linnie Gibson. Pearl claimed that her grandfather, Amanta Gibson was Welsh. But further research indicates that while he may have been part Welsh, he was also Indian. Her Gibsons were indeed dark skinned, and had Indian features as seen in photos. Amanta was very dark in skin tone, and had small, dark eyes, black hair, and Indian facial structure—unlike any Welshman.

 

 

 

“The Gibson’s were Siouan Indian inhabitants of the Tuscarora reservation, and also shared a common ancestry with the Chavis family.”⁶ According to genealogist Paul Heinegg, the Gibson family probably derived from Elizabeth Chavis, whose descendants are listed as "mulattos."¹⁸  Elizabeth Chavis’ father was Thomas Chavis, (1627) who lived near the North Carolina/ Virginia border. Elizabeth petitioned for her son Gibson Gibson’s release from an “unlawful indenture.” There was no race indicated in this court record, but all of “Gibson’s descendants were mixed-race” as were all of the Chavis. ²⁴

The Gibson family is well documented as mix-bloods, making research relatively easy. The Gibsons are found among Redbones and Melungeons. Historically, the Gibsons were linked with the Gingaskin (Algonquin) Res. in Virginia as well as the Tuscarora Reservation in Bertie. Some moved to South Carolina, our Gibson line continued to Florida¹⁷— Some of these Gibsons are members of the Poarch Creeks in the Florida Panhandle/ Alabama.

 

In South Carolina the Gibsons are later noted as a "gang of bandits, a numerous collection of outcast Mulattos, Mustees (Mestizos—Indians), etc. all horse thieves from the borders of Virginia and other northern Colonies...headed by one Gideon Gibson..." Henry Laurens, a prominent Charleston, SC Merchant, described Gideon in this way: "Reasoning from the colour carries no conviction...Gideon Gibson escaped the penalties of the Negro law by producing upon comparison more of the red and white in his face than can be discovered in the faces of half the descendants of the French refugees in our House of Assembly."¹⁹  In other words he was not Black at all, but Indian and White.

 

Gideon’s wife was White. ¹⁹ Gideon Gibson, Sr. was also noted as marrying a White woman when it was announced in the South Carolina House of Assembly Chambers that he and other “Free colored men with their White wives had immigrated from Virginia with the intention of settling on the Santee River” in northern South Carolina. ¹⁹

 

Pearl’s maiden name was Hunter. While the research has not been completed to trace her Hunters, there are a number of Hunters listed among these same mix-blood communities.

 

Life in Florida

“When Indians moved out of Robeson County, they ceased in many ways to be regarded as Indian, or to be able to maintain ethnic sociability in their daily lives.” ^{23, p.39}   Jake’s family was no exception, no longer deemed Mulattos they were deemed White. When Jake’s ancestors moved away from that area—Bladen, Robeson, Marlboro, etc. they seemed to choose communities that already had other mix-bloods living there. Walton County, Kissimmee, and Locklear were all such communities in Florida. It didn’t take long however, for them to inter-marry with Whites in Florida.

 

Much of what we know about life in frontier Florida comes from Jake Stoke’s Aunt Julie Ann “Sweet” Lewis. Sweet was an Arnold, a Pamunkey (Powhatan) Indian. She married Uncle Bud Lewis, Babe’s brother. Sweet died in the late 1980’s and lived to be over 100 years old.

 

 Sweet’s stories come from an interview by Doris Moody. She tells of what it was like for our families in 1886 and beyond. Aunt Sweet’s family, the Arnolds, were neighbors of the Stokes, Lewis, Rhoden, Godwin, Lowry, Kearsey and Monts de Oca families. Members from all of these

families can be seen in the family photo in the appendix.

Nearly all of them look mixed-blood or full-blood Indian.  

 

The Arnolds first had to live in a lean-to until their cabin was built after they arrived in Florida. They made the bricks for their chimney by stomping the clay and shaping each one by hand. The kitchen was separate from the house and consisted of a scaffold and an open fire. To clean the floors of the house they would spread sand over them and scrub the wood with a corn husk. The description of Aunt Sweet’s first Florida home is reminiscent of the “mulatto cabin”

described by a White resident of Robeson County after the Civil War. ^{23, p. 161}

 

It appears that the Arnolds, and others moved to Florida with little of anything. This makes them sound more like refugees than immigrants. They had no lamps, or lanterns. For light they would light a “splinter” on fire, or cover a piece of “knotty pine” in fat, which burned for a long while. Aunt Sweet tells that “Granny Lewis” used one such torch to make it to the Stokes’ house to help deliver John. It was a long period before they could dig a well so they just collected water from a “bay head.” When the well was finally dug they would have to filter the water to remove the dirt. Laundry was just done by boiling the clothes.

 

Aunt Sweet tells of how our families grew peas, corn, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, collards and onions. They made “Indian style” hominy out of the corn and ground their corn meal by hand. They would shape the cornmeal into “pones” which was a type of flat bread, a tradition passed down from their ancestors. Sweet said they also made “sweet ‘tater pones.” The men would bring home swamp cabbage along with venison and hog meat.

 

 

 

Our families have long maintained close ties with the Seminoles. Dolly Godwin (born: 11/23/1889), Jake’s mother was “part” Seminole (through the Monts de Oca line). Her husband, Tallahassee Stokes (born: 9/9/1886) was given that name by Chief Tallahassee, “nephew of old Chipco.” This band of Seminole often camped with our Indian families, and traded. The Seminoles would trade meat for milk and gave our families Banana, Guava, and Oranges to grow. Caroline, Aunt Sweet’s mother made a long shirt for Chief Tallahassee out of red striped fabric.²⁰ These ties have been kept until recent times. A cousin, James Monts de Oca’s obituary read: “Friend to Seminoles.” James spent all but three years of his life working with the Seminole Cattle ranchers and was hired as the special liaison between the County and the Seminoles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tracing the genealogy of our mixed-blood families is especially difficult, information is slow to surface, and we may never find the details we need. Oftentimes one must put aside their desire to find all that potentially could be discovered using conventional genealogy. Photographs of Jake and Pearl’s Indian ancestors may offer proof of their origins, but only leave more unanswered questions. We now know that they can all be traced back to documented Indian communities in Virginia and the Carolinas, but there is still much to learn. The Florida frontier offered them a safe new home for them to form new communities and thrive. The hardships they escaped in the Carolinas were unimaginable to us, and we are here today as a testament to their strength, adaptability, and will to survive.
 

 

 

APPENDIX

Photos: Family

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos: Extended Family

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Key to photo on previous page— Jake Stokes is the author’s maternal g-grandfather.

 

 

 

Maps

North Carolina in 1797.

Robeson County Indian Surnames (Tuscarora and Lumbee):

Barnes
Bell
Blanks
Blue
Brayboy
Brewington
Brooks
Bryant
Bullard
Bunch
Bird/Byrd
Carter
Cannady
Cersey/Kersey
Chavis/Chavous
Clark
Cox
Cumbo
Dees
Dial
Freeman
Godwin
Goings/Gowen
Hammond,Hamans
Hardin/Harden

Harris
Hunt
Ivey
Jacobs Tyrone
Jones
Kersey
Kinlaw
Lawson
Locklear
Lowry/Lowrie
McNeill
Manuel/Emanuel
Mainor/Maynor
Moore
Oxendine
Perkins
Ratliff
Revels
Sampson
Santee
Swett/Sweat
Taylor
Townsend
Warrick
West
Wilkins
Woods

 

Surnames from which the Author is Descended:

“*” denotes surname is found among NC, VA, and SC Indians

All of the below families originated in VA, NC, or SC.

Stokes: Descended from Thomas Chavis. Continued to marry the Indian families below.
*Godwin: Found in Robeson NC and SC, one of the Author’s closest lines.
*Lewis: Found in Robeson NC and SC, one of the Author’s closest lines.
*Chavis (Chavers): Tuscarora in origin. Found in Robeson NC and SC. The author is descended from Milly Chavis. Her ancestors were recorded on the Tuscarora Indian Woods Reservation in Bertie County. This family later migrated to Bladen/ Robeson County in 1771 and are the ancestors of many Tuscarora living there today.

Monts de Oca: Cuban/ Seminole family. Cuban born Don Juan Monts De Oca married a Seminole woman named “Mary” in Tampa. One of the Authors closest lines.
*Kirkland: Found among Redbones
*Silves (Silvers): Today found among Haliwa in NC.
*Gibson: Found in Redbones and Melungeons. Gibsons were linked with the Gingaskin (Algonquin) Res. in NH, VA, as well as the Tuscarora Reservation in Bertie. Some moved south to Peedee, our Gibson line continued to Florida¹⁷— Some are members of the Poarch Creeks. Others splintered and are ancestors of Chrys Stokes, mother of the Author. “The Gibson’s were Siouan Indian inhabitants of the Tuscarora reservation, and also shared a common ancestry with the Chavis family.”⁶ According to genealogist Paul Heinegg, the Gibson family probably derived from Elizabeth Chavis, whose descendants are listed as "mulattos."¹⁸  In SC they are noted as a "gang of bandits, a numerous collection of outcast Mulattos, Mustees (Mestizos—Indians), Free Negroes, etc. all horse thieves from the borders of Virginia and other northern Colonies...headed by one Gideon Gibson..." Henry Laurens, a prominent Charleston, SC Merchant, described Gideon in this way: "Reasoning from the colour carries no conviction...Gideon Gibson escaped the penalties of the Negro law by producing upon comparison more of the red and white in his face than can be discovered in the faces of half the descendants of the French refugees in our House of Assembly."¹⁹

 

Surnames Tied to the Author by Marriage (not mentioned above):
*Lowry- Tuscarora surname. Found in Robeson NC and SC
*Driggers- The original "Driggers" was Emmanuel "Rodriguez" an Brazilian Indian (Portuguese) slave owned by Francis Pott, a not so well to do English land owner in Magotha Bay, Northhampton County Virginia. He was to be known as the patriarch of the Driggers family in Virginia.

Emmanuel’s descendant Jacob N. Driggers was born in Bullock County, Georgia in September of 1815, the son of William and Millie Lastinger Parker Driggers. This Driggers family ended up moving to FL in the mid-1800’s (along with the Kirklands) where they lived near and married into the Author’s family in Polk Co. Fl.

Arnold- The Arnold and Sweat families are well documented as derived from the Pamunkey (Powhatan). (info from Pony Hill email 9/6/06)

*Kearsey- Tuscarora,  found in Robeson NC and SC
*Sweat- Pamunkey and Tuscarora in origin; found in Robeson NC and SC. ...The Sweat familiy is one of the few families among the Pamunkey who are one of the original Pamunkey families...most of the others are descended from other remnant Indians who filtered in (Gingaskin, Catawba, etc.)..the Catawba were well documented to have resided on the Pamunkey Reservation and traveled back and forth between Sc and VA as early as before the Rev War (in fact it is on the Pamunkey reserve where the majority of the Catawba Tribe fled during the onset of the Rev War)...many Pamunkey were also living among the Catawba. (info from Pony Hill email 9/6/06)
*Jacobs- Tuscarora; found in Robeson NC and SC
*Gowens/ Goins/ Guins- Tuscarora; found in Robeson NC and SC
*Carter- Found in Robeson NC and SC
*Clark
*Taylor- Tuscarora
*Bennett- Tuscarora
Rhoden- The Rhodens were Indian, but their origin is unknown at this point.
Brown-

Waters-

Other Neighbors/ Community Members (Not Mentioned Above):

*Blount- Tuscarora; found in Robeson NC and SC descended from Chief Thomas Blount.
*Cumba/ Cumbo- Tuscarora; found in Robeson NC and SC
*Strickland- Found in Robeson NC and SC
Scott- Siouan
*Perkins- Tuscarora, found in Robeson
Parker- Tuscarora surname
Willis
Hill
*Bunch- Found in Robeson NC and SC

 

 

CITATIONS

 

1                    Douglas W. Boyce; Notes on the Tuscarora Political Organization, 1650-1713. (Master’s Thesis in Anthropology, University of North Carolina) 1971, p.6, p.26.

2                    John R. Swanton; The Indians of The Southeastern United States. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. 1946; 1987.

3                    Wood, “The Changing Population of the Colonial South,” 45; J. Leitch Wright, Jr., The Only Land They Knew: The Tragic Story of the American Indians of the Old South (New York: The Free Press, 1981) p. 143.

4                    Boyce, Iroquoian Tribes in the Virginia-North Carolina Coastal Plain, p. 287.

5                    Vest, From Nansemond to Monacan, American Indian Quarterly; Vol. 27, numbers 3,4. 2003. p. 782.

6                    S. Pony Hill Origins of Lumbee No Mystery. http://sciway3.net/clark/freemoors/lumbee.html 2006.

7                    Hayes, Faye. Lost Webbs of Chowan, Gates, Perquimans Counties, and Connections. http://genforum.genealogy.com/webb/messages/14933.html 2006.

8                    Theda Perdue. Native Carolinians: The Indians of North Carolina. Division of Archives and History- Raleigh. 1985.

9                    Elias Johnson. Legends, Traditions, and Laws of the Iroquois or Six Nations and the History of the Tuscarora Indians. Kessinger Publishing’s Rare Reprints.

10                Peter H. Wood. An Historical Report Regarding the Relation of the Hatteras Tuscarora Tribe of Robeson County, North Carolina, to the Original Tuscarora Indian Tribe. Durham N.C. 1992. (Sited with permission of the author)

11                Michael G. Johnson. Men at Arms: American Woodland Indians. University Park: Osprey. 1990; reprint 2005.

12                Michael Johnson. Encyclopedia of Native Tribes of North America. Edison: Cartwell. 1999.

13                Helen C. Roundtree. Tribal History. http://www.nansemond.org/history.shtml 2006.

14                Mark A. Mathis & Jeffery J. Crow. The Prehistory of North Carolina: An Archaeological Symposium. Raleigh: North Carolina Division of Archives and History. 1983.

15                Alan D. Watson. Edgecombe County: A Brief History. Raleigh: North Carolina Division of Archives and History. 1979.

16                Alan D. Watson. Bertie County: A Brief History. Raleigh: North Carolina Division of Archives and History. 1982.

17                S. Pony Hill. Cheraw Indians of Florida. http://sciway3.net/clark/freemoors/CherawIndiansofFL.htm retrieved on Jul 2, 2006 20

18                Wekipedia: Free Encyclopedia. Melungeon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melungeon   retrieved on Jul 2, 2006.

19                S. Pony Hill. http://sciway3.net/clark/freemoors/Indian.htm  retrieved on Jul 2, 2006.

20                Doris Moody Lewis. The Kissimmee Island “Piney Wood Rooters.” Tampa: Words and Numbers, Inc. 1985.

21                Redbones. www.archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/mixed-marriages/2000-07/0963280591 retrieved on August 14, 2006.

22                J. Anthony Paredes. The Poarch Creeks: Florida’s Third Tribe. Forum. Fall 1992.

23                Gerald Sider. Living Indian Histories: Lumbee and Tuscarora People in North Carolina. UNC Press, Chapel Hill. 1993, 2003.

24                Paul Henigg. Free African Americans: Chavis Family. Freeafrican americans.com/chavisfamily. Retrieved on December 11, 2006.

25                Elizabeth E. Ross. Family Bible Records of Johnston County North Carolina. 1978.

26                S. Pony Hill. Native Americans of South Carolina. http://sciway3.net/clark/freemors/1893Marlboro.html.  Retrieved December 11, 2006

27                J.D. Lewis The Lewis Families of Southeastern North Carolina/ Northeastern South Carolina. 2002 http://www.senclewises.com Retrieved December 11, 2006.