Newspapers / The News-Herald (Ahoskie, N.C.) / Jan. 1, 1959, edition 1 / Page 79
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1 ( AN INTtITUTION OF COMMUNITY SERVICE SINCE 1909 ) Hertford County 1759-1959 The Herald 1909-1959 ' Pages—This Section Ahoskie. N. C. Milestone Year—1959 HERTFORD'S FIRST PEOPLE: Happy Life, Sad Ending for County's Indians The American Revolution was only IG years away when the Legisla ture of the English Colony of North Cm-olina pasod a law creating the county of Hertford. There were many counties older than the new comity. The state had been formed for nearly a hundred years. Settlers had been in America for 150 years. But the history of ‘‘Hertford County” goes back further than that day in 1759. For the white man, the story of the county begins less than 100 years after Columbus sailed to the islands of the Caribbean. For the Indian, the story of the county goes back into unrecorded years. The story of Hertford County is, of course, no isolated story. It is a part of the big story of North Carolina, and of the United States of America. Enter: The Priests of Spain . . . The story of Hertford County probably begins sometime around the middle of the 16th Century. By this time, Spain had a great empire in America. Spanish explorers from Florida and the islands of the West Indies were marching deep into what is now the United States. Spanish ships sailed along- the coast of what is now North Carolina. In 1540, Hernando De Soto, a famous Spanish explorer, marched through what is western North Carolina. And a few years later, according to Spanish records, Spanish priests established a mission of the Catholic Church on an Island in Chesapeake Bay—-the priests wanted to preach to the Indians. The mission was not there a few years later when the first English explorers arrived; but these Englishmen, in talking to the Indians who lived in what is now Hertford County, got the idea that the red men cilready knew of the white man. Two Englishmen Make a Search However, the first white men to know of the area that is now Hert ford County were the Englishmen Philip Armadas and Arthur Barlowe, sent by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584 to explore and lind a site for an English colony. They landed -on the outer banks of North Carolina and took possession of the land for England’s Queen Elizabeth. While they did not directly explore the area, in their talk with coastal Indians, the two Englishmen learned of the area. In their report, they described the “Nomopana” river (the Chowan), and the ‘‘great Indian town of Chowanook,” As a result of their report, the first white man to explore the area was soon to arrive. County. The Chowan and Meherrin lived along the banks of the county’s rivers and streams, hunted and planted their crops in the forests of the county. Another tribe, the famous Tuscarora, hunted in the area that is now Hertford County, but as far as we know, had no villages in the area. (The beach now known as ‘‘Tuscarora Beach” got its name less than 50 years ago.) The story of these Indian tribes is a sad one. For, even before Hertford County was formed, most of them had been killed by warfare or disease, had become slaves, or had moved to lands further away. All that is left of them today are the musical names and numerous "artifacts” (arrowheads, spear points, axe heads, fragments of pottery, and bone ornaments) which have been collected by young,and old for many years. Nearly every section of the county has yielded these evidences of the first people of Hertford County. CHOWAN: Sad End for Aristocrats Lane's Expedition Goes Calling . . . Captain Ralph Lane, with 108 men. was sent to the ‘‘Newfound-land of Virginia” by Sir Walter Raleigh and on June 26, 1585, landed at Ocracoke, on the coast of North Carolina. Sometime in August of the same year. Lane and a party of his men explored up the Chowan River, and visited the Indian towns of Chanoak —located at about the present town of Winton. and Chowanook, the ' chief village of the Chowan Indians.' There he talked with Menatonon, chief of the Chowan, and made plans to explore as far as Chesapeake Bay, 1 Lane took the son of Menatonon—Skyco—as a hostage baik to his carnp. Later, when the Indian tribes planned an attack on the Lane colonists. Menatonon tried to stop them, and young Skyco warned Lane of the impending attack. Lane was soon in so much trouble with the Indians, that he left to go back to England in 1.586, leaving 15 men to hold the fort on Roanoke Island. These men were killed by the Indians. Lost Colony Meets a Chieftain . . A year later, in 1587, the famous ‘‘Lost Colony” arrived on the island. The colonists also dealt with the Chowan, and Menatonon and his family escaped to the fort when enemy tribes killed many of the Chowan. Shortly after that, the "Lost Colony” disappeared, and the first contact of the white man with the region that is now Hertford County was ended. It was to be perhaps a half century before more Englishmen began drifting southward into the area. One of the most famous books of early American literature has come out of these early explorations—and the book contains descriptions of the Indians who lived in present-day Hertford County. Thomas Hariot, a member of Lane’s colony and later a famous English mathematician, wrote "A Briefe and True Report of the Newfound-land of Virginia” to report of the land and the people of the area. Hertford's Indians: No one who lives in present-day Hertford County has to be told that the county owes a debt to its first inhabitants—the Indians. Practically all of the natural features of the county bear names derived from the ‘‘red men.” Chowan, Meherrin. Potecasi. 'Wiccacon, Cutawhiskic, Chink apin,. and, of course, Ahoskie, all bear names given to them by Indians. Two principal tribes made their home in what is now Hertford The Chowan or "Chowanoke” Indians were the earliest of the tribes known to have lived in what is Hertford County. It was this tribe which saw the first Englishmen come to America. When Captain Ralph Lane, commander of the first English colony on Roanoke Island, explored down the Chowan River in 1585 he met the "Chawanook” in their towns —Chanoak, Remushounog, and Chawanook. On Lane’s earliest map of the Indian tribes, he does not definitely locate the town oi Chawanook itself, but Chanoak is shown at about, the present location of Winton, and Ramushounog is located in the neck of land between the Meherrin and Chowan rivers. The Chowan were some of the earliest friends of the white man. They befriended the men of the Lane colony, and the people of the famous "Lost Colony,” which.came two years later. The. tribe which the earliest English explorers met was a large one, under a famous Indian king. Menatonon, who ruled all of the Chowan towns. Lane found Menatonon ‘‘a very grave and wise man.” The chief told Lane of other Indians to the north—probably on Cheasapeake Bay— who possessed a great number of pearls; the English captain made plans to go to the tribe, but his food supply became low. Instead, he took Mcnatonon’s son—Skyco—as a hostage back I'o Roanoke Island. De.spito this, when other tribes nearby Roanoke Island planned to attack Captain Lane, Menatonon tried to stop them, and young Skyco discov ered a plot to attack the English. Probably because of this, the Chowan lost many men in a fierce war with the hostile tribes; and two years later, Menatonon, his wife and young son and some other Indians were forced to flee to the fort of the Lost Colony on Roanoke Island. This chief and his family may have been at the fort when Virginia Dare, the first white English girl born in America, was born. According to the Governor’s report, they arrived only a week before the birth of Virginia Dare. And may have been at Fort Raleigh when the little girl was christened. Soon, however, the Lost Colony was to disappear, and the Chowan and the other tribes were not to see the white man for perhaps 50 years. The Chowan were still an important tribe when the Englishman began drifting into North Carolina from Virginia. A party of Virginia explorers, led by Edward Bland, explored the Chowan River region in 1651 and told of war between the Chowan and the Powhatan, a powerful tribe which lived in southern Virginia. Within fifty years after the first settlers, however, the Chowan were reduced to a few families. Their decline began in 1675, only 12 years after North Carolina became a colony, when they made war on the settlers. At the end of the war, they were reduced to a small number and assigned to a tract of land on Bennett’s Creek in what is now Gates County. The reservation was supposed to contain 12 square miles, but it was never laid out by the government, was later reduced to six square miles about 1706. By then, there were only about 15 fighting men left in the tribe. When the mighty Tuscarora savagely attacked the North Carolina settlors in 1712 in the ‘‘Tuscarora War,” the small group of Chowan, under the command of "Chief John Hoyter,” allied themselves with the English. In 1714, Chief Hoyter, in a petition to the government, said his men had been eight«expeditions against the “Indyan Enemy” and that they had lost “seventy-five head of hoggs, a Mare & Colt their come destroyed ...” About 20 years later, the small band of Chowan were given permis sion to join the Tuscarora in their big reservation in the ‘‘Indian Woods” of Bertie County. The last mention of the earliest inhabitants of what is now Hertford County was in 1755, when Governor Arthur Dobbs re ported that the tribe consisted of two men and five women who were "ill used by their neighbors.”' Chief John Hoyter of the Chowan deserves mention as one of the most famous Indian leaders. The colonial records show that nearly every year for more than a decade he valiantly tried, through petitions to the government, to save his little band from the white settlers who sought his land and took his people as slaves. MEHERRIN: A Shameful Usage . .. The Meherrin Indians lived along the river which bears their name, and their story is much like that of the Chowan. When the white man began settling in the region, the Meherrin, who were of the same Iro- quoin stock as the Tuscarora, were forced from their hunting grounds and put in reservations. One of the chief Meherrin Indian towns was in the neck of land between the Meherrin and Chowan rivers, on the site of an ancient village of the Chowan Indians. Several white explorers from Virginia visited the Meherrin before North Carolina became a colony. They Baptist Church Formed in 1873 Tall Trees Gave Brantley Its Name In 1873, it was a long nine miles from Ahoskie Church to Sally Archer’s Crossroads. Even the en thusiasm of the Baptist farmers who lived between these two wide spots in the road was dampened by the long ride to attend services at Ahoskie. One of their members, Brother James Brantly, solved the prob lem, Meeting with their fellow Baptists, James and his wife, Elizabeth, agreed to deed a piece of land to be used as a site for a church building. The group re solved ito form their own church, and appointed trustees. In the deed, recorded in ttic county courthouse on March 4, 1873, the Brantlys gave 75 yards square (about an acre) for the location of a Baptist church. The deed says the land is ‘‘on the road running from Ahoskie Church to Sally Archer Cross roads, opposite school house No. 10.” It also provides that if the land is ever put to any use except for a church or school, it shall revert to the estate of James Brantly. Set in the grove of trees which stood on James Brantly's land, the church was given his name, with an "e” added before the final "y.” The original deed is made to John R, Dilday (some times spelled Dildie in the rec ords), Samuel Bacchus, Daniel Overton, W. C. Overton and Zephaniah'Brown. These men served as trustees of the church for the next four years, during which members met in “school house No. 10” and work ed towards erecting a building on their land. The progress of the church con struction is recorded' without fan fare in the minutes of the church conferences, now in the posses sion of the eldest deacon, 'W. R. Willoughby, wfiio lives about throe miles from the church. The Willoughby family name is re corded among the earliest mem bers of the church, along with those of the families of Parker, Dildie, Holloman, Doughtie, Ov erton find Godwin, First Church In December 1877, the church records show' that G. V. Dildie (or Dilday) was appointed to get timber to build a church. In 1878, one item of business showed that $2.90 was raised to send delegates to the Union meeting that year. They wouldn’t get far on that amount today! 'The church was completed in the latter part of 1877, and the Rev. W. C. Overton was called as the first pastor. Church Rules The Baptists dealt fairly, but firmly, with each other in the late 19th century, judging from the church records. In the “Rules of Decorum” which the Brantley’s Grove members adopted for themselves on September 8, 1877, they declared: "Any member neglecting to attend conference or absenting himself without leave, or talk ing or laughing in lime of pub lic speaking, or more than one speak at the same time, or any member in health speaking without rising and addressing the Moderator, or any member speaking more than three limes on the same subject without leave obtained, or anyone hold ing his peace and when con ference adjourns expresses dis satisfaction at anything done in conference, or any member speaking in anger or in any threatening or degrading man ner the same is disorder, and it shall be the duty of the Moderator to plainly and timely reprove such disorder." They also exacted discipline for drinking, “unless as a medi cine,” and ruled that “if any member has or tolerates dancing shall for the first offense be dealt usually spoke of the Meherrin along with the Nottoway and the Pow hatan. Indian tribes of southern Virginia. The Meherrin at first were peaceful with the white men, but in 1675 they, too, were incited to war by Virginia tribes and were badly beaten. They were ordered to stay north of the Meherrin River, but were soon in trouble because of a border dispute between North Carolina and Virginia. Virginia claimed that the boundary between the two states was at the stream now known as Wiccacon River, which runs through the heart of Hertford County. The North Carolinians said the boundary was about where it is today—some miles north of the Meherrin River. In order to establish their claim, the North Carolinians continually com plained to Virginia about the Meherrins, saying that they were not staylrig north of the Meherrin but were bothering settlers between the Meherrin and the Wiccacon, which they, of course, said was in North Carolina. Through all the fuss, the Meherrin were continually forced to give up lands, The Meherrin unfortunately joined-the Tuscarora during their upris ing in 1712, and because of this earned the distrust of the Englishmen, Governor Thomas Pollock led an expedition against them shortly after the Tuscarora War. Finally, about 1729, the North Carolina government granted a reser vation to the Meherrin. The land was in the ^leck between the Meherrin and Chowan rivers, from a point two miles up the Meherrin to a point three miles up the Chowan. Before this, the tribe had lived at several places along the river, and apparently in a village on Potecasi Creek, between present Murfreesboro and Winton. Many old maps, including some right up to the American Revolution,' show a "Meherrin Indian Towne” on this stream. In their reservation, the Indians had many troubles, however. The white settlers continually took away small parts of the reservation, and the Indians caused trouble, too. In 1726, a Meherrin Indian named George Senneca was convicted by the court of the colony for the murder of Catherine Groom and her two infant daughters. The court ordered the Indian to be hanged for the crime. The murdered woman was the wife of Thomas Groom, a settlor In the area that is now Hertford County. The account of the trial says George Senneca killed the Grooms ‘‘with an axe worth 2 shillings.” One of the last reports about the Meherrin was in 1755, about ten years' before Hertford County was formed. Governor Arthur Dobbs reported to England that there were ‘‘7 or 8” fighting men of the “Mecharen” tribe in Northampton County—which then owned the part of Hertford County along the Meherrin River. Thi-ee years later, the Governor’s report said that the Meherrins numbered less than 20 fight ing men, and that they “live by hunting, in perfect friendship with their neighbors.” (New evidence about the Meherrin is that they were originally from Pennsylvania and Maryland, settled along the Meherrin in Virginia in the early 17th century.) TUSCARORA: Taming the Wild Men The Tuscarora were the most numerous and most famous of the eastern North Carolina tribes. While there is no evidence that they had villages in what is now Hertford County, they did roam through the forests of the area and fished in its streams. This fierce tribe, one of the "Six Nations” that included the famous Seneca of New York state, fought desperately against the white men in the Tuscarora War of 1712, one of the most famous Indian uprisings of early America. They were beaten, however, and assigned to a 10.000-acre reservation in northern Bertie County, in an area still known as Indian Woods. After the American Revolution, they left this area and migrated to New York, where their descendants stiU live today. The Tuscarora were of the Iroquois-speaking tribes, great hunters and warriors, and were often at war with the other tribes of the section, who were of the Algonquian-speaking type, more peaceful and settled than their neighbors. OTHER TRIBES: Saponi, Wayonoke Members of several other Indian tribes also knew the area that is now, Hertford County, The Indians, were highly mobile people, traveled widely, and traded with tribes many hundreds of miles away. Among tribes who roamed in Hertford foi’ests wei'e the Oc- coneechee. the Saponi and the Wayonoke. The first of these was a tribe which had camps on the upper Roanoke River and were known for their trading ability. They exchanged bead articles for flint and other stone used in arrowheads, grinding stones and sEjear points (it mus.t be remembered that all of the rocks which' Hertford County Indians used for such articles came from the rocky Piedmont and western areas. The Occoneechee served as go-between traders for eastern and western trbies.) The Occoneechee moved westward af almost the same time the first white men were coming into the new colony. The tribe established itself in what is now Orange County. The Saponi, a small Piedmont and southern Virginia tribe, had a sad history in this area. They aligned themselves with the Meherrin and other Virginia tribes to cause trouble along the Virginia-Carolina border and many were killed in battles against expeditions sent out by the colonial government. Others re killed in battles with other Indian tribes. The tribe was practically exterminated before the end of the 17th century. The Wayonoke, whose principal home was in southern Vir ginia, were an early tribe and another which was practically extinct by the end of the 17th century. There is new evidence that they had camps and villages in the area which is now Hertford County. Indeed, the latest theory is that the Wayonoke had a village site in the vicinity of present-day Ahoskie. Wic cacon River was known to the earliest Virginians as 'Wayonoke Creek. Native Hertford Life While the Indians no longer live in Hertford County, evidences of their life may be seen every day. Their major contribution, not only to Hertford Coupty, but to the world, was in the field of agriculture. The great fields of tobacco that are the source of the county’s pros perity, the corn that sustains lives all over the world, the potato—all are crops which the Indians introduced to the world. The Indian method of farming these crops was different from that of today, of course. The tobacco (Uppowoc), much smaller than the present-day plant, was planted under the great trees of the forest, which were first killed by “girdling,” or cutting away a ring of bark which prevented water from getting to the leaves. Corn (Pagatour) was planted in the same way. Potatoes (Openauk), beans, melons, and peas were planted around the corn. Near some of the larger villages, the Indians cleared plots of land and planted their crops much as the gardens of today. Of Home and Work, School and God Most of the Indians lived in towns of from 10 to 30 dwellings. Their huts were round, or shaped something like the "Quonset Hut” of today, made of wooden frames covered with bark or mats woven from rushes. Sometimes they built fences of poles around their villages. They made pots, smoking pipes, and jugs from clay, beads from shells, bones, and bits of clay. In hunting—which was the main job of the males— they used the spear, the bow and arrow, and the axe, with heads made from flint and other rock. They fished with their spears and also used great nets, and made log canoes by hollowing cedar and other logs with fire and axe. The Indians tamed dogs, but they did not have other domestic animals until the white man came. Later, they tended cattle and hogs, but seemed not to be very successful at it. When they were being forced into reservations, they were often in a starving conditiop, and several times the government hdd to donate provisions to the remnants of the Chowan, Meherrin, and Tuscarora. Indian clothing consisted of “skirts” made of the skins of animals, and in winter they wore robes of deer and bear hide. The Indians of this section did not wear the long, feathered headdress of the “Ahoskie Chief,” but a few feathers stuck in a band tied around the head. Both men and women wore necklaces and armbands of beads, and this “wampum” was used as money. They often decorated their bodies v.'ith bright designs, using colored clay. The religious feeling of the Indian was very strong. They had many gods, with one chief god—called “Mantoac” by the early tribes. Each crop had a god, and the red men had elaborate rituals and dances to honor the gods of tobacco and corn. The “medicine men,” who often dressed in great robes of feathers, were the Indian priests. Later, missionaries of the white men were active among the Indians, and found that they could easOy understand the Christian idea of !‘one god.” Young Indian boys were early taken away frorri the women at the fireside and taught to hunt and fish. The girls, however, remained in the camp—cooking, making pottery, tending the crops, and making nets for the fishermen. They stored food for the winter by curing fish and game, and drying the corn, beans, and other crops. After the white men came, some Indians were taught to read and write, and several missionaries reported that they had been successful in bringing the Christian religion to the Chowan and Tuscarora. Some of the Meherrin owned farms, but most of the Indians lived together in the reservations. In 1711, the Governor of Virginia reported that two young men of the Mqherrin tribe had been sent to the College of 'William and Mary by the government, along with some members of Virginia tribes. The sad disappearance of the Indians came about in several ways. Many were killed in warfare with the white men. Disease perhaps killed more of the red men than guns, however. Many Indians were taken as slaves by the white men, a fact that is just beginning to be discovered by historians. Many of the Tuscarora Indians captured in the Tuscarora War were sold as slaves to people in Boston. Chief John Hoyter of the Chowan complained that white men had taken one of his small band as a slave, and petitidhed thqt the tribe be paid for the unfortunate brave. White men complained, that free Indians “stole” slave Indians from them. Some of these slave Indians probably inter married with Negro slaves who began to be brought into the colony in small numbers soon after it was founded. (Main sources for this article, written by Roy Parker, Jr., included the Colonial Records of North Carolina, "The American Indian in North Carolina," by Douglas L. Rights, and talks with Indian artifact hunters.) with, and for the second offense be expelled.” Loud conversations on the church grounds which annoyed or disturbed religious services were also ruled out, and the fellowship of the church was withdrawn from members who could not show just cause why they did not contribute to its expenses. In ensuing years, until the mid- 30’s, the church apparently stuek strictly by these rules. Among the records are many shown to have been expelled, suspended, or forgiven their admitted sins of drinking, cursing or arguing. An other church rule, which provid ed that cases “of private nature” should not be brought before con ference until no amicable settle ment could be reached otherwise, resulted in the expulsion of sev eral men who disagreed person ally with others. Only one wom an, however, was expelled in the 85-year history. In 1925, the congregation de cided that the original frame structure was outdated, and au thorized a building .committee to plan a new building. A. O. Kiff, W. r; Willoughby, George Hog- gard, J. W. Godwin, Jr., and A, E. Godwin were appointed on that committee. At the conference of January See BRANTLEY'S, Page 2 JAMES BRANTLEY'S GROVE—The beautiful trees on the land given by James Brantley and his wife in 1873 still shade the Brantley’s Grove Baptist Church, four miles east of Alioskie on the road to Cofield. The handsome brick building was erected in 1926, and was paid for in part by the sale of eggs and crops, donated by the members. (Staff photo.)
The News-Herald (Ahoskie, N.C.)
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Jan. 1, 1959, edition 1
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