Fourth Generation Inclusive

Historical Documents of Genealogical Interest to Researchers of North Carolina's Free People of Color

Tag: Croatan

May 8, 2013

Self-evident facts.

SKETCH OF THE JONES FAMILY

John R. Jones is the son of Martha Jones, and his father was a white man. Martha Jones’ mother was one Polly Jones, a pure white woman, and her father was an Indian. She was one-half white, one-half Indian. John R. Jones, therefore, was three-fourths white, one-fourth Indian. He married Macy A. Brewington, the daughter of Hardy Brewington. They have a large family of boys and girls in their home, white predominating, seemingly in himself and his entire family. Martha Jones is now living and says the above statements are true. Also, judging from her features and general characteristics, it is a self-evident fact that she is of Indian and white extraction. The said Martha Jones also has another son and several daughters, who are undoubtedly of pure white and Indian blood.

From George E. Butler, “The Croatan Indians of Sampson County, North Carolina. Their Origin and Racial Status. A Plea for Separate Schools,” (1916).

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May 7, 2013

Timothy Goodman and family.

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JONATHAN GOODMAN

The subject of this sketch is now 76 years old and resides in Honeycutts Township, Sampson County. His wife, now dead, was Dorcas Maynor. Their children and grandchildren attend the Indian school in Herrings Township. Jonathan Goodman’s father was Timothy Goodman and his mother was Nancy Maynor. The records in the Register of Deeds’ office of Sampson County show that Timothy Goodman was a large land owner before the Civil War, and after his death his widow, Nancy Goodman, was assigned dower in this land in Sampson County, according to these records. She was a typical Croatan Indian and showed no traces of negro blood. Jonathan’s grandmother was Nancy Revell, and the Revell family are now prominent Croatans in Robeson County.

SKETCH OF THE GOODMAN FAMILY

Timothy Goodman is the founder of this particular family in Sampson County. He is said to have represented in features and general appearance the Indian race, he having straight black hair, and his complexion being of reddish hue. His mother was one Sallie Hobbs. His father unknown. He married Nancy Maynor, a woman who was an excellent specimen of the Cherokee Indian race. Jonathan Goodman is the son of the above Timothy Goodman, and we are sure, judging from his general appearance, that he is at least three-fourths Indian, with only one-fourth white. His first wife was one Dorcas Maynor, Indian, daughter of Morris Maynor. Many sons and daughters were born to this couple, after which the first wife died, and he married his present wife, Lucy Faircloth, who was the daughter of a white woman by the name of Mary Faircloth. Her father being unknown to the writer. Mary E. Brewington is the daughter of Lucy Goodman, her father being an Indian. Mary E. Brewington married James Brewington, a son of Raford Brewington. They also have several sons and daughters.

From George E. Butler, “The Croatan Indians of Sampson County, North Carolina. Their Origin and Racial Status. A Plea for Separate Schools,” (1916).

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April 9, 2013

Scuffletown avenger.

One of these curiously mixed people left his mark upon the history of the state — a bloody mark, too, for the Indian in him did not passively endure the things to which the Negro strain rendered him subject. Henry Berry Lowrey was what was known as a “Scuffletown mulatto,” Scuffletown being a rambling community in Robeson county, N. C., inhabited mainly by people of this origin. His father, a prosperous farmer, was impressed, like other free Negroes, during the Civil War, for service upon the Confederate public works. He resisted and was shot to death with several sons who were assisting him. A younger son, Henry Berry Lowrey, swore an oath to avenge the injury, and a few years later carried it out with true Indian persistence and ferocity. During a career of murder and robbery extending over several years, in which he was aided by an organized band of desperadoes who rendezvoused in inaccessible swamps and terrorized the county, he killed every white man concerned in his father’s death, and incidentally several others who interfered with his plans, making in all a total of some thirty killings. A body of romance grew up about this swarthy Robin Hood, who, armed to the teeth, would freely walk into the towns and about the railroad stations, knowing full well that there was a price upon his head, but relying for safety upon the sympathy of the blacks and the fears of the whites. His pretty yellow wife, “Rhody,” was known as “the queen of Scuffletown.” Northern reporters came down to write him up. An astute Boston detective who penetrated, under false colors, to his stronghold, is said to have been put to death with savage tortures. A state official was once conducted, by devious paths, under Lowrey’s safeguard, to the outlaw’s camp, in order that he might see for himself how difficult it would be to dislodge them. A dime novel was founded upon his exploits. The state offered ten thousand, the Federal government, five thousand dollars for his capture, and a regiment of Federal troops was sent to subdue him, his career resembling very much that of the picturesque Italian bandit who has recently been captured after a long career of crime. Lowrey only succumbed in the end to a bullet from the hand of a treacherous comrade, and there is even yet a tradition that he escaped and made his way to a distant state. Some years ago these mixed Indians and Negroes were recognized by the North Carolina legislature as “Croatan Indians,” being supposed to have descended from a tribe of that name and the whites of the lost first white colony of Virginia. They are allowed, among other special privileges conferred by this legislation, to have separate schools of their own, being placed, in certain other respects, upon a plane somewhat above that of the Negroes and a little below that of the whites.

Excerpt from Charles W. Chesnutt, “The Free Colored People of North Carolina,” The Southern Workman, vol. 31, no. 3 (1902).

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March 8, 2013

In a few instances …

EASILY RECOGNIZED AS INDIANS

        The … Indians will be readily recognized from their general appearance, their intelligence, the color of their eyes, their skin, their straight black hair, their facial features, their erect carriage, their clannishness, their general habits and demeanor, that they are neither white people nor negroes. They do not resemble the negroes or mulattoes, in that their hair is perfectly straight. They have high cheek bones, they do not have flat noses, or thick lips. Many of them have grey eyes, and often have rose tints on their cheeks. They are usually tall and erect, they are cleanly in their habits and mode of living. They are usually land owners, and more thrifty and industrious. They live and congregate in certain localities, and are clannish, and in numerous ways show the Indian traits. 

THEY WERE NEVER SLAVES

        These people were never slaves and from the memory of the oldest white inhabitants have always been freemen. There is no record that they ever purchased their freedom from former white men. They were never born nor sold into slavery; they were found living in this country as free and separate people as long ago as we have any record of them. In a few instances there has been some mixture of white and negro blood in them. The whites and the negroes have not been so careful in guarding against the amalgamation of those two races as have these Indians, to preserve intact and prevent their Indian blood from mixture with the other two races. In a few instances these Indians have intermarried with mulattoes, but such intermarriages have been discouraged among them, and in most cases, the parties to such marriages have been ostracised socially from the churches and schools of these Indians. 

FORMERLY THEY WERE ERRONEOUSLY CLASSED AS FREE NEGROES

        Since 1868, the white people in Sampson County, as a rule, have classed these Indians with the negroes and refused to recognize them except as negroes. They have consequently been forced, in a measure, with the negro race, but they have steadfastly refused to be classed with the negroes. They have refused to attend the churches and the schools of the negroes or to co-mingle with them on terms of social equality. It is marvellous that they have been able to maintain their racial status so well under the adverse social and political status which has been forced upon them by the white people. It shows that they have an ambition to improve their condition and to build themselves upward, morally, socially, and educationally, rather than to be pulled down to a level with the inferior race, with whom they would be socially classed. It is nothing but common justice to these people that the white race, which has done so much and is now endeavoring to do still more, for the education and material progress and welfare of all the people of the State, of every race, that the efforts of these Indians to build up and maintain their superior social and intellectual status from the negro race, should be encouraged in every proper way, as they have been encouraged and recognized in several other counties of the State, in which they are less numerous. It will make them better citizens and at no substantial extra cost to the white and colored race, for them to have their separate schools and churches. They will feel that they have not been discriminated against and that they have been treated with the same fairness and consideration that their people of the same race and blood are given in adjoining counties.

From George E. Butler, “The Croatan Indians of Sampson County, North Carolina. Their Origin and Racial Status. A Plea for Separate Schools,” (1916).

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March 6, 2013

Those of negro blood have been excluded.

We have procured from the homes of these Indian families a few photographs, showing the type of these Croatan Indians today living in Sampson County. It will be readily seen that they are neither white people, negroes or mulattoes. They all have straight black hair, the Indian nose and lips, their skin a light brown hue, mostly high cheek bones, erect in their carriage, steel gray eyes and an intelligent countenance. Where the white blood predominates many of them have beards.

They are the true type of the Croatan Indian and have always resided and lived in this section and known as “free persons of color.” There are a few of these people that have intermarried with mulattoes, but all those of negro blood have been excluded from this sketch and no demands or claims are made in their behalf, as under the law they are properly classed with the negroes.

From George E. Butler, “The Croatan Indians of Sampson County, North Carolina. Their Origin and Racial Status. A Plea for Separate Schools,” (1916).

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February 28, 2013

Pure white and Indian.

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Enoch Manuel and wife live in Dismal Township, Sampson County. He is now 70 years old. His father was Michael Manuel and lived on South River and died in 1858. Michael’s father was Nicholas Manuel, a soldier in the Revolutionary War, in John Toomer’s Army. His father was Ephraim Manuel. The records of Sampson County show, book 5, page 222, that in the reign of George III Benjamin Williams conveyed to Ephraim Manuel 400 acres of land, lying on the east side of Great Coharie, charging annual quit rents to His Majesty. We find another deed from Solomon Hardin to Levi Manuel, dated October 10, 1778, for 125 acres on March Branch and Miry Bottom Branch in Sampson County, consideration 50 English pounds. There are numerous other old deeds to the Manuel family on record in Sampson County. The father of Ephraim Manuel was Nickey Manuel and came from Roanoke River and claimed to be half white and half Indian. There is no trace of negro blood known to exist in the Manuel family as far back as they have any record.

Enoch Manuel says that his ancestor, Nickey Manuel, raised Matthew Leary, father of Sheridan Leary, who was killed in John Brown’s insurrection at Harper’s Ferry. Sheridan Leary was a brother of John S. Leary, a lawyer of Charlotte, formerly of Fayetteville, N. C.  …  Sarah, wife of Enoch Manuel, whose picture appears above, was a daughter of Amos Hardin, a wheelright [sic] in Honeycutts Township, and was recognized as a Croatan Indian. This couple have seven children and numerous grandchildren. They have not intermarried with the negro race, and their children attend Shiloh Indian School in Dismal Township, of which school Enoch Manuel was the founder.

[“]My mother’s mother was one Lanie Jackson, a white woman. Therefore as you can plainly see, my father and mother were pure white and Indian. My wife was the daughter of Amos Harding and Cassie Lockamy, a white woman, of Irish descent.

We had in our home several sons and daughters. Jonah Emanuel, who married Luberta Bledsole, daughter of W. J. Bledsole. W.J. Bledsole was the son of Mary Bledsole, a white woman, his father unknown. He is evidently a white man, with some trace of Indian blood. Enoch Emanuel, Jr., also married a daughter of the above W. J. Bledsole. Macy Lee Emanuel married Hassie J. Jones of Robeson County, a person of white and Indian descent. All of the above are descendants of the late Nicholas Emanuel and Jonathan Harding.

Many of the members of the Emanuel family have moved to other sections. They are now living in as many as seven different States of the Union. Some have spelled our name Manuel; others Emanuel. I have followed the latter form for our name in this pamphlet. [“]

From George E. Butler, “The Croatan Indians of Sampson County, North Carolina. Their Origin and Racial Status. A Plea for Separate Schools,” (1916).

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February 23, 2013

They built a school for themselves.

Prior to 1835 these people claim to have attended the schools of the whites. In 1859 they built a school for themselves, which was taught by Alvin Manuel, a Croatan. After the War they were given a public school in this community, but the effort to force the attendance of children of negro blood in this school brought on friction and finally resulted in the withdrawal of county support and disrupted the school.

From George E. Butler, “The Croatan Indians of Sampson County, North Carolina. Their Origin and Racial Status. A Plea for Separate Schools,” (1916).

Michael Alvin Manuel was born about 1837 in Sampson County and died in 1922 in Wayne County.

In the 1850 census of Northern District, Sampson County: Michael Manuel, 63, cooper; wife Fereby, 49; and children Gideon, 19, Cintilla, 16, Drusilla, 15, Michael, 13, Eden, 11, John, 9, William, 7, Enoch, 4, and Nancy, 1; all described as mulatto.

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February 20, 2013

A distinct and separate race of people.

State of North Carolina – County of Sampson.

To the Honorable Board of Education of Sampson County, North Carolina:

The undersigned, your petitioners, a part of the Croatan Indians living in the County of Sampson, State aforesaid, having their residence here for more than two hundred years, as citizens and tax payers of the County and State, peacefully sharing all the burdens of our government, and desiring to share in all the benefits incident thereto, respectfully petition your Honorable Board for such recognition and aid in the education of their children as you may see fit to extend to them, the amount appropriated to be used for the sole and exclusive purpose of assisting your petitioners to educate their children and fit them for the duties of citizenship;

Your petitioners would show that there are, according to the bulletin of the thirteenth census of 1910, two hundred and thirteen Indians in Sampson County.  And, that there are of legal school age, for whom there [are] now no separate school provisions over one hundred Indian school children. That these children are not permitted to attend, and have no desire to attend, the white schools, and in no other section of the State are they required to attend the colored schools.

That they are a distinct and separate race of people, and are now endeavoring, as best they can, at their own expense, to build and maintain their own schools, without any appropriation from the county or state, notwithstanding, they cheerfully pay taxes for this purpose, and otherwise share in the burdens and benefits of the government.

That the Croatan Indians of this county are a quiet, peaceful and industrious people, and have been residents of this section long before the advent of the white man, with whom they have always been friendly, and with whom they have always courted and maintained most cordial relations.

There is a tradition among them that they are a remnant of White’s Lost Colony and during the long years that have passed since the disappearance of said colony, they have been struggling to fit themselves and their children for the exalted privileges and duties of American freemen, and to substantiate this historical and traditional claim, hereto append, and make a part of this petition such historical data as they have been able to collect to aid you in arriving at their proper racial status.

Your petitioners further respectfully show that they are of the same race and blood and a part of the same people, held by the same ties of racial and social intercourse as the Croatan Indians of Robeson County, many of whom were former resident of Sampson County, and with whom they have married and intermarried.  That since the State of North Carolina has been so just and generous as to provide special and separate school advantages for our brothers and kinsmen, in Robeson County, as well as in the counties of Richmond, Scotland, Hoke, Person and Cumberland, we now appeal to you for the same just and generous recognition from the State of North Carolina and from your Honorable Board, in Sampson County, that we may share equal advantages with them as people of the same race and blood, and as loyal citizens of the State.

And your petitioners ever pray.  Respectfully submitted,

Isham Ammons, H.A. Brewington, J.H. Brewington., J.R. Jones, Robbin Jacobs, R.J. Jacobs, Calvin Ammons, H.S. Brewington, Jonathan Goodman, Lucy Goodman, Jesse Jacobs, J.B. Simmons, Wm. Simmons, Sr., W.J. Bledsole, Matthew Burnette, Enoch Manuel, Jr., Gus Robinson, M.L. Brewington, R.H. Jacobs, J.W. Faircloth, Wm. Simmons, Jr., E.R. Brewington, W.L. Bledsole, Enoch Manuel (or Emanuel), G.B. Brewington, W.B. Brewington, Thomas Jones, C.O. Jacobs, J.S. Strickland, Myrtle Goodman, Enos Jacobs, K.J. Ammons, C.A. Brewington, C.D. Brewington, Martha Jones, T.J. Jacobs, J.M. West, Albert Jacobs, R.M. Williams, J.A. Brewington, Harley Goodman, W.E. Goodman, B.J. Faircloth, Percy Simmons, J.G. Simmons, J.H. Bledsole, H.J. Jones, Jonah Manuel.

From George E. Butler, “The Croatan Indians of Sampson County, North Carolina. Their Origin and Racial Status. A Plea for Separate Schools,” (1916).

 

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