Update about blogCa

Friday, August 30, 2013

A short Sepia Saturday post

I didn't think I had much to contribute to Sepia Saturday, though I remember my grandfather in "braces," the last post I did which showed lots of pictures of him didn't show his suspenders.  Drat it all.  (PS, I've linked 3 times now to Sepia Saturday above, and finally have the main site link, hope it works for you)

SO what do I have with the great 40s look?  Lots of women...but what about the men?




I'll submit this shot of the family (maybe after church ?)...probably in San Antonio, Texas...which was actually taken in the late 30s.  That double breasted suit of my fathers was probably what he was married in.  My grandfather on the far right has a vest on as well, hiding those suspenders.  And I do so miss the men's jauntily tilted hats.  Of course the clown was the youngest of my father's brothers, Uncle Jimmy.  And women wore hats to church all the time then as well.



Wednesday, August 28, 2013

George Elmore Rogers, Sr b.8.28/1877

George Rogers Sr., 1877-1960 known as Poppy to his 8 grandchildren

George Elmore Rogers Sr. was born in Willis, Texas. His parents had married just the year before his birth, and his sister was born the next year.  His father died in that year as well, 1879.  His widowed mother moved to Galveston  where she probably had other relatives.

 



I'm standing on one leg in flowery dress with my Grandmother (Gummy) and Poppy (George Rogers Sr.) and it says on the back it's on his 73rd birthday.   I had no idea he had been so old...But I don't look anywhere near 8 for this picture, so I think I'm more like 5 or 6, and thus Poppy was just 70.  Houston, TX.




Poppy is on the left, my mother in the center, and I have my Brownie camera as well as a scarf around my neck, standing in front of my father.  I might have been 12, St. Louis, MO.


Poppy lived through the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which killed thousands.  I am not exaggerating, I think 6000 was the number I read in this book, A Weekend in September.

 This book is in my possession, and my grandmother (who also lived through the storm) made notes in the margins as to who she had known.  This was before they married in 1905.

The house my grandfather built in Galveston, Texas.




This is likely the last time I saw Poppy, around 1958 or 1959.  He is on the left, next to me around 15-16, my father then his brother Jimmy, in the front row.  Back row on left is my mother, and to right is my grandmother.  This was our house in St. Ann, MO.  Poppy and Gummy were visiting from Houston, and uncle Jimmy from Wausau, WI.



Poppy and Gummy, 1955, Houston, TX.  Poppy was a bookkeeper, working for a meat packing plant in Houston.  I don't know when he retired.  But I'm pretty sure he was still going to work at an advanced age.  He supported his family of 4 sons who grew to adulthood, after losing his firstborn, as well as his only daughter at young ages.

Scroll down to bottom of next picture.






Some fun with George Rogers' sons, before they were married.  My father on right, Poppy on left.  The Rogers family lived in Galveston for a long time, then Fort Worth, then San Antonio, and finally Houston.  My grandfather and his son Chauncey built a house for Chauncey on the same lot as his home on Brockton, in Houston.

My mother on swing, while expecting me, and Gummy laughing at Poppy clowning around.  I do remember Poppy having a great sense of humor.

Three surviving brothers at the cemetery following the death of their father, Feb. 1960 in Houston.  My father, George Jr, then Chauncey, then James.

I didn't realize that Poppy had died.  We lived in St. Louis at the time.  There was a kind of taboo of talking about death in our family.  It wasn't explained as a heaven or hell either.  There really wasn't any supportive talk for grieving.  Actually, I had the sense that (which is probably more personal than actual) death was a failure, thus something to whisper about and then not mention again.  It was similar to what I later learned people in medical professions would feel when they'd done everything they could to save a life, then lost the battle.

Poppy died in February of the year I graduated from High School.  I also remember my mother's mother died the same year.  My parents had a lot of sadness that year.




Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Cyntha Cannon Rogers

Born in Sevier County, Tennessee, on August 24, 1800, Cyntha Cannon was the daughter of  William Henry CANNON who came from Cumberland County, VA and his wife Catherine Henderson who had been born in North Carolina.  Cyntha was the oldest of 8 children, all of whom lived to become adults.

When she was 18 she married the son of Rev. Elijah Rogers, Micajah Clack Rogers (1795-1873) who was  the eldest of 11 children born to the Reverend (from Farquier County, VA) and his wife, Catherine Clack Rogers, who was born in Henry County, VA.

Smoky Mountains

These were pioneering people.  These parents arrived in Sevier County, on the western side of the Appalachian ridges that would be called the Smoky Mountains in years to come.   And Cyntha and Micajah Rogers were among the first generation to be born there.
 Sevier County as it is known today was formed on September 18, 1794 from part of neighboring Jefferson County, and has retained its original boundaries ever since. The county takes its name from John Sevier, governor of the failed State of Franklin and first governor of Tennessee, who played a prominent role during the early years of settlement in the region.  Since its establishment in 1795, the county seat has been situated at Sevierville (also named for Sevier), the eighth-oldest city in Tennessee. (Wikipedia)
Micajah had lots of interests in business, resulting in part ownership of several, owning lots and buildings in Sevierville, and even part of a foundry, the Sweeden Furnace.

A Historic Marker now stands to remind us of the Sweeden Furnace, from Sevierville, TN located...
 5 miles northwest, (of Sevierville downtown) this was first called Short Mountain Furnace using local ore bank ore. Started about 1820 by Robert Shields, William K. Love and brothers operated it about 1830. Micajah C. Rogers bought it and changed its name in 1836. It closed in 1840, following the panic of 1837 and deterioration in quality of ore.
Another marker stands on Hwy 441 in nearby Pigeon Forge, TN which after all, was also the site of iron mining. Do you know what Pig-eon Iron is?  And most of you have heard of a forge...right?
About 3/4 mile southeast, Issac Love operated a forge on the site of the flour mill on Pigeon River in 1820, making bar iron. Ore came from an orebank about 3 miles east, later, pig iron came from Sweden Furnace, 5 miles east. Forge hammer and fittings are nearby. 
Micajah and Cyntha did not fare well as the economy had a down turn around 1840 while he was living still in Sevier County.  Cyntha's last child was born in March of 1941, and died in Oct. of that year in  Sevierville.  I'm pretty sure the Rogers family and the Gibbs family from South Carolina merged and moved west and south, and some of them stayed in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.  The Rogers Family Bible was a wedding present for Cyntha's eldest son, George Washington Rogers, as he married one of the 8 Gibbs  children, and his sister married another.

By 1846 Cyntha and Micajah were living in Walker County, Texas.


My cousin Pat Rogers Seliger, joined a Pioneer Society for Walker County Texas, based upon Micajah Clack Rogers arriving there before Oct. 5, 1850.

I won't go into more on Micajah's life here, because he'll have his own birthday next May 7, and I can tell you all about his ventures and adventures then.

Cyntha had 11 children, and perhaps because of the economy, some of them didn't live very long.  Catherine Louisa died at 5. Amelia Amanda was 1. And Cyntha's last 3 children died within a few months of their births, all in Sevierville, TN.  The other 6 did live to become adults.



 She only lived to be 55 years old, dying in her new home town of Huntsville, Walker County, Texas.
  The Rogers were founding members of the Baptist Church in Huntsville.

Out of focus photo of marker for First Baptist Church of Huntsville, TX.


Cyntha's middle name was Cannon, on all records except her tombstone, which says Cyntha O. Rogers.  Maybe whoever was in charge of it didn't know her real middle name.

Her son, George Washington Rogers, was my grandfather's grandfather, thus my name Rogers.  I believe that makes Cyntha my 3 times great grandmother.  Happy birthday Granny!




 

Monday, August 26, 2013

My mother's lineage

I'm part of a loose group of women in our community.  They are pretty liberal minded, and liberated definitely.  Many of us have white hairs, but not all.  After our business meetings we sing a nice song, and recite our female lineage.

I used to be proud to go back 5 generations.  Many women, especially us elders, missed the chance of finding out who the mother's mother's mother might have been.

But since I've been blessed to have Ancestry.com in my pocket (well laptop anyway) I've got more mother's than before.

The other day I proudly gave...
I'm Barbara
daughter of Mataley
daughter of Mozelle
daughter of Eugenia
daughter of Eugenia
daughter of Hannah
daughter of Polly
daughter of Hannah

It takes a while.  And now I feel like I know these women a bit better, having pieced together some of their lives with the little information I've found.  Each of them had a different last name, until me because I changed mine back to my maiden name.

They made homes.  But they also were travelers.  Only a few were born in the same place their mothers had been born.  They started in Virginia in the 18th century, and here I sit in North Carolina in the 21st century...though the loop led them through Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Texas where I was born.

And don't forget today is Women's Equality Day.
Here's a blog I read frequently telling lots about it...
http://medusacoils.blogspot.com/2013/08/womens-equality-day-challenges.html

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Isaac Norman's birthday

Isaac Norman (a father of a mother of a mother, etc) was born in 1765 in the town of Culpeper VA, which had been called Fairfax, Culpeper County, VA.  The original survey work of the town had been done by George Washington himself.  While Isaac was a child, the changes of names might have been confusing.  But by the time (after 1800) things were worked out, he had moved to Kentucky, and lived out his life there (as early as 1800 census records).  But to have the city name of his birthplace and (see below) the county name of his death place change, means records are sort of wishy washy for him.

Isaac's daugter Mary Margaret (Polly) Norman was born also in the same VA town, in 1792, and she had her daughter Hannah Leak Conn in Shelby County, Kentucky in 1818.  Polly died in St. Charles MO in 1833.

Isaac's granddaughter Hannah Leak Conn (where or where did they get that middle name?)  married William Lewis Booth in Jackson County, Indiana, after his first wife died leaving him with 2 children.  They moved to Texas, which leads closer to my family tree, as you may have already seen my posts about Eugenia Booth Miller, the granddaughter of Hannah Conn Booth.

****
Isaac Norman's mother, Mary Read Norman, died in childbirth, the day he was born, (she was 42.)  He was the youngest of a family of 12, though I don't know that 4 of them lived through childhood. But that the rest did speaks positively of their genes and circumstances, especially since many of his siblings also lived past 60.  Isaac himself was 63 when he died in Elk Creek, KY.  He'd spent most of his adult life in the same area, though the county name changed.  Part of Shelby County went into the new county of Spencer County in 1824.  He had lived there since the 1800 census at least.

He had a sister named Kesiah Norman, who was 5 when he was born.  Another member of my family was named Kesiah Bass, but her family were in the coast lands of Virginia rather than the western hill country, and their westward migration took them through Alabama. Eventually these two lines of my ancestors did meet and marry...but not until my mother and father got together in San Antonio, Texas! 
 *****


Sometime before 1784, Isaac married Hannah Gage, born Apr. 20, 1762 also in Culpeper County, VA.

In a short biography of her grandson, Solomon Norman, Hannah was described as a "relative of Gen. Gage, of Revolutionary fame, and of English descent." This statement appeared in "Kentucky: A History of the State." Perrin, Battle & Kniffin, 6th ed., 1887, Spencer Co. That statement gave rise to an oral family history that she was actually a daughter of Gen. Thomas Gage. Many of her descendants heard that same story. Her true relationship to Gen. Gage is unknown at this time.

Isaac's wife, Hannah's parents were David Gage (1725-1807) and Esther.


Hannah Gage Norman died on Feb. 28, 1845, and she is buried next to her husband  in Elk Creek, Spencer County, KY
Their children were:
Lemuel Norman (1785 - 1866)
Sarah Esther Norman (1788 - 1867)
Abner Norman (1789 - 1856)
Mary Margaret "Polly" Norman (1792 - 1833) (My ancestor)
Rebecca Norman (1796 - 1850)
Elizabeth Norman (1798 - 1866)
Martha "Patsy" Norman (1798 - 1870)
James G. Norman (1805 - 1880)










Here is an excerpt from Isaac Norman's will of April 1828:
"In the name of God amen I Isaac Norman of Spencer County State of Kentucky being weak in body but of sound sense and memory...
Second It is allso (sic) my desire that my wife Hannah Norman shall have five Hundred Dollars paid her to be raised out of my land goods ___? and one bed & furniture.
Third   It is my Desire that all I possess Land ___? To be sold at Publick (sic) vendue and five Hundred Dollars be paid to each of my Daughters if so much Can be Raised from the Proceeds of the above vendue after my wife fie (five?) hundred being paid her My Daughters are Esther Akers,  Polly Conn, Rebecca Shaw, Elizabeth Pound & Patsy Stout...
I do hereby Appoint Abner Norman my Executor to have this my last will & Testament faithfully Executed.
In testimony whereof I have Leveun (sic) to set my hand and seal this Eleventh day of April Eighteen hundred & twenty Eight."
Signed by the said Isaac Norman (signature & seal)

He died in July of 1828.


His grave is in Elk Creek Baptist Cemetery in Spencer County, KY

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Great Aunt Dorothy

I never really knew her.  I think I visited with her when visiting my grandmother and her other sister, Great Aunt Margaret a few times in San Antonio in the 50s.  I seldom saw their other sister, Rowena Rogers, however.

I'm still looking for the picture of my grandmother and her sisters.  I had it at one point, but somehow some of my photos I scanned are no longer on my hard drive.  (Don't ask me how it can happen, but I realized a few months ago that some pictures I had actually posted here have now disappeared.)

Once we drove to her ranch to visit her I think.  It's all kind of a blur.  I'm pretty sure Aunt Margaret drove her old Buick, including going through some ranch type roads, gravel which crossed a stream by a "ford."  Since we were loaded down with me, my little siste, my mother, Grandmother and Aunt Margaret, we jokingly pushed on the dashboard in hopes the car could make it up some of the hills.  This was in the mountains and I thought they were near Monterey Mexico.

 A young Dorothy Miller, living in San Antonio, Texas, 1926  She was born in 1903 in Hillsboro, Texas, where her mother's family was from.  But she spent most of her adult life living with her parents in San Antonio.

Aunt Dorothy Buchanan's ranch
I look about 10 in that bottom right picture, wearing a "cowgirl" vest with white fringe on the red fabric.

I know she didn't marry till very late in her life at 47. Bennett Hillard "Buck" Buchanan was quite a bit older than Dorothy, born in 1889, and he had one grown child, Duane, born in 1917, who I don't remember ever meeting.  They went to Hawaii on the SS Lurline from Los Angeles, and Ancestry.com even has record of her being a passenger, probably for their honeymoon in 1953.

When I was an adult, Aunt Dorothy later moved to Houston where at one time she lived in a high rise apartment, then she had a nice small patio apartment with her white baby grand piano, and a pool which my sons and I enjoyed. Buck died in 1972, so I didn't have much interaction with him. I believe I introduced my husband to her, and somehow stayed in touch, probably through my mother.

Aunt Dorothy died in 1979 and donated her body to science. Maybe that's why her marker says "The Living Bank."





Friday, August 23, 2013

Happy (cough cough) birthday

The thing I learned this birthday, is to have respect for this body that's carrying me around.  Well, being a wholistic type person, I respect that I and my body are one, but I get things into my head and kind of push it beyond what is good for us, (the committee of Barbara).

So what's new?  I worked to get things changed so I could offer afternoon tea and coffee in a "parlor" or "tea room" setting.  Didn't ask for help.  Didn't get much done.  Being a cluttery kind of person, there's still lots to be done.  But I did start...that was Wed.  There's no deadline for when I get this endeavor going.  It's not a business, just like my pottery, but a hobby.  I'm not going to charge for drinks and cookies but accept donations.   I think some days nobody will drop in, but I hope to have a few friends come by for a cuppa.

I could barely walk when I got up Thurs.  Left knee complaining.  Walked slowly and carefully all day and it felt better by the time I went to sleep.  This morning it's at it again.  I think I will be doing this for a few more days...hobbling in the early part of the day.  But knee joints are tricky little buggers, so I don't want to hurt it.  My neighbor across the street has had one or both replaced.  I do hope this ends up being a heal-able thing from just over-doing it pushing furniture a few feet.

Coughing started about Wed. also, after a few days of scratchy throat.  I skipped choir because my vocal chords didn't feel like la la la, more like croak croak ribbit.

My cat Muffin was also born on this day.  When I lived in St. Augustine, Florida I had an apartment near the beach (5th house back from the Atlantic on 15th St.).  There was a big grassy weedy field across the street, which later became a Hampton Inn.  But in 1996 it was still bare when I moved there.  My son, Tai says the kittens were born o my porch the year he went to college, 1997.  So Muffin is my little old lady at 16.

Her mother was feral and I somehow caught her after the kittens had been weaned and took her to my vet to get her spayed.  He said she clawed everyone in the place.  I named her Mataley, after my mother who gave birth to me 71 years ago today, in Dallas.  There was no air conditioning anywhere.  She later tole me (probably when I was expecting a fall baby) she craved watermelon all the time.

It is a blessed day.  The fog rolled down the mountain valley when I awoke, only knowing by memory where the invisible peaks were, but I see glimmers of sun beaming through.  It's August and promises a hot afternoon.  And for this year, we now expect rain almost daily.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

I celebrate life!

And just a note, my 71st birthday is tomorrow.  I am going for a hike.  Yes, me.  Wish me luck in seeing Linville Falls.  I'll bring back pictures.

http://www.ncwaterfalls.com/lin1.htm

Not my photo

And my gift to you is that I did not post a picture of myself as a baby.  Have a great day.  Oh, here's a quote that I'll share with you.



Bone of my bone, blood of my blood, ground of my being; the Earth on which I walk and which sustains me; the ocean I sail over and swim in and walk beside and which also sustains me; the universe in which I am an entity.
I do not “believe” in Her.  Instead, I know Her without struggle, without having to suspend my questioning spirit, without a constant demand to worship Her to make Her “real.”  She is so worthy of my worship that She does not need it or demand it so I rejoice in worshipping Her. – Sylvia Sims




Wednesday, August 21, 2013

When she would have been 69, and when he would have been 69.

..., there are those who had the 69th birthday click...

I posted already about my grandmother Eugenia Booth Miller, HERE born 69 years before me in 1873.
And I'll share who was born 69 years before her (namely in 1804) BUT NOT UNTIL next May. (May we all live so long.  Sorry about that!)

Who was 69 years before that person?  Surprisingly I already wrote his post, and didn't do the math until today.
You've already heard about Jacob Granger, born in 1735 here -  http://boardwalkbarb.blogspot.com/2013/08/go-back-another-hundred-years-1735.html
Remember he was grandfather to yesterday's post, George Tyler Granger.

I doubt highly that I'll find someone born 69 years before him on my tree, born in 1666.  Interesting year.  I've found one in 1665, which is pretty darn good for that far back.  Obviously I won't find anyone another 69 years removed.



 

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Happy birthday to George Tyler Granger

Born on August 20, 1804 in Newburyport, Massachusetts, with parents and siblings.  What kind of education did he receive?

Just looking at his correspondence later between himself and his children, and his level of business accumen, I would say some college is probable.  But he did spend most of his life dealing in lumber.


His mother's maiden name was Tyler, so it became his middle name...which was a tradition found in many families. George Tyler Granger's mother Sarah Tyler was the daughter of Silas and Phoebe Wood Tyler.

George married Lucy Pulsifer on February 13, 1828, when he was 23 years old in Newburyport, MA.  He posted his intentions for marrying her in January of that year, which is still a record available to read, though the transcriptionist kind of messed up the name Pulsifer.

He was a lumber dealer in Newburyport at age 45 (Census taken Oct 8, 1850).  In that year he lived with his wife, Lucy Pulsifer Granger, as well as children Mary H. (21), George 20, Elisabeth P. (17), Lucy E. (13) as well as 78 year old Elizabeth Raymond. A servant was from Ireland, 21 year old Nancy Sullivan.  His son George had an occupation as a clerk already.  I wonder if Miss Raymond was a relative or housekeeper?

Newburyport, MA: The town prospered and became a city in 1851. Situated near the mouth of the Merrimack River, it was once a fishing, shipbuilding and shipping center, with an industry in silverware manufacture

Barque Mary L. Cushing, last merchant ship built on the Merrimack, docked at the Cushing family pier in Newburyport

George Granger had documented sales through Newburyport's support program for paupers, all billing for lumber sales.  I really don't know if these sales were in support of him, or other people.  They continued from 1826 when he was 21, till after his marriage until he was around 38.

 By the time he was 42 he petitioned the town council to purchase a clock for the market square, along with 39 others, but his name was on the historic record of Newburyport.

Brown Square in 1913, viewed from before the City Hall.. The houses and church still stand but the street has been paved and more modern buildings inserted.

In the Newburyport City Directories from 1846 through 1850 he had a residential address of 16 Boardman, and at times a business at 10 Water St.

City Hall c. 1910. The building looks about the same today. It was constructed 1850–1851. The corner of Brown Square is visible across the street. The view is from where the Post Office now stands.

Sometime between 1850 and 1860 Granger migrated with all his family to Texas.  His brother-in-law, Joseph Pulsifer had moved first to New Orleans, then was an early settler of Beaumont Texas.  George T. Granger's eldest daughter, Mary, had married William Phillips (from Georgia) before their first child was born in 1858.

By 1860 George T. Granger was a lumber merchant in Galveston, Texas, at age 56. He would spend  more time there, as well as having connections in Beaumont, TX and Sabine Pass, TX.

Some of George Tyler Granger's correspondence with his adult children has survived. I'm transcribing it and adding it to his overview on Ancestry.Com.  I started with his letter to his daughter, Elizabeth, after finding out his oldest daughter, Mary had just died in 1856 written in Grigsby Bluff.  There were settlers near Beaumont named Grigsby.  Mrs. Lucy Pulsifer Granger's brother, Joseph Pulsifer, was an unmarried pharmacist who made business partnerships including the purchase of land for Beaumont. (More correspondence will be shared here in future posts.)

Of George Granger's children, his daughter Elizabeth, (Izzie on some letters), lived to be 78 years old.  She was widowed farily early after having 2 children, and in her later years lived with her son and his family.  She had been born in 1833, which I just chased down today, because trees of other families had her born the same year as her brother, Joseph Granger, but I have now found his written birth record. Unfortunately he died at 15 years old. I finally found a source document for Elizabeth's birth also.

I haven't found where or when George T. Granger died yet.  On to the net for searching copied microfilm records.  At least there's no moldy smell, nor those awful reels of film on the huge machines any more. 














Monday, August 19, 2013

My Bass heritage continues

How about the segregation that Virginians continued until recently? (or may be still continuing)

Some Native American Indians did have reservations as a result of treaties with first England, and later America.  Some of the Nansemond Indians joined their tribal relatives on the Pamunkey reservation.



Pamunkey Schoolhouse, Photograph, May 31, 1937
  During the colonial period, some American Indians residing in the different colonies or on the edges of newly settled regions were enslaved, some were moved out of their traditional homelands, and others received visits from missionaries who attempted to convert them to Christianity or to educate them in order that they could be absorbed into the European culture. In the 1690s the College of William and Mary, in Virginia, received a donation of funds to begin an Indian school that operated off and on until the twentieth century.
From http://www.virginiamemory.com/online_classroom/shaping_the_constitution/doc/schoolhouse

 Pamunkey school children around 1900

Official Virginia School system lesson:
August 2010
 Featured Lesson Plan: Jim Crow and Virginia Indians,

 The newest version of the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs) will be implemented across Virginia this year, and we at the Library of Virginia were pleased to see a fuller inclusion of American Indians in this version's history standards than in the 2001 version. Having noticed the changes, we set out to create lesson plans to reflect these updates. One notable place that American Indians will be studied now is in the lessons of Jim Crow–era Virginia and the United States. VS.8b now includes the Essential Knowledge that "'Jim Crow' laws had an effect on American Indians," and USII.4c now includes the Essential Knowledge that "American Indians were not considered citizens until 1924." 








Sunday, August 18, 2013

The Native connection






The Nansemonds have said that the book which is not considered accurate uses the surname Tucker to refer to the original Indians who married Western European settlers.  They seem to discount that name, and say any time Kesiah Tucker comes up as Elizabeth Bass's name, it stems from the book that isn't accurate.  But that had been her name as daughter of the Chief of the Powhatans.
 
If one book calls her that name, however, it seems to me that it is just like an alias, not to be discounted completely.  I see throughout the family tree, other women named Kesiah, which must be in honor of that matriarch.  So the book could not have been wrong about her having that other (Indian) name.  It probably would not have been acceptable if the family were strict Christians however.

And I haven't yet researched the religious affiliations of my ancestors...if any is known.  Early Virginians belonged to the Church of England, which became the Episcopal Church later in America.  It wasn't until near the Revolutionary War that Baptists petitioned for their own religious freedom.

The 10,000 name petition (dated 16 October 1776) has been digitized at the Library of Congress website. It was signed by people from all over Virginia who wanted an end to persecution of Baptists by the Established Church. Baptists and Baptist sympathizers alike signed the petition.
  And there were also Quakers in the Suffolk area as well.


Incidentally, the wife would be in charge of the household meals, bedding, clothing and child rearing, but at some point the families probably moved out of the long houses of the tribe and into cabins like the Europeans had.  I wonder when that happened.  Somehow I think it took several generations.

And especially important to remember about this family, and this tribe, is the persecution from the white culture.  No wonder they moved from VA to NC, and then TX.

Powhatan style home in Williamsburg,VA

http://cova-inc.org/resources/edu_ark_viintro.html
This link is for a resource kit.  Very well done archeological background of Virginia native peoples.

the best research link I’ve found is: 
site has lots of original document links.

More History From http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Nansemond_Tribe#start_entry 

Time Line

  • December 1608 - Christopher Newport returns to England from Jamestown accompanied by the Indian Machumps. John Smith, meanwhile, attempts to trade for food with Indians from the Nansemonds to the Appamattucks, but on Powhatan's orders they refuse.
  • Early September 1609 - John Smith sends Francis West and 120 men to the falls of the James River. George Percy and 60 men attempt to bargain with the Nansemond Indians for an island. Two messengers are killed and the English burn the Nansemonds' town and their crops.
  • June 1611 - Sir Thomas Dale leads a hundred armored soldiers against the Nansemond Indians at the mouth of the James River, burning their towns.
  • August 14, 1638 - John Bass, who may be the son of Nathaniel Basse and Mary Jordan Basse, marries Elizabeth, a Nansemond woman who has converted to Christianity.
  • 1792 - The Nansemond tribe sells its last known reservation lands, 300 acres on the Nottoway River in Southampton County.
  • 1850 - The Indiana United Methodist Church in Chesapeake is founded as a mission for the Nansemond Indians.
  • March 20, 1924 - Virginia passes the Racial Integrity Act, a law aimed at protecting whiteness on the state level. It prohibits interracial marriage, the only exception being a marriage between a white person and a person with one-sixteenth or less Indian blood.
  • 1930 - The General Assembly passes a law defining Virginia Indians as those possessing one-quarter or more of Indian blood and less than one-sixteenth of black blood. The law also stipulates that such people will be considered black unless they live on a segregated Indian reservation.
  • February 20, 1985 - The Nansemond tribe is formally recognized by the General Assembly in House Joint Resolution 205.