Mattanock Town

Let's spend a moment or two catching up (perhaps) with the events and connections which I found about a year ago.  The Rogers family, through my great-great grandfather, Col Richard Bass, are descendents of the Nansemond Indians of Virginia, who are currently located in Suffolk, VA.  The tribe has a bit of a problem being recognized by US Congress...still.

But here are some articles the Suffolk News Herald has published in the last year.  I'll limit each day to one topic.

Surrounded by city officials, Nansemond Indian Tribe Chief Barry Bass signs a ceremonial document at the Aug. 17 2013 powwow.

Home again
By Tracy Agnew

Published 8:49pm Wednesday, September 25, 2013A step forward. A swoop of the pen. And just like that, the Nansemond Indian Tribe had its land back.
Except it didn’t happen just like that. European settlers forced the tribe off its land in the early 1600s, and the tribe didn’t start the process of trying to get it back until nearly 400 years later.
Once they started, there were planning meetings. City Council meetings. Unsuccessful votes, and more meetings.
Finally, the vote came. 7-1, but it was enough. The tribe had its ancestral land back.
Then came more meetings, lawyers, more votes. It was a long road to Aug. 17, 2013, when at the end of Pembroke Lane, under a tent, Chief Barry Bass stepped forward along with city leaders to sign his name to a ceremonial document. The actual deed had been recorded in the courthouse two days before.
Gifts were exchanged, here on this ground where hesitant contacts with European settlers resulted sometimes in gift exchanges, sometimes in death.
A monument was unveiled, here on this ground where the tribe’s ancestors once built their longhouses and kept gardens.
A celebratory powwow began, here on this ground where the tribe’s ancestors danced and drummed so long ago.
The mayor and the chief walked into the dance circle side by side, here on this ground where America’s long history of racial hostility began.
Soon the tribe hopes to change the land, which has been a city park for many years, into a development called Mattanock Town, named for its village that was near the site.
Here on this land, there will be longhouses once again. Gardens once again. Tribal crafts once again. A native burial ground once again.
Here on this land, Americans will learn rather than kill. Teach rather than conquer. Contribute rather than steal. Help build rather than burn down.
And the Nansemond Indian Tribe will once again have its own village.
http://www.suffolknewsherald.com/2013/09/25/home-again/ 

No Blue Blood

Genealogists get fired up about...people who published documents which invented relationships. If you can't trust genealogy, who can you trust?

I of course have not read the last 12 years of the conversation which started in 1999 about the Bass families.  There were some emails published under one of these person's listings, and I found it very interesting.

Apparently a Mr. Bell was paid to connect a family with some blue bloods.  Others have said to question the book "Bass Families of the South", by Albert Bell.

"I think that all this controversy in the Bass Genforum is healthy and will help more people to understand that Bell's book is flawed." Mike Crandall, Aug 11, 1999

 From: FredBright

 To: Mike and Ruthie Crandall

Date: Friday, August 20, 1999 

Subject: Bell's Book

Mike-      I enjoyed your email which was forwarded to me by War Chief, Earl Bass. You are correct. There are many incorrect entries in Dr. Bell's book. People can say what they want, but the truth is, he was trying very hard to establish a Huguenot connection for a particular group of people, with Bass surnames.

The interesting thing is that this led to writing to the Native American Tribe of Virginia of which I'd never heard, the Nansemond Nation, which may be my ancestors.

What a headache.  These people have dates and source data attached to them, so there are families there, which are true relationships.  I need to slowly go through and justify the ones that belong to the Bass family which was my grandfather's mother's family.

Earlier information triggered another person to make a newsletter, which unfortunately doesn't have much published. http://www.tbass.com/basse.htm

It was a good idea however and there's a link to http://www.tbass.com/photopage/

The Nansemond Tribe holds its POW-WOW each Fall in the Chesapeake/Suffolk VA area near where they lived when the Europeans came in the late 1500's. They are a part of the Powhatan Chiefdom which included 32 Algonkian-speaking tribes in the tide water area of Virginia. The European part of my family, John Bass/Basse married into the tribe in 1638. His was one of two Christianized marriages between European and American Indians according to Helen C. Rountree in The Powhatan Indians of Virginia through Four Centuries. Their culture is recorded in The Powhatan Indians of Virginia: their traditional culture by the Ms. Helen C. Rountree. I have attended the POW-WOW each Fall for the past three years. I met former Chief Earl "Running Deer" Bass, and present Chief Barry "Big Buck" Bass at their homes at the northern end of Dismal Swamp in the summer of 1993. Chief Barry Bass, his wife Betty, and The Nansemond Association are most gracious host for the POW-WOW each year. I have been to a lot of POW-WOWs over the years, but I must admit that I get much more pleasure out of attending the POW-WOW of my peoples. AHO MITAKA OYSIN, Grandfather I give thanks for the winds which have come an blown the fog away so that I could know who I am. AHO...  {Updated 01/01/13} 

 

 

This sign announces the gathering of people for the Nansemond Tribal Pow-Wow which is held north of Suffolk VA each year in Late Summer or Early Fall. Chief Barry "Big Buck" Bass greets all attendees graciously.

Though it was updated 2013 in January, tbass hasn't posted any pictures since the 2000 pow wow.  But the good thing is, I don't live very far from Virginia.