stance, it was stated in an appeal of the Burgesses to Lord Howard that when the region of country on the Blackwater was assigned to the tribes residing in that part of Virginia, the number of individuals composing them was very large, but that the tribes were now extinct. The nearest Indians were the Wyanokes and Nansemunds, who would have been pleased to see the colonists establish themselves on their lands, since this would have constituted a barrier against the attacks of their enemies from the South. Howard refused to yield to the wishes of the Burgesses because in conflict with the existing agreement between the Indians and the colonial government.[1] In 1688, a few years later, the tribes residing in Pamunkey Neck and on the south side of Blackwater River, offered a petition to the Assembly, in which they urged that all the lands in their vicinity they were unable to use should be granted to the English, not only as a means of protection to the petitioners, but also as a relief to them in their indigent condition.[2] The reservations with one exception finally disappeared. The Indian habits of life, inherited from remote ancestors, could not be changed even by contact with the civilization of the English. Every year saw a further abridgment in the extent of the soil which was still in their possession. The aborigines have now dwindled to a few half-breeds, who own only a few rods in that great area of country which was once the seat of the powerful confederacy of Powhatan, and the exclusive property of their forefathers.[3]
- ↑ British State Papers, Colonial; McDonald Papers, vol. VII, pp. 350-352, Va. State Library.
- ↑ McDonald Papers, vol. VII, pp. 157, 158, Va. State Library.
- ↑ An interesting account of the present condition of the surviving Indians of Virginia will be found in J. Garland Pollard’s Pamunkey Indians of Virginia, Smithsonian Institution Publications, Washington, D. C., 1894. There are records of several instances after 1650, in which estates in fee simple were held by Indians who resided in the midst of the English settlements. These Indian landowners were doubtless as thoroughly identified in all of their interests with the English colonists as if they belonged to the same race. The following is taken from the Records of Rappahannock County : “Whereas I, Edward Stockholder, being now designed upon an expedition with the English against my countrymen, the Indians, do make my last will.” He then proceeds to bequeath to his wife his plantation of one hundred and fifty acres, which was situated in the freshes of Rappahannock River. Records of Rappahannock County, vol. 1677-1682, p. 100, Va. State Library. In a deed from Captain Henry Fleet to Malachi Peale, p. 278, in vol. 1680-1688, of the same records (Va. State Library), there is a reference to “Indian Ned’s Land.”
