“A Rose by any other name is a Cactus”
~ Defining mixed-blood Indians in
colonial Virginia and the Carolinas ~
By
Steven Pony Hill
Augusta County, VA (Orders 1773-1779)
19 AUG 1777….Nat, an Indian boy in the
custody of Mary Greenlee who detains him as a slave complains that he
is held in unlawful slavery. Commission to take depositions in Carolina
or elsewhere.
17 SEP 1777….On the
complaint of Nat an Indian or
Mustee Boy who says he is to be set free from service of Mary
Greenlee…nothing appeared to this Court but a bill of sale for ten
pounds from one Sherwood Harris of Granville County, NC that through
several assignments was made over to James Greenlee deceased, late
husband to the said Mary….said
Mulattoe or Indian Boy is a free man and no slave.
( Nat was most likely
half-Indian, so therefore Mulatto or Mustee could be used
interchangeably, use of these terms were influenced by the status of
his servitude)
Charles
City County, VA (Orders 1687-95)
DEC
1690….Thomas Mayo an Indian belonging to Jno. Evans is adjudged 14
years old.
Chesterfield
County, VA (Orders 1767-71)
6 APR 1770…On motion of Sibbell, an Indian woman
held in slavery by Joseph Ashbrooke, have leave to prosecute for her
freedom in forma pauperis.
- Sibbell an Indian wench V.
Joseph Ashbrooke, for pltf. To take deposition of Elizabeth Blankenship
and Thomas Womack.
-
Sybill a Mulatto V.
Joseph Ashbrooke – dismissed.
(Sibell was most likely less
than full blooded Indian…she was described as Indian up to the point it
was determined that she was legally a slave, then she was described as
mulatto…use of the term is influenced by the status of her servitude)
Dinwiddie
County, VA
18 AUG
1794...registered free papers of “Nancy Coleman a dark brown, well
made mulatto woman..freed by judgement of the Gen’l Court of
John Hrdaway being a
descendant of an Indian.”
10 FEB 1798…registered
free papers of “Daniel Coleman a dark brown free Negro, or
Indian…formerly held as a slave by Joseph Hardaway but obtained his
freedom by a judgment of the Gen’l Court.
”
14 AUG 1800…registered free
papers of “Hagar Jumper a dark brown Mulatto or Indian woman short
bushy hair, obtained her freedom from Stephen Dance as being a
descendant of an Indian.”
27 MAY 1805…registered
free papers of “Betty Coleman
a dark brown Negro woman…formerly held as a slave by John Hardaway…liberated by
judgment of the Gen’l Court as descended of an Indian.”
Goochland County, VA
7 MAR
1756…Elizabeth, daughter of Ruth
Matthews, a free mulattoe, baptized by the Rev. William Douglas
of St. James Northam Parish.
26 SEP
1757….Cumberland County Court to bind out the children of Ruth Matthews, an Indian woman,
to William Fleming.
(Ruth is described as ‘a free
mulatto’ at one time, ‘an Indian’ at another.)
Henrico
County, VA
5 MAY 1712…..Thomas Chamberlayne
brings before this Court his servant Mulatto man Robin and
informed the Court that he hath several times run away. Ordered to
serve one year from (release date).
-
Robin Indian (filed) against Major Chamberlayne…next Court.
FEB
1712….Robin Indian
ordered free from Thomas Chamberlayne’s service at end of year’s
service.
MARCH 1713….Thomas
Chamberlayne against his servant Robin Mulatto hath unlawfully absented
himself for 16 weeks.
(Robin is described as
Mulatto until he is determined to be illegally held as a slave, then he
is described as Indian…use of the term is influenced by his
servitude…his former master tactfully uses the term Mulatto to
influence the Court to return him to slavery)
APR 1722…Peg an Indian woman servant
belonging to Richard Ligon appeared…be adjudged free..he be summoned.
JUN 1722…Peg a Mulatto servant born
in this County whose mother
was an Indian intitled to freedom at the age of thirty years,
having petitioned for her freedom against her master Richard Ligon.
(Mulatto is used here to
describe an Indian half-blood)
JAN 1737….petition of Tom a Mulatto or Mustee
setting forth that he is the grandson of a white free woman and hast a
just right to freedom but that his master Alexander Trent contrary to
law or equity detains him in slavery.
(the terms Mulatto and Mustee
are used here interchangeably)
JUL 1739…On the
petition of Indian Jamey
alias James Musttie is exempted from paying County Levyes.
NOV 1740…petition of
Thomas Baugh it is ordered that the Church Wardens of Dale Parish do
bind out Joe a Mulatto
the son of Nan an Indian woman
according to law.
(Mulatto is used here
to describe an Indian half-blood)
18 NOV 1747….will of
Richard Randolph…to my son John the third part of my slaves, he taking
my two Negroes, Indian John and Essex as a part of his third which two
Negroes I propose he should have.
(an Indian is described here
as a ‘Negro’…the term is influenced by his servitude)
2 DEC 1754….Church
wardens of Henrico Parish do bind out Ezekiel Scott and Sarah Scott,
children of John Scott, Tommy son of Indian Nan, Henry Cockran
son of John Cockran, and Isham Roughton an Indian according to Law.
5 MAR 1759….Ordered
that the Church Wardens of Henrico Parish bind out Ben Scott and Roger
an Indian Boy according to Law.
Lunenburg
County, VA (Orders 1748-52)
JUL 1749…..Dublin an Indian
of the Tugyebugg Nation came into Court and petitioned for her freedom,
she being held in slavery.
Louisa
County, VA
10 APR 1764…will of Patrick
Belches…”to my wife Judy Belches all my land in Louisa..also the following Negroes to wit Indian
Ben and wife Beck Kinney and their son Thom.”
1798…..Kinney family released from
slavery based on testimony on William Denton that they descended from
an Indian woman named Joan Kenny who was an elderly woman in 1729 and
she came from the Indian town on Pamunkey.
(Indian Ben and Beck Kinney
described as “Negroes’, later released based on being Indians...the
term is based on their servitude)
Northumberland
County, VA
OCT 1713…trial for examining George an Indian Mulatto
criminal…inhabitant of Wiccomocoe Indian Town..for murdering Allen
Dorrett…confesses he struck him with a stake…John Veazey carried him
into the house of Indian John.
(use of the term Mulatto here
to describe an Indian half-blood)
Stafford
County, VA
Will Book Liber M,
1729-48….will of George Crosby…I bequeth unto George Crosby junior the
son of my son George, one
Indian mulatto woman Frank & her increase as also one Indian
mulatto boy Jno Cooper.
(use of the term Mulatto here
to describe an Indian half-blood)
Surry County, VA
2 JUL 1659…I
Kinge of the Waineoaks doe firmely bargaine and make sale unto Elith
Short her heires a boy of my Nacon named Weetoppin…until the full term
of his life in consideration (of) a younge horse foale aged one yeare.
(not only did Indians sell
their war captives into slavery, but they even sold their own)
20 MAR 1712….will of Francis Maybury…to wife Elizabeth,
one Indian man named Robin and one Indian boy Jack and a mulatto girl.
20 AUG 1712…inventory
of estate of Francis
Maybury….two Indian slaves and one Indian Mulatto.
(girl first described as a
mulatto later described as an Indian mulatto)
1741-1745…..Robin a Negro Man now in
possession of Thomas Cocke, Gent., petitioning for leave to sue for his
freedom.
- Robin, an Indian Plt.
Against Thomas Cocke Genbt. Deft. In Trespass Assault and false
imprisonment…We find that James Jones late of Prince George County in
the year of our Lord 1693 was in the possession of an Indian girl named
Sarah as a slave and that we did find the said girl in the year
aforesaid was 4 years old. We find that the parents and Native Country
of the sd. girl were Heathens and Idolators. We find that the aforesaid
girl did live and die in the service of the aforesaid James Jones as a
slave. We find that the Plt. Robin is the issue of the aforesaid Indian
Sarah.
(Robin is described as a Negro
until he proves his Indian descent, then he is described as
Indian…use of the term is influenced by his servitude)
Sussex County, VA
1818…..”James Hix, a free man of color,
brown complexion 34 years old, born free of Indian mother per
certificate from Sussex County.”
(non-white persons are held
under suspicion of servitude, and thus Negro ancestry, until proven
otherwise)
Westmoreland
County, VA
29 JAN 1700…..James Loggin, an Indian Mulatto,
bound to Henry Wharton until the age of 21 by the Court.
(use of the term Mulatto here
to describe an Indian half-blood)
Coastal North Carolina
“In 1761, The Rev.
Alex Stewart baptized 7 Indians and mixed-blood children of the
Attamusket, Hatteras, and Roanoke tribes and 2 years later he baptized
21 more.” – Swanton
North
Carolina
1857…..a William
Chavers (Chavis) was arrested and charged as a “free person of color”
with carrying a shotgun, a violation on NC state law. He was convicted,
but promptly appealed, claiming that the law restricted free Negroes
not persons of color. The appeals court reversed the lower Court
finding that, “Free persons of color may be, then, for all we can see,
persons colored by Indian blood, or persons descended from Negro
ancestors beyond the fourth degree.”
(desire of legal system to
lump all non-whites into one category still exists in mid-1800’s)
1871……The North
Carolina Joint Senate and House Committee interviewed Robeson County
Judge Giles Leitch about the “free persons of color” residing within
his county: Senate: Half of the colored population?
Leitch: Yes sir; half of the
colored population of Robeson County were never slaves at all…
Senate: What are they; are
they Negroes?
Leitch:
Well sir, I desire to tell you the truth as near as I can; but I do not
know what they are; I think they are a mixture of Spanish, Portuguese
and Indian….
Senate: You think they are
mixed Negroes and Indians?
Leitch: I do not think that
in that class of population there is much Negro blood at all: of that
half of the colored population that I have attempted to decribe all
have always been free…They are called ‘Mulattoes’ that is the
name they are known by, as contradistinguished from Negroes…I think
they are of Indian origin.
Senate: I understand you to
say that these seven or eight hundred persons that you designate as
mulattoes are not Negroes but are a mixture of Portuguese and Spanish,
white blood and Indian blood; you think they are not generally Negroes?
Leitch: I do not think the
Negro blood predominates.
Senate: the word
‘mulatto’ means a cross between the white and the Negro?
Leitch: Yes sir.
Senate: You do not mean the
word to be understood in that sense when applied to these people?
Leitch: I really do not know
how to describe those people.
(Even person not considered
to bear Negro ancestry could be called Mulattoes as late as the
1870’s….the term ‘Portuguese’ used here to infer Spanish and Indian
ancestry….’Portuguese’ also used by persons of North Carolina origin
residing in South Carolina, Tennessee, etc. to describe mixed
Indian-white persons from the NC?VA border area during this same time
period.)
Virginia Gazette
17 APR 1752…Run away
from the subscriber, living in Hanover County, about the middle of
March last, a young Indian fellow, named Ned, about 20 years of age,
pretends to pass as a freeman.
(Ned’s identity as Indian
influenced by his servitude)
14 APR 1768….Isaac an Indian Slave aged about
40 years, run away from my plantation on George’s Creek in
Buckingham. He was born and lived many years on the Brook of
Chickahominy, and has some connexions in Goochland, where he may
probably be at present. He wore long curled hair before his elopement, but his countenance and
disposition are altogether Indian.
2 AUG 1770…..Committed
to the prison of York, a Negro Boy, who says he is free and was born in
the Indian Town on Pamunkee River.
(York ’s identity as Indian
influenced by his servitude)
23 NOV 1770….Prince
George County…Runaway from the subscriber on Monday the 19th, a negro
fellow named Frank…of a yellow complexion..He has a wife among the
Indians, at Indian Town on Pamunkey River.
24 SEP 1772….committed
to the public jail, from James City prison, a runaway woman named
Molly, she belongs to Charles Budd of Charles City County…about 40
years old, has a prominent nose and by her complexion would pass for
one of the Indian Race.
26 NOV 1772…Runaway
from the subscriber in Cumberland a Mulatto Man named Jim who is a
slave but pretends to have a right to his freedom. His father was an Indian of the name
of Cheshire, and very likely will call himself James Cheshire,
or Chink. He is a short well set fellow, about twenty seven years of
age, with long black hair resembling an Indians.
(Use of Mulatto to describe
Indian half-blood….use of term influenced by his servitude)
3 DEC 1772…Committed
to the jail of Surry County, a
Negro Man who says his name is Tom, and that he belongs to Benjamin
Clements of Sussex…appears to be of the Indian Breed.
(person of obvious Indian
ancestry described as a Negro)
13 JUL 1773….Runaway
from the subscriber a Mulatto
Slave named David…says he is of the Indian Breed, and went down
to the General Court, as I imagine to sue for his freedom, but has
never returned.
(David’s identity as Indian
influenced by his servitude)
11 NOV 1773…Run away
from the subscriber, last month, a Negro Man of the name Tom…of a
yellowish complexion, much the appearance of an Indian…His hair is a
different kind from that of a Negro’s, rather more of an Indian’s, but
partaking of both.
(person of obvious Indian
ancestry described as a Negro)
11 MAR 1775….Run away
from the subscriber…a very bright Mulatto Man named Stephen…his wife
Phebe went away with him, a remarkable white Indian woman.
6 JAN 1776…Run way
from the subcriber..Harry, Virginia Born, 5 feet 8 or 9 inches high, 30
years of age, a dark Mulatto, with long bushy hair, he is of the Indian
Breed.
(person of obvious Indian
ancestry described as Mulatto)
2 DEC 1775…Bute
County, NC…Run away from William Tabb, a slave named Charles, of the Indian
Breed, about 23 years of age, with straight black hair, light
complexion, raised in George County, VA.
South Carolina
1731…Special meeting
of the South Carolina House of Commons after a member had
announced that “Free colored men with their white wives have immigrated
from Virginia with the intention of settling on the Santee River.”,
report of Governor Robert Johnson: “I have had them before me in
council and upon examination find that they are not Negroes nor slaves
but free people, that the father of them here is named Gideon Gibson
and his father was also free…”
1753….. Will of
Alexander Wood, of St. James Goose Creek Parish, Planter, to his half-breed Indian Slaves named
Dukey Cox and George Cox, born of his Indian slave named Jenny, and
Minerva Watkins, born of his Indian Slave named Moll,
manumission upon his death
1794….Issac Linagear,
Isaac Mitchell, Joanthan Price, Spencer Bolton, William N. Swett, and
29 other “free persons of color seek to repeal the Act for imposing a
poll tax on all Free negroes, Mustees, and Mulattoes. They wish to
support the government, but the poll tax caused great hardship among
free women of color, especially widows with large families. Tax
collectors hunted them down and extorted payments.” [See 1794 Petition]
(desire of legal
system to lump all non-whites into one category)
25 JUL 1795…A South
Carolinian advertised in the North Carolina Central and Fayetteville
Gazette….”$10 Reward to deliver to the subscriber in Georgetown, a
Mustie servant woman named Nancy Oxendine, she is a stout wench, of a
light complexion about 30 years old. It is supposed she has been
travels away by her brother and sister, the latter lives in
Fayetteville.”
Tennessee
1832….Madison County….”free man of color, Richard Matthews,
seeks permission to marry a white woman. Matthews says he is of the
Portuguese blood.”
(see Goochland County, VA for
the Matthews family.)
1843…..McMinn County…George Sherman arrived in the state in 1839 and
now asks permission to remain. “A certificate signed by a notary public
in New York states that he is of Mulatto complexion with wooly hair and
is an Indian, one of the Narragansett tribe.”
(an Indian described as
having a Mulatto complexion)
1853 to 58 Claiborne County….suit
pressed by school teacher Elijoh Goins, who alleged that his daughter’s
husband “spoke false, malicious, scandalous and defamatory words saying
the plaintiff was a mulatto, meaning a person of mixed blood one degree
removed from a full blood Negro as reason of which several grievances
the plaintiff hath been greatly damaged and subjected to the suspicion
disgrace and insult to a family of a person of mixed blood.”
Legal
Systems:
26 NOV 1722…residents
of Northampton County, VA, petitioned the Court complaining “That a
great number of Free Negroes Inhabiting within this County are great
Grievances most particularly because the Negro Women pay no Taxes.”
Virginina passed a law in May 1723 “That all free negros, mulattos, or
Indians except tributary Indians to this government male and female,
above the age of sixteen, and all wives of such Negroes, mulattos, or
Indians shall be accounted tithables.”
1738…North Carolina “AN ACT to Prevent the concealment of the Tithables
in the Several Countys within this Province” defines tithables as
“every white Person Male of the age sixteen Years and upwards all
Negroes Mulattoes Mustees Male or female and all Persons of Mixt Blood
to the fourth Generation Male and Female of the Age of Twelve years and
upwards.”
1749….North Carolina tithable law is amended to include “all White
Persons intermarrying with any Negro, mulatto, or mustee, or other
Person of Mixt Blood.”
(desire of legal system to
lump all non-whites into one category)
1802….In the North Carolina case Gobu v. Gobu, the judge stated “I
acquiesce in the rule laid down by the defendant’s counsel, with
respect to the presumption of every black person being a slave. It is
so, because Negroes originally brought to this country were slaves, and
their descendants must continue slaves until manumitted by proper
authority. If therefore a person of that description claims his
freedom, he must establish his right to it by such evidence as will
destroy the force of the presumption arising from his color.”
(all dark skinned persons are
presumed to be descended from Negroes)
See Also-
FREE INDIANS IN AMITY WITH THIS GOVERNMENT