Page 1 – January 9, 2020

The Manahoac

In the early 17th century, when English speakers first explored what is now known as , they encountered three distinct groups of people who were differentiated by their language, physical territory, and conflict with each other. One group was comprised of tribes who were part of the confederacy and who lived along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and its tidal rivers. They spoke in dialects that are part of the Algonquian family of languages.

Another group was comprised of tribes who spoke in dialects that was part of the Iroquoian family of languages. In the early 17th century, those that lived in Virginia lived primarily near the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay. By the mid-17th century, they were allied with what, by the early 18th century, was the large and very powerful Confederacy (also known as the Five (now Six) Nations) that was then based in northeastern North America.

The third group was comprised of people who spoke in dialects that was part of the Siouan family of languages. They included members of the Monacans and Manahoacs and lived primarily in the northern region of Virginia in an area that included land from the headwaters of the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers, west to the Alleghany Mountains.

By the mid-17th century, English speakers reported that the Manahoacs, having lost ground to Europeans and the Susquehanna, who spoke an Iroquoian dialect, had settled on territory near the Upper . By 1714, they accepted shelter at , located in what is now Brunswick County in southern Virginia. Conceived of and supported by British Royal Governor Alexander Spottiswood, Fort Christanna was a 36-acre fortification designed to offer protection, education, and Anglican religious training to tribes that accepted or “paid tribute” to British rule. The Virginia House of Burgesses closed Fort Christanna in 1718. The last mention of the Manahoac in English sources was in 1722, when their remaining members were reported to have joined the Tutelo and Saponi tribes, who were also Siouan-speakers.

Washington, DC 202.223.8845 3503 Moss Side Avenue, Richmond, VA 23222 804.447.6965 www.historymatters.net

Page 2 – January 9, 2020

Hovatter

In 1954, Elbert Troy Hovatter (1921-2010) and Sibyl M. Hovatter (1920-2009) purchased what would become Hovatter Farms located near the town of Aldie in southern Loudoun County, Virginia. With the land primarily cultivated with corn, they worked the farm part-time until 1984 when they built a new home on the property and began cultivating grass and hay crops for the local horse and farming community.

Hovatter Farms was a part-time operation for the Hovatter family because Elbert Hovatter was a full-time officer in the United States Air Force. He began his military service in 1942, during World War II (1941-1945), where he served as logistics officer in the 8th Air Force in England. For his wartime service, he was awarded the Bronze Star. After the war, he remained in the Air Force until the early 1970s when he retired.

Colonel Hovatter and Sibyl Hovatter managed and farmed their land until 2009 when Sibyl died after a brief illness in July 2009, at the age of 89. ET continued to work on the farm after his wife’s death until his own death, nine months later, in April 2010. Both Hovatters are buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Washington, DC 202.223.8845 3503 Moss Side Avenue, Richmond, VA 23222 804.447.6965 www.historymatters.net

Page 3 – January 9, 2020

Elaine E. Thompson

Elaine E. Thompson (1932-2016), was a native of Loudoun County, Virginia, a trailblazing educator, a social justice warrior, and a rigorous historian and writer.

Born in Purcellville but a longtime citizen of Hamilton, Ms. Thompson was the daughter of Thomas Edward Thompson, Sr. and Lillian Louis Clark Thompson, and the 3rd great granddaughter of Joseph Trammel (1831-1859). Mr. Trammel was a free Loudoun man of color. Shortly before it opened in 2016, Ms. Thompson donated Mr. Trammel’s 1852 “Certificate of Freedom” papers and the tin box that he made to protect them, to the permanent collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC)

Educated in the then racially segregated Loudoun County Public School system, Ms. Thompson received her Bachelor’s (1955) and Masters (1960) degrees in education from Hampton Institute (University). Specializing in English, Ms. Thompson was one of two black teachers who first taught as part of the faculty of a formerly all-white high school in Easton, Talbot County, Maryland. While a resident of Maryland, she was a member and leader of the Talbot County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 1988, the NAACP awarded her its President’s Award at its national convention. She continued to serve as a leading member of the NAACP after she returned to live in Loudoun County; in 2000, she received the Virginia NAACP’s Marie Medley Civil Rights Award.

In addition to her teaching and social justice work, Ms. Thompson researched, wrote, edited, and supported Loudoun County history with a particular focus on identifying and preserving the history and material culture of African Americans in the county. She published numerous historical essays, was the key force the placement of Virginia historical marker at the Loudoun County Emancipation Grounds in Purcellville, was a member of the Board of Directors of the Loudoun Museum, and was a Founding Member of the Black History Committee of the Friends of the Thomas Balch Library in Leesburg.

Washington, DC 202.223.8845 3503 Moss Side Avenue, Richmond, VA 23222 804.447.6965 www.historymatters.net