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ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

MONOLOGUE: G. E. Butler, "The Croatan Indians of Samson County, Their Origin and Racial Status, a Plea for Separate Schools" - Adolph Dial

DATE: September 3, 1971 D: Today is September 3, 1971. I am at the Sampson County Public Library, visiting the festivities of the Indians in Robeson County. Tonight there well be a princess contest, tomorrow a parade and speakers, and a thing on Sunday afternoon. While here in Sampson County, I thought it would be feasible to research in the library any material on the Indians of this area. I have here one book written by George E. Butler, Clinton, , entitled The Croatan Indians of Sampson County, Their Origin and Racial Status":­ A Plea for Separate Schools. George E. Butler's son, Alvin R. Butler, is the federal judge of this district and is much in the news these days. He is holding a hearing on the public schools in the Prospect area of Robeson County. On the very first page are pictures of the Croatan Normal School at Pembroke, North Carolina--the first Croatan Indian school established and supported by the state. There were about fifty or sixty students. The copyright date of this book is 1916. It was published by the Seenman Printery, Durham, North Carolina. On the first page is a petition of the Indians of Sampson County to the Honorable Board of Education of Sampson County, North Car­ olina, stating: "The undersigned, your petitioners, a part of the Croatan Indians living in the county of Sampson, state aforesaid, having their residence here for more than 200 years as a citizen and taxpayer of the county and state equally sharing all the bur­ dens of our government and desiring to share in all the benefits ------respectfully petition your honorable board for such recognition and aid in the education of their children as you may see fit to extend to them the amount appropriated to be used for the sole and exclusive purpose of assisting your petitioners to educate their children and fit them for the duties of citizen­ ship. Your petitioners would show that there are, according to the bulletin of the thirteenth census of 1910, 213 Indians in Sampson County and that there are, I believe, of school age for whom there are no separate school provisions, over 100 Indian school children, that these children are not permitted to attend, and have no desire to attend, the white schools and in no other section of the state are they required to attend the colored schools, that they are a distinct and separate race of people and are now endeavoring as best they can at their own expense to build and maintain their own schools without any appropriation from the county or state notwithstanding their carefully paid taxes for this purpose and otherwise share in the burdens and benefits of the government, that the Croatan Indians of this county are a quiet, peaceful, and industrious people and have been residents of this section long before the event of the white man with whom they are, they have always been friendly and with whom they have always courted and maintained cordial relations. There is tradition among them that they are a remnant of White's lost colony and during the long years that have passed since the disappearance of that colony they have been struggling to fit themselves and their children for the exalted privileges and duties of American freemen and to sub­ stantiate this historical and traditional claim hereto attend and make a part of this petition such historical data as they have been able to collect to aid you in arriving at their proper racial status. Your petitioners respectfully show that they are of the 2

same race and blood and is part of the same people held by Indians of Robeson County, many of whom w~re former residents of Sampson County and with whom they have married and intermarried. That since the state of North Carolina has been so just and generous as to provide special and separate school advantages for our brothers and kinsmen in Robeson County as well as in the counties of Richmond, Scotland, Hoke, Person, and Cumberland, we now appeal to you for the same just and generous recognition from the State of North Carolina and from your honorable board in Sampson County that we may share equal advantages with them as people of the same race and blood and as loyal citizens of the state, and your petitioners will ever pray. Respectfully submitted, Ezem Amond, H. A. Brayton, J. H. Brayton, J. R. Jones, Robin Jacob, R. J. Jacob, Calvin Amond, H. S. Brayton, Jonathan Goodman, Lucy Goodman, Jeff Jacob, J. D. Simmon, William Simmon, Sr., W. J. Bedsole, Matthew Burnett, Enich Emanuel, Jr., Gus Robertson, M. L. Brayton, R.H. Jacog, J, W. Faircloth, E. R. Brayton, W, R. Bedsole, Enich Emanuel, C. B. Brayton, W. D. Brayton, Thomas Jones, C. O. Jacob, J. S. Strictland, Michael Goodman, Enich Jacob, A. J. Amond, C. A. Brayton, C. D. Brayton, Martha Jones, C. J. Jacobs, J.M. West, Albert Jacobs, R. W. Wims, J. A. Brayton, Harley Goodman, W. E. Goodman, D. J. Faircloth, Hersey Simmon, J. G. Simmon, J. A. Bedsole, H.J. Jones, and Jonah Manuel. " Chapter one, page eight, contains an historical sketch of the Indians of Sampson and adjoining counties. On July 30, 1914, the United States Senate passed a resolution directing the secretary of the interior to investigate the conditions and tribal rights of the Indians of Robeson and adjoining counties of North Carolina, recently declared by the legislature of North Carolina to be and formally known as Croatan. They were to report to Congress what tribal rights, if any, they have with the Indian band or tribe--whether they are entitled to have or receive any land, whether there are any monies due them under their present condition, their educational facilities, and such other facts as would enable Congress to determine whether the government would be warranted in making suitable provisons for their support and education, In conformity with this request, the secretary of the interior called an investigation to be made by a special Indian agent> O. M. Macpherson. His report, dated September 19, 1914, is quite full, showing a careful investigation of the grounds as well as histori­ cal research. This report was submitted by the secretary of the interior to the president of the Senate of January 4, 1915, and is entitled, "Report on Conditions and Tribal Rights of the Indians of Robeson and Adjoining Counties of North Carolina." This report contains 252 pages from which we have gathered much information embraced in this historical sketch. We hav~ examined the booklet prepared by Honorable Hamilton McMillan of Fayetteville, North Carolina, who made an extensive study and investigation of the Croatans entitled, nsir Walter Raleigh's Lost Colony." We have examined the sketch entitled, "The Lost Colony of Roanoke, Its Fate and Survival," by one of our state historians, Honorable Steven B. Wheat. We have also examined Samuel A. Ash's history of North Carolina, volume two of Hull's history of North Carolina, and a work entitled, "Handbook of American Indians." The histor­ ical records, the family history and traditions, information 3

attainable from the United States census in 1910, and the school and tax records of Sampson County form the basis of the information set out in this historical sketch. The Croatan Indians comprised a body of mixed blood people residing chiefly in Sampson, Robeson, Bladen, Columbus, Cumberland, Scotland, Richmond and Hoke counties in North Carolina, and in Sumter, Marlboro, and Dillon counties in South Carolina. They are called "Redbones" in South Carolina but probably belong to the same type of people residing in North Carolina. In the eleventh census, 1890, under the title, "North Carolina Indians," they are described as "generally white, showing the Indian mostly in actions and habits. They are enumerated by the regular census, enumerated in part as white, are clannish, and hold with considerable pride the tradition that they are descendents of the Croatans of the Raleigh period in North Carolina and Virginia." They are described in the Handbook of American Indians as people evidently of mixed Indian and white blood, found in various sections of the eastern part of North Carolina, particularly in Robeson County. It is also stated that for many years they were classed with the free Negroes but steadfastly refused to accept such classification or to attend Negro schools or churches, claiming to be descendents of the early native tribes and white settlers who had intermarried with them. A bulletin of the thir­ teenth census, 1910, of North Carolina, showed their number to be as follows: Bladen County, thirty-six; Columbus County, twelve; Cumberland County, forty-eight; Scotland County, seventy-four; Union County, ten; Harnett County, twenty-nine; Sampson County, 213; and Robeson County, 5,895. The total in North Carolina was 6,317 in 1910. The Indian office in Washington had no knowledge of the existence of the Croatan Indians until the latter part of 1888 when that office received a petition sent by fifty-four of these Indians describing themselves as part of the Croatan Indians living in Robeson County, claiming to be remnants of White's lost colony, and petitioning Congress for aid. On January 11, 1889, the directors of the Ethnological Bureau, in response to this petition, replied, "I beg leave to say that Croatan in 1585 was the name of an island and Indian village just north of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. White's colony of 120 men and women had landed on Roanoke Island just to the north in 1587 and in 1590 when White returned to revisit the colony he found no trace of it on Roanoke Island save the name "Croatan" carved upon a tree which, according to a previous understanding, was inter­ preted to mean that the colonists had left Roanoke Island for Croatan. No actual trace of the missing colony was ever found, but more than 100 years afterward Lawson obtained additional infor­ mation from the Hatteras Indians which led him to believe that the colonists had been incorporated with the Indians. It was thought that traces of white blood had been discovered among the Indians, some having grey eyes. It is probable that the greater number of the colonists were killed, but it was quite in keeping with the Indian usage that a greater or a lesser number, especially women and children, could have been made captive and subsequently incorp­ orated into a tribe." 4

A tradition among these Indians was that their ancestors were white people, part of Governor White's lost colony who amalgamated with the Hoke Indians and afterwards moved to the interior where they now reside. It is a matter or connnon knowledge that the In­ dians are a people of tradition being entirely destitute of written records. These traditions would be of little value were they not supported by authentic historical data. Governor White left a colony of 120 men and women from England on Roanoke Island in 1587. When he returned in 1590 he found no trace of the colony save the word "Croatan" carved upon a tree in Roman letters, the word "Croatan" without any cross or sign of distress about the word, for he had the understanding that if any misfortune came to them, they should put a cross over the word. One of the earlier maps of the Carolina coast, which appears in Leader's Travelers, prepared in 1666, represents Croatan as an island south of Cape Hatteras. Croatan is part of the mainland directly west of Roanoke Island. Governor White indicates that the colony originally removed to Croatoan and not to Croatan. The term "Croatan," or "Croatoan," was applied by the English to defend this friendly tribe of Manteo whose chief abode was on the island southward from Roanoke. The name "Croatan" seems to indicate a locality in the territory claim of Manteo and his tribe. Manteo was one of two friendly Indians who had been carried to England by Sir Richard Grimble and returned with Governor White on the occasion of his first voyage in 1587. By direction of Sir Walter Raleigh, Manteo was baptized and, in reward for his service to the English, was designated Lord of Roanoke. McMillan, in his pamphlet, says, "It is evident from the story of Governor White that the colonists went southward along the coast of Roanoke, of Croatan Island, now a part of Carteret County in North Carolina and distanced about 100 miles in a direct line from Albermarle Sound." Dr. Hogg, in his history, speaks of this tribe as the Hatteras Indians. From the first appearance of the English, relations of the most friendly character were known to exist between the tribe and the colony. Manteo was their chief. The Hatteras Indians are des­ cribed in the Handbook of American Indians as follows: "Hatteras, an Algonquin tribe living in 1710 on the sandy banks about the Cape Hatteras in ______of Sound, frequently Roanoke Island. Their single village and bank has only about eighty inhab­ itants. They show traces of white blood and claim that their an­ cestors were white. They may have been identical with the Croatan Indians, with whom Raleigh's colonists at Roanoke Island are sup­ posed to have taken refuge." John Lawson was an early English explorer who left a permanent record of his travels among the tribes of North Carolina. He com­ menced his journey on December 28, 1700. Lawson's history of North Carolina is regarded as the standard authority for the period he covered and he states that there was a band of Indians in the eastern part of North Carolina known as Hatteras Indians that lived on Roanoke Island. They told him that many of their ancestry were white people and could talk in a book. Many of these Indians had grey eyes that were found among no other Indians, were friendly to the English, and were ready to do all the friendly services. He 5

states it is probable that White's colony miscarried for want of timely supplies from England, or, through treachery of the natives. We may reasonably suppose the English were forced to cohabit with them and that, in the process of time, they conformed themselves to the manner of their Indian relations. Sam Lawson traveled among the Indians of North Carolina before they had come in contact with any of the white settlers and found the same tribe of Indians re­ siding on the south side of the Neuse River as the Coree tribe. One of the head men of this tribe was an Indian of the name of Eno-Will, who tr~veled several days with Lawson and his guide. "Speaking of this Indian," Lawson said, "our guide and landlord, Eno-Will, had the best and most agreeable temper that I ever saw within an Indian, being always ready to serve not out of gain but real affection." Lawson had with him his Bible, and Eno-Will was accompanied by his son, Jack, fourteen years old. Eno-Will re­ quested that Lawson teach his son to "talk in a book and to make paper speak," to write. From MacPherson's report connnenting on the above, we copy as follows: "The presence of grey eyes and fair skin among these people in Lawson's time cannot be explained on any other hypothesis than that of amalgamation with the white race." Lawson wrote in 1709 that a tradition among the Hatteras Indians stated that their ancestors were white people who could talk in a book, and that they valued themselves extremely for their affinity to the English and were ready to do them all friendly offices. I have already referred to the fact that Eno-Will--a Coree Indian who had been raised on the coast and was probably nearly seventy years of age when he acted as Lawson's guide--knew that the English could "talk in a book," and as he probably expressed it, could "make paper talk,'' indications that he was familiar with the customs of the English. Coupled with the fact that the guide had an English name, Will, which he probably assumed at the age of twenty or twenty-one, and the information previously given by him that he lived on Eno Bay when he was a boy, leads to the conclusion that the Corees had come in contact with at least some portion of the Lost Colony. It must be remembered that when Will was a boy there were no English settlements on the east coast of North Car­ olina, other than White's Lost Colony. Their religion and ideas of faith were more exalted than was connnon among the savages and leads one to believe that they had communication with the more civilized race from the east. There is an abiding tradition among the people at the present time that their ancestors were the Lost Colony, amalgamated with some tribes of Indians. This tradition is sup­ ported by their looks, complexion, color of skin, hair and eyes, by their manners, customs, and habits. Speaking of the language of this people, Mr. McMillan said, "The language spoken is almost purely Anglo-Saxon, a fact which we think supports evidence of their relation to the Lost.Colony of whites. "Mon," Saxon, is used for 1'man." "Father"- is pronounced "f-a-y-t-h-e-r," and a tradition is usually begun as follows: "Mon, my father told me that his father told him." "Mension" is used for "measurement," "aks" for "ask," "hit" for "it," "hosen" for "hose," "lovend" for "loving," and "housen" for "houses." They seem to have two sounds for the letter "a" - on·' like a short "o." Manv of the words in common use among them have long been obsolete in English-speakin£? countries." Colonel Fred, an old newspaper correspondent at Raleigh, says of their language, "The language spoken by the Croatan is a very pure and clean old Anglo-Saxon and there are in daily use some seventy-five words which have come down from the great days of Raleigh and his mighty mistress, Queen Elizabeth. These old Saxon words arrest attention instantly, for "man" they say "mon," pro­ nounce "father," "fayther," use "mension" for "measure," "aks" for "ask," "hosen" for "hose," "lovend" for "loving," "wit" for "knowledge," "housen" for "houses," and many other words, in daily use by them, have for years been entirely obsolete in English­ speaking countries. Just when the colonists and Indians with whom they amalgamated were moved to the interior is not known, but it is believed to have been as early as 1650. At the coming of the first white settlers to what is now known as Robeson County, there was located on the banks of the Lumber River a large tribe of Indians speaking the English language, tilling the soil, owning slaves and practicing many of the arts of civilized life, and what is of greatest significance, a very large number of names appeared among the Lost Colony are to be found among the Croatan Indians, a fact inexplicable upon any other hypothesis than the Lost Colony amal­ gamated with the Indians." Those names common to both are printed in italics in the McMillan book. Mr. McMillan adds, "The writer has been much interested in in­ vestigating the traditions prevalent among the Croatan and expressed his firm conviction that they are descendents from the friendly tribe found on our East coast in 1587 and also descended from the Lost Colony of Roanoke who amalgamated with this tribe. From the foregoing I have no hesitancy in expressing the belief that the Indians, which originally settled in Robeson and adjoining counties of North Carolina, were an amalgamation of the Hatteras Indians with Governor White's lost colony. The present Indians are their descendents with amalgamation with the early Scotch and Scotch­ -Irish settlers and such amalgamation continuing down to the pres­ ent time together with a small degree of amalgamation with other races. I didn't find that the Hatteras Indians, or the so-called Croatan Indians, ever had any treaty relations with the United States or that they have received any lands or that they owe any money to them." MacPherson says that, in investigating the traditions preva~ lent among the_____ people, he found many families.identical to those of the Lost Colony of 1587. He published a list of the names of all the men, women, and children of the which arrived in Virginia and remained to inhabit there. We give below a list of these names of this lost colony as follows: Roger Baily, Christopher Cubbard, Thomas Stevens, John Sampson, Bionys Hardie, Robert Pratts, George Howl, and many others. I do not feel it necessary to list them since it can be found in many places. All of the above are Indian names in Robeson, Sampson, and adjoining counties. In addition, we have the following Indian names in Sampson County: Jacob Goodman, Simmons Hammond Broynton, Mainor, Manuel, Emanuel, Jones Bedsole, Faircloth Harding, and 7

Warrick. The Croatans were first found over two hundred years ago in eastern North Carolina on the banks of · , Lumbee, Cohare and South Carolina in Sampson and adjoining counties where they are living to this day and are found nowhere else. In his report, McPherson says that the region inhabited by the Croatan is a low, woodland region locally in their own possum land, abounding in waterberries and blackberries which bring some revenue to the people. Commenting upon this part of the PcPherson report, Dr. Wheat says, "This was probably on the upper waters of the _____ in what may now be Wayne or Lenoir County. It is probable that they were joined by those who had not undertaken the expedition towards Virginia and from this point they could have passed easily into Sampson and Robeson County in conformity with their traditions as related to Mr. McMillan." Their ancestors, the , according to their tradition, had their principal abiding place in the mountains to the West and had trails or roads leading to various points on the coast. On the principal road known as Lowree, they had settlements on the ------River, on the waters of the Black River, on the _____ of the Lumbee and as far as the Santee in South Carolina. Their principal settlement was in the territory along the Lumbee, covering a large part of the present county of Robeson, and ex­ tending through what is now Cumberland County as far as a route there on Cape Fear. They had other trails leading eastward from the mountains and three of them united with the Lowree Road or trail where there was a crossing of the Cape Fear, where the pres­ ent town of Fayetteville is situated. Reverend Blair, a missionary to the settlement on the eastern coast of North Carolina, wrote to Lord Wamous in 1703 regarding the Indian tribes which he came in contact with and referred to them as a great nation of Indians and very civilized people. McPherson says that there is reason to be­ lieve that the descendents of the colony were living in the country southeast of Pamlico at the time that Mr. Blair writes and that they immigrated westward toward the interior where a large of Croatan Indians and descendents of the Lost Colony had previously located. It is probable that the civilized Indians mentioned were a portion of the Croatan Indians as there was no other tribe to which the records could apply. In 1703 there were no settlements of white men known to exist beyond the region around Pamlico Sound. Separate to that date, white immigrants penetrated the wilderness and in 1729 there was a settlement made on Hart Creek, a tributary of the _____ and near the site of the pres- ent town of Fayetteville. _____ arrived in what is now known as Richmond County in North Carolina during the 1770's. penetrated as far north as the southern border of North Carolina in the early part of the eighteenth century. At the coming of the white settlers there was found located on the waters of the Lumbee River a large tribe of Indians speaking English, tilling the soil, owning slaves and practicing many of the arts of civilized life. The first renting of land to this tribe, of which there is written evidence, was made by King George II in 1732 to Henry Berry and James Lowrie, two leading men of the tribe, and was located on 8

Lowrie Swamp east of the Lumbee River in the present county of Robeson. A subsequent rent was made to James Lowrie in 1738. These people were helpful, and friendly relations were established between them and their white neighbors. These Indians built good roads and connected the distant settlement with their principal on the Lumbee, as the Lumbo River was then called. According to A Plea for Separate Schools, one of the great roads constructed by them can be traced from a point on Lumbo River for twenty miles to an old settlement near the mouth of Hart Creek, now Cross Creek. Another highway still bearing the name Lowree Road and used at this day as a public road, extends from the town of Fayetteville through Cumberland and Robeson County in a southwest direction toward an ancient Croatan settlement on Henry Barry Lowrie, the grantee previously men­ tioned, was a linear descendent of the English colonist Henry Barry, who was left on Roanoke Island in 1587. Many of the tribe served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and received pensions within the memory of persons yet living. From Hamilton McMillan's book, Sir Walter Raleigh, the Lost Colony, we quote as follows: "At an early period after the English colony became corporated with the tribe they began to emigrate westward. The first settlement made was probably in what is now Sampson County on several small river tributaries, the Black River. These were Big Soharie and Little Soharie, a portion located in Robeson, but it is probable that they have resided there for two hundred years, which would mean around 1760. According to their universal tradition they were located there long before the trou­ ble with the Tuscaroras began in 1911. Some of the tribes fought on the Bonnul, as they term Colonel Barnwell, and we have reliable evidence that they brought ____ Indians as prisoners and slaves. The descendents of these, ______, had their tra- ditions also. The name 'Barry' was not recognized by them in the first investigation, but we afterwards discovered that they pro­ nounce this name variously D-a-r-i, D-u-r-i, and D-o-r-i. This diso'Overy was made when we related to an old chronicle of the tribe of Soharie, Virginia Dare, the first white child born on American soil. The name 'Door" and 'Dora' has appeared on the Lumbee River since the War of 1812. The name 'Dorr' appears on the ______role of a company composed in part of Indians from Robeson County which served during the war in the United States Army. Several chronicles ______persons who keep the traditions of the tribe, have informed us that there are fami­ lies bearing the name of 'Dorr' and 'Dare' to be found in western North Carolina who are claimed by the tribe as descendents of the English colony of Roanoke. These chronicles affirm that the Dares and the Coopers and the Hardies and others were ___ purely of blood and were generally the prisoners of immigration. Many names are corrupted so that it is difficult to trace their history. The name of Goyan was originally O'Guin as appeared from records. The name of Lumber, as applied to the river, was origin­ ally Lumbee or Lombee. The name Manteo is not familiar to them. While they had a tradition of their leader or chief who went to England, they have preserved no name for him. The nearest 9

approach to the name Y.anteo is Maino or Mainor. ______Mainor today. An old woman, whom we interviewed, spoke of the great man as Wonoke. This may be a corruption of Roanoke where we must remember Manteo was made Lord of Roanoke." The late John F. Leary wrote Dr. Wheat from Fayetteville, North Carolina, under the date July 22, 1891: "I do not know as to whether any considerable number of the Croatans emigrated from the state at any time in a body. Quite a number who were connected with the Croatans in Robeson County left the state at different times. Senator Hiram R. Revels, his brother, Willis Absolom, his sisters, some of the Oxindines, Leary and Dial. I do not know the exact number. My father's mother was a Revels, born in Robeson County, and was second cousin to Hiram Revels. She married an Irishman named O'Leary. Her father was born in Sampson County on the Big Sahare. His parents moved to that county. In 1806 they came to Fayetteville where father lived until he died in 1818. Father came from the Croatan stock. My mother was born in France and was brought to this country by her parents in 1812. Father and Hother were married in 1825 and in 1857 my father sent my brother, Louis Sheraton Leary, to Oberlin, Ohio. While there he formed an old acquaintance with John Brown and went with him to Harper's Ferry in 1859. He was killed on the seventeenth of October, 1859, while guarding what is now known as John Brown's Fort. I saw this fort for the first time in 1880. It is a small brick house. I have a grand-uncle, my father's mother's brother, living now in the Croatan settlement in Robeson County, 108 years old. As soon as I can make it convenient to see him I will have a talk with him and put on paper whatever information I can get from him and give you to benefit of it." That is the late John F. Leary writing in 1891. Section one, Chapter 254 of the Laws of 1887. I am in the Section 1810 of the Code of North Carolina in 1887. In the next part of the brochure, Hr. Butler points out separate schools in other counties such as Robeson and Richmond and so forth in the law for these counties. Section one, Chapter 488 of the Laws of 1889, provides that Croatan Indians of Richmond County and their descen­ dants shall be entitled to the same school privileges and benefits as the Croatan Indians of Robeson County. Section one, Chapter six of the Laws of 1889, and then Section two of the Laws of 1885 by adding after the word 'law' in the last line of that section, the words, "And there shall be excluded from such separate schools the said Croatan Indians of all children of the Negro race in the fourth generation." Chapter 215 of the Laws of 1911 provides that the Board of Directors of the Insane at Raleigh be authorized to provide and set apart aftersaid hospital, suitable apartments and wards of the accommodation of any of these Indians now located in Robeson County. Robeson had its own deaf and dumb school at one time. Chapter 191 of the Public Law of 1913 provides for an additional appropriation of five hundred dollars for the normal schools. Section 4168-9-70-71 of the School Laws of North Carolina, as it appears in 1905 under the caption titled, "Croatan Indians," are as follows: The persons who reside in Robeson and Richmond counties, supposedly descendants of the friendly tribe and so forth, quoting the section there, 4168 and (cont'd) Section 4169. _____ Section 4170, Section 4171. Also, Section 4068 of the School Law, and Chapter twenty-two of the Public Laws of 1909, and Section 2083 of 1905, all of these per­ taining to Indians. Now Chapter 263 of the Public Laws of 1911 establish separate schools for the Croatan Indians of Sampson County simply by adding the word 'Sampson' after the word 'Rich­ mond' and 'Robeson' in the school laws as is set out in Section 4168 to 4171. Also Chapter 100 of 1913. It goes on to say how the Indians built schools at their own expense in Sampson County as they did in other counties, too. Indian taxpayers, 1911, such names as Strickland, Gubman, Brayton, Hammond, McLaine, Williams, Jacobs, Faircloth, Simmons, Emanuel, Gladsow, Burnett, Jones, Mainor, Butler. Then he goes on to say that they never were slaves, and he says formally they were classed, erroneously classed, as free Negroes. It goes on to say that state, the laws of the state, recognize them as a separate race. The state provides separate schools for negroes, and whites but not for Indians. The Indians are justly proud of their history. Then he quotes McPherson, saying that better education of this facility should be provided. Sampson County exceeds all other counties, except in Robeson, in Indian rolls of property. Person County polls fourteen, valuation $2,890; Hope County, thirteen, $3,574; Scotland County, thirty-eight, $6,500; Sampson County, fifty-six, $13,793; Robeson County, 964, $93,900. This is 1912. Then he takes up the family relationship between the Croatan Indians of Robeson County and Sampson County, saying that the state of North Carolina provides separate schools for the Croatans of Robeson County, yet had failed to provide separate school advantages for the Croatans of Robeson and Sampson counties who are of the same race and blood. The Croatans of Robeson and Sampson counties have intermarried for several generations and their children in Robeson County are Croatans and are entitled to the same recognition by the state. There is no reason why their children in Sampson County cannot receive the same recognition. The following is a partial list of Croatan Indians in Sampson and Robeson County who have intermarried: Simeon Brayton of Sampson married Sally Hardie of Robeson and so forth, Arthur Mainor of Sampson married Penny Oxindine of Robeson, Willie Mainor of Sampson married Susan Strickland of Robeson, Albert Thomas of Sampson married Iris Bell of Robeson, Dempsey Mainor of Sampson married McGomery Lowrie of Robeson, Willie Mainor of Sampson, excuse me ____ , Mary Lee Manuel of Sampson married Ressie Jones of Robeson, and many others. A new ___ Indian school, ______Township, Sampson County, North Carolina. The school board in 1911 recommended to the leg­ islature separate school facilities for these people and accord­ ingly an act was passed giving them the same separate school ad­ vantages as the Croatans of Robeson County. Boyd Carter, a Croatan Indian of Robeson County, taught the first school of the country, paid twenty-five dollars per month on a salary and the patrons of the school the balance. He was a close friend who raised my mother-in-law, more or less, As of 1835, these people claimed to have attend.ed the schools with whites. In 1859, they built a school for themselves which 11

was taught by Alvin Manuel, a Croatan. After the war they were given a public school in this community, but the efforts to force the attendance of children of Negro blood in this school brought forth friction and finally resulted in withdrawal of county sup­ port and distrust of the school. I have pictures of Indian fami­ lies in the schools of Robeson, and of Sampson County. Many I know. Many are my wife's relatives. He says of the Indian photo­ graphs and pictures: "We have procured from the homes of these Indian families a few photographs showing the type of these Croatan Indians living in Sampson County. It will be readily claimed that they are neither white people, Negroes, or mulattos. They all have straight black hair, the Indian nose and lips, their skin, a light brown hue, mostly high cheekbones, erect in their carriage, steel-grey eyes and an intelligent counter. Where the white blood predominates many of them have beards. They are of the true type of Croatan Indians and have always resided and lived in this sec­ tion and known as free persons of______There are a few of these people that have intermarried with mulattos, but all of those of Negro blood have been excluded from this --o-___ and no demands or claims are made in their behalf as under the law they are properly classed as Negroes. We append to this subject a brief sketch of a few of the most prominent Indian families prepared a few years ago by Enic Emanuel or Emanuel, a typical Croatan Indian now over seventy years old, a farmer in Bismal Township, Sampson County, also a teacher of the private Indian school known as Shiloh in that township. His pho­ tograph and that of his Indian wife appears in this booklet. He was aided in preparing this sketch by C.D. Brayton, the teacher of and Indian school in Bismal Township who was educated at the Croa­ tan Normal School in Robeson County. His picture also appears in this sketch and C.D. Broyton is my wife's uncle. Pictured are Enic Emanuel and wife, Sarah E. Emanuel. Of Enic Emanuel and Sarah E. Emanuel is says, Enich Emanuel and wife live in Bismal Township, Sampson County. He is now seventy years old. His father was Michael Emanuel and lived on South River and died in 1858. Michael's father was Ephraim Emanuel that fought in the Revolutionary War in John Toomer's Army. His father was Ephraim Emanuel and the records of Sampson County show, on page 222, that in the reign of George III, Benjamin Williams conveyed to Ephraim Emanuel 400 acres of land lying on the east side of Great Sahare, charging annual rent to his majesty." We find another deed from Solomon Harden to Levi Emanuel, dated October the tenth, 1778, for 125 acres of March Branch and Mary Bottom Branch in Sampson County, consideration fifty English pounds. There are numerous other deeds to the Emanuel family on record in Sampson County. The father, Ephraim Emanuel, came from Roanoke River and claimed to be half-white and half-Indian. There is no trace of Negro blood to exist in the Emanuel family as far back as they have any record. Enic Emanuel says that his ancestor, Nicky Emanuel, raised Mathew Leary, father of Sheraton Leary who was killed in John Brown's insurrection at Harper's Ferry. Sheraton Leary was a brother of John S. Leary, a lawyer at Char­ lotte formerly of Fayetteville, North Carolina. Sarah, the wife 12

of Enic Emanuel, whose picture is here, was the daughter of Emas Harden, a wheelright in Honniecut Township, and was recognized as a Croatan Indian. The couple have seven children. They have not intermarried with the Negro race and their children attend Shiloh Indian School in Bismal Township of which school Enic Emanuel has founded. Next is William J. Bedsole and wife, Nancy Bedsole. Their geneology. These look like real Indian pictures, quite interest­ ing. Hardie A. Broyton. The Broyton family is the largest family of Croatans living in Sampson County. Hardie is the son of Rafer Broyton and the grandson of Hannah Broyton, who lived in Sampson County from 1775 to 1850. The records in the office of registered deeds of Sampson County show that the _____ in the county of 1807 on Sahare. She is well remembered by Jonathon Goodman, James Strickland and other old men now living. They described her as being a good specimen of the Cherokee Indian. She married White Sinnnons, so-called because he had no surname and was half-Indian and half-white. After the marriage he took her name and was known as Simon Broyton. Rafer Broyton was their son and married Bashaby Emanuel, ____ nearly a thousand of acres of land on Sahare, part of Silver,------, Ephraim Broyton became a great dancer, using the greatest skill and grace and rendering the same as the Indian dance of a hundred years ago. He was so perfect in his performance that he became almost world-famed for dancing in Italy. He took one trip to Europe and it was said that he played for the King of England. Finally he returned home and married Miss Davis of Robeson County. It will be noted that the names William, Bill, and Will, are familiar names in the Simmons and Broyton family. The appearance of these two names, Enic and Will, in the same Indian family, suggests that the origin of the name came from Eno-Will, a friendly and intelligent Indian of the Coree tribe found by John Lawson in 1902, living on the Moose River not many miles from the present habitations of Indians now on Sahare in Sampson County. This has been a very enjoyable day and I'm getting ready to get into the hotel, and tonight, over to the festivities.