Pamunkey Indian land ownership
On February 20, 1677,Cockacoeske the Pamunkey Indian’s leader, petitioned the House of Burgesses for permission to confirm land which she had already sold to the English. Oct. 27, 1677 the Virginia government made a treaty with the tributary Indians. article 2 of the treaty stated that the Indian kings and queens and their subjects shall hold their land and have the same confirmed to them and their posterity by patent… paying in lieu of a quit rent or acknowledgment for the same, 3 Indian arrows. No English shall seat or plant nearer than 3 miles of any Indian town. the Pamunkey Indians had 50 bowmen, entitling them to 2,500 acres under the law. more than 20 years later, the Pamunkey Indians had not obtained a patent for their land. in June 1699, their queen and great men asserted that, although the treaty of 1677 entitled them to a patent, as is usual to other his majesty’s subjects, which patent tho often desired by the said Indians was never yet obtained. they alleged that several persons were laying claim to land with one mile of the Indian town. The committee for examining claims upheld the Pamunkey’s right to land within the 3 mile ring and noted that the land granted by the 1677 treaty was deemed sufficient for their habitation. at the close of the 17th century, there was considerable pressure exerted by settlers desiring to patent land in Pamunkey neck, with the argument that as the Indian population dwindled in size and land was left unoccupied by the Pamunkeys, they became increasingly vulnerable to attack by so-called foreign Indians. when the college of William and Mary tried to survey 10,000 acres in Pamunkey neck, granted to them by charter, land greedy settlers so opposed the college taking up land, that their survey was violently stopped, their chains broke. in august 1701, the Pamunkey Indians again petitioned the house of Burgesses for a patent to their lands. A month later, a large number of individuals petitioned the house for the right to claim acreage in Pamunkey neck. although many of these claims were validated,those which lay within the bounds of the Pamunkey Indians were denied. the house reiterated its opinion that a patent be issued to the Pamunkey Indians and their posterity for their lands according to a survey made thereof by Mr. James Minge. It was resolved that the claims of Minge, his chain carriers and one ax man be paid for laying out the Pamunkey Indian land,thus indicating that a survey was actually made. although an extensive search was made of land office records, British public records and several map collections and indices, no evidence was found which suggested that a plat or patent exists or was ever prepared. In 1703 Robert Beverly was paid for his land claims work at court for and in behalf of the Pamunkey and Chickahominy Indians. On Oct 12 1706, the Pamunkey queen protested to the executive council that John Lightfoot, one of their own members, was laying claim to the Indian’s town and threatening to drive them off. although the council dismissed the Pamunkey’s petition, they assured them Indians of the governments ongoing protection. in 1713 patents for several thousand acres of Pamunkey neck land were acknowledged by the executive council as legitimate claims, as was a 1723 claim to land within the Indians bounds. in 1749 a delegation of Pamunkey Indians requested permission of the virginia assembly to sell a tract of non-contiguous land, about 4 miles from their town thereby indicating that the Pamunkeys owned land beyond the periphery of their 3 mile boundary ring. at that time, a group of trustees were appointed to advertise and sell the land. in 1759 the Pamunkeys obtained permission from the assembly to lease out some of their land. at that time it was resolved that trustees could appoint their own replacements. the reverend Andrew Burnaby, a traveler who visited the Pamunkey Indian town in 1759, noted that they had a very fair tract of land of about 2,000 acres, a figure in agreement with an estimation given by the Virginia assembly in 1749. in may 1779, the Virginia assembly passed an act “to remove and prevent all doubt concerning purchases of land from the Indian natives, be it declared by the general assembly, that this commonwealth hath the exclusive right of preemption from the Indians of all land within the limits of its own chartered territory…that no person or persons whatsoever have, or ever had, a right to purchase any lands within the same from any Indian nation, except only persons duly authorized to make such purchases… all sales and deeds which have been or shall be made by an Indian or Indians or any Indian nation or Indian nations… shall be… declared utterly void and of no effect.” the Pamunkey Indians in 1786 petitioned the Virginia assembly to appoint new trustees stating that all the former incumbents except one, Carter Braxton, were dead. At that time, James Johnson Jr., James Hill, Drury Ragsdale, Thomas Littlepage, Benjamin Moore, William D. Claiborne, Benjamin Temple, Thomas Robinson, Isaac Quarles, and James Ruffin were appointed. An Indian leader, Squarensa, in 1802, claimed that the 1786 appointment of trustees and a 1798 act authorizing the trustees to formulate rules and regulations governing the Indians were the only two legislative actions undertaken by the general assembly during that period. Settlers however were already buying and selling land close to the reservation. In Oct. 1795, “Sarah and Benjamin Grymes of Orange County conveyed to Peter Robinson of Middlesex County (a trustee of Pamunkey) 381 acres at the mouth of savannah creek meandering along old town creek which divides the land from Indian town.” Robinson, 2 days later, conveyed similarly described land to James Johnson Jr., a tract which probably consisted of 380 acres sold by Grymes to Robinson, for according to King William county land tax lists for 1795, Johnson immediately commenced paying taxes on Grymes’ 380 1/2 acres, The land became known as old town plantation. Johnson family had owned land in that part of King William county since the very early 18th century,when a James Johnson patented 110 among the branches of queen’s swamp, about a mile and a half north of the Pamunkey reservation, “part of the land laid out according to articles of peace for the Pamunkey Indians.” James Johnson Jr. had since 186 served as a trustee to the Pamunkey indians. in Oct. 1797 he purchased 299 acres of marshland bounded as follows:beginning at the mouth of old town creek to the Johnson house thence up said creek…west Quarles land … thence along creek to mouth of a creek known by the name of Clairbornes… to the beginning, a description of which places it considerably north of eagle island to which it was not physically connected. in 1814 when Lucy, James Johnson Jr.’s widow, inherited her husband’s Old Town plantation, it consisted of 380 and a half acres of land and 200 acres of marsh. On sept 2nd 1823, Ammon Johnson, son of Lucy and James Johnson, offered for sale “that valuable tract of land… immediately on the Pamunkey River commonly called and known by the name of Old Town containing 581 acres- 331 acres of high land and 250 acres of marsh. “. In 1827, “Old Town” was sold to Chrisopher Johnson, another son of Lucy & James Johnson Jr. One of Christopher Johnson’s daughters, Elizabeth, married William Hill.
The 1863-1865 maps of the Confederate officer J. F. Gilmer show that a Hill family resided on property to the west of Necotowance or Harrison’s Creek and that Johnson family descendants still lived in the area. There may have been some connection between the Hill family whose residence is shown on the Gilmer map and the A. B. Hill who on Feb. 23, 1897, conveyed 2 pieces of marsh by quick-claim to Sarah F. Bradley of the Indian town although the island is some distance from their property.
By 1894, when ethnographer J. G. Pollard visited the Pamunkey Ibdian reservation he estimated that their town consisted of approximately 800 acres 250 of which were airable farm land and the rest woodland and low marsh land. His estimation of usable farm land coincides with Thomas Jefferson’s 1781 observation that the Indians possessed 300 acres of very fertile ground.
Martha W. McCartney VRCA
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Pamunkey Blogger 