Introduction
This is my FINAL introduction. I gave one permission to submit this book to Kindle e-book Amazon since I got so frustrated with dealing with Kindle. Hence, I am placing it in blog for anyone to see it. I have found a couple of people who said they would get it published. I am sincerely grateful to both of them.
Catawba Saponi Melungeon by Vance Hawkins
About the Cover Art
Weeya’s artwork is a concentration of watercolor paints with Native American themes. Each piece is created on watercolor paper then mounted onto black canvas for framing. She has been working professionally as an artist from the age of 10 to the present. Her work is covered by the Indian Arts and crafts law as being authentically Native American made. Weeya is also an art educator teaching art to over 640 students a year.
“Art is an expression from the world surrounding the artist. Art is everywhere and for us artists, we create from our world, our experiences, from stories we have heard, and from others experiences and from people we meet.”
Weeya Michelle Smith
Altho Kyle’s artwork was not used, I appreciate his organization, the Indigenous Peoples Development Project, for his help and advise in getting this project off the ground.
978-1-7330400-0-6
Copyright © 2019 by Vance Hawkins
All rights reserved.
However, As publisher and author, I, Vance Hawkins, will give permission to anyone who would like to reference or quote sections from it, so long as the source -- “Catawba Saponi Melungeon” -- and author – Vance Hawkins – are cited as the source and author of the material. If quoting from original material that I transcribed, I would like to be known as the one who transcribed it. I am thinking principally of the last chapter, the congressional document dated 1897.
Edited By Kyle “Guy” Smith, Andre Smith and Simone Smith
Dedication
This book is dedicated to the memory of my Uncle, Eual Lee Hawkins (cerca 1925-1944). He died 8 years before I was born.
You probably can’t read what is on his grave marker. It goes; “Euel L. Hawkins, CPL, 315 INF, 79 DIV; Oklahoma, July 18, 1944." He is buried at the American Cemetery in Normandy, France. I was told he died near St. Lo.
Dad, Alpha Omega Hawkins (1915-1992), was also a WW2 veteran. He was at one time in the 13th Field Artillery, and was stationed at Schofield Barracks on Oahu, Hawaii on 7Dec41. He had his own version of the story of the Pearl Harbor attack. He was always sad about losing his brother, saying: “No one wanted to be buried overseas”.
I will never forget that..
I guess I’d like to dedicate it to him, too. This photo was taken in Hawaii. Dad was a Corporal at that time, and probably about c. 25 years old at that time. Dad was a natural born storyteller. He loved telling corny jokes. He had many stories about both the Dust Bowl and WW2. Some of his stories were humorous, some informative, and others, especially after he’d aged, were sad. Both he and his brother were born on a farm (their grandma being a midwife) near Manitou, Tillman County, Oklahoma.
Remembering dad’s old stories inspired me to write.
Three Prefaces
I am fortunate in that I had three individuals who chose to share a few words concerning this volume. What they chose to share is below.
First
If you ever try to unravel the mystery of the Eastern Siouan you will find it is a story steeped in mystery, lore, legend, and downright fantasy. So where do you turn to for the truth? They left no written language, there are no long-lost scrolls or tablets. In order to unravel this story, one must turn to archeology, recorded history and the research of others.
As the Chief of the New River Catawba Tribe, it has been my duty to try to piece together the mystery of our ancestors. Theirs is a long history. One of war, plague, deceit, treachery, and even enslavement. They have been pitted against each other to profit the greed of the “white man” in his never-ending desire to have it all.
For me, the works of Vance Hawkins are an irreplaceable and critical source of information. His work is well researched and always well documented/sourced. I would like to thank Mr. Hawkins for his years of dedication to unravelling and preserving the true story of our Eastern Siouan Ancestors.
Chief Jamie Harris
New River Catawba Tribe
Bear Clan
Second
“Vance Hawkins is an expert historian, gives well sourced information on the dealings of the early Native Americans with European invaders of the Eastern Coast of North America. Particularly interested in the Eastern Siouan peoples who became the Catawba tribe in the 1700s. Vance discusses the slave trade, the wars, and the treaties of the 1600-1900 timeframe.
“Vance and I share Catawba DNA, and we both descend from the Saponi band of the Catawbas which lived in the mountains of Orange and Louisa Counties in Virginia before migrating.
“History and Genealogy are intertwined and DNA research is a new way to connect. I am very glad that I met Vance through Facebook and with his research have learned more about my own Catawba roots!”
Marie Brito,
DNA mapping expert
Third
Dear Reader,
You have come across this work because you have an interest in history and cultures, which is by all means good, but let it be known that what histories have been written about Native Americans, until very recently, have been ethnocentric, looking at the indigenous experience in the Americas in relation to how they interacted and got along with those from across the Atlantic Ocean. From the time Native Americans and Europeans first came into contact with each other this has been the case. our peoples have been neglected, looked down upon, and used as a means to an end since first contact.
Vance Hawkins has spent decades researching and documenting Native American history and peoples. In this work he has given us a concise look into a culture that was thought by western scholars to be dead since at least the 19th century. However, as a descendant, he knew this was not the case. Thus, in order to rectify this wrong and explain this situation that came as a result of colonialism, this work has been compiled.
Often summarized are the words of Dragging Canoe at the conclusion of the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals of 1775. Vance and I both feel this speech was an important proclamation that deserves to be read in full and its importance emphasized. At the time he made this statement in 1775, a whole one hundred and thirty-two years before the Dawes Rolls were nalized in an e ort to take the last of the Cherokee's lands, he spoke of what was to come with the reservation system and westward expansion. Sadly, his words were ignored.
When faced by the continued expansion of European nations, Dragging Canoe spoke against the sale of Cherokee lands. He rose and said:
"Whole Indian nations have melted away like snowballs in the sun before the white man's advance. They leave scarcely a name of our people except those wrongly recorded by their destroyers. Where are the Delawares? They have been reduced to a mere shadow of their former greatness. We had hoped that the white men would not be willing to travel beyond the mountains. Now that hope is gone. They have passed the mountains, and have settled upon Tsalagi land. They wish to have that action sanctioned by treaty. When that is gained, the same encroaching spirit will lead them upon other land of the Tsalagis. New cessions will be asked. Finally the whole country, which the Tsalagis and their fathers have so long occupied, will be demanded, and the remnant of AniYunwiya, THE REAL PEOPLE, once so great and formidable, will be compelled to seek refuge in some distant wilderness. There they will be permitted to stay only a short while, until they again behold the advancing banners of the same greedy host. Not being able to point out any further retreat for the miserable Tsalagis, the extinction of the whole race will be proclaimed. Should we not therefore run all risks, and incur all consequences, rather than submit to further loss of our country? Such treaties may be alright for men who are too old to hunt or ght. As for me, I have my young warriors about me. We will have our lands. A-WANINSKI, I have spoken."
Enjoy the read,
Spc. Kyle "Guy" Smith
U.S. Army OEF X-XI
Introduction
I wanted to thank several individuals who helped with this or other writings or events. I have enjoyed the help of many in producing this work.
Linda Carter helped me when I was first learning of my Catawba/Saponi heritage.
Dr. Thomas Blumer and I emailed back and forth for a few years just before he passed away. He knew of some Catawba who had moved to Oklahoma as had my family.
This is true of Richard Haithcock as well. His passing saddened me, as well. So many of my teachers are gone now.
Included in those now gone is Jerri Chasteen, former registrar of the Cherokee Nation – she was a mentor. She could be blunt, was honest as the day I long. You knew where you stood with her. Being unrecognized myself, I always seek to respect enrolled tribal members rather that antagonize them. Our conversations educated me.
Dr. Richard Carlson’s PhD dissertation was brilliant. It showed me exactly how my family moved around in colonial days.
Oh, Joanne Pezzullo. although we argued constantly, she helped me quite a bit. She connected m ancestors to a well-known Melungeon family.
Kyle “Guy” Smith provided me with a great deal of help. He is the man that informed me of the option of getting my book published through the Amazon Kindle e-books format, for which I am eternally grateful. He is also a decorated veteran of the war in Afghanistan and received the purple heart. We should all thank him for his service. I want him to know he has earned my respect and admiration for his sacrifice.
Marie Brito’s work with DNA is exciting and ground breaking. I look forward to hearing of her latest discoveries.
My cousin (actually a second cousin), Kenneth Hawkins -- has helped me get through my current situation with cancer. He even drove me Oklahoma City and later home after my operation. When I had no other transportation, he came through for me. That was 150 miles each way. I don’t know what I would have done without him.
Chief Jamie Harris is a descendant of the Saponi people also, yet her family remained in southwestern Virginia and neighboring North Carolina.
I am a lucky man. My family was NEVER sucked into the fantasy that my ancestors were Gypsies, or Portuguese, or anything but mixed blood Native Americans. I think being in Oklahoma, we never heard those fantasy tales told by Will Allen Drumgoole and others who are still making them up having us believe our ancestors were some kind of exotic breed of livestock.
Our memories and the records of the past that speak of us are but a drop in the bucket an can’t really shine a descent light on our past. Dragging Canoe suggested memories of us would melt as the snow, and be washed away and forgotten. So to me, this book is like the first snowfall of a new season. And it will melt again, too. That’s just how it goes.
Links
About my family
link to chapter 1 -- Spanish Explorers
To go back to Table of Contents page
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