This will probably be my last post as I don’t have the time to devote defending myself here. No one could hope to keep up with the flood of posts here without devoting considerable time to it, which I do not have.
I took the risk of being labeled a fraud by this group when I came here looking for information, and if that happened, it was a price I was willing to pay for the information I received here. For that you have my thanks.
Regardless of how little or how much Native blood is in my veins, there are some facts this group can not dispute.
Our oral history gave details not found in any history book or published paper that were confirmed by the United Kingdom and Colonial records of Virginia and North Carolina.
What I find funny is many of the claims you made against my native heritage is the same things the Lord Proprietors said to try and steal our land and right of self governance. So from my perspective, you are acting like and saying the same things as the White Privileged English Lords, ironic.
They also claimed that because Whites married into our tribes we were no longer Indian and had no claim to our land or heritage. Seems that and you both do not understand the marriage customs of Eastern Algonquin tribes or the complexities of their history.
Our history said we were Subjects of the Crown and a Sovereign Colony of the Crown with rights of self-governance, and by English common law were considered English citizens with all the rights that entails. That George Durant and the other leaders of Culpepper’s rebellion were our chiefs and headmen and fought for our rights in England and won, but the greedy colonial government of the Lord Proprietors never stopped its efforts to take control of our land.
The UK confirmed that we were in fact Subjects of the Crown and a Sovereign Colony of the Crown with rights of self-governance and common law citizens of England until the citizenship status known as Subjects of the Crown was abolished. The UK confirmed that more than once, that our leaders were arrested by colonial authorities because we refused to acknowledge their control over us, and all charges were dropped by the Crown and our leaders reinstated.
This is also supported by colonial records, as was our contention that George Durant and the others were the Sachems and headmen of our tribes. Durant proudly displayed the name of his tribe on his home and in his business dealings, and his son became the Massasoit Sachem that requested permission from the colonial government to sell our land that we may move west, yet this fact was never recorded by official historians.
And there are many more examples of our oral history that differ form official US histories, that were confirmed by historical records. The historical records confirming our oral history exceeds that of most tribes.
It would be impossible to fabricate a history that differs so much from official accounts, but is confirmed by multiple sources.
If you were familiar with history, you would know the great lengths Virginia and North Carolina went to too erase the history of tribes there, and how the anti-Indian laws forced many into hiding. That so many records still exist confirming our history should tell you something.
Instead you focus on things like us having a story about the 4 Races/4 directions, claiming it rips off your culture. Apparently you are ignorant that the story of the 4 Races/4 directions is not only found among North and South American tribes, but Asian as well.
I admire your zeal to protect your culture, but that same zeal also leads to errors.
Some of the posts I have seen here are expertly researched, logical and well written, others are poorly researched rants, but such a range in ability and temperament is to be expected on any forum. So I don’t hold it against this group, as overall your work to uncover frauds is noteworthy.
I only mention these minor problems because I think there is room for improvement.
Also I am guilty of some of the same narrow-minded ethnic centric views seen here. I know little to nothing about non-Algonquin culture and you know little about us it seems. So I can not fault you too much for judging others based on your limited knowledge of other cultures.
I also want you to know that your time with me has not been wasted, I have taken some of the things you said to heart and will be making appropriate changes.
But the fact that so much of our history has been confirmed shows that our history is based on historical facts. Granted a lot of errors still remain, and I will be consulting the historians of other knowledgeable tribes from the same period and region to try and determine which stories are accurate, and which ones were added or changed latter and are not historically accurate.
So in closing I want to thank you all for your time, help, and yes, even your criticisms. My time here has been both enlightening and educational, well worth my time and any costs to my reputation.
I wish I had more time to spend here and participate on some other threads. Again, thanks for everything and best wishes in your work here. Perhaps I can return at some latter point in time if this old coot lives long enough.
