Searching for the Lost Colony DNA Blog

Supporting Lost Colony Drama is a Family Tradition

2008-07-16T20:12:00.004-05:00

Fearing family continues tradition of support for The Lost Colony

Keeping the longstanding Fearing family tradition of generosity and support for The Lost Colony, Mollie A. Fearing & Associates has again renewed their $5,000 corporate sponsorship to offset overall costs of the production.Fearing's family ties to The Lost Colony story pre-date the symphonic drama. In the late 1920's her great uncle, the late D. Bradford Fearing chaired a committee that organized "The Pageant of Roanoke". The idea inspired Fearing and others who persuaded Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paul Green to write a play about Roanoke Island's famed "lost colony."

The elder Fearing, a local merchant and politician, oversaw the production its inaugural year and served as producer and general manager for many years until his death."When you're in our family, you are in service to The Lost Colony," said Grizelle Fearing, president of the Manteo insurance company. "As a kid, I saw The Lost Colony almost every night. Half of the family was in The Lost Colony every summer as costumer, actor-tech, principal, or board member and I was often there to help."Grizelle Fearing's mother, the late Mollie A. Fearing, was one of the production's greatest champions. A gifted hostess, "Miss Mollie" organized The Lost Colony's opening night receptions, board dinners and other social events for years, in addition to serving as a long-time officer and board member.

Fearing's husband, Tom McDonald (grandson of the late Irene Smart Rains, the show's former costumer) has long lent a helping hand, from creating exhibits at places like the Outer Banks History Center, alumni committee work, and even donating items for fundraising auctions from their personal collection. He performed in the show in his youth.

First staged in 1937, The Lost Colony tells the real-life story of America's "lost colony" of men, women and children who sailed from Plymouth, England, in 1587 to establish an English colony on Roanoke Island (N.C.). Predating Jamestown by 22 years and Plymouth by 35 years, the settlement disappeared with hardly a trace, leaving historians and archaeologists with a mystery that has never been solved.

Cont. here:

http://obsentinel.womacknewspapers.com/articles/2008/07/16/business/bus1692.txt

England's First View of America

2008-07-21T23:19:00.002-05:00

British Museum Exhibition of
John White Watercolors

A New World: England's First View of America
July 15, 2008 - October 15, 2008
Jamestown Settlement

Jamestown Settlement will exhibit the 16th-century watercolor drawings of John White from the British Museum’s “A New World: England’s First View of America” July 15 through October 15, 2008.

The drawings are the earliest visual record by an Englishman of the flora, fauna and people of the New World. White accompanied a number of expeditions sponsored by Sir Walter Raleigh to Virginia in the 1580s and was governor of the short-lived colony at Roanoke Island, part of modern North Carolina. He departed for England in 1587 to obtain more supplies, but war with Spain delayed his return until 1590. By then the colonists had vanished, and Roanoke became known as the “Lost Colony.”

Jamestown, America’s first permanent English colony, was established 17 years later, about 100 miles away. White’s depictions of the Algonquian-speaking people of the region have been an important resource in the development of Jamestown Settlement’s gallery exhibits and outdoor re-created Powhatan Indian village.

http://www.historyisfun.org/John-White-Watercolors.htm

Additional Reading:

http://www.virtualjamestown.org/images/white_debry_html/introduction.html

http://www.virtualjamestown.org/images/white_debry_html/jamestown.html

Carolina Land Grants

2008-07-24T07:48:00.003-05:00

Carolina Land Grants, 1684 - 1688

26 March 1684
Grant from the Proprietors of Carolina of 3,333 acres to Mary Biggs. Signed, Craven, Albemarle, Bath (for Lord Carteret), P. Colleton.

11 July 1684
Lords Proprietors of Carolina to Governor Sir Richard Kyrle. Warrant for grant of lands to Thomas Ferguson, who is removing with divers other families from the North of Ireland to Carolina. Signed, Craven, Bath (for Lord Carteret), P. Colleton.

25 July 1684
Lords Proprietors of Carolina to Governor Sir Richard Kyrle. Warrant for a grant of land to William Thorogood. Signed, Craven, Bath (for Lord Carteret), P. Colleton.

14 April 1685
Lords Proprietors of Carolina to Governor Joseph West. Warrant for a grant of 500 acres of land to James Du Gué. Signed, Craven, Albemarle, P. Colleton.

14 April 1685
Lords Proprietors of Carolina to Governor Joseph West. Warrant for a grant of 300 acres of land to Isaac Fleury.

16 April 1685
Warrant of Lords Proprietors of Carolina for the grant of 600 acres of land to Charles Franchomme. Signed, Craven, Albemarle, P. Colleton.

17 April 1685
Warrant of Lords Proprietors of Carolina for the grant of 500 acres to Isaac Lejay. Signed, Craven, Albemarle, P. Colleton.

22 April 1685
Warrant of Lords Proprietors of Carolina for the grant of 3,000 acres of land to William Shaw.

23 June 1685
Warrant of Lords Proprietors of Carolina for the grant of 100 acres of land to Nicholas Languemar. Signed, Craven, P. Colleton, Tho. Amy.

30 July 1685
Lords Proprietors of Carolina to Governor Joseph West. Warrant for the grant of 3,000 acres of land, gratis. to Jean François de Genillat, the first of the Swiss nation, who has announced his intention of settling in Carolina. Signed, Craven, Tho. Amy, P. Colleton.

20 September 1685
Warrant of Lords Proprietors of Carolina for grant of 3,000 acres of land to James le Bas. Signed, Craven, P. Colleton, S. Sothell.

1 October 1685
Warrant of Lords Proprietors of Carolina for a grant of 1,000 acres to Andrew Perceval. Signed, Craven, P. Colleton, S. Sothell.

2 March 1686
Warrant of Lords Proprietors of Carolina for the delivery of three thousand acres of land to Josias Forrest. Signed, Craven, P. Colleton, Tho. Amy.

15 April 1686
Warrant of Lords Proprietors of Carolina, for the delivery of two hundred acres, sold to James Nichols, alias Petitbois. Signed, Craven, P. Colleton.

20 April 1686
Grant of the Proprietors of Carolina of five hundred acres of land to Charles Colleton. Signed, Craven, P. Colleton, Tho. Amy.

30 April 1686
Memorandum of Lords Proprietors of Carolina. A patent of Langrave was granted to John Price on this day.

30 August 1686
Grants by the Proprietors of Carolina of one hundred acres of land to Isaac le Grand, Sieur d'Anarville, and the same to Mr. James Le Moyne, they having each paid five pounds for the same. Signed, Craven, Albemarle, P. Colleton.

4 September 1686
Warrant of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina for the grant of three thousand acres of land to henry Augustus Chastaigner, Seigneur de Cramaké, and Alexander Thezée Chastaigner, Seigneur de Lisle. Signed, Craven, P. Colleton, Tho. Amy.

29 October 1686
Warrant of the Proprietors of Carolina for the grant of twelve thousand acres to Mons. John d'Arsens, Seigneur of Wernhaut. Signed, Craven, Albemarle, P. Colleton.

2 November 1686
Warrant of the Proprietors of Carolina for the grant of one thousand acres to Maurice Matthews, in consideration of his having purchased the lands from the Indians. Signed, Craven, Albemarle, P. Colleton, Thos. Amy.

7 December 1686
Warrant of the Proprietors of Carolina for the allotment of three thousand acres of land to James Mantell Goulard de Vervaut. Signed, Craven, P. Colleton, Tho. Amy.

7 December 1686
Warrant of the Proprietors of Carolina for the grant of twelve thousand acres of land to James Mantell Goulard de Vervaut. Signed, Craven, P. Colleton, Tho. Amy.

13 May 1687
Lords Proprietors of Carolina to Governor James Colleton. We have agreed to grant Mr. John Price forty thousand acres of land on certain conditions herewith transmitted to you. Signed, Craven, Albemarle, Bath (for Lord Carteret), P. Colleton, John Archdall, Tho. Amy.

13 July 1687
Order of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina for the grant of 626 acres of land to James Boyd. Signed, Craven, Albemarle, Bath (for Lord Carteret), P. Colleton, Tho. Amy.

14 July 1687
Order of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina. That the grant of land made to M.M. Genillac and Bruneau shall be a free gift. Signed, Vraven, Bath (for Lord Carteret), P. Colleton, Tho. Amy.

10 October 1687
Order of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina for the admeasurement of six hundred acres of land in Jameston precinct to Joachim Guillard. Signed, Craven, P. Colleton, Tho. Amy.

19 June 1688
Warrant of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina to Governor James Colleton, for the grant of 12,000 acres to Doctor Chritopher Dominick, he having paid £600 for the same. A rent of one penny per acre to be reserved. Signed, Craven, Bath (for Lord Carteret), P. Colleton.

Fortescue, J. W., ed., Calender of State Papers, Colonial Series (Volume 11), America and West Indies, 1685-1688, Preserved in Her Majesty's Public Record Office (Vaduz: Kraus Reprint Ltd., 1964) First Published London: HMSO, 1898. pp. 611, 667 and 670; Fortescue, J. W., ed., Calender of State Papers, Colonial Series (Volume 12), America and West Indies, 1685-1688, Preserved in the Public Record Office (Vaduz: Kraus Reprint Ltd., 1964) First Published London: HMSO, 1899. pp. 29, 30, 32, 59, 71, 95, 100, 157, 173, 182, 233, 239, 270, 271, 298, 366, 397, 451, 561.

More information about land grants in the Carolinas can be found in the books:
Province of North Carolina 1663-1729 Abstracts of Land Parents
and:
Warrants for Land in South Carolina, 1672-1711
from website

TGG Interview Series IX - Ana Oquendo Pabón

2008-07-25T19:42:00.003-05:00

The ninth and final edition of the TGG Interview Series is with Dr. Ana Oquendo Pabón. Dr. Oquendo Pabón is DNA and Historical advisor to the Lost Colony DNA and Research Group, and is an Administrator or Co-Administrator to numerous DNA projects. Her bio is can be seen here.

In the following interview, Dr. Oquendo Pabón discusses her introduction to the field of genetic genealogy, her own experiences with genetic testing, and her thoughts about the future of genetic genealogy. It’s a terrific interview, so read on.

TGG: How long have you been actively involved in genetic genealogy, and how did you become interested in the field?

Ana Oquendo Pabón: I have been involved in genetic genealogy since very early in 2003. My brother and I have been traditional genealogists for about 28 years. Due to the excellent records on the island and hard research, we had long known all of our 64 grandparents except for one and all except 4 or 5 couples of our 128 ancestors. I had been keeping track of the news online concerning the “new science” and unique way of tracing your ancestral roots. I think everyone had heard about the Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings story by that time. I had also read about a particular genealogist named Bennett Greenspan’s own amazing quest to confirm his paternal DNA with an individual in Argentina and how he had started a genetic testing company to help others accomplish what he had done using yDNA. In 2003, I decided to give my brother a DNA kit as a combined birthday and anniversary present. We were among the first ten thousand genetic genealogy pioneers to take advantage of this new way of research. This spurred the idea of helping others in our field of expertise which was the genealogy of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican Project (Proyecto ADN de Apellidos Puertorriqueños) was born.

TGG: Have you undergone genetic genealogy testing?

AP: I initially had the mtDNA HVR1 + HVR2 in 2003 as well as the biogeographic test. Since then, I have had the complete mtDNA and all autosomal markers available. My brother has had 67 markers and SNP testing. My son, daughter, grandson and I also have had testing through SMGF.

TGG: Were you surprised with the results?

AP: Yes and no. As an admixed individual of European (mainly Spaniard), Taino and African cultures, I expected to find a tri-cultural diversity in my personal DNA. Yet, where one test did find African heritage, another found none despite a known slave in the fifth generation and in others. The test did however find that I was 24% East Indian which could only mean my indigenous ancestry. The indigenous fact was definitely not a surprise since my ancestors had been on the island since the colonization but the high percentage was. Without a doubt, DNA can broaden our perspectives as to our ancestral origins and where to look further but it must go hand in hand with the traditional genealogy.

The greatest personal satisfaction to me is that by emphasizing mtDNA which was not even considered relevant to genetic testing as paternal yDNA Surname Projects of that time, we were able to make it an important aspect of our own project from the outset in 2003. Through mtDNA testing, we were able to dispel, one member Native American result after another, any notion of the complete extinction of the people who first greeted Columbus to the New World. After five years of intense recruiting, we have proven through our project that our Taino and indigenous ancestry is very much present in our people in a very large way. In fact, we have one of the highest frequencies of indigenous ancestry ~62% of Haplogroups A, C, B and D for such a small geographic area. We have also been able to determine the DNA of many of the first Colonos and Criollos, the first Spanish Colonists and their descendants who intermarried with Taíno or indigenous women and of other European colonists and immigrants from the 16th century forward.

TGG: Did the results help you break through any of your brick walls or solve a family mystery?

AP: Through my personal mtDNA or my brother’s yDNA, we have not. Neither of us has any exact high resolution matches. Since our mother was an orphan, and our father lost his father when he was three, our personal quest has been to determine the DNA signatures of our other lines through close relatives. In that way, we have been able to confirm our traditional genealogy and determine many of our other great great plus grandparents’ DNA. In fact, of the 300 members in our Puerto Rican DNA Project, we are probably related to ~75 % either on the paternal or maternal side due to our island’s geographic isolation during large periods of history and the high level of consanguinity and endogamy.

To date, we have confirmed through both traditional genealogy and DNA, our maternal mtDNA: L1c1a, paternal yDNA: E1b1a*, maternal grandfather: J2, mother’s paternal grandmother: Haplogroup C, another maternal ggg grandmother: Haplogroup A, our 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th maternal great grandfathers: E1b1b1 (E3b1), R1b1b2 (R1b1c), J1, R1b1, T (K2), J2a2 and our paternal great grandfather’s R1b1. However, it takes time, knowledge of the history and connections between families of the period, the genealogy of surnames of the period and not just your own and recruiting the correct individuals who themselves have well documented records.

continue interview

Sir Walter Raleigh - To His Love When He Had Obtained Her

2008-07-27T21:38:00.002-05:00


Now Serena be not coy, 
Since we freely may enjoy 
Sweet embraces, such delights, 
As will shorten tedious nights. 
Think that beauty will not stay 
With you always, but away, 
And that tyrannizing face 
That now holds such perfect grace 
Will both changed and ruined be; 
So frail is all things as we see, 
So subject unto conquering Time. 
Then gather flowers in their prime, 
Let them not fall and perish so; 
Nature her bounties did bestow 
On us that we might use them, and 
'Tis coldness not to understand 
What she and youth and form persuade 
With opportunity that's made 
As we could wish it. Let's, then, meet 
Often with amorous lips, and greet 
Each other till our wanton kisses 
In number pass the day Ulysses 
Consumed in travel, and the stars 
That look upon our peaceful wars 
With envious luster. If this store 
Will not suffice, we'll number o'er 
The same again, until we find 
No number left to call to mind 
And show our plenty. They are poor 
That can count all they have and more.
Sir Walter Raleigh (1554–October 29, 1618)

Documenting the American South

2008-07-28T08:28:00.003-05:00

The Westover Manuscripts:
Containing the History of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina;
A Journey to the Land of Eden, A. D. 1733; and A Progress to the Mines.
Written from 1728 to 1736, and Now First Published:
Electronic Edition.

Byrd, William, 1674-1744

Ruffin, Edmund 1794-1865

Lost Colony Baptisms to be Commemorated Aug. 17th

2008-07-31T21:41:00.005-05:00

The first Protestant Baptisms in the New World to be commemorated on August 17th.

Image Credit:
© 2008 Episcopal Life Online

The Diocese of East Carolina will hold "The Commemoration of the Baptisms of Manteo and Virginia Dare at the Lost Colony" on August 17 at the Waterside Theatre in Manteo, North Carolina.

Little certainty surrounds the fate of the English settlers who inhabited Roanoke Island's lost colony, but it is known that in August 1587, Native American Manteo and English baby Virginia Dare were baptized. Manteo's baptism was the first recorded baptism of the Church of England in North America, while Dare was the first child born to English settlers on the North American continent.

"The baptisms of the lost colony mark a peaceful beginning to multi-cultural relations in North America," says East Carolina Bishop Clifton Daniel 3rd. "A commemoration of this event allows us as a people to reflect on this beginning and the changes that have shaped our nation and shed light on the challenges we face today," he said.

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_99569_ENG_HTM.htm

American Indian town of Pomeiooc

2008-08-01T19:17:00.002-05:00

Engraving of the American Indian town of Pomeiooc, published in Thomas Hariot's 1588 book A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia. (Illustration by Theodor de Bry. More about the illustration)

The towns of this country are in a manner like unto those which are in Florida, yet are they not so strong nor yet preserved with so great care. They are compassed about with poles stark fast in the ground, but they are not very strong. The entrance is very narrow as may be seen by this picture, which is made according to the form of the town of Pomeiooc. There are but few houses therein, save those which belong to the king and his nobles. On the one side is their temple separated from the other houses, and marked with the letter A. It is built round, and covered with skin mats, and as it were compassed about with curtains without windows, and has no light but by the door. On the other side is the king’s lodging marked with the letter B. Their dwellings are built with certain potes [sticks] fastened together, and covered with mats which they turn up as high as they think good, and so receive in the light and other. Some are also covered with boughs of trees, as every man lusts or likes best. They keep their feasts and make good cheer together in the middle of the town as it is described in the 17 figure. When the town stands far from the water they dig a great pond noted with the letter C where hence they fetch as much water as they need.

“The Towne of Pomeiooc.” Theodor de Bry’s engraving of the American Indian town of Pomeiooc, published in Thomas Hariot’s 1588 book A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia.

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/multimedia/6587

Rumors of the Lost Colony in Jamestown, UNC School of Education

2008-08-01T20:45:00.002-05:00

William Strachey, first secretary of the Jamestown colony, wrote a history of that colony in 1612. In it, he mentioned several rumors about the fate of the colonists who had disappeared from Roanoke twenty years before.

Here Strachey explains the colonists’ attitudes toward the Indians, which are fortified by what they believe happened to their predecessors at Roanoke.

For the apter enabling of our selfes unto which so heavenly an enterprise, who will thinck yt an unlawfull act to fortefie and strengthen our selves (as nature requires) with the best helpes, and by sitting downe with guardes and forces about us in the wast and vast unhabited growndes of their[s], amongst a world of which not one foote of a thousand doe they either use, or knowe howe to turne to any benefitt; and therfore lyes so great a circuit vayne and idle before them? Nor is this any injurye unto them, from whome we will not forceably take of their provision and labours, nor make rape of what they dense and manure; but prepare and breake up newe growndes, and therby open unto them likewise a newe waye of thrift or husbandry; for as a righteous man (according to Solomon) ought to regard the lief of his beast, so surely Christian men should not shew themselves like wolves to devoure, who cannot forget that every soule which God hath sealed for himself he hath done yt with the print of charity and compassion; and therefore even every foote of land which we shall take unto our use, we will bargaine and buy of them, for copper, hatchetts, and such like comodityes, for which they will even sell themselves, and with which they can purchace double that quantity from their neighbours; and thus we will commune and entreate with them, truck, and barter, our commodityes for theires, and theires for ours (of which they seeme more faine) in all love and freindship, untill, for our good purposes towards them, we shall finde them practize violence or treason against us (as they have done to our other colony at Roanoak): when then, I would gladly knowe (of such who presume to knowe all things), whether we maye stand upon our owne innocency or no, or hold yt a scruple in humanitye, or any breach of charity (to prevent our owne throats from the cutting), to drawe our swordes, et vim vi repellere? (pp. 19–20)

Seven colonists, including a “young mayde,” apparently escaped the slaughter. The maid may have made a further escape.

This high land is, in all likelyhoodes, a pleasant tract, and the mowld fruictfull, especially what may lye to the soward; where, at Peccarecamek and Ochanahoen, by the relation of Machumps, the people have howses built with stone walles, and one story above another, so taught them by those Englishe whoe escaped the slaughter at Roanoak, at what tyme this our colony, under the conduct of Capt. Newport, landed within the Chesapeake Bay, where the people breed up tame turkeis about their howses, and take apes in the mountaines, and where, at Ritanoe, the Weroance Eyanoco preserved seven of the English alive — fower men, two boyes, and one yonge mayde (who escaped and fled up the river of Chanoke [Chowan]), to beat his copper, of which he hath certaine mynes at the said Ritanoe, as also at Pamawauk are said to be store of salt stones. (p. 26)

Strachey explains what happened to the colonists after they left Roanoke.

[H]is majestie [James I] hath bene acquainted, that the men, women, and childrene of the first plantation at Roanoak were by practize and comaundement of Powhatan (he himself perswaded therunto by his priests) miserably slaughtered, without any offence given him either by the first planted (who twenty and od yeares had peaceably lyved intermixt with those salvages, and were out of his territory) or by those who nowe are come to inhabite some parte of his desarte lands, and to trade with him for some comodityes of ours, which he and his people stand in want of; notwithstanding, because his majestie is, of all the world, the most just and the most mercifull prince, he hath given order that Powhatan himself, with the weroances and all the people, shalbe spared, and revenge only taken upon his Quiyoughquisocks, by whose advise and perswasions was exercised that bloudy cruelty… (pp. 85–86)

continue here

Virginia Dare Birthday Celebration

2008-08-08T03:38:00.003-05:00

Virginia Dare Birthday Celebration
Fort Raleigh National Historic Site Visitor Center
US 64/264, Roanoke Island
(252) 473-2127

This event, held August 18, commemorates the birth of Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the New World. The celebration features a day long series of special happenings. Past events featured performances by members of the cast of The Lost Colony and demonstrations of arms from that period in history. Call the National Park Service for details. This event is free. The Elizabethan Gardens, right next to Fort Raleigh, honors Virginia Dare's birthday by offering free admission to the gardens on this day and a free play about Queen Elizabeth and Sir Walter Raleigh.

The Lost Colony DNA Project will be represented at the Virginia Dare Faire on her birthday, August 18th, at Fort Raleigh on Manteo, which is also the last night for the Lost Colony production for the season. We were there last year as well and talked to a great number of people about our project, the Lost Colony and DNA. Several staff members will be on hand to visit with guests during the afternoon and will be located at the brand new Costume Shop.

Please stop by and visit if you can!

From the Ashes; a Golden Opportunity

2008-08-11T04:20:00.003-05:00

From disaster to opportunity

Broadway costume designer rebuilds 'Lost Colony' wardrobe

By DAVID NICHOLSON | 247-4794

August 10, 2008

William Ivey Long has been called the busiest costume designer on Broadway with a career that spans more than 50 shows. But a tragic event hundreds of miles away from New York made this past year his busiest ever.

In September 2007, an early morning fire swept through the home of "The Lost Colony" on Roanoke Island, N.C., destroying more than 5,000 costumes that had been assembled over the show's 71-year history. Long grew up in the summertime world, and in many ways, he never left it. He maintains a home there, and for many years, has served as set and costume designer for the long-running outdoor drama.

"I remember great sadness and shock," says Long, recalling when he first heard about the fire. "It took me two months to realize that this was an opportunity instead of a disaster."

The "opportunity" meant a chance to redesign the show's entire sweep of costumes from a historical perspective using newly available research. Long canceled commitments on two Broadway shows to work on the "The Lost Colony" project. He and his 60-person staff worked in New York and at the North Carolina theater to build the 1,000 costumes needed for the show. Some funds came from state and federal park services, but the majority of the $2.7 million needed to reconstruct sets, costumes and stage buildings came from individuals.

Long has been associated with "The Lost Colony" almost since the day he was born. His father, William Long Sr., held many jobs there, including technical director from 1949 to 1962. His mother, Mary Wood Long, worked in the costume shop while playing several onstage roles, including the part of Queen Elizabeth I from 1949 to 1953. During his early childhood, Long recalls sleeping in fabric bins underneath the cutting tables of the costume shop.

Continued here:

http://www.dailypress.com/features/dp-gl_williamiveylong_0810aug10,0,962645.story

John White, A Festive Dance

2008-08-11T04:01:00.005-05:00

Larger Image

North America

Around AD 1585-93

In 1585, John White and a group of English settlers sponsored by Sir Walter Raleigh arrived on the east coast of North America to found new colonies. White had some artistic training and his duties included making visual records of anything unknown in England, including plants, animals, birds and the inhabitants, especially their costumes, weapons and ceremonies. In the area around Roanoke and the tidewaters of coastal North Carolina they found people who called themselves Secotan, who in mid-July held a green corn or harvest ritual, with ceremonies like the one recorded here. This may be the Green Corn or Harvest Festival, celebrating the first harvest of Indian corn or maize at the end of the summer.

cont. here:

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pd/j/john_white,_a_festive_dance.aspx

Virginia Dare Birthday August 18th

2008-08-12T05:23:00.004-05:00

Virginia Dare (born August 18, 1587, date of death unknown) was the first child born in the Americas to English parents, Eleanor (or Ellinor/Elyonor) and Ananias Dare. She was born into the short-lived Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina, USA. What became of Virginia and the other colonists has become an enduring mystery. The fact of her birth is known because the leader of the colony, Eleanor Dare's father, John White, returned to England to seek assistance for the colony. When White returned three years later, the colonists were gone.

Historical explanations

John Smith and other members of the Jamestown Colony sought information about the fate of the colonists in 1607. One report indicated that the Lost Colonists took refuge with friendly Chesapeake Indians, but Chief Powhatan claimed his tribe had attacked the group and killed most of the colonists. Powhatan showed Smith certain artifacts he said had belonged to the colonists, including a musket barrel and a brass mortar. The Jamestown Colony received reports of some survivors of the Lost Colony and sent out search parties, but none were successful. Eventually they determined they were all dead.^[1]

However, in her 2000 book Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony, historian Lee Miller postulated that some of the Lost Colony survivors sought shelter with a neighboring Indian tribe, the Chowanoc, that was attacked by another tribe, identified by the Jamestown Colony as the "Mandoag," but who Miller thinks were actually the Eno, also known as the Wainoke. Survivors were eventually sold into slavery and held captive by differing bands of the Eno tribe, who, Miller wrote, were known slave traders. Miller wrote that English settlers with the Jamestown Colony heard reports in 1609 of the captive Englishmen, but the reports were suppressed because they had no way to rescue the captives and didn't want to panic the Jamestown colonists. William Strachey, a secretary of the Jamestown Colony, wrote in his The History of Travel Into Virginia Britania in 1612 that, at the Indian settlements of Peccarecanick and Ochanahoen, there were reportedly two-story houses with stone walls. The Indians supposedly learned how to build them from the Roanoake settlers.^[2] There were also reported sightings of European captives at various Indian settlements during the same time period.^[3] Strachey wrote in 1612 that four English men, two boys, and one maid had been sighted at the Eno settlement of Ritanoc, under the protection of a chief called Eyanoco. The captives were forced to beat copper. The captives, he reported, had escaped the attack on the other colonists and fled up the Chaonoke river, the present-day Chowan River in Bertie County, North Carolina.^[4]^[2]^[5] For four hundred years, various authors have speculated that the captive girl was Virginia Dare. When White left the colony in 1587, there were eighty-seven men, seventeen women and eleven children among the colonists. Virginia Dare was one of two infants born to colonists in 1587 and was the only female child in the Lost Colony.

Possible descendants

The Chowanoc tribe was eventually absorbed into the Tuscarora. The Eno tribe was also associated with the Shakori tribe and was later absorbed by the Catawba or the Saponi tribes. Today one group is known as the Haliwa-Saponi tribe. From the early 1600s to the middle 1700s European colonists reported encounters with gray-eyed American Indians or with Welsh-speaking Indians who claimed descent from the colonists.^[6]^[7] In 1669 a Welsh cleric named Morgan Jones was taken captive by the Tuscarora. He feared for his life, but a visiting Doeg Indian war captain spoke to him in Welsh and assured him that he would not be killed. The Doeg warrior ransomed Jones and his party and Jones remained with their tribe for months as a preacher.^[6] In 1701, surveyor John Lawson encountered members of the Hatteras tribe living on Roanoke Island who claimed some of their ancestors were white people. Lawson wrote that several of the Hatteras tribesmen had gray eyes.^[7] Some present-day American Indian tribes in North Carolina and South Carolina, among them the Coree and the Lumbee tribes, also claim partial descent from surviving Roanoke colonists. A non-profit organization, the Lost Colony of Roanoke DNA Project, has launched a Lost Colony DNA Project to test possible descendants.

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under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;

with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU

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Lost Colony: New clues, old mystery Recently recovered artifacts being identified

2008-08-13T19:34:00.000-05:00

BY JESSICA BOWEN | SENTINEL STAFF

Wednesday August 13, 2008

The artifacts from the May 2008 archaeological excavations at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site have been researched and verified.

According to an interim report submitted to the National Park Service by Phillip Evans, Eric Klingelhofer, Nick Luccketti, and Clay Swindell, all of the First Colony Foundation (FCF), hundreds of the discoveries date back to the era of The Lost Colony.

The project was initially planned to excavate two areas where anomalies had previously been detected by ground penetrating radar surveys. The two areas contained rectangular shaped objects, which according to the report, "do not normally occur in nature, it is presumed that the anomalies are cultural in origin and could possibly be structures or features associated with the original colony."

Working with Time Team USA, an American version of the BBC archaeological series broadcasted since 1994, FCF began their twelve day excavation. Time Team USA excavated for three of the twelve days, bringing together multiple specialists and a film crew to document the project.

There were numerous findings during the excavation, including copper plates and 215 Native American pottery sherds. The sherds verified to date are separated into three series: Colington series, Cashie series, and Untyped fine sand tempered series.

As described in the report, the Colington phase covers the Late Woodland period in the Albemarle region. The material is affiliated with those that formed the chiefdoms and were visited and described by the English explorers in the 1580s. The shell tempered ceramics vary little through time and house an unusual display of decorative designs.

Also included in the Colington phase are motif engraved ceramic smoking pipes, bone/shell tools, marine shell/stone, copper, beads, ornaments, and pendants. There were a total of 208 Colington series artifacts discovered during the excavation.

http://obsentinel.womacknewspapers.com/articles/2008/08/13/features/feats1481.txt

The Lost Colony's Reaching for the Stars Production is Born for Broadway

2008-08-14T04:41:00.000-05:00

Broadway comes to the beach when The Lost Colony presents Reaching for the Stars: The Joy of Broadway — a spectacle of song and dance at 8:15 p.m. on Saturday Aug. 16 at Waterside Theatre in Manteo.

Reaching for the Stars promises "a fantastic good time," according to the production's director Greg London, "you can experience things you wouldn't—unless you were in New York City!"

Without a bothersome airplane trip to the Big Apple, guests are guaranteed a good time, enjoying enduring and current Broadway hits from: Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady, The Wiz, Chorus Line, Thoroughly Modern Millie, South Pacific, Cabaret, Hairspray and other performed by the gifted Lost Colony cast and crew. Songs from The Lost Colony's upcoming 2009 productions of Jesus Christ Superstar and Oklahoma will also be featured. Most of the musical numbers in Reaching for the Stars are Tony award-winning hits.

The Lost Colony Company is known for their exceptional talent.

Derek Keeling, a 2001 alum, is now appearing as Danny in Grease on Broadway. Over the years, many Lost Colony alumni performers have appeared on Broadway, and if the 2008 company follows suit, they too are Broadway bound—all the more reason to attend this performance.

http://obsentinel.womacknewspapers.com/articles/2008/08/13/entertainment/arts1411.txt

Summer Sizzling Sale at Family Tree DNA

2008-08-15T18:32:00.004-05:00

Just received from Family Tree DNA. These prices are unbelievable. I hope everyone will take advantage of them.

===================================================================

Dear Group Administrator,

In June, Family Tree DNA ran our most successful promotion ever, in which we offered a significant discount on many of our test upgrades.

Now that our lab has had time to process the high volume of orders generated by that promotion, we are ready to challenge the record that we set in June by returning to you with our “Sizzling Summer Sale.” This time, the promotion is geared towards bringing new members to your projects by offering the following big incentives:

Y-DNA12 orders include a FREE mtDNA test (Y-DNA12+mtDNA promotion price of $99; normally $189)
Y-DNA25 orders include a FREE mtDNA test (Y-DNA25+mtDNA promotion price of $148; normally $238)
Y-DNA37 orders price REDUCED to $119 (normally $189)
Y-DNA37+mtDNAPlus orders price REDUCED to $189 (normally $339)
Y-DNA67+mtDNAPlus orders price REDUCED to $288 (normally $409)
mtDNAPlus price REDUCED to $149 (normally $189)

This promotion goes into effect immediately and will be available until August 31st, 11:59PM CST.

We would also like to make you aware of a change in shipping costs. Since our inception we never increased our shipping charge, even though in the meantime USPS has increased its rates 6 times. For that reason, our shipping cost will increase by $2, effective immediately. We appreciate your understanding.

As always, thank you for your continued support!

Family Tree DNA
Best Regards

Bennett Greenspan
President