Goins Bass Gibson & Indians

 

I have been researching the Goins-Gowen etc., for many years since I found the record of Phillis Goeing (Gowen) 1745 Charles City County -  petitioned George Gibson  concerning her children, but he failed to answer the petition so the court ordered the churchwardens to bind them out.  George Gibson was the son or grandson of Gibby Gibson, brother/nephew of Gilbert Gibson of Louisa County. George and Thomas Gibson appear in Louisa County about this time then move on to Granville/Orange County North Carolina. The Gibsons in Charles City County descended from Native Americans according to 1790 Court Records. 

These are some of the notes I have found over the years but have just recently tried putting them together, I have more and will post later.  

Feel free to share the link - I was recently told since  wasn't a Goins and I had no business researching them and was removed from the Facebook page, perhaps this might help some of those members. 

 
In the name of God amen I John Bass being sick and weak of body Butt of Sound Senses and memory Thanks be to God Do make and Ordain this to be my Last will in manner and form following -- First and Imprimis I give and Bequeath to my son Edward Bass my manor plantation whereon I now live to him and the heirs of his body lawfully begotten for Ever But except that the use and liberty of said plantation for my loving wife Mary for her lifetime for use in bringing up my small children. I give William Bass my land at ye Beaver Dam south through the swamp __ to a dividing line. Item I give to my Grandson Aaron Johnsone one hundred acres of land more or less north side of Uriah Swamp if it is not (?Pote ye Broad wock north Jake in away of ye swamp?)  Item I give unto my Loving Daughter Joudath Canady 100 acres of land more or less lying on ye south side of Urah Swamp adjoining James Hutchisons line to her and he heirs of her body lawfully to be begotten forever.  Item I give to my loving friend Daniel Wharten Burbogg fifty acres of land lying on ye north side of ye Quater Swamp and Beginning at Toneys path south down ye said swamp across the first Branch to him and his heirs forever.  Item I give unto my loving daughter Sarah Anderson one hundred acres of land more or less lying on ye north side of Uriah Swamp the most convenient land to the plantation whereon she now lives but not any part of ye said swamp but only ye tract toward Hutchinson line for ye  complement as far as ye Branch to her and ye hears of her obdy Lawfully begotten forever.  Item I give to my loving Daughter Loucy Bass one hundred acres of land more or less lying on the north side of Uriah Swamp bounded by Nowsoms line and so down betwixt  Two Branch to ye said swamp but not into ye said swamp.  Item I give to my loving daughter Mary one hundred acres of land more or less lying on North side of Uriah Swamp bound by my own line Newsoms and down a branch to ye said Swamp including a island on the lower side of ye said swamp.  Item I give unto my son Aaron Bass my plantation on ye south side of Baird Swamp whereon he lives and all ye high Land from my uper line and to down to the Great pine Branch.  Item I give unto my Daughter Patience Bass my plantation on the south side of Baire Swamp that I bought of William Johnston and all the land for the Great Branch above ye plantations down to ye lower line to her and the heirs of her body lawfully to be begotten for ever.  Item I give unto my son Moses Bass all my land that lyoth on the north side of Baire Swamp which is ajoining to my brother Edward's line including all the swamp to my son.  My will is further that if my loving wife should again marry and my son disturbed then my sons Edward and William Bass to have half the benefir of my orchards on my manor plantations.  Item I give unto my loving son John Bass my ould Square mosled gun.  Item I give unto my loving wife the third of my movables and all the remainder of my estates both within and without to be equally divided amongst my last wife's children and lastly I do nominate and appoint my loving sons John Bass and Edward to be my executors together with my loving wife as a co executor during her widowhood.  In witness whereof I have here into set my hand this 18th Day of June 1732. Signed with his mark which was a reversed capital "B" Witness Tho Bryant Edward Bass and James Guie Bertie Precint February Ct. 1732 Proved by oath of Capt Thomas Bryant James Quie Edward Bass Bertie County, N.C. Wills Vol. II p. 48  1663-1789

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9 Nov 1785. Will of Moses Bass of Prince Georges Parish, George Town Dist, Province of SC, being indisposed in Body.... to MOURNING GOING, dau of JACOB GOING, one cow marked with a cross & over bit & undr bit in one ear and cross & whole under nick in the other ear; to SARAH GOING, dau of JACOB GOING, one cow marked in the above mentioned mark; to ELIZABETH GOING, dau of JACOB GOING, one cow marked with a cross & undr bit & over bit in each ear and branded ME; to ANNE GOING, dau of JACOB GOING, one heifer marked with a cross and under bit & over bit in each ear branded ME; to CYNTHA GOING, dau of JACOB GOING, one heifer yearling marked with a cross & over bit & under bit in each ear & branded ME; to my beloved cousin Jeremiah Bass, [nephew] tract of 100 ac granted to John Smith, and one negro named Peter, one negro woman named Fann, one negro boy named Jack with their increase; my wife Elizabeth Bass to have the use of said plantation & tract of land granted to John Smith her lifetime and the use of negroes Peter, Fann & Jack & their increase her life time; to my beloved cousin Wright Bass, [Nephew] the plantation, mill, & tract of land containing 444 ac that I now live on, one negro woman Jane, my wife Elizabeth Bass to have the use of the plantation, mill & tract of land and negro woman her lifetime; to Henry Harison, son of James Harison, one negro woman Cate & increase, my wife to have the use of the negro woman her lifetime; to JOSEPH GOING, JUNR, one negro girl named Judah & increase, my wife to have the use her life time; to my beloved wife Elizabeth Bass, one negro man named Jack, one woman named Florah, one woman named Nan, one boy named Isum, one boy named Roger, and my cattle, about 110 head, branded ME, all my stock of horses & mares, all my household furniture & plantation tools, 26 head of sheep, and my hogs, also negro girl Violet; to JACOB GOING, a plantation of 50 ac granted to John Crawford; I appoint my wife Elizabeth Bass and my friend Luke Whitefield and James Harison, executors, dated 28 Feb 1777. Moses Bass (M) (LS), Wit: Malachi Murfee, Jeremiah Bass (x), Right Bass. A true copy taken from the original and examined by Hugh Horry, Ordinary G Town Dist. Whereas I, the within named Right Bass, am the eldest son of Edward Bass deceased, who was eldest brother of the within named Testator Moses Bass, which said Moses Bass departed this life without issue, whereby I, said Right Bass became his heir at law, and I am willing that all the several devises & bequests in the said will should have full effect, for the memory of my deceased uncle Moses Bass and for the several devisees in the within will, and five shillings, I confirm all the devises, legacies and bequests, 9 Nov 1785. Right Bass (LS), Wit: Chas Cotesworth Pinckney, Wm Smith. Proved in Charleston Dist by the oath of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney 28 Jun 1786 before Dl. Mazyck, JP. Rec 28 Jun 1786. S-5, 283-284. (Holcomb, SC Deed Abstracts, 1783-1788, Bks I-5 thru Z-

 30 July 1799

Wright Bass and Nancy his wife to Levi Gibson 140 acres fro 35 pounds on Gum Swamp part of 500 acres known as the Mill Tract sold by Daniel Laroach Esq to James Owens and by him to Moses Bas and bequeathed in his will to Right Bass, Sr and bequeathed by him to Right Bass Jr.

See Bass Nansemond Lineage
https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/bass/5241/-

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In 1788, "Thomas Goin" applied to the County Court of Greene County for the administration of the estate of Elizabeth Bass, according to "Bulletin of the Watauga Association," Volume 10: "August 1788.

On motion of W. Avery, Esqr. atto. for Thomas Going for obtaining letter of administration on the Estate of Elizabeth Bass, decd. ordered that the same be laid over until next term, for proof of sanguinity [kinship, blood relationship] & that a dedimus potestatem [a commission to take testimony] issue in favour of said Thomas Going to Anson & Richmond Counties & to the State of South Carolina by giving fifteen days notice to Jeremiah Bass of the time & place where such testimony will be taken, ditto for Levi Bass to South Carolina giving Thos. Going fifteen days notice at least."

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Edward Gowen of Granville County, North Carolina, regarded as a kinsman of Thomas Goin, was also named an heir of Elizabeth Bass. On October 14, 1788 he conveyed his interest in her estate to "his nephew, Thomas Gowen," according to Granville County Will Book 2, page 79.

"October 14, 1788. Know all men by these presents that I Edward Gowen of the County of Granville for divers good causes and considerations thereunto [me] moving more especially for the sum of A25 to me in hand paid, the receipt of which I do hereby acknowledge, hath bar? gained, sold & made over, and by these presents, do bargain, sell and make over to my nephew, Thomas Gowen all the estate, right and interest I have or hereafter may have to the estate of Elizabeth Bass, deceased, or any part thereof, and do hereby make over the same to the said Thomas Gowin, his heirs and assigns from the claim of me, the said Edward Gowen or any other person whatever claiming under me. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand & seal the 15th day of October, 1786.

Edward Going

Witnesses:
Henry Meghe
Allin Hudson
Jhn. [X] Simmons..

._____________________

In 1787, "Thomas Goin" received Grant No. 2015 for 300 acres of land on Licking Creek, "including his improvements" in Greene County, Tennessee. This grant was paid for in cash. Greene County had been formed in 1783 with land taken from Washington County.

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In 1784 plat records show Michael Gowin living adjacent to Hayes Swamp in Georgetown District, South Carolina adjacent to Stephen Gibson – near where Moses Bass and his wife Elizabeth Bass (Going) were living on Gum Swamp – shown in plat records.

In 1789 a Lucy Gowin is shown in a plat with land adjacent to Stephen Gibson in Georgetown District, SC. She is likely the widow of Michael Gowin who disappears from records.

In 1792 Thomas Gowen is shown in two plats owning land on Hayes Swamp and adjacent to Stephen Gibson in Georgetown District, SC.

In 1796 John Gowing is shown in a plat owning land on Hayes Swamp adjacent to Stephen Gibson in Georgetown District, SC.

Stephen Gibson is a witness to a deed in 1807 conveying land once owned by Moses Bass that was left to a Right Bass. The Gibson family shows up in most of the Moses Bass & Elizabeth Bass probate paperwork – along with the Going family.

Researchers believe John Goin accompanied his brother Thomas Goin b. abt 1750-55 to Claiborne Co, TN where John is shown being received in 1800 to the Big Spring Primitive Baptist Church

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"MONDAY, MAY 23, 1757: A petition from Andrew Hampton was read in the North Carolina House at Newbern, the petition praying for an allowance for the provisions furnished 160 Indians was placed under consideration. Earlier the North Carolina Assembly in 1753, had appointed Commishioners in Granville and three other frontier communities to furnish provisions for the Indians allied with the Province against the French and the Cherokee Indians. The allied Indians were probably Tuscarora and Saponi. In 1753-58, some thirty Saponi lived north of present Henderson, North Carolina on land of Colonel William Eaton, who acted as their interpreter. The first Court of Granville in 1746 was held in Colonel Eaton's house, he served as Public Registar for the County and was Commander of the Regiment of eight Companies of the Militia."

The following served under Col. Eaton, in Capt.Andrew Hampton's company:

James Bolling
William Bolling
Benjamin Bolling
John Bolling

William Saunders in the “Colonial Records of North Carolina” report that in 1754 a group of 30-40 Saponi had settled on the lands of William Eaton in Granville County, NC. 

Eaton's Muster Roll 1754

• Edward Harris, negro Husband of Sarah Chavers, daughter of William and Frances
• William Chavers, negro   Married Frances Gibson widow of George Smith
• William Chavers Jun., Mul.
• Gilberth Chavers, Mulatto
• John Smith   Nut Bush  Probably son of Frances, he administered her estate
• Thomas Gowen, mulatto
• Mickael Gowen, mulatto
• Edward Gowen, mulatto

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''At the Rockdale mills, there lived some free mulattoes by the name of Turner, who were Tories and very wicked. The troops engaged in this expedition, having been disbanded, and Captain Culp having gone home, some of these mulattoes followed him to his own house, called him out at night, and accused him of whipping one of their brothers. He refused at first to come out, and they threatened to burn the house; but still he refused, until they began to apply the fire; then he came out between two young men, one on each side, holding them by the arms, and begging for his life; but the Turners told the young men that, If they did not wish to share the same fate with Culp, they must leave him. They did so; and he was Immediately shot down in his own yard. It is said that they not only murdered him, but his family also, and then burned his house, which stood about a mile below Hunt's Bluff. Old Major Pouncey's wife was Culp's daughter...."

''After remaining a short time in North Carolina Captain Baxter marched back to South Carolina and joined Colonel Culp who joined General Francis Marion. After a few months service under Colonel Culp, he Colonel Culp, returned home and was killed by the Tories said to be commanded by Mike Gowen and Thomas Gibson. Captain Baxter  immediately went in pursuit of them, we found Mike Gowen at Cade's Mill in Robeson County in this State & he was shot.''

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1804 Sumter County Deed... S.C. Marion Dist. Levi Gibson appeared, saith that he was personally acquainted with a certain elderly woman by the name of Franky Going or Taylor. That from her appearances he had cause to believe that she was not of Ethiopian extraction. She was generally reputed to have proceeded from the Indian. He was also acquainted with a certain Gowen Taylor who was said to be the son of aforesaid Franky Taylor and he never was considered in any other way than to have derived from the Indian extraction. Hardy Crawford attested to oath.

Hardy Crawford was married to Rhoda Gibson

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John Gowen Sr. of SC to Solomon Page of Marion Dist.. 3 parties of land containing 250ac on Ashpole Swamp one tract 150 ac being granted to Ignatious Flowers 14 Ap 1774, one other tract 50ac granted to Archable Odom 6 June 1785--Line runs up *Ashpole Swamp to ....... the three tracts near of adj each other and include where John Gowen SR. lives. John Gowen Sr. [His mark] Wit; John Ford, Benj Rawls, proved before Robert Moody Qu 9 Jan 1808 Nancy Gowing [her mark] rdr 12 Oct 1804 before Jesse Bethea JQ .. Rec 7 June 1810

Some of this research was found at this site -  Goyen, Gowing, Going, Goyne, Goin, etc. sources from 1740 to 1775  - Where you will find much more records.

https://goyengoinggowengoyneandgone.com/goyen-gowing-going-goyne-goin-etc-sources-from-1740-to-1775/

Melungeon Indian Families

Melungeon Indian Families

William Eaton was buying up land in Granville County by 1749, one of those plats was for 270 acres on Nut Bush, John Smith, likely son of Frances Gibson Smith Chavis [administered her estate] also had land on Nut Bush.  In 1754 it was reported a group of 30-40 Saponi were living on the lands of William Eaton in Granville County, North Carolina. [William Saunders in the “Colonial Records of North Carolina” ]

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"MONDAY, MAY 23, 1757: A petition from Andrew Hampton was read in the North Carolina House at Newbern, the petition praying for an allowance for the provisions furnished 160 Indians was placed under consideration. Earlier the North Carolina Assembly in 1753, had appointed Commissioners in Granville and three other frontier communities to furnish provisions for the Indians allied with the Province against the French and the Cherokee Indians. The allied Indians were probably Tuscarora and Saponi. In 1753-58, some thirty Saponi lived north of present Henderson, North Carolina on land of Colonel William Eaton, who acted as their interpreter. The first Court of Granville in 1746 was held in Colonel Eaton's house, he served as Public Registrar for the County and was Commander of the Regiment of eight Companies of the Militia."

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The following served under Col. Eaton, in Capt.Andrew Hampton's company:

James Bolling
William Bolling
Benjamin Bolling
John Bolling

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This is from the 1754 Muster Roll of Col William Eaton - Granville County, NC
Edward Harris, negro Married daughter of William Chavis/Chavers
William Chavers, negro 2nd Husband of Frances Gibson dau of Gibby Gibson - Charles City County - Indian
William Chavers Jun., Mul.
Gilberth Chavers, Mulatto Son of William and Frances Chavis
Believe these three are sons of Frances Gibson & 1st husband George Smith.
John Smith [of Nut Bush]
Stephen Smith
Thomas Smith.
Thomas, Michael and Edward Gowen were on the 1743-44 Merchant list in Hanover Co Va.
Thomas Gowen, mulatto
Mickael Gowen, mulatto
Edward Gowen, mulatto
Robert Davis, mulatto
William Burnel, mulatto

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ROBERT K. THOMAS

Robert K. Thomas added another dimension to the Carnegie Project. Thomas was born to parents of Cherokee descent in eastern Kentucky and raised by his maternal grandparents in northeastern Oklahoma. Though at times he referred to himself as "marginal," he immersed himself in traditional knowledge as a child and maintained an abiding connection to tribal communities throughout his adult life. After serving in World War II, Thomas attended the University of Arizona, where he completed a bachelor's degree in geography and a master's in anthropology. Consistent with his identification with traditional Cherokees, Thomas devoted his thesis to the spiritual and political movement to resist allotment spearheaded by Redbird Smith. In 1953 he enrolled in the doctoral program at the University of Chicago to study with Sol Tax.(n13)

In my research I find a small group of Saponi Indians in Granville County, North Carolina (now Vance County) who lived in that region between 1743 and sometime in the 1760’s. The Saponi originally lived several miles further north on the Roanoke River in Virginia (*See Below) when they were contacted by early Europeans in the late 1600’s. Later, because of pressure from whites, they moved west to the Yadkin Valley, near modern Winston-Salem, North Carolina. About 1710 they were migrating east and appear to have gotten caught “in between” the whites and the hostile Tuscarora Indians. The Saponi “sat out” the war in the neutral Tuscarora country near Windsor, North Carolina. Around 1714, Governor Spotswood, the governor of Virginia, settled them along with two kindred tribes, the Tutelo and the Occaneechi, at Fort Christiana, Virginia close to modern Lawrenceville, Virginia. The Saponi absorbed the Occaneechi at about this time. In 1722 the Tutelo moved north to join the Six Nations Confederacy. However, the Saponi remained in the area until around 1728 or1730 when, due, to hostilities with the neutral Tuscarora and Meherrin, they retired to the Catawba country in South Carolina.

One band of Saponi came back to their original country, some 30 people, and settled on the plantation of Colonel William Eaton in Granville County, North Carolina. They lived there from 1743 to sometime in the 1760’s, at which time they disappear from history; that is, there are no more records of them as a tribe of Indians. This area of Granville County, North Carolina (now Vance County) was the coastal frontier in the period between the 1740’s and 1750’s.

In the early 1760’s Indians, as families, began to move out of the Granville County area. Many went south into the region of Cumberland County, North Carolina around Fayetteville  (Goins) and then into present day Robeson County. These were simply the first Indian settlers in Robeson County. (See Drowning Creek Settlers -Pre 1760)They were later joined by the Hatteras from the coast and Cheraw from South Carolina. Robeson County became a refuge for “loose” Indians and Indian families from all over that region congregated there over the years.) Theses Granville County families who went south into Robeson County were the Chavis’, Locklears, Gibsons, Collins’, Goings’, etc. These are families that we are sure came from the area of Granville County, North Carolina. Some of these families may have been composed of a black or white man with an Indian wife, although there is fairly good evidence that Collins is a Saponi family name. The Gibsons moved on further south from Robeson County so that name is no longer found in Robeson County among the Indians there who are officially now called the Lumbees. 

However, this migration did not stop Georgia and Florida but continued west and in census records in the 1830’s in western Louisiana you begin to see names of Indian families from South Carolina. As far as I can tell, most of these families moved on further west into east Texas. The Bass’, Dials, Wares, Willis’, etc., particularly, tarried awhile in western Louisiana and then moved on to east Texas. However, while they were in Louisiana they intermarried quite heavily with a group of Indians who were the remnants of small tribes from the Mobile, Alabama area - Chatot, Bayagoula, and others; that is to say, individuals from these South Carolina families married native Indians to form what is known by whites in that area as the “Redbones” of western Louisiana. This is quite a prolific group. I do not know how this group of people refers to themselves. I simply know that local nickname for them. I have heard that some of them identify as Choctaws and some as Spanish, but I cannot verify this. I do know that Indians coming in from South Carolina married into this local group and then moved on west leaving members of their families there in western Louisiana. Some of these same South Carolina Indians - Hicks, Strickland, Bunch, etc. – moved northwest into east Tennessee in the 1830’s and 1840’s. There they joined another stream of Indian pioneer of this same Granville County, North Carolina stock moving south from Newman’s Ridge on the Tennessee - Virginia border.

A large body of Indians from Granville County very early started moving straight west. In the 1760’s we pick up Collins, Gibson, and Bunch in Orange County, North Carolina which was just immediately to the west of Granville County. These families are listed in the records as Mulattoes. In the Carolinas in the 1700’s and 1800’s Mulatto meant a person with one white parent and one non-white parent, either Indian or black. Thus, by 1760 Indians of this stock were beginning to push west. If one goes west from Orange County there is a little community of people in Rockingham County, North Carolina made up primarily of two family names, Goings and Harris. Harris is found widely among Indian groups in the Carolinas. So it is probable that this was a group of Indians which dropped off here in the main migration west. By 1810 these families were beginning to come together in the present day northern Hancock County, Tennessee and southern Lee County, Virginia on a mountain known as Newman’s Ridge, near Sneedville, Tennessee and Blackwater Virginia. This became the core community of these Granville families in the west by 1810. In this community one finds that Collins, Gibson, Mullins, and Goings are predominate and most numerous family names; other family names are Minor, Odell, Delph, etc. However, on the way west this stream of migration left behind the Goings and Harris families in Rockingham County, North Carolina and the Goings’ in Patrick County, Virginia.

The full paper is posted on my website - it is a must read as it tells the story of the Melungeons, their kin, their migtrations and their surnames. 

CHEROKEE COMMUNITIES OF THE SOUTH
ROBERT K. THOMAS

* Hamilton McMillan whose research was instrumental in North Carolina recognizing the Indians in Robeson County as Croatans reported he witnessed George Lowery's speech telling of his ancestors coming from Roanoke Island in 1864. In McMillan's Sir Walter Raleigh's lost colony he quotes George Lowery -

 

 

Betty Sexton Fields

 

Betty Sexton Fields. 

From a story told by Betty Sexton Fields to Harry M Caudill of Letcher County, Kentucky, published in The Mountain the Miner and the Lord - 1980

Betty Sexton Fields, a Melungeon, born in 1889 in Letcher County, Kentucky and died in 1972  visited the office of the author Harry M Caudill and told him of her Great-Grandparents along with Gibsons and other families left Scott County, Virginia, traveled through Pound Gap and spent the winter at a Rock House in Letcher County.  

She tells the story of how they covered the front with bark they had peeled from the huge chestnut trees, and made it adequate they thought to get through the winter, until they could go out in the spring and locate their lands. Winter came on and the snow fell and creeks froze, game and fish were scarce, their food they had brought started running short. The men went out hunting but came home with barely enough to feed everyone. 

Betty's great grandmother sat down with the hunters and told them the next morning she would be missing from camp and they should go into the forest early in the morning. There they would find a beech tree with an upside down cross marked on it and should wait there, not leave under any circumstances.  She told them they would see a herd of deer led by a black doe but under no cicumstance, no matter what happens they should not shoot the black doe.  

As morning dawned they found Mrs. Sexton was not at the camp, they found the beech with the cross carved into it, soon a dozen deer deer appeared, the black doe stopped suddenly and the others passed by, the hunters took home two bucks and a doe.  

Soon the little settlement found themselves hungry again, and Mrs. Sexton again repeated her instructions to find the beech tree and wait for the herd of deer and repeated her warning 'you must not shoot the black doe'.  Like the previous hunt they returned with the much needed venison.   It was a hard winter and again, the third time food was running out, Mrs. Sexton repeated her instructions as before and again warned them 'no matter what happens, you must not shoot the foremost deer' she warned them. 

Next morning they waited at the beech tree, marveling by the strange happenings of that winter.  One of them was named Gibson, a tall muscular man who feared nothing.  When the black doe came into his sight he took aim and shot the formost black doe.  The others berated Gibson as he stood with his butcher knife but he laughed at them. 

When they returned to the camp Mrs. Sexton was not to be seen, they searched everywhere but she was never found.  The carcass smelled and could not be eaten, put into a sinkhole and covered, Betty's great grandfather buried the carcass in the spring.  

"You see, my great-grandmother followed the dark ways and had many powers people nowadays know nothing about. The dark ways were brought from the yon side of the waters, and my people brought them to the new settlements.  People who followed the dark ways were healthy and strong and lived long lives.  They was never sick a day of their lives" she explained. Betty explained that her great-grandfather had learned the dark ways of Mrs. Sexton, he was not a witch himself but could recall much of what she had told him.  

In the spring the settlers left the Rock House and went in search of their lands, Mr. Sexton her great grandfather left a widow with young children went to the woods to find things his wife had mentioned.  There he found a giant fallen poplar, the rotting three foot stump was hollowed out and covered in lichen and fungi.  Inside the stump was foul smelling water surrounded by toadstools perfectly situated for the nighttime moonlight to reach. 

Mr. Sexton carved an image into the bark of the tree with the features of Mr. Gibson.  That night Sexton dipped his hand into the water in the stump and sprinkled it over the image, for six nights he came and dipped the water out of the stump and sprinkled it on Mr. Gibson's image.  On the seventh night he brought a wooden spike and drove it into the stump so it protruded from Gibson's forehead.  

Within a few days Mr. Gibson awoke with a headache that only got worse over the day, the next morning he was filled with pain and sent for Mr. Sexton. "You have hexed me for killing your wife" and said he felt as if a nail had been driven into his forehead, then died.

Is this story true? 

The Sextons and Gibson did live in Scott County in 1820 and would have passed through Pound Gap - 

Letcher County, not formed at the time was still part of Perry County. 

Grantee: Zackariah Gibson
Number of Acres: 50Survey Date: 5 Jul 1822
County: Perry
WaterCourse: N Fk Ky R
Book Number: K

Grantee: John Gibson
Number of Acres: 50
Survey Date: 9 May 1823
County: Perry
WaterCourse: Rockhouse Fk Ky R
Book Number: M

Grantee: John Gibson
Number of Acres: 50
Survey Date: 2 Jun 1824
County: Perry
WaterCourse: Br & Fk N Fk Ky R
Book Number: S

Grantee: Archibald Gibson
Number of Acres: 50
Survey Date: 2 Jun 1824
County: Perry
Water Course: N Fk Ky R
Book Number: U

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The Sexton were members of the Stoney Creek Church as were the Gibsons and it would appear at least some of them may have returned to Scott County after they claimed their Kentucky lands.  

Wash Osborne gave a sort of rundown on the Melungeon families as he knew them, he said; 

"Also the Melungeons came to Scott County from Letcher County, Kentucky near Whitesburg at a place called Lick Rock. These people lived in large numbers. Uncle Poke Gibson came to Scott from Letcher about 1820. He claimed to be Portuguese Indian. "

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If anyone has the Grandparents and/or Great-Grandparents I would love to add Betty's ancestry to the story.  Please comment below

The full story told by Betty Sexton Fields is found in Harry Caudill's  "The Mountain the Miner and the Lord" Page 93, Chapter FRONTIER as well as many other stories of Letcher County.  

EBAY

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AMAZON

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Gowen Part I

 

The path from John Graweere to John Geaween to John Gowen who allegedly stepped off the White Lion in 1619, part of the '20 and odd'  is a long, twisting, turning, and in my opinion, misleading way to find ancestors of the Goins/Gowen etc. 

There is no original record pertaining to this John, it is a transcription of Conroe Robinson from the original book around the Civil War Time, and we all know what happened to court houses, they were burned, including this original record.  Robinson transcribed it as Graweere, then some time later McIlwaine transcribed Robinsons transcription as Graweere.  A gentleman in England then transcribed McIlwaine's transcription for the Virginia Genealogist as Geaween. 

As far as I was able to trace this back Paul Heinegg then used the Virginia Genealogist transcription rather than the 'Graweere' and changed the Geaween to Gowen. 

And the 'ancestor of the Gowen family was born' from Paul Heinegg whose research 

"A transcription is an exact word-for-word copy of the full document with all the spelling and grammar meticulously replicated." Julie Miller CG, CGL

We don't have the original document but we do have the original transcription. Graweere 

Are either of the transcriptions worth the paper they are written on? Furthermore there is no proof, at all, whoever he was, he did not step off the White Lion.  Is John Gowen a  real person, yes, but he is not John Gowen formerly known as John Geaween, who never exitsted. Perhaps John Gowen will fit in this story later on.  

Another twist was added in the 2012 paper on the Melungeon DNA Study by Roberta Estes, Jack Goins, Janet Crain and Penny Ferguson.  They wrote; 

" Goins Goins or similar names are found in early colonial records. John Gowen, "Gowen the Indian" was born about 1615 and by 1640, described as a "negro", had been freed by William Evans in York County, Virginia. He had a son by an African woman named Margaret Cornish about 1635 and in 1641 he purchased the son, Michael's (Mihill) freedom. Mihill had a son William born of a negro Prossa who patented land in James City County in 1668." [2}

How is John Gowen "Gowen the Indian" if Gawin the Indian is  found in the court record of Thomas Bushrod in 1670 to have his freedom in 1676, this court record below clearly shows in 1670 Gawin the Indian was with Mr. Thomas Bushrod in York County.

GAWIN THE INDIAN

Gawin, Indina & Mr. Thomas Bushrod (3)

Thomas Bushrod first went to Massachusetts, then settled in York County, VA, and from York County he was a Burgess in the Assemblies of 1658-1659 and 1659-1660. [Journals of the House of Burgesses 1619-1659, and Colonial Virginia Register by Stanard]. He was a Puritan [a Quaker] and was at various times embroiled in difficulties with authorities in Virginia. He was twice married, one of his wives being the widow of Captain Thomas Hill, Mary [Piersey] Hill, mother of five Hill children, but he died without male issue. Mary was a Quaker. Thomas Bushrod lived at Essex Lodge, York County, VA. His will was probated in York County, VA in 1677 [Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 23].

1682, April 20 – Gawen Gawin 1000a s side of Totopottomoys Cr in New Kent Co, Va.   – New Kent Co VA Land Grant 1682 

1682, April 20 – Gawen Gawin 1000a s side of Totopottomoys Cr in New Kent Co, Va.   Gawen Gawin – New Kent Co VA Land Grant 1682 
Transcribed by: Regena Cogar
Surnames: GAWIN, DABNEY, DAVIS, BRYOR, PONGER, PENGER, TAYLOR, BARROW, HILL, DEGAR, HUBBERD, POPE, THOMAS, LEMON, RAVENEL, WALTON, CHENEY, SHALTON, WALLINGTON, JACKSON, LINDSEY, DENHAM
VA Patents 7, p. 160
Library of Virginia Digital Collection: Land Office Patents and Grants.  Gawin 1000
To all &c. Whereas &c. Now Know yee that I S[i]r Henry [Ch—eley?] K[nigh]t deputy [governor?] [do] give and grannt unto Gawen Gawin One tho[w?]sand acres of land lying in the County of New Kent upon the South side of [Totopottomoys?] Creeke & bounded as followeth begining upon the upper line of Cornelius Dabneys land runing South South East along the said line three hundred twenty five pole to a markt red oake from thence West five hundred & twoe pole to a marked hiccory from thence North North West three hundred twenty five pole to a marked red oake [—?] the said Creeke from thence downe the said Creeke to the first Station the said land being formerly grannted to John [Davis?] by Pattent bearing date the [27?]th February [1660?] and by him [deserted?] and now grannted to the said Gawin [by order?] of the Gener[al] Court and [further?] due by and for the transportacon of twenty p[er]sons into this Colony whose names [—?] under this pattent menconed To have & to hold &c. To be held &c. Yeilding & paying &c. Provided &c. Dated the twentieth of Aprill [1682?] ~
John Bryor, Tho: [Ponger?/Penger?], Geo: Taylor, [Tho:?] Barrow, And: Hill, Corne: Degar, Cathe: Hubberd, John [Pope?], [Bess?], Sam[?] Thomas, Mary Lemon, John [Ravenel?], Sam:ll Walton, Margaret [Cheney?], Dan:ld [Shalton?], Jon: Wallington,
Jon: Jackson, [Ja-?] Lindsey, Mary Denham, Mariah.
NOTE: Transcriber’s comments are in brackets [ ].

Deed  (4) 

.....in the summer of 1678 Cockacoeske directed her interpreter Cornelius Dabney to compile a list of grievances, which she sent to the governor. She also had him dispatch to England a letter in which she professed her loyalty to the Crown and complained about the tribes that disobeyed her orders. The letter, signed “Cockacoeske Queen of Pamunkey,” 

Hanover County, Virginia  was created in November 20, 1720 from New Kent County. 

New Kent County, Virginia  was created in 1654 from York County

Christopher Gowen Sr appears to have been born about 1649.  He was married to Anne (unknown maiden name).

In  1673 Christopher Gowin is an indentured servant.  His indenture is in York Co, Virginia.  The source indicates his date of birth is about 1649. Source Citations: Benjamin B. Weisiger, York County, Virginia Records 1672-1676 (n.p.: n.p., 1991), 60, quoting York County, Virginia Record Book 5:49

1673 June 24 – Deposition of Christopher Gowin, age 24, saith that several times after John Williams, who drove away his mater’s mares out of the hundred, came to his mater’s house and came to deponent in the field, where he was at work, and told him he had brought home the old mare; whereupon deponent went to his mistress, his master not being at home, and she bid deponent go along with John Williams and see her, which he did; and went to Goodman Gill’s fence, where said Williams told him he had left her, but deponent saw none of her. Since, said Williams told deponent several times he would find her. Sworn at Ct. 24 June 1673. Christopher Gowin (CC)-mark.  (6)

 Christopher Gowen was married about 1678, wife’s name, Anne.  Christopher Gowen and Anne Gowen were living in Abingdon Parish in January 1679 when their son, Michael Gowen was born, according to “Abingdon Parish, Gloucester County, Virginia Register.” 1679 January – Michael Gowen, son of Christopher Gowen and Anne Gowen, was born – 1679 January – Michael Gowen is born in January 1679, according to “Abingdon Parish, Gloucester County, Virginia Register, 1678-1761,” page 275. Glaucester Co, Va  

1702 July 4 – “Michael Gowin” and “Phillip Gowin” were serving in the militia in nearby New Kent* County. They were serving under Col. John Lightfoot. Created in 1654, New Kent County then encompassed territory included in the present counties of King William, King and Queen, Hanover, and New Kent. Va Miltia – New Kent County. Virginia’s Colonial Soldiers, By Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck pg. 218.  *New Kent was created from York. (1)

1734 June 7 –John Gowin leased 170 acres of land from Shurley Whatley in St. Martins Parish in adjoining Hanover County, Virginia … between Shurley Whatley of the Parish of Saint Martin in the County of Hanover of the one part and John Gowin of the afsd Parish & County of the other part. in consideration of the sum of 3000 pounds of sweet scented tobacco and caske … paid by the said John Gowin.   … confirm unto the said John Gowin … land containing 170acres … on branches of Beverdam Swamp … at William Hix’s corner … in John Wright’s line … in Capt. Winslows line …Signed: Shurley Whatley, Rebecca Whatley
Wit: Samuel Saxon, Abra Cook, Richard Write
… Rebecca the wife of the said Whatley … relinquished all her right of dower … (7) 

So to Recap

We have Gawin the Indian, Indentured Servant to Thomas Bushrod in York County, to get his freedom in 1676.  

We have Christopher Gowin in 1673 and Indentured Servant in York County. Married by 1678 and Michael Gowen, son of Christopher Gowen and Anne Gowen, was born – 1679 January. 

Gawen Gawin?  is granted a thousand acres on Totopotomoy Creek in New Kent, later Hanover County, in 1682 on the land of the Queen of the Pamunkey, adjacent to her interpreter.  

York County is parent county of New Kent and Hanover County

HANOVER COUNTY VIRGINIA

Gawin Gawin 1682
Michael Gowen 1702
Phillip Gowen 1702
John Gowen 1734
Michael Gowen Sr 1743-44
Michael Gowen Jr 1743-44
David Gowen  1743-44

Edward Gowen  1743-44

    Modern map of Totopotomoy Creek in Hanover County 

Totopotomoy Creek is a physical feature (stream) in Hanover County.

A Merchant's Account Book: Hanover County, 1743-1744

May 1998

If John Gowen is father to Milhil/Michael and Philip, then is John Gowen related to Gawin Gawen the Indian, is Gawin Gawen aka Christopher Gowen or a brother since it appears both were found in York/Hanover County Virginia? Are all three Gowen related and therefore all of Native American descent/belong to the Pamunkey Tribe?  If Christopher and Anne are noted as the father of Michael Gowen and Christophen Gowen is an indentured servant in York County, parent county of Hanover, Philip and Michael never moved, the county lines did.   
Occam's Razor - KISS

Questions need Answers

Goins Part II  Tommy Goins
Granville County - Pee Dee River to Tennesse

(1) GOYEN FAMILY TREE 
https://goyengoinggowengoyneandgone.com/john-graweere-or-geaween/

 (2) Melungeons, A Multi-Ethnic Population page 56

(3) A Study of Virginia Indians and Jamestown: The First Centuryt
https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/jame1/moretti-langholtz/chap10a.htm

(4)  Library of Virginia  
https://lva.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01LVA_INST/altrmk/alma990007576080205756

(5) Deed
http://image.lva.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/drawer?retrieve_image=LONN&dir=/LONN/LO-1/007/007&image_number=0163&offset=%2B3&name=Patents+No.7+1679-1689+(VOL.1+%26+VOL.2)&dbl_pgs=no&round=

(6) York County, Virginia. Deeds, orders, wills, No. 5 1657-1694. pg 49.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9TZ-C3TR?i=455&cat=367215

(7)  Deeds, wills, inventories, and settlement of estates 1733-1735. p. 71-72. Hanover Co, Va.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99P6-3S6B?i=47&cat=365146

(8)  PORTUGUESE INDIANS  

https://the-melungeons.blogspot.com/2022/12/de-soto-portuguese-ship-captain-andre.html

When reading this keep in mind the 20 0dd that stepped off the White Lion in 1619 were not the first African/Slaves in this country.  In 1527, eighty years before Jamestown  a hundred slaves were part of the Lucas DeAyllon settlement on the Pee Dee River.  Not all likely survived the Indian attacks or disease  but surely not all one hundred died, some are said to have joined the Natives in Carolina.  Of the 600 men and women with DeAyllon only 150 returned, leaving 450 unaccounted for.  

Thirteen years later DeSoto came up the Pee Dee River with his Spanish and Portuguese and slaves, it is documented they borrowed Native women from the towns - South Carolina to Louisianna - where DeSoto died two years later.  Again in 1570 Juan Pardo came up the Pee Dee River mixing with the Carolina Natives.   These Natives were carrying Portuguese/Spanish and African DNA long before the White Lion.  Those absorbed by the Native tribes were Indians in 1619. (8)

Chief Nimrod J. Smith

 

 

BOSTON EVENING TRANSCRIPT

FRIDAY AUGUST 4, 1893

FROM CHEROKEE LAND

[Special Correspondence of the Transcript]

Cherokee, N.C. 

.....The men are now duly qualified citizens of the United States, but alas! it is with them as with a large body of voters elsewhere, their chief interest in the matter is in the buying of their votes.  They have their own council and elect their own Chief, and, I think, have a code of laws their own.  Ex Chief Smith is said to be a man of a good deal of intelligence.  He is ill at present, but I have seehn his pictured face, and it is a striking one.  the features are of the finest Caucasian type, the gaze piercing and intelligent, and upon the shoulders hangs a profusion of long and picturesque ringlets.  I said to myself, "This is not a modern face of the every-day world; it does not belong to any race admixture of which I know anything; it might have belonged to a Spanish cavalier of the olden time;"  and as if in answer to my thought came the information that there was an admixture of Portuguese blood in his veins, or to speak in vernacular, he was "part Portygee."  Mine host is inclined to ridicule this idea, and to account for the curly hair on an African basis, but there is not the slightest suggestion of the negro in Smith's face or in the faces of any of his children or grandchildren whom I have seen.  Affiliation between these two races is rare, the negroes and Indians usully holding toward one another the proverbial cat and dog relation

---------------------------------------------------------------

"As principal chief Smith devoted most of his time to the Eastern Cherokee's legal battles. Hoping to gain access to the annuities and other trust funds held by the U.S. government for the Western (Oklahoma) Cherokee, the Eastern Cherokee filed suit in the court of claims against the United States and the Cherokee Nation West in 1883. Two years later the court handed down a decision adverse to the Eastern Cherokee, and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the decision in 1886. The courts ruled that the Eastern Cherokee had dissolved their connection with the Cherokee Nation by their refusal to move west. The decision deprived them not only of the trust and annuity funds but also of their tribal status and consequently left them in an extremely ambiguous legal position."

NCPEDIA

Biography

https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/smith-nimrod-jarrett

---------------------------------------------------------

See

The wagonauts abroad : two tours in the wild mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina, made by three kegs, four wagonauts and a canteen, in two parts. Nashville, Tenn.: Southwestern Publishing House. 1892 Page 225

https://archive.org/details/wagonautsabroadt00doak/page/224/mode/2up?view=theater
 

Judge Giles Leitch

 Judge Giles Leitch

Member of the Philanthropic Society University of North Carolina -Graduate 1849    Senator from Robeson County 1862    Born 1827 

Excerpt from the 1871 North Carolina Joint Senate and House Committee as they interviewed Robeson County Judge Giles Leitch about the ‘free persons of color’ living within his county: 

Senate: Half of the colored population?

Leitch: Yes Sir; half of the colored population of Robeson County were never slaves at all…

Senate: What are they; are they Negroes?

Leitch: Well sir, I desire to tell you the truth as near as I can; but I really do not know what they are; I think they are a mixture of Spanish, Portuguese and Indian… 

Senate: You think they are mixed Negroes and Indians?

Leitch: I do not think that in that class of population there is much Negro blood at all; of that half of the colored population that I have attempted to describe all have always been free…They are called ‘mulattoes’ that is the name they are known by, as contradistinguished from Negroes…I think they are of Indian origin.

Senate: I understand you to say that these seven or eight hundred persons that you designate as mulattoes are not Negroes but are a mixture of Portuguese and Spanish, white blood and Indian blood, you think they are not generally Negroes?

Leitch: I do not think the Negro blood predominates.

Senate: the word ‘mulatto’ means a cross between the white and the Negro?

Leitch: Yes sir.

Senate: You do not mean the word to be understood in that sense when applied to these people?

Leitch: I really do not know how to describe those people. 

---------------------------------------------

New York Herald
Saturday, March 09, 1872
Wilmington, N.C.
February 29, 1872

THE KU KLUX REPORT ON THE LOWERYS
  EXCERPT;

........." I do not know what these mulattoes of Scuffletown are. I think they are a mixture of Spanish, Portuguese, and Indian; about half of them have straight black hair, and many of the characteristics of the Cherokee Indians in our State; then, as they amalgamate and mix, the hair becomes curly and kinky, and from that down to real woollen hair; I think they are mixed Portuguese, Spaniard and Indians; I mean to class the Spaniards and Portuguese as one class, and the Indians as another class; I do not think that in class of population there is much negro blood at all; of that half of the colored population that I have attempted to describe all have been always free; I was born among them, and I reckon that I know them perfectly well."