Mattaponi
Encyclopedia
The Mattaponi tribe is one of only two Virginia Indian tribes in the Commonwealth of Virginia that owns reservation land. The larger Mattaponi Indian Tribe lives in King William County on reservation lands that stretch along the borders of the Mattaponi River
Mattaponi River
The Mattaponi River is a tributary of the York River estuary in eastern Virginia in the United States.It rises as four streams in Spotsylvania County, each of which is given a shorter piece of the Mattaponi's name:...

, near West Point, Virginia
West Point, Virginia
West Point is an incorporated town in King William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,867 at the 2000 census.-Geography:West Point is located at...

.

The Mattaponi were one of six tribes inherited by Chief Powhatan
Chief Powhatan
Chief Powhatan , whose proper name was Wahunsenacawh , was the paramount chief of Tsenacommacah, an alliance of Algonquian-speaking Virginia Indians in the Tidewater region of Virginia at the time English settlers landed at Jamestown in 1607...

 in the late 16th century. The tribe spoke an Algonquian
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...

 language, like other members of the Powhatan Chiefdom. The paramount chiefdom
Chiefdom
A chiefdom is a political economy that organizes regional populations through a hierarchy of the chief.In anthropological theory, one model of human social development rooted in ideas of cultural evolution describes a chiefdom as a form of social organization more complex than a tribe or a band...

 of the Powhatan numbered more than 30 tribes by the time the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 arrived and settled Jamestown
Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...

 in 1607.

A band had long been settled outside the reservation at an unincorporated hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

 called Adamstown on the upper reaches of the Mattaponi River. It has been identified as Indian land in records dating to the 17th century. In 1921, the Upper Mattaponi Tribe of Adamstown organized as an official group. They are recognized as a tribe by the state of Virginia and own 32 acres (129,499.5 m²) of land in Hanover County.

History

According to archaeologists, indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....

 of successive cultures have been living in the area now called Virginia for as long as 15,000 years. The historic tribes are believed to have formed in the 14th and 15th centuries. The numerous tribes belonged to three language groups: Algonquian
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...

, Siouan and Iroquoian, which reflected their cultural heritage and identification as well.

16th century

In 1607, the Mattaponi Indians were identified by name by the English explorers John Smith
John Smith of Jamestown
Captain John Smith Admiral of New England was an English soldier, explorer, and author. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund Bathory, Prince of Transylvania and friend Mózes Székely...

, who noted that they were living along the Mattaponi River. William Strachey
William Strachey
William Strachey was an English writer whose works are among the primary sources for the early history of the English colonisation of North America...

 estimated their warriors at 140, meaning the tribe likely numbered about 450.

During the second Anglo-Powhatan War of 1644-1646, the Mattaponi fled their homeland along the Mattaponi River and took refuge in the highlands along Piscataway Creek
Piscataway Creek
Piscataway Creek is an tributary of the Potomac River in Prince George's County, Maryland. The creek is a tidal arm of the Potomac for its final , entering the Potomac at Fort Washington Park. Tinkers Creek is a tributary to Piscataway Creek, converging from the north upstream of the mouth of the...

. With the cessation of hostilities, the tribe gradually returned to its homeland. In 1646, at the conclusion of the Anglo-Powhatan War, the Powhatan tribes signed their first treaty with the English. By treaty, the English defined the tribes as tributaries; they allocated reservations lands for several of the tribes, in exchange for requiring an annual tribute payment of fish and game.

In 1656-1657, the King and chiefs
Tribal chief
A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...

 of the Mattaponi Tribe signed peace treaties with the Court of Rappahannock County and the justices of Old Rappahannock County. Tribal members were to be treated equally as Englishmen in court and civil rights.

Bacon's Rebellion

During Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion was an uprising in 1676 in the Virginia Colony in North America, led by a 29-year-old planter, Nathaniel Bacon.About a thousand Virginians rose because they resented Virginia Governor William Berkeley's friendly policies towards the Native Americans...

, the Mattaponi were one of several innocent tribes attacked by colonial militia directed by Nathaniel Bacon. Historians believe Bacon had a personal rivalry with Governor Sir William Berkeley, though there were other causes of the rebellion. Some of these other causes were: declining tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

 prices (economic problems), growing commercial competition (from Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

 and North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

), an increasingly restricted English market, and rising prices from English manufactured goods (mercantilism). Continued tensions and raids by other local Virginia tribes gave Bacon and his followers a scapegoat in which to take out their frustrations.

Once the conflict ended, the Treaty of Middle Plantation was signed on May 29, 1677. Cockacoeske
Cockacoeske
Cockacoeskie was a 17th century leader of the Pamunkey Tribe of Native Americans in what is now Virginia in the United States....

 (weroansqua of the Pamunkey
Pamunkey
The Pamunkey nation are one of eleven Virginia Indian tribes recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The historical tribe was part of the Powhatan paramountcy, made up of Algonquian-speaking tribes. The Powhatan paramount chiefdom was made up over 30 tribes, estimated to total about...

) signed the treaty on behalf of several tribes, including the Mattaponi. Known as "Queen of the Pamunkey" by the English, she had succeeded her husband, Totopotomoi
Totopotomoi
Totopotomoi was a grandson of a sister of Chief Powhatan, the father of Pocahontas. He became the Chief of the Pamunkey Tribe in 1649 when he succeeded Nectowance as chief sometime after the death of Opechancanough...

, upon his death in 1656. He was killed while fighting on the side of the English. The treaty ushered in a time of peace between the Virginia tribes and the English. More tribal leaders signed the treaty of 1677 than that of nearly 30 years before. It reconfirmed the annual tribute payments and added the Siouan and Iroquoian tribes as Tributary Indians of the colonial government. The government established more reservation lands for the tribes, but required them in turn to acknowledge they and their peoples were subjects of the King of England (there is no record of what the tribes thought of that assertion).

The Mattaponi and Pamunkey tribes have continued to provide the annual tribute payment stipulated by the treaties of 1646 and 1677.

Late 1600s

In 1685, the Mattaponi, along with the Pamunkey and Chickahominy
Chickahominy (tribe)
The Chickahominy are a tribe of Virginia Indians who primarily live in Charles City County midway between Richmond and Williamsburg in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This area is not far from where they lived in 1600....

 tribes, attended a treaty conference at Albany, New York
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

. It was an attempt by colonial governments of New York and Virginia to end the wars between the Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...

 and southern tribes. The Iroquois had frequently been invading Virginia, including the portion along the Shenandoah
Shenandoah River
The Shenandoah River is a tributary of the Potomac River, long with two forks approximately long each, in the U.S. states of Virginia and West Virginia...

 and Ohio
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...

 rivers. Settlers got caught up in the warfare, which kept the tribes in a state of high alert. The warfare prevented peaceful colonial settlement in the backcountry.

17th and 18th centuries

The Mattaponi continued to occupy their reservation throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Colonists encroached on tribal land during that time period, as recorded by a Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...

 missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

 who worked with the Tribe in the 18th century. Then-Governor Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...

 in 1781 also noted that settlers encroached on Indian land. Throughout their history, the Mattaponi had their own tribal government independent from the Powhatan leadership. The tribe was part of that paramount chief
Paramount chief
A paramount chief is the highest-level traditional chief or political leader in a regional or local polity or country typically administered politically with a chief-based system. This definition is used occasionally in anthropological and archaeological theory to refer to the rulers of multiple...

dom.

19th century

The Mattaponi repeatedly defended the tribe and their land against efforts by local officials and individuals to dispose of their property and deny their existence as a tribe. In 1812, the local government tried to take an acre of land from the Mattaponi for a dam, but they defeated the attempt. In 1843, the so-called "Gregory Petition" alleged that the Pamunkey and Mattaponi were no longer Indians. This effort to remove the Mattaponi and Pamunkey from their lands was also defeated. At about the same time, the historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

 Henry Howe
Henry Howe
Henry Howe was an author who wrote histories of several states in the United States. His most celebrated work is the three volume Historical Collections of Ohio....

 reported two Indian groups living in King William County, the Pamunkey and the Mattaponi. In 1865, the Pamunkey Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...

 Church was formed, which many Mattaponi attended over the years.

Throughout the 19th century, the Mattaponi Tribe had its own tribal leadership. In 1868, the Mattaponi Tribe submitted a list of its chiefs, headmen and members to the Governor. The list identified the chief as Ellston Major, headmen as Austin Key and Robert Toopence, and tribal
members as Nancy Franklin, Claiborne Key, Austin Key, Jno [Jonathan] Anderson Key, Henry Major, Ellston Major, Ellwood Major, Lee Franklin Major, Coley Major, Mary Major, Parkey Major, John Major, Park Farley Toopence, Elizabeth Toopence, Robert Toopence, Emeline Toopence, Laura Toopence, Mary Catherine Toopence, James C. Toopence, and Lucy J. Toopence. The list was signed by Hardin Littlepage and William J. Trimmer, trustees for the tribe. Present-day tribal members trace their descendancy from individuals on that list.

As the last two tribes to function as part of the Powhatan Chiefdom, the Pamunkey and Mattaponi Tribes were treated by the Commonwealth of Virginia as a single administrative entity until 1894. That year the Mattaponi formally separated from the Pamunkey-led Powhatan Chiefdom. The Commonwealth's general assembly responded in 1894 by appointing five trustees to the Mattaponi Tribe.

The Mattaponi, like the Pamunkey Tribe, were declared exempt from certain local and county
taxes. For its part, the Mattaponi Tribe adopted bylaws for its governance and established a school on its reservation.

20th century to present

During the 20th century, the Mattaponi Tribe and its reservation have been repeatedly acknowledged by the Commonwealth's Governors and Attorneys General. The Mattaponi Tribe has also been repeatedly
identified in scholarly publications and newspaper articles.

The tribe has a traditional government, the Mattaponi Tribal Council, which controls the affairs of the reservation. It holds the land in common but assigns plots for members' use, settles internal disputes, maintains tribal property, and protects the interests of the Mattaponi Tribe in relationships with local, state, and Federal governments. It maintains its obligations under the Treaty of Middle Plantation of 1677 by giving annual tribute to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Camp Mataponi, located in Naples
Naples, Maine
Naples is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area. The population was 3,274 at the 2000 census, and it is home to part of Sebago Lake State Park. Naples is a resort area.-History:The area...

, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

 is a girls' camp. The name is derived from the Mattaponi Tribe. Many Mattaponi stories are told at the camp.

Upper Mattaponi Tribe

The Upper Mattaponi Tribe were a band settled on the upper reaches of the Mattaponi River. They did not belong to the reservation, and were organized around a lead family of Adams. Their founder was likely James Adams, who acted as an interpreter between the Mattaponi and English from 1702 to 1727. The settlement in the 19th century was recorded as Adamstown.

In 1921 the group organized as the Upper Mattaponi Tribe, and have been recognized by the state of Virginia. In 1942 they built the Indian River View Church, the heart of their Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...

 community. Next door is the Sharon Indian School
Sharon Indian School
Sharon Indian School is a historic school in King William, Virginia. Built for the Mattaponi in 1919, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007....

. The original one-room school was built in 1917. Before then Mattaponi children were educated with the Pamunkey
Pamunkey
The Pamunkey nation are one of eleven Virginia Indian tribes recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The historical tribe was part of the Powhatan paramountcy, made up of Algonquian-speaking tribes. The Powhatan paramount chiefdom was made up over 30 tribes, estimated to total about...

, with whom they were long linked by colonial and state governments. The school was replaced with an eight-room structure in 1952. It closed in the 1960s with the end of official state segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...

. The state returned the school to the tribe's jurisdiction and use in 1987. They now use it as a community center.

External links

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