Captola Cook, Pamunkey

Pamunkey Tribe History

Of the remnant tribes in Virginia, the Pamunkey have long formed the social backbone. They have retained their internal government, their social tradition and geographical position as the people of Powhatan. Their village is one mile from the station of Lester Manor, about twenty miles east of Richmond. It comprises an area of some three hundred acres almost surrounded by a curve of the Pamunkey River. Much of it is a virgin swamp which constitutes the tribal hunting ground. As their village was the capital in Indian days, the Pamunkey under Powhatan figured most prominently in the events connected with the founding of Jamestown and the explorations by Captain John Smith. Even after the disastrous but inevitable wars of 1622 and 1644 in which the Powhatan tribes were cut to pieces by English gunpowder and steel, the Pamunkey still preserved their integrity as a tribe and exacted a deed for their reservation from the Virginia assembly in 1677.

Map of the Pamunkey Reservation Showing the Tribal Hunting Grounds
Map of the Pamunkey Reservation Showing the Tribal Hunting Grounds in 1920-21. (after a drawing by Paul L. Miles, Proprietor of Territories 2 and 3)

This treaty is recorded in the Acts of the General Assembly of Virginia. The present chief and council retain a copy of it, which is quoted in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography (vol. v, pp. 189-195). It explicitly mentions the rights of the Indians, permitting “oystering, fishing, gathering tuckahoe, curtenemmons, 1 wild oats, rushes, and puckwone.'” The treaty also alludes to the return of white children and slaves among the Indians and forbids any further enslavement of Indians. There are known to have been subsequent records of dealings with the Indians preserved in the archives of King William Court House; but these were destroyed at the time when, during the Civil War, the court house was burned by the Northern troops and the records in the clerk’s office lost.

Thus having secured a home right to reside in their old domains, the tribe settled down under its own rulership, where it may still be found. The reservation population has for a considerable time approximated 150 souls. The Indians on the Mattaponi River, only about ten miles from the Pamunkey, appear to have been closely affiliated with the Pamunkey, and the recent history of the two bands has been practically identical. There are about 75 in the Mattaponi village near Wakema; they are completely merged in blood with the Pamunkey, through inter-marriage, and no differences in community life can be observed between them. The Mattaponi are also reservation Indians; their deed, in the possession of the chief, dates also to 1658. The two preceding bands are the only “reservated Indians,” as they quaintly style themselves, in the state. Types of the group appear in figs. 1-14 in the gallery below.

The interesting band of Pamunkey Indian descendants has been persistently ignored by serious investigators for reasons which are obvious but not good. Dwelling on their own land continuously since their complete defeat about 1676, the remnants have kept up their tribal organization and to a degree their economic life without interruption or interference, although they have lost entirely their language, their social and ceremonial culture. The little group has numbered about 150 souls for many years with-out much change, as mentioned. Had they, how-ever, been able to keep together without the young men having to emigrate to the cities to find employment, the number would now be much larger. Many have married outside of the tribe and moved away, for Pamunkey law allows a man of the tribe to bring his alien wife to the reservation, but a girl who marries an outsider has to depart and reside off the reservation. Moreover, any Pamunkey individuals who leave the town for two years with-out returning, be it only for a short time, forfeit their privileges as tribal members. Hence the Pamunkey, like the other surviving units of Virginia, are not dying out, but being absorbed in the general population. Such a process is for sentimental reasons unfortunate, but it is Inevitable.

The loss of the native language among all the Virginia remnants has been complete. Save for half a dozen words or so, mostly names of local flora and fauna, nothing remains. This situation is comparable to cases elsewhere in the East, such as that of the Huron of Lorette, Province of Quebec, whose tongue has succumbed to French; the Algonkian (Algonquian) remnants in southern New England, and the Catawba of South Carolina, all of whom now speak only English. One might be inclined to suspect that such a condition is associated in some way with Negroid miscegenation were it not for the instance of the Huron-Iroquois of Quebec, whose mixture has been almost exclusively with the French. The only linguistic material we now possess, and this is only in glossaries except for half a dozen short sentences, is to be found in Smith’s narrative and in Strachey’s History of Virginia. Since those times only some isolated words of questionable origin have been recorded from the Pamunkey by Dalrymple and from Nansamond by Mooney. At Chickahominy a short list of terms was given me several years ago. Most of them, however, proved to be Ojibwa.

Among the Pamunkey a few native practices of great interest have been preserved from the past. They distribute their time between farming, fishing, and hunting. They raise the original native crops, they haul seine and trawl lines, and pursue deer, raccoons, and wild turkeys and other wild fowl on their famous river, and maintain their hunting territories for the taking of fur and meat in the primeval swamp forming part of their reservation. Native snares and dead fall traps still compete with modern methods of taking game. Only within the last twenty years have the hunters abandoned the use of the log dugout pirogue, though one may still be seen.

Of native arts the Pamunkey have preserved the manufacture of their distinctive clay pots and pipes, and have even preserved that egregious technique, turkey-feather knitting, as well as declining phases of basketry and bead working. And tribal government continues. Some dances and costume performances of a social and carnival character are part of their tradition.

Pamunkey Photo Gallery


Topics:
Pamunkey,

Collection:
Speck, Frank Gouldsmith. Chapters on the ethnology of the Powhatan tribes of Virginia. Indian Notes and Monographs, vol. 1, num. 5, pp. 225-455. Editor: Hodge, F. W. Heye Foundation, Museum of the American Indian. 1928.

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Citations:
  1. The term curtenemmons refers to the dock-plant growing on the river. In Chickahominy the word is cutlemon an interesting dialectic variation, if the word is not per-chance a derivation from English “cut-lemon,” which the pod actually resembles.[]

9 thoughts on “Pamunkey Tribe History”

  1. I am the great great great grandson of Chief George Cook, My title is Elijah & my grandmother on my mother side was telling me about the heritage of my tribe. Its mind blowing because before I was told, I went on my “AWAKEN” journey. My third eye was woke & starter to self study Law, history, moorish sciences, religion, spirituality, etc. but one thang i was persistent about was Law & history. It was like i was drawn to it more because of my environment, i wanted my people & i indigenous & human rights to be publicly respected & honored. Along with other rights & constitutional protected activities honored. So me reading up on my ancestry is shocking because we are literally our ancestors without even knowing until we know. I am Chief George Cook in the flesh & i will continue what he started. His title will live on. I promise.

  2. My Grandfather is (was) Charles Henry Brown. He was purged from the Pamunkey Tribe in the 1930’s for not being white enough. Quite possibly, my Grandmother as well.
    Until The Pamunkey Nation accepts the entire tribe, it will always be known for what it is now best known for. This purging of dark skinned members and being the first tribe to trust (and emulate)the white man. Realities they need to deal with if they ever expect to be a true tribe in the eyes of their ancient forefathers. Yes, they still see!

    1. I highly doubt that was the case because plenty of Pamunkey including the Chief then and after around the 30s to late 80s were not at so called white enough. Look at Chief George Major Cook and Chief Tecumseh Deerfoot Cook.

      1. Hi R. Thomas,
        My husband’s family are also Brown’s with a deep oral history tied to the Pamunkey and Mattaponi. They married into Hobson’s and census records have the family back and forth as Black or Mulatto. We know the law was passed that erased all Native heritage from the records but descendants know who they are and are longing for connection and a sense of belonging. It’s heartbreaking to see the colonizers’ tools being used against each other.

      2. Look, if the Pawmunkey tribe were one tenth as Native American, inclusive and fair concerning who actually
        are Pawmunkey, they would initiate the one conclusive determining factor that would answer all
        questions on the subject – A DNA TEST!
        Don’t hold your breath because, there are likely more than a few who, while keeping you out, would barely make the cut and are likely 98% European.
        By the way, it can honestly be said that, in their past, their purges based solely on color, could be more than construed as a primitive form of DNA testing.

  3. Hello,
    My Great grandmother was from King William County. Her name was Edmonia Braxton and was Pamunkey and Mattaponi. We are related to several families from King William. Any updates or considerations would be appreciated regarding learning more about tribal affiliations.
    Respectfully submitted,
    Frank Bland
    Great Grandson

    1. Hi Frank,
      Same with my husband’s family, who ended up mostly in Martinsville. In fact his grandfather was the Mayor for a while. I’m trying so hard to help him put the pieces of his family’s story together. He wants so badly to feel connected and a sense of belonging.

  4. Nannie Najwa Lee Magers EL-Bey

    I just found out that, pamunkey, is my blood line. Wow. I always wondered and asked where my name Nannie came from. I know now.
    Peace and love Akaki wa ne ho
    GoodShoes

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