|
Keyauwee Indian Tribe History
Keyauwee. A small tribe formerly
living in North Carolina, affiliated with the
Tutelo, Saponi, and
Occaneechi.
Nothing retrains of their language, but they perhaps belonged to the
Siouan family, from the fact of their intimate association with well known
Siouan tribes of the east. In 1701 Lawson (Carolina, 1714, 87-89, repr.
1860) found them in a palisaded village about 30 miles north east of
Yadkin river, near the present Highpoint, Guilford county, N. C. Around
the village were large fields of corn. At that time they were about equal
in number to the Saponi and had, as chief, Keyauwee Jack, who was by birth
a Congaree, but had obtained the chieftaincy by marriage with their
"queen." Lawson says most of the men wore mustaches or whiskers, an
unusual custom for Indians. At the time of this traveler's visit the
Keyauwee were on the point of joining the Tutelo and Saponi for better
protection against their enemies. Shortly afterward they, together with
the Tutelo, Saponi, Occaneechi, and Shakori, moved down toward the
settlements about Albemarle Island, the five tribes with one or two others
not named numbering then only about 750 souls. In 1716 Gov. Spotswood of
Virginia proposed to settle the Keyauwee with the
Eno and Sara at Enotown on the frontier
of North Carolina, but was prevented by the opposition of that colony.
They moved southward with the Sara, and perhaps also the Eno, to Pedee
river, S. C., some time in 1733. On Jefferys' snap of 1761 their village
is marked on the Pedee above that of the Sara, about the boundary between
the two Carolinas. With this notice they disappear from history, having
probably been absorbed by the Catawba.
Index of Tribes or Nations
Free
Genealogy |
Indian
Genealogy
|
Index of Tribes or Nations
|
|
