Wikipedia

[Rojo]

It's become hip to criticize wikipedia but I love it. I can "waste" hours clicking links, reading articles and learning new stuff. It's what the net is supposed to be

Anyhow....I was wondering if a thread devoted to fascinating facts, stories, histories from wikipedia would be worthwhile.

For instance,

The origins and status of the Lumbee Indians of North Carolina has been contentious for years. The Lumbees have a reason to claim "indian" status as it makes them eligible for a host of goodies, from federal aid to self-government to freedom from excise taxes.

The problem is that there's no Lumbee language and their history is a bit murky. The Federal Government recognized them as a tribe in the 50's but without all the perks -- the only tribe to sit in a such limbo.

The state of North Carolina recognized the Lumbees as mulatto and it was thought that they were the descendents of freed slaves and locals Indians who'd settled in the swamps. The problem is that they looked more caucasian than black and here's where it gets fascinating.

From wikipedia:

In 1719, a group of hunters and trappers strayed into the hilly landscape and stumbled upon a tribe of Indians. The Indians had light skin, gray/blue eyes and light brown hair. But most astonishing was the fact that they spoke nearly perfect Elizabethan English. These Indians said that their ancestors "talked from a book." Their customs were similar to the early English Roanoke Colony. This sighting brought about a theory that the starving colonists at Roanoke took refuge with the Croatan Indians during the first winter when Governor John White didn't return.

and this:

In 1914, the Secretary of the Interior was sent by the U.S. Senate to investigate the tribal rights of the Indians of Robeson County. The findings included statements like, "There is a tradition among these people at the present time that their ancestors were Sir Walter Raleigh's Lost Colony, amalgamated with some tribe of Indians. This tradition is supported by their looks, their complexion, color of skin, hair and eyes, by their manners, customs and habits, and by the fact that while they are, in part, of undoubted Indian origin, they have no Indian names and no Indian language." His further search revealed that there were 95 different surnames which came from the original 117 settlers of The Lost Colony. He was able to account for 41 of those direct surnames among the Lumbee, and still more that had been altered in some manner. The Secretary's investigation validated that the Lumbee were, indeed, descendants of The Lost Colony.

So there's a real compelling case that the Lost Colonly of Roanoke that we all learn about in history class lives on in the Lumbee people. There might be a host of Virginia Dare descendents.

[oneupper]

So there's a real compelling case that the Lost Colonly of Roanoke that we all learn about in history class lives on in the Lumbee people. There might be a host of Virginia Dare descendents.

I heard there was a project to do DNA tests to prove/disprove this, but it hasn't been able to come up with funding.

[PedroBourbon]

I'll help get it rolling:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ba_Ba_Booey

[Kingspoint]

Red, that's very interesting. Thanks for sharing that.

The whole time I was reading your post, I'm trying to think who in England could have possibly been buried that was a relative of a member of one of the possible survivors who went into the woods to try to survive with the Indians. Identifying a relative of one of them who is buried in England and has an identifiable grave is something I'd believe to be probable. Getting permission for a DNA sample is also something that's probable. But, the reality is that this would probably have to be done with 30-40 different Roanoke "possible" survivors' and a matching relative in England, to ensure that "one" surviving line is discovered to have begun with the endings and survived all of these generations, as 100-200 surviving Lumbees would also have to be tested. Research could cut that 100-200 number down to maybe 30-40 if they could get some good records of each Lumbees' family tree, so that they end up using just one Lumbee from each tree.

That would cost an awful lot of money as one-upper said....I'm certain upwards of $300K.

There's also no assurances that a member of the tree of an England Relative of a Roanoke member didn't follow to America and end up mixed into the Lumbee blood. When Dick Cheney and Barack Obama can be 8th Cousins, it goes to show you how closely everyone's related.

[Kingspoint]

I could go read about it, or I could just talk about it, like I'm going to. Didn't Walter Raleigh leave his younger half-brother at Roanoke (and in charge), and he was one of the "missing"? Walter himself made a return, if I remember and then eventually found himself back in bad standing with Queen Elizabeth, eventually losing his head. As long as he was out to sea accomplishing things for her, he was surviving, but the Roanoke colonization failure cost a lot of money, and hurt his standing with the queen. It wasn't what killed him as he had his political enemies that had more to do with his death. Tough life. Die at sea, at Roanoke, or in the Tower of London. Back then, everyone knew they'd probably die some violent death, as it was rare those who didn't die a violent death. Fortitude, self-respect, and personal beliefs meant more than anything. So many were willing to be violently tortured than give up their self-respect or their beliefs. Nobody today can comprehend the depths of those feelings today that was prevalent back then. It's like trying to read and understand the feelings of the Mayans through the Mayan hieroglyphics. It was a completely different world in what it meant to be human. It's hard enough just to understand two lifetimes ago back to 1860. People thought differently in so many ways back then.