by E. B. Brown
Upon John White’s return to the colony in 1590, he found the word Croatoan carve into a tree. He noted that there were no signs of disruption, and it appeared that the houses and structures had been dismantled and removed in an orderly manner. Prior to his leaving on his supply mission, there was a plan in place for the settlers to leave if necessary; if they were in danger, they were to leave a cross carved into a tree. Some historians suggest that the colonists left the word Croatoan as a direct message to indicate that they fled to Croatoan Island, and that there was no mystery involved in the matter, as it had been discussed and agreed upon before White’s departure.
Other historians support the idea that the colonists turned to the friendly Chowanoc tribe for help and that they were subsequently captured or killed during a war with the Wainoke tribe and then distributed among various Wainoke tribes as slaves. In 1612, William Strachey recounts that in his visits to two Indian settlements there were English-style two-story houses built and there were reports of English captives at various Indian villages. It is entirely possible that some of the colonists were killed, and that some of them ended up assimilated into multiple Indian villages through either voluntary or involuntary means.
What does this mean for Eleanor Dare? Well, we know that she was born about 1568, making her about 18 or 19 at the time she gave birth to her daughter, Virginia Dare in 1587. At the time of Strachey’s observations in 1612, that would make Eleanor about 44 years of age and her daughter, Virginia, about 25 years old. If Eleanor and her daughter survived some sort of attack, it was more likely that they would be kept as slaves rather than executed.
If we entertain this line of thinking, it is probable that at some point of time one or both of them might bear children, leading to the occurrence of the European characteristics that was noted in several local tribes. For the purpose of the Time Walkers stories, the idea that Eleanor and Virginia Dare acclimated into the Chesapeake tribe worked best. If, as Powhatan claimed, he had exterminated the Chesapeake and the Roanoke settlers living with them before 1607, then Virginia Dare would have lived to be at least nineteen or twenty years old, and very likely to have produced children by that time. It is also very likely that her mother, Eleanor Dare, may have not survived captivity or hard labor, and could have died when Virginia was young, leaving the young English child with the remnants of her mother’s name gleaned through miscommunication of language as “Elli-dear”. Although I do think it was very possible that both Eleanor and Virginia were assimilated into the Chesapeake or Croatoan tribes, my recount of the details is entirely fictional. Return to text
Note 39: Norse baths, hot spring houses
According to most accounts, the Norse were people who took great pains to be cleanly. Despite current portrayals of the Viking culture, Norse people were known to bathe at least once per week and to maintain their hair combed and styled in a pleasing manner. Bath houses were a common fixture on every farm, either used with manually heated water or constructed over a natural hot spring. Return to text
Note 40: The Seer
The Seer, or Volva, is mentioned frequently in the Icelandic Sagas. Women with great spiritual powers played an important role in Norse society and were women of elevated social standing held in high regard. Some Seer were wanderers, traveling from village to village seeking compensation for their services. Others remained the ward of a ruler and stayed in one place, beholden to remain in favor with the ruler or risk banishment. Return to text
Note 41: The many names of the First people
Virginian Algonquian Indians had many names throughout their lifetimes. Names were given at birth, during special occasions, when one reached adulthood, when one was married, or to signify other important events. Many had a secret name that they would not speak in the presence of outsiders for fear that a person could use their name to wreak a harmful spell. It was not uncommon for an Indian to have more than a half-dozen names through his or her lifetime.
In the late seventeenth century, Indians began to use English first names and started to adopt English surnames as well. By the early eighteenth century, the use of multiple Indian names in the population was either lost or confined to personal usage, as all legal contracts between the Indians and English were signed by native men using English first and last names. Return to text
Note 42: Norse drinking horns
Drinking horn are noted in many cultures throughout history, however probably one of the most well-known uses is by the Vikings. Many a movie portrays an indomitable Viking King perched on his throne, sipping from an intricately jeweled drinking horn that denoted his status as a leader of men.
Of particular interest is one Viking age drinking horn that ended up in the possession of the Chiefs of Clan MacLeod. It is made of an ox’s horn with an elaborate silver tip, and it has been dated to the tenth century by some scholars. Known as Sir Rory Mor’s Horn, is has been used ceremonially by all the Chiefs of Clan MacLeod for hundreds of years. Return to text
Note 43: Weanock
The Weanock tribe was not part of the Powhatan Confederacy, however they were documented by William Strachey as living southwest of Tsenacomocomo on the arrival of Jamestown colonists. Strachey also reports in 1612 that in the Weanock villages, there were houses constructed in English style that were build with timber and had two floors. The Weanock are thought to have merged with the Catawba by the end of the seventeenth century. Return to text
Note 44: The downfall of Vinland and Greenland
The Norse settlements in Greenland were active for almost 500 years. Archeologists and historians have long suggested that the abrupt disappearance of the colonies was related to changing climate and massive bouts of contagious disease, however, new evidence points to a different explanation.
When Greenland was first settled by Erik the Red, the climate was favorable towards farming. As the advent of climate change occurred and temperatures plummeted, the Norse switched gears and adapted by becoming hunters and fishermen. Seal was plentiful, providing a source of protein that would be the mainstay of the Greenlander’s diets, supplemented by fishing and a limited amount of farming accomplished during warmer months.
Eventually, the cold weather had an impact on trade travel to and from Greenland, and Greenland became more isolated from the rest of the world. Whether the people of Greenland simply became tired of living in freezing isolation and eating a diet primarily of seal meat is not known, but it does appear that there was a coordinated effort to abandon the settlements. Return to text
Note 45: Henry Spelman, indentured servant and translator
In 1609, fourteen-year-old Henry Spelman arrived in Jamestown as an indentured servant. Upon exploring the area with John Smith, Smith decided to trade Spelman to the Powhatan’s son, Parahunt, in exchange for ownership of a town. Young Spelman did not seem pleased with the terms of the agreement, as he noted in his own account titled, Relation of Virginia, 1609:
“I was caried By Capt Smith our Presidant to the Fales, to the litell Powhatan wher unknowne to me he sould me to him for a towne caled Powhatan and leavinge me with him the litle Powhatann”
Smith had apparently bartered Spelman to the Powhatan in vain, however, because when Smith explained his plan to Captain West, West refused to allow the Jamestown settlers to stay in the Indian village.
Spelman’s fate was not a complete loss. While living with Parahunt, Spelman grew to know the Powhatan cultures and became an interpreter of language between the Powhatan and colonists. Although he admits that he was not well-schooled in writing, he did document many of his observations in Relation of Virginia.
Tensions between the Indians and colonists were tenuous, and Spelman returned to live with the English at one point near the starving time. To save himself from starving, Henry took whatever he could manage to gather as offerings such as tools, weapons, and copper, and returned to Powhatan, who was pleased with the gifts and welcomed Spelman into his service. Eventually, Spelman abandoned Powhatan
(without Powhatan’s consent) and went to live with the Patawomecks, where he was discovered by Captain Samuel Argyll and bought back in trade for some amount of copper.
Samuel married a Patawomeck woman and lived out his life providing liaison services between the Indians and settlers. He was on a trading expedition to Patawomeck lands in 1623 when he was killed in an attack by Anacostan Indians. Return to text
Note 46: Longship burials in Norse culture
The Vikings believed that the dead must be handled very specifically in order to meet their fate in the afterlife in a speedy manner. If not laid to rest properly, the soul of the dead might not ever find peace or the honor it deserved. There were different methods of long ship burial, including burial & cremation by setting fire, simple burial and sent out to sea, or even burial within the symbolic shape of a ship made by an outline of rocks.
Wethly or important Vikings were buried with belongings that they would need in the afterlife. Horses, weapons, jewels, food, and even living thralls were buried with some Vikings. Return to text
Note 47: Norse infant naming & blessing ritual
The naming ceremony for a Norse child was considered an important event. It was celebrated in grand style, during which the child was placed at the feet of the father. Fathers were required to inspect the fitness and health of the child, and when the father was satisfied that the child was adequate, he would pick the newborn up into his arms to signify acceptance. Once the child was accepted as the father’s blood kin and heir, the child was washed, bathed, and named. Gifts were bestowed upon the newborn and the child was then considered under the protection of the father. Return to text
Note 48: Power of the crown-sanctioned tobacco inspector
Tobacco quickly became the cash crop and main source of income for many Virginians. Settlers planted tobacco in every conceivable place (and some that were not!) in order to share in the bounty of trade profits with England. Tobacco was the foundation of the colony’s economy, used in lieu of coin to secure goods and services. Tobacco currency was even used to purchase indentured servants or wives, payable in pounds of tobacco leaves.
As the demand for tobacco rose, the need for organization and regulation within the colony also increased. Tobacco inspectors were appointed in some towns, with the inspectors responsible for ensuring the quality of the local tobacco and for destroying low-grade specimens. The position was a powerful one; the inspector literally could ruin a man’s livelihood by grading his entire crop of tobacco as sub-par. Tobacco inspectors often owned the docks and warehouses where tobacco was stored prior to transport, so one can only imagine the power those few individuals held. Return to text
Note 49: Divorce by turning out belongings
Divorce in early Powhatan society was common. One might divorce their spouse for any reason: simple disagreement, wanting another spouse, or for abuse or neglect. Some divorces were initiated after a trial period of one year, during which at the conclusion of, either member of the couple could agree to continue the marriage or to divorce. If neither party acted in any manner to renew the contract of marriage at the one-year point, the marriage was considered final and binding.
Another method of divorce that a woman could utilize was the act of placing the husband’s belongings outside their dwelling on a deer hide. Since the yehakin was usually the property of the woman, this was considered “turning the husband out” and she was divorced as far as members of the tribe were concerned. If the wife initiated the divorce, the husband had little say in the matter.
Divorce as a result of capture was one other way a couple ended a marriage. Pocahontas was reportedly married to a warrior named Kocoum, yet about a year after her capture it appears that she was released from her marriage vows in order to marry John Rolfe. Opechcanough’s favorite wife was captured by another Weroance, resulting in a divorce of which Opechancanough could neither stop nor retrieve his wife. Divorce was a private matter between individuals that even Chiefs could not intervene in. Return to text
Note 50: English expansion and burning fields for tobacco
Tobacco was a high maintenance crop that required large parcels of land and many hands to cultivate it. The plant quickly leeched nutrients from the soil, so a need for massive amounts of land to grow it on became a problem. To make one acre of tobacco, about forty yards of fertile soil was needed. The English created new fields for planting by clearing any land they could get their hands on and then burning it, which made it amenable to hoeing and planting. One can image the conflicts this created with the Indians, who did not consider land as “owned”, but only used by the occupant for a short amount of time and then returned to the community. Tobacco planting depleted the lands, encroached on the villages of the Indians, and essentially rendered the land useless for several years afterward. Return to text
Note 51: People of Jamestown, different cultures & nationalities
The early colonists at Jamestown were predominantly English, Irish, and Scottish Anglicans, and more than half were transported to Jamestown as indentured servants, laborers, or slaves, including the first African slaves in 1619. Both indentured servants and slaves could eventually buy their freedom, so after a period of time there were many cultures of freemen living together. Early on the Spanish sent ambassadors and observers to Jamestown, and it is also documented that a group of French Huguenot refugees settled nearby. As plantations spread out along the James River and the Europeans expanded westward, the Indians were forced from their lands and a diverse group of people soon resided in close quarters. Return to text
Note 52: The reality of childbirth
Childbirth in the seventeenth century was an arduous task no matter what culture the woman hailed from. Powhatan women were described by Strachey as having painless, solitary births, after which the woman returned to regular tasks immediately. Although that may have been Strachey’s observation, he likely was not privy to the female family members that accompanied the laboring woman, or any of the assistance that might have been needed during a difficult birth.
English women likely had more difficult births in general compared to Indian women. Indian women were fit and accustomed to hard labor, while most English women who arrived in the colony were not. In addition, Indian people considered childbirth a natural part of life instead of a malady. During the early seventeenth century, the English considered pain during childbirth to be God’s will, intended as punishment for Eve’s sins fostered on all women.
There were many causes of death for women before, during or shortly after childbirth, the most common of which was hemorrhage. Women could die of hemorrhage related to the tearing of the placenta or uterus at anytime. During birth and for up to six weeks after birth, however, bleeding to death was still a risk, which was exacerbated by a uterus that does not properly contract after delivery. Mothers could easily die from a massive hemorrhage in as little as a few minutes if the bleeding was not controlled; others could slowly bleed out for days or weeks before they perished.
Another common cause of maternal death, especially in places like seventeenth century England where doctors were just starting to assist in births, was from infection. Puerperal fever was a bacterial infection spread from woman to woman by dirty tools and unwashed hands. The infection set in a few days after childbirth, characterized by a high fever which ultimately ended in a painful death.
Syphilis was reported to be a significant problem in the Powhatan population, according to Strachey. Untreated syphilis can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, and death of the newborn shortly after birth. Return to text
Note 53: Norse custom of accepting child vs turning out
Not all children born into Norse society were chosen to be raised. Some were considered excess children, and the Norse believed that there was an infinite number of resources available so infanticide was known to occur in their culture. It was the responsibility of the father to accept the child as blood and assume responsibility for the child’s upbringing and
support, or turn the child out to die. Children born with physical defects or those born weak were sometimes left out in the elements to bring an end to their lives, what was considered a blessing rather than allowing the child to live.
In the absence of the father, another male relative could assume responsibility of the child. Once the child was accepted by the father or male relative, the child would be washed, dressed, and named. A typical naming ceremony included laying the child at the feet of the father to be inspected. Once the father accepted the child and picked it up, the child was washed with water and the sign of the hammer was made over it. At that point the child was considered under the protection of the man and became the man’s legal heir. Return to text
Note 54: The Great Assault of 1622 and subsequent impact on English expansion
The events of 1622 and subsequent Second Anglo-Powhatan War certainly had an impact on English expansion, yet, it was likely not what Opechcancanough envisioned. The Great Assault of 1622 left nearly a third of the English population dead, which was a considerable blow at that point. The English did not become subservient to Opechcancanough, instead engaging in an effort to burn and destroy all of the food sources in order to starve the Indians out. Over the next ten years the English population at Jamestown surged with new settlers who claimed ownership of more land, increasing enough to outnumber the Powhatan. With greater numbers and resources, the English were able to push more tribes westward, and many choose to leave the area entirely rather than starve or be under English rule. By the time of the Third Anglo-Powhatan War in 1644 when 500 English were killed, the number of English losses made very little impact on the military strength of the colony. The number of Powhatans had been so severely decimated that they could no longer stop expansion, leading the Powhatans to agree to a treaty at that time. Return to text