The Lumbee Surname Project

     In modern day, about one hundred miles inland, from Roanoke Island, and adjacent to the South Carolina border, is an area called Robeson County, North Carolina. 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. To this day the descendants still live in Roberson County, North Carolina. They are known as the Lumbee Indians. Many people subscribe to the theory that surviving remnants of the Roanoke settlement may have been assimilated into the indigenous tribes. The existence of fair skinned Indians in Roberson, North Carolina substantiates the theory that the Roanoke colonists and perhaps the abandoned Turks and Portuguese and Moors blended in with the Croatan and other Tidewater, Virginia Indian tribes, including the Powhatan and Lumbee Indians. Dr. Robert Gilmor, a Melungeon researcher, suggests the people of the legendary "Lost Colony of Roanoke" intermarried with the Powhatan Indians who had already intermarried with Jamestown Colony. Adding the surnames White and Dare to the Indian population. The remnants of this mixed raced population were ultimately pushed together in the mountains of south-central Virginia, western North Carolina and upper South Carolina where they became known as the Tri-racial isolates.

The Spanish Pioneers in United States History: The Melungeons: The Pioneers of the Interior Southeastern U. S. 1526-1997 by Eloy Gallegos

Page 160, gives the following Lumbee surnames in his book :

Allen, Bennett, Chapman, Chavis, Cloud, Cole, Coleman, Collier, Cooper, Dial, Gallagher, Graham, Howe, Hunt, Hyatt, Locklear, Lockiler, Lucas, Martin, Osborne, Osburn, Oxendine, Presley, Reeves, Revels, Roberson, Shepard, Stevens, Stewart, Tally, Taylor, Ware, Wheeler, Williamson, Willis, Wood, Wright.

    

Melungeons yesterday and today by Jean Patterson Bible

page 89:

 

"As to the origins of the Lumbee, they are thought by a number of historians, including Samuel Morison, Angus McLean, Dr. Stephen B. Weeks and Professor Breaton Berry, to be descended from the Croatoans ( the early spelling was "Croatan"), the Indian tribe on Hatteras Island that was befriended Captain John White's settlers when they arrived on Roanoke Island in 1587. When White returned after an enforced absence in England, no trace remained of the entire colony except the word "Croataon" carved on a nearby tree.

     Adam S. Eterovich is a well known researcher, scholar, author and genealogist who was born in San Francisco, California. The Eterovich's family  have been living in San Francisco since 1860. He is a member of the California Historical Society, the Croatian Mutual Benevolent Society of San Francisco "Organized in 1857" and a life long member Croatian Fraternal Union.

He writes in his book CROATIA and CROATIANS and the LOST COLONY 1585-1590 states that,  

"Melingi-Melingoi,"

The Melungeon, Lumbee, and Croatan groups in America claim to be a mixture of Indian and European mariners, liberated slaves, Lost Colonists, and remnants of Spanish and Portuguese settlements. There is considerable speculation as to the origin of the name Melungeon. The Melingi-Melingoi were Slavic groups in the Balkans that would have willingly served in Turkish fleets.

 

Mr. Eterovich points out intriguing clues of the Croatan origins. Hidden in the landscape are the names and places associated with Croatia, names such as Croatamonge, Croatamung Island, Croatan Indians, Croatan Indian Park, Croatan National Forest, Croatan Sound, Croatan Township, Croatan Wildlife Area, Croatoan and Croatoan Island.

     The people known as the Croatans and the Indians intermarried. They lived in North Carolina on the Lumbee River. Now their descendants are known as the Lumbee Indians. The Lumbee Indian Surname Project was made in an attempt to aid the descendants of the Lumbee Indians find their lost Croatan/Lumbee ancestry. The Lumbee Indian Surname Project is based on the 1850 US North Carolina Census, I have thirty three surnames in the database. Note that the Melungeons share some of the Lumbee Indian surnames. The Lumbee Indians and the Melungeons have a similar mixed ancestry and perhaps the two cultures may have intermarried. No doubt that someday genetics and archeologist will shed more light on America's pre-colonial era.

     My Lumbee Indian related surnames are, Brooks, Cooper, Sampson and Smith. The Sampson and White ancestors moved from Tazewell, Virginia to Pike County, Kentucky after the American Revolutionary War. They sold their property in Tazewell and used the proceeds of the land transaction and the monies from his services in the war to purchase the land in Kentucky.

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