(12) 
Between 
1687 
and 
1699, 
the 
Rappahannocks migrated out of Nanzatico, return-
ing to the south side of the Rappahannock River at 
Portobacco Indian Town. 
(13) In 1706, by order of Essex County, Lieu-
tenant 
Richard 
Covington 
‘‘escorted’’ 
the 
Portobaccos and Rappahannocks out of Portobacco 
Indian Town, out of Essex County, and into King 
and Queen County where they settled along the 
ridgeline between the Rappahannock and Mattaponi 
Rivers, the site of their ancient hunting village and 
Mattaponi Rivers, the site of their ancient hunting 
village and 1682 reservation. 
(14) During the 1760s 3 Rappahannock girls 
were raised on Thomas Nelson’s ‘‘Bleak Hill’’ Plan-
tation in King William County. One girl married a 
Saunders man, one married a Johnson man, and the 
third had 2 children, Edmund and Carter Nelson, 
fathered by Thomas Cary Nelson. In the 19th cen-
tury, these Saunders, Johnson, and Nelson families 
are among the core Rappahannock families from 
which the modern tribe traces its descent. 
(15) In 1819 and 1820, Edward Bird, John 
Bird and his unnamed wife, Carter Nelson, Edmund 
Nelson, and Carter Spurlock (all Rappahannock an-
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cestors) were listed on the tax roles of King and 
Queen County. They are taxed at the county poor 
rate. Edmund Bird is added to the list in 1821. This 
is significant documentation because the over-
whelming majority of pre-1864 records for King and 
Queen County were destroyed by fire. 
(16) Beginning in 1819, and continuing 
through the 1880s, there was a solid Rappahannock 
presence in the membership at Upper Essex Baptist 
Church. This is the first instance of conversion to 
Christianity by at least some Rappahannocks. Twen-
ty-six identifiable and traceable Rappahannock sur-
names appear on the pre-1863 membership list; 28 
were listed on the 1863 membership roster; that 
number had declined to 12 in 1878 and had risen 
only slightly to 14 by 1888. One reason for the de-
cline: in 1870, a Methodist circuit rider, Joseph 
Mastin, secured funds to purchase land and con-
struct 
St. 
Stephens 
Baptist 
church 
for 
the 
Rappahannocks living nearby in Caroline County. 
Mastin documented from 1850 to 1870. St. Ste-
phens was the dominant tribal church until the Rap-
pahannock Indian Baptist Church was established in 
1964. At both, the core Rappahannock family names 
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of Bird, Clarke, Fortune, Johnson, Nelson, Parker, 
and Richardson predominate. 
(17) During the early 1900s, James Mooney, 
noted anthropologist, maintained correspondence 
with the Rappahannocks, surveying them and in-
structing them on how to formalize their tribal gov-
ernment. 
(18) In November 1920, Speck visited the 
Rappahannocks and assisted them in organizing the 
fight for their sovereign rights. In 1921, the 
Rappahannocks were granted a charter from the 
Commonwealth of Virginia formalizing their tribal 
government. Speck began a professional relationship 
with the Tribe that would last more than 30 years 
and document Rappahannock history and traditions 
as never done before. 
(19) In April 1921, Rappahannock Chief 
George Nelson asked the Governor of Virginia, 
Westmoreland Davis, to forward a proclamation to 
the President of the United States. A list of tribal 
members and a handwritten copy of the proclama-
tion itself were appended. The letter concerned In-
dian freedom of speech and assembly nationwide. 
Chief Nelson testified also before Congress request-
ing acknowledgement of the Rappahannocks civil 
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and sovereign rights, quoting Isaiah 40:31; ‘‘They 
that wait upon the Lord shall renew their Strength; 
they shall mount up with wings as Eagles; They 
shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, 
and not faint’’. 
(20) In 1922, the Rappahannocks established a 
formal school at Lloyds, Essex County, Virginia. 
Prior to that time, Rappahannock children were 
taught by a tribal member in Central Point, Caroline 
County, Virginia. 
(21) In December 1923, Rappahannock Chief 
George Nelson testified before the United States 
Congress appealing for a $50,000 appropriation to 
establish an Indian school in Virginia. 
(22) In 1930, the Rappahannocks were engaged 
in an ongoing dispute with the Commonwealth of 
Virginia and the United States Census Bureau 
about their classification in the 1930 Federal cen-
sus. In January 1930, Rappahannock Chief Otho S. 
Nelson wrote to the Chief Statistician of the United 
States Census Bureau asking that the 218 enrolled 
Rappahannocks be listed as Indians. In February, 
Leon Truesdell replied to Nelson saying that ‘‘spe-
cial instructions’’ were being given about classifying 
Indians. That April, Nelson wrote to William M. 
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Steuart at the Census Bureau asking about the enu-
merators’ failure to classify his people as Indians. 
Nelson said that enumerators had not asked the 
question about race when they interviewed his peo-
ple. In a follow-up letter to Truesdell, Nelson re-
ported that the enumerators were ‘‘flatly denying’’ 
his people’s request to be listed as Indians. Further-
more, the race question was completely avoided dur-
ing interviews. The Rappahannocks had talked with 
Caroline and Essex County enumerators, and with 
John M.W. Green already, without success. Nelson 
asked Truesdell to list people as Indian if he sent a 
list of members. The matter was settled by William 
Steuart who concluded that the Bureaus rule was 
that people of Indian descent could only be classified 
as ‘‘Indian’’ if Indian ‘‘blood’’ predominated and 
‘‘Indian’’ identity was accepted in the local commu-
nity. The Virginia Vital Statistics Bureau classed all 
nonreservation Indians as ‘‘negro’’, and it failed to 
see why ‘‘an exception should be made’’ for the 
Rappahannocks. Therefore, in 1925, the Indian 
Rights Association took on the Rappahannock case 
to assist them in fighting for their recognition and 
rights as an Indian Tribe. 
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(23) During the World War II, the Pamunkeys, 
Mattaponis, Chickahominies, and Rappahannocks 
fought the draft boards about their racial identity. 
The Virginia Vital Statistics Bureau insisted that 
certain Indian draftees be inducted into Negro units. 
In the end, 3 Rappahannocks were convicted of vio-
lating the Federal draft laws. After spending time in 
a Federal prison, they were granted conscientious 
objector status and served out the remainder of the 
war working in military hospitals. 
(24) In 1943, Frank Speck noted that there 
were approximately 25 communities of Indians left 
in the Eastern United States that were entitled to 
Indian classification. The Rappahannocks were in-
cluded in this group. 
(25) In the 1940s, Leon Truesdell, Chief Stat-
istician, United States Bureau of the Census, listed 
118 members in the Rappahannock tribe in the In-
dian population of Virginia. 
(26) In April 25, 1940, the United Stated De-
partment of the Interior, Office of Indian Affairs, 
included the Rappahannocks in their list of Tribes 
by State and Agency. 
(27) In 1948, the Smithsonian Institution An-
nual Report included an article by William Harlen 
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Gilbert titled, ‘‘Surviving Indian Groups of the East-
ern United States’’. The Rappahannock Tribe was 
included and described in this article. 
(28) In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the 
Rappahannocks operated a school at Indian Neck. 
The State agreed to pay a tribal teacher to teach 10 
students bused by King and Queen County to Shar-
on Indian School in King William County, Virginia. 
In 1965, Rappahannock students entered Marriott 
High School (a white public school) by Executive 
order of the Governor of Virginia. In 1972, the 
Rappahannocks worked with the Coalition of East-
ern Native Americans to fight for Federal recogni-
tion. In 1979, the Coalition established a pottery 
and artisans company, operating with other Virginia 
tribes. In 1980, the Rappahannocks received funding 
through the Administration for Native Americans, to 
develop an economic program for the Tribe. 
(29) In 1983, the Rappahannocks received 
State recognition. This Bill acknowledges the perse-
verance of our people and their long struggle to 
maintain their community, tribal culture, and tradi-
tions, to take their rightful place in the history of 
the United States. 
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(30) Thomasina E. Jordan is commended for 
her tireless effort and work to gain federal recogni-
tion for Virginia Indians. Thomasina E. Jordan laid 
the foundation to make federal recognition a possi-
bility. The Virginia Indians stand on her shoulders. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
For the purposes of this Act— 
(1) the term ‘‘Tribe’’ means the organization 
possessing the legal name Rappahannock Tribe, Inc., 
only and no other tribe, subtribe, band, or splinter 
groups representing themselves as Rappahannocks; 
(2) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 
of the Interior; and 
(3) the term ‘‘member’’ means an enrolled 
member of the Tribe, as of the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, or an individual who has been 
placed on the membership rolls of the Tribe in ac-
cordance with this Act. 
SEC. 3. FEDERAL RECOGNITION. 
(a) FEDERAL RECOGNITION.—Federal recognition is 
hereby extended to the Tribe. All laws and regulations of 
the United States of general application to Indians or na-
tions, tribes, or bands of Indians, including the Act of 
June 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 461 et seq.) which are not in-
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consistent with any specific provision of this Act, shall be 
applicable to the Tribe and its members. 
(b) FEDERAL SERVICES AND BENEFITS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Tribe and its members 
shall be eligible, on and after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, for all services and benefits pro-
vided by the Federal Government to federally recog-
nized Indian tribes without regard to the existence 
of a reservation for the Tribe or the location of the 
residence of any member on or near any Indian res-
ervation. 
(2) SERVICE AREA.—For purposes of the deliv-
ery of Federal services to enrolled members of the 
Tribe, the Tribe’s service area shall be deemed to be 
the area comprised of King and Queen, Caroline, 
and Essex, Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Richmond 
Counties, Virginia. 
SEC. 4. MEMBERSHIP; GOVERNING DOCUMENTS. 
The membership roll and governing documents of the 
Tribe shall be the most recent membership roll and gov-
erning documents, respectively, submitted by the Tribe to 
the Secretary before the date of the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 5. GOVERNING BODY. 
The governing body of the Tribe shall be the gov-
erning body on the date of the enactment of this Act, or 
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any new governing body selected under the election proce-
dures specified in the governing documents of the Tribe. 
SEC. 6. RESERVATION OF THE TRIBE. 
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if the 
Tribe transfers other land within the boundaries of King 
and Queen County, Essex County, Richmond County, 
Caroline County, Spotsylvania County, or Stafford Coun-
ty, Virginia, to the Secretary, the Secretary shall take 
such land into trust for the benefit of the Tribe. 
SEC. 7. GAMING PROHIBITION. 
No land taken into trust for the benefit of the tribe 
shall be considered Indian lands for the purposes of the 
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (25 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.). 
SEC. 8. HUNTING, FISHING, TRAPPING, GATHERING, AND 
WATER RIGHTS. 
Nothing in this Act shall expand, reduce, or affect 
in any manner any hunting, fishing, trapping, gathering, 
or water rights of the Tribe and its members. 
Æ 
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