The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-14
PECULIAR CONDITION OF AFFAIRS
AMONG DESCENDANTS OF
POCAHONTAS.
NATION SLOWLY DYING OUT
BECAUSE OF EXCLUSIVENESS
WHICH FORBIDS OUTSIDE AL
LANCE.
OvERTUREs TO THE CHURCHES.
Wives and Husbands for the Young
Men and Maidens Are
Sought.

An entire nation in search of eligible
wives and husbands by the wholesale
is a spectacle Of rare occurrence in
these modern times, but that spectacle
is just now presented by the interest
ing tribe Of Pamunkey Indians, who
live only tWenty-one miles east of Rich
mond, over in King William county,
says the Baltimore American. 1t is
true that the tribe is not a very popu-
lous one, but what 1t lacks in numbers
it makes up in quality. For the Pa
munkeys are indeed literally the first
families of the Old Dominion'-real "F
F. V.'s"-being actual Iineal descend
ants of the true and original aborig-
ines Of the American continent. They
are the undoubted offspring of the old
Powhatans of the days of Capt John
Smith and Of Pocahontas, still dwelling
upon part of their old hunting
grounds, and representing all that is
left of the once powerful native con-
federacy that gave the early Virginia
cOlOnistS so much trouble until expelled
from the jamestown region in the year
1914. Their progenitors possessed the
land when Capt. Newport, in 1907,
founded Jamestown, the first perma-
nent English settlement in North Amer
lea.
Consequently the present Pamunkeys
are the veritable blue bloods' among
all the Indians surviving today, and
they form the largest remnant of the
old Algonquin stock now to be found
on the Atlantic coast. Only a few
trif1ing offshOOts and some few uncer-
tain and feeble strains Of blood remain
of the other Powhatan tribes. The Pa
munkeys alone have withstood intact
the entertainments of civilization for
nearly 800 years. And their preserva-
ton is all the more noteworthy from
the fact that they live by themselves
in their peculiar way in such close vi
entity to the busy marts and "effete
civilization" Of the East. Although
their manners are now modified, their
language lost and their prestige van
ished, they still illustrate in themselves
the law Of the survival Of the fittest.
The bare fact of their existence is I'M
known even in many parts Of Virginia,
and almost wholly unknown elsewhere.
SEEK MATRIMONIAL ALLIANCES.
Unfortunately, the very antiquity of
the Pamunkeys, the eXcluSiVeneSS of
their race, and the extreme blueness
of their blood, unmiXed through centu-
RES with any other infusion, gravely
imperil their future, so that the tribe
is now in danger of dying out, and is
urgently in need Of a matrimonial all
nance with some outside stock to pre-
serve the root. The detrimental effects
Of the continued intermarriage among
themselves have been alarming, but
inasmuch as they scorn a vulgar union
with their white as we'll as their col
ored neighbOrS, they are in a sore
to -1oof -fN IL
take to restore their blood and save
| themselves from extinction.
Under this stress of necessity the
head man of the Pamunkeys have for
| three years back been considering plans
| for forming matrimonial alliance with
some more vigorous Indian tribe, nota-
| bly, with the Eastern band of Chero-
| KEGS in the adjacent states of North
| Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Ala
bama They opened negotiations with
| the latter a year ago to procure brides
for their unmarried sons and husbands
for their unmarried daughters. The
male Pamunkeys have been made 10
understand that the Eastern Cherok 60
| girls are exceptionally pretty, modest
| and sensible, and the female Pamun-
| keys believe the Eastern Cherokee
| braves to be handsome, loyal and in
dustrious, from general hearsay, and
| calculated to make safe husbands But
IOr SOME TGdSOH Tie negotiations nave
not progressed satisfactorily, and, UP
to date, there has been no substantial
outcome.
Correspondence on the subject has
been conducted with the chiefs of the
Eastern Cherokees, and repeated con-
ferences have been held with various
Indian philanthropists, and with the
United States commissioner of Indian
affairs at the government bureau in
Washington, While many strong in
ducements have been held out to any
eligible tribe to make the desired ar
raEgement and promptly send on 4
select sample consignment of likely
girls and youths. But so far no def
mite success has been attained. What
worthy tribe will now step forward