Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1900-07-21
HISTORIC ADDRESS.
Delivered by Mr.. T. T. Upsbur, June
18Th, 1900. Dav af Medication af
New Courthouse or Acc omnc
The Aborigines.

Let us now turn to the Aborignes
who owned this charming hunting
ground before il was appropriated
by the white people. Davy Crockett
said, he had never seen good To-
dian except dead one" but he had
never been on the Eastern Shore OF
Virginia. The Indians here were a
timid, harmless, kind-hearted people,
so far az traditions and our court
records show. They numbered about
9 600 iu 1908 and were ruled by Debe-
deavon, (The Laughing King and by
Okiawampe until 1867, when the
daughter OF the latter, became Queen.
OkiawaInpe died 10 1857, and his will
is on record at Eastville. 1t Is short.
but pathetic. He willed that MS
daughter should rule his people, and
that certain of his great men should
counsel and advise her, 80 that she
might rule his people well. He cau>
toned her, and enjoined 1t upon the
Indians, to preserve the good will OF
their white friends, as he had done.
What travesty upon friendship
was that, OF the conflscators, who
were fast driving his people from the
face Of the earth. He had even been
disturbed in his hunting by Richard
Hill, who had drawn IL gun on him,
and he, a King. had to complain to
the court abou +. The Indians were
superstiiious at ut their secret or re-
hgious name. Their idea was, his
tory tells us. that so long as they
could prevent their enemies from
learning their rel igious name, no evil
would befall them. 1t il well known
that Pocahontas was really Matoaka
and it is possible that Debedeavon
and Okiawampe were one and the
same Indian King, or Emperor. as
they styled themelves. after being
taught the meaning of the word.
Their public acts relating to the
whites, are so intermingled, aud not
very numerous, that 1t is difficult to
determine whether they were the
same parsonage, or whether Okla
wampe was the heir aud successor
OF Debedeavon or brother and CO.
ruler as was Kictopeake.
The Eastern Shore was really
kingdom, with king who held his
court at Great Nuswattocks, or Man
due. rs it is now called. There he
summoned his "Great Men" who
were his tribal chiefs, to his councils
and there received reports from them
of aught pertaining to the Indians,
aud also their tribute of 8 bushels OF
corn for maintenance. and 3 arrow
heads for protection per year, from
each tribe.
In 1867 sailor from the Bermudas
landed at Accomack i'll OF small pox.
He was isolated by the physicians or
chirurgeons and placed in log house
in the woods, but in time OF delir-
ium he escaped from the cabin, and
wandering to the Indiantown inoc-
ulated that tribe or village, and from
them it spread all over the Eastern
Shore Virginia causing them to die
by hundreds-and they always be-
lieved afterwards, that the sailor had
been sent among them by the whites
to kill them.
The Accomac Indians proved their
friendship for the whites during the
massacre of 1922 and 1644-in which
they took no part. History tells us
that Opecancanough sent messeD'
gers to the Accomac Indians, ordering
them to gather certain poisonous
herb which grew on the Eastern
Shore and nowhere else and send to
him, so that he could poison all the
wells of the white men-but they re-
fused, saying the white men were
their friends, and were going to help
them fight their enemies, the Wicoco
mococs. The Accomacs were
branch OF the Powhatans and spoke
their language, who were branch OF
the Mengeoes or Mingoes of Penn
sylvania.
Let us saunter around from village
to village and see some Of their loca-
tions. In Northampton, as now divi-
dsd from Acconack, were the Gin
garkins-a large tribe, one OF the
most numerous on the Shore-and
the last to disappear. The main vii
lage or town of this tribe was loca-
ted upon the "Pocahontas" farm, now
owned by Mrs McNutt, and it ex
tended from Indiantown landing on
that farm, past the present site OF
Eastville station some distance to-
wards Eastvlle. Even as late as 1862
or later, on Mollie Stephens when
she got tipsy as she frequently dld,
would shout Pm the Ingin Queen, and
persons much older than herself said
she was doubtless the daughter OF the
last Gingarkin King, queen with
out maids of honor to minister unto
her, a sovereign without vassals to
command. Upon one occasion, when
decidedly unsteady from too many
potations OF fire water" and had,
judging by the dusty and muddy APP
pearance of her gown, been down in
the gutter feeling upwards for the
ground, she came dancing and pran
sing as usual through the hotel piaz-
Ia. now THE Jarvis House" in East
vile, where some gentlemen were
sitting, among them certain attor-
ney-at-law, who became one OF our
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