The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1907-07-16


have bestowed on this matter has &c
fortified my belief in the remarkable
origin of the Robson county Croatans
as the implied acceptance d thu
theory by the illustrious historian.
Bancroft, which the readers Of the
Messenger will pardon me for repro
ducing here:
:. More than another year elapsed be-
f, fore White could return t search for
his lost colony and his daughter; and
then the Island of Roanoke was a de-
sert. An inscription on the bark of q
tree pointed to Croatan; but the ses-
son of the year and the danger fr1m
storms were pleaded as an excuse for
an immediate return. Had the emf
grants alreay persisted, or had they
escaped with their lives to Croatan,
and, through the friendship of Manteo,
become familiar with the Indians? The
conjecture has been hazarded that the
deserted colony, neglected by their
countrymen, were Hospitality adopted
into the tribe of Hatteras Indizns.
and became amalgamated with the
sons of the forest. This was the tradi-
ton of the natives at a later day. and
it was thought to be confirmed by the
physical character Of the tribe, in
which the English and the Indian
races seem to have been blended. Ra-
leigh long cherished the hope of dis
covering some vestiges of their exist
ence; and, though he had abandoned
the hope of colonizing Virginia, he
yet sent at his own charge, it is said.
and at five several times, to search for
his liegemen. But it was all in vain;
imagination received no help in its
attempts to trace the fate of the col
ony of Roanoke"
In n Of the North Carolina Day
Exercises" prepared by the scholarly
Prof. Cannon is the sketch. "Virginia
Dare" in which occur the following
paragraphs:
by the Indians Eleanor Dare, the
first mother of the white race known
~ III % ooAo ~ IofC OCCI i D
their figurative and descriptive way,
The White Doe.' and her baby the
little Virginia, the first white infant
they had ever seen, "The White FaWn''
and there is a pretty tradition that
after her death her spirit assumed
that fOrm-an elip faTn-which. clad
In immortal beauty, would at times be
seen haunting like d tender meinOEy
the place of her birth, or gazing visit
fully over the sea as with pathetic |
yearning for the far-away motheE |
"The colonists had evidently gone 10 !
.roatan, as We now have the word, /
the home of Manteo the friendly ehief; !
but none Of them was ever seen CT |
men again. They died and
made no sign; though it is probable
that their descendants may still be
found among the Croatam, or, more
properly, Hatteras Indians Of RobeSonl
county"
william S%tracney, in his History
Of Travaile,' says: AT Ritano the /,
Eyanocd preserved seven
Of the English alive-fower men, two |
and n young maybe. who es-
capped the massacre. and fed up the |
Chanoke." |
The "Virginia Dare sketch OFF
Both John Smith and Stra-
make mention Of scattered partiesj
Of these colonists several times, and
he Virginia Company writes of some
IF them as yet alive within fifty: mi1esj
Of our fort, as is testified by two OF
our colony sent out to search them,
who found crosses %* & and as5ur=l
testimonies of Christians newly
cut in the barks Of trees" /
If one can venture on n criticism i
Of the very able article by Mr.. Ford
the objection may be urged that he |
gives to matters OF mere speculation !
and conjecture. the force which he nt-1
be little controversy. as in the follow ,
ing paragraph: !
eff Gov. White had sailed down,
Pamlico Sound, doubtless he would
have found his lost colony. It was
and up the Cape Fear river
to it's head waters, where all tradition
Raleigh's Lost Colony and The !
descendants of Virginia Dare. She, I
being a granddaughter of the, first /
American governor, was more truly |
a~ristocratic than wen Pocanontas,
who was not baptized until Virginia
had attained womanhood. And per-
haps she married a young brave If
Roanoke before the daughter of Pow /
hatan wed an English gentleman-f- /;
nally to fill an unmarked grave in
Britain as the English girl Virginia
fills an unknown grave in America
Pocahontas to give among her ue-