Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1916-10-05
hG[ ayags shspbeda#a County 1916

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Virginia ItN Nhat ssxess s1ef Fate?
A black vsii % mystery faced the
jamestown colouBts @tsH sFlaAded in
Virginia In 1907. SS ssastst Mks bad
charged them to ssss irgiiis Dsfe. the
first native white s#d@5es a ahtl lhsg, tel-
low colanists, @d h5hs the fSfest
primevaA had sosaf5t lose seEs
20 years before 54itt bsfsY the piSs Hfya
the hemlocks iaaAe HepaA& or siiat Issiy
wilderness could Ell wiiiiitihrrS Stilsss sffgst
ones had so strapgsi9 ssrishe6 and. Until
Raleigh's heal aaselfti tbe bsoeE 1pfthe
excutioner, it wssateab;ed win Moffdtt
as TO the fate OF his "loStRoah0ke colpay. .
Those $50 men, women and Children
he had sent TO Virginia TO found an agtt
cultural state in 1887. In three ships they
had sailed gaYly out of Plymouth on a
balmy morning of April, but they did not
touch their restless feet to the sands OF
Roanoke Island until the sun OF late July
scorched it Their governor, John White,
brought with him his daughter Eleanor
and her husband, Ananias Dare. The
colonists had hardly hewn their cabins
out OF the woods when they had occasion
10 celebrate the birth OF daughter 10
Eleanor and Ananias, and the governor
christened his little granddaughter-the
first child of English parents born in the
new world-Virginia Dare in honor OF
the new province and OF Britain's Virgin
Queen.
Havingupon his arrival found skeletons
OF an English colony that had preceded
him, Governor White wisely determined
to cultivate the friendship of the Indians.
SO Chief Mantoe, who lived some dis
tance away upon Croaton Island, was
given the title OF Baron and Lord OF Roam
oke thus receiving the first and last peer
age ever created on our soil. Atthe same
time Mantoe accept the rites OF the Chris
tian baptism, and both his friendship and
spiritual redemption appeared to be as
sured.
II soon became necessary for the ships
that had brought the colony to return to
England for supplies and Governor White
went along to hasten their return. He
LETT behind him SO men, II women and
two children. On his way home he
touched at Ireland, where he gave the
populace some potatoes, the first OF that
kind ever seen in Europe. He started
back with two ships laden with the need
ed supplies, but after he had gotten out
into the open sea his greed for gain caused
him TO neglect his Roanoke colony, so
soreIy in need of food. He diverted his
course to pursue some Spanish ships in
search of plunder, but they so badly bat
tered his little fleet that he had to return
to England, where the Spanish blockade
OF British w2ters bottled him up for nearly
three years.
Landing upon Roanoke Island upon a
hot day late in the summer OF 1890 he
was appalled, to find an absolute des-
olation. His heart sank. The entire
colony had disappeared and even their
houses had all been removed. Carved
upon birch tree, however, he found the
one word: "Croatan." Apparently the
Christianized Montoe, Lord of Roanoke,
had taken pity upon the starving colonistS
and brought them TO his island stronghold,
there to live with his people. The Gov
ernor prepared to visit that home OF his
friend, the Indian Baron, but the super
stitious crews OF his ships, terror-stricken
by the sight of deserted waste around
them, refused to embark in that direction.
They forced him 10 return to England
with them, and il was his bitter fate to
die in ignorance OF what had happened
TO his daughter and grandchid.
One tradition has it that Chief Mantoe
massacreed all OF the colony except four
men, two boys and Virginia Dare, who
became the bride OF one of his braves.
According 10 another story, the entire
colony was taken up the Cape Fear river,
where the white later intermarried with
the Indians of Central North Carolina.
Capt John Smith penetrating into the
mainland came upon the Indian village,
where he saw a halt-breed boy, with
with yellow hair, and he believed the
child TO be that OF one OF his coloniSts
intermarried with a red man. Certain
blue-eyed Indians found near Cape Hat
teras, along the Cape Fear river, are
alleged TO be descendants OF those lost
whites.
The fate OF Virginia Dare, our first
Colonial Dame, remains mystery quite
as dark as it was three centuries ago.