Saponi
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222554341
2008-06-29T23:36:01Z
SmackBot
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Date the maintenance tags or general fixes
{{Infobox Ethnic group
|group = Saponi
|image = [[Image:Saponi.jpg|250 px]]
|population = Unknown
|regions = Originally from [[Virginia]] and [[North Carolina]], many later relocated to [[Ontario, Canada]], and [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[Tennessee]], and [[Ohio]]
|region1 = {{flagcountry|United States}} <small>([[Virginia]])</small>
|region2 = {{flagcountry|United States}} <small>([[North Carolina]])</small>
|pop1 =
|ref1 =
|region3 = {{flagcountry|Canada}} <small>([[Ontario]])</small>
|region4 = {{flagcountry|United States}} <small>([[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]])</small>
|religions = Indigenous Religion, [[Christianity]]
|languages = Tutelo-Saponi (extinct), [[English language|English]]
|related = [[Tutelo]], [[Occaneechi]], [[Monacan]], [[Manahoac]], possibly [[Saura]], other eastern [[Siouan]] tribes
}}'''Saponi''', is the name of one of the eastern [[Siouan]] tribes related to the [[Tutelo]], [[Occaneechi]], [[Monacan]], Manahoac and other eastern [[Siouan]] peoples, whose ancestral homeland is in [[North Carolina]] and [[Virginia]].
The people known as the Indians of [[Person County]] were formally recognized as an [[American Indian]] tribe by North Carolina in 1911. In 2003 they formally changed their name to Sappony. The [[Haliwa-Saponi]], a group based chiefly in [[Halifax County, North Carolina|Halifax County]], is another [[Native American]] band formally recognized by [[North Carolina]] (1965). They also changed their name to include a reference to Saponi. No documentation has established descent for members of either group from the historical Saponi tribe. Neither group has been recognized formally as a Native American tribe by the federal government.
==History==
The first known contact between European settlers and the Saponi was recorded in 1670 when [[John Lederer]] visited a Saponi village near [[Charlotte Court House]], [[Virginia]]. In 1671 Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam led an expedition that passed through the same village as well as a second in Long Island in [[Campbell County, Virginia|Campbell County]], Virginia. The Saponi, as well as the closely related Occaneechi, were unjustifiably attacked by settlers during [[Bacon's Rebellion]] in 1676 in retaliation for raids on colonists from the unrelated Doeg tribe.
Nearly decimated, the Saponis relocated to three islands at the confluence of the [[Dan River]] and the [[Staunton River]] in [[Clarksville, Virginia|Clarksville]] with their allies the Occaneechis and [[Tutelo]]s.<ref name=Pitts>{{citation| last=Mitchell| first=Henry H.| title=Rediscovering Pittsylvania's “Missing” Native Americans| journal=''The Pittsylvania Packet'' (Pittsylvania Historical Society)| location=Chatham, Virginia| year=1997| pages=4-8| url=http://www.victorianvilla.com/sims-mitchell/local/native/redis.htm}}</ref> At the start of the 18th century, the Saponi and the two allied tribes began moving between North Carolina and Virginia in an attempt to gain security both from attacks by colonial governments and several other tribes. They fought unceasingly with the northern [[Iroquois]] and also fought a war against the [[Tuscarora (tribe)|Tuscaroras]].
One record from 1728 indicated that Colonel [[William Byrd II]] made a survey of the border between Virginia and [[North Carolina]] with a Saponi hunter named Ned Bearskin as his guide. Byrd noted several abandoned fields of corn, indicating serious disturbance among the local tribes. In 1740 a group of Saponis and Tutelos in [[Pennsylvania]] surrendered to the [[Iroqouis]] and joined them. Since most of the Iroquois sided with the British in the [[American Revolutionary War]], after the victory by the Americans, the Saponis and Tutelos who had joined the Iroquois were forced into exile in [[Canada]] along with their new allies. After that point, recorded history was silent about the tribe.<ref name=Pitts/>
==Language==
There is little information on the now-extinct Saponi language. According to [[William Byrd II]], the Saponi spoke the same language as the [[Occaneechi]] and the [[Stenkenock]]. It was probably the same as that spoken by the Meipontsky.{{Fact|Jun 2008|date=June 2008}} By the time linguistic data was recorded, these related eastern Siouan tribes had settled together at Fort Christianna in [[Brunswick County, Virginia|Brunswick County]], Virginia. While the language of the Tutelos was fairly well recorded by [[Horatio Hale]], that of the Saponi is known from only two sources. It is unclear how the language spoken by the Saponi differed from that of the [[Tutelo]], if at all.
One source is a word list of 46 terms and phrases recorded by John Fontaine at Fort Christianna in 1716. The other is a few translated creek names noted by William Byrd in his ''History of the Dividing Line betwixt Virginia and North Carolina'' in 1728. Of Fontaine's list, only 16 to 20 entries are [[Siouan]], while the others are [[Iroquoian]] and [[Algonquian]]. Bryd's scant list also proved to include several names from unrelated Indian tribes.<ref>{{citation| last=Salvucci| first=Claudio R. et al.| title=Minor Vocabularies of Tutelo and Saponi| publisher=Evolution Publishing| year=2002| page=1-7| isbn=1 889758 24 8}}</ref>
==20th century state recognition==
Both the Indians of Person County/Sappony and the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe of North Carolina have been classified by some anthropological researchers as among groups known as tri-racial isolates, with European, African and Native American ancestry, to varying degree. Their applications for recognition as American Indian tribes were approved by the state of North Carolina in 1911 and 1965, respectively.
Late 20th century researchers have found that eighty percent of people identified as "free people of color" in federal censuses from 1790-1810 in North Carolina (who included ancestors of individuals who later identified as Indian) were descended from families of African Americans free in colonial Virginia. This was revealed through extensive research in colonial records of Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay Colony. Some free African Americans were descended from slaves who were freed as early as the 17th century.<ref>[http://www.freeafricanamericans.com Paul Heinegg, ''Free African Americans of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware''], accessed 15 Feb 2008</ref>
Most of the free African Americans were descended from unions of white women, indentured or free, and African or African-European/American men, indentured, free or slave. In many cases these free families migrated to frontier areas of Virginia and North Carolina before the end of the eighteenth century. Later some moved on to settle in frontier areas of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio. Migrating to the frontier gave them the chance to purchase affordable land and be free of the strictures of the coastal plantation areas. They were generally well accepted by neighbors. In some areas, the lighter-skinned descendants formed close communities in which they called themselves or were known as Indian, [[Portuguese]] or one of a variety of terms, such as [[Melungeon]].<ref>[http://www.freeafricanamericans.com Paul Heinegg, ''Free African Americans of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware''], accessed 15 Feb 2008</ref>
Several other groups and organizations to claim Saponi ancestry include the Mahenips Band of the Saponi Nation in the remote [[Ozark]] Hills, with headquarters in [[West Plains, Missouri]]; the Saponi Descendants Association based in [[Texas]]; and the Saponi Nation of Ohio. Communities such as the [[Carmel Indians]] of Carmel, Ohio; and a group in [[Magoffin County, Kentucky]] claim to be Native American descendants of the Saponi through [[Melungeon]] lines.{{Fact|date=January 2008}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
==See also==
* [[Siouan-Catawban languages]]
==External links==
*[http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/saponihist.htm Saponi Indian Tribe History]
*[http://www.saponitown.com Searching for Saponi Town - online community of Saponi descendants]
*[http://www.haliwa-saponi.com Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe]
*[http://www.saponi.us Saponi Nation of Missouri, Mahenips Band]
*[http://houseofsepoy.spaces.msn.com/personalspace.aspx?_c01_b Saponi Descendants Association]
[[Category:Siouan languages]]
[[Category:African American history]]
[[Category:Native American history of North Carolina]]
[[Category:Native American tribes in North Carolina]]
[[Category:Native American history of Virginia]]
[[hr:Saponi]]