The Meherrin Nation ( autonym: Kauwets'a:ka, "People of the Water") is one of seven

state-recognized State-recognized tribes in the United States are organizations that identify as Native American tribes or heritage groups that do not meet the criteria for federally recognized Indian tribes but have been recognized by a process established unde ...

nations of Native Americans in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

. They reside in rural northeastern

, near the river of the same name on the

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

border. Historically the

Iroquoian The Iroquoian languages are a language family of indigenous peoples of North America. They are known for their general lack of labial consonants. The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking. As of 2020, all surviving Iroquoia ...

tribe had lived in the Piedmont of Virginia but moved south in the early 18th century under pressure from the encroachment of British colonists on their traditional homelands. Assigned a reservation in the area of Hertford County, North Carolina in the early 18th century, they lost most of their land to encroachment by colonial settlers. They had maintained cultural continuity through supporting independent churches and schools. In the late 20th century, the people reorganized and established a government. In 1986 the Meherrin Nation was recognized by the state of North Carolina. The Meherrin have an enrollment of 900+ people.Brenda Linton and Leslie S. Stewart, "Economic Development Assessment for the Meherrin Tribe"
University of North Carolina, Jul 2003. Accessed: October 26, 2009. Since 1994 the tribe is petitioner for acknowledgment as federally recognized tribe.

History

The Meherrin are among the Native American tribes that traditionally spoke an

Iroquoian language The Iroquoian languages are a language family of indigenous peoples of North America. They are known for their general lack of labial consonants. The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking. As of 2020, all surviving Iroquoian ...

and as such, are connected in the distant past to the nations of the

Iroquois League The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...

in New York around the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

. Today the first language of the Meherrin is English. They are also related to the

Tuscarora Tuscarora may refer to the following: First nations and Native American people and culture * Tuscarora people **'' Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation'' (1960) * Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people * ...

, who were a neighboring Iroquoian tribe in historic times in Carolina. After destructive warfare, the surviving Tuscarora migrated north to New York in the early 18th century. The nations of the

Iroquois Confederacy The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

, historically based in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and Pennsylvania, are the best-known Iroquoian peoples and were the most powerful in the colonial era. The Meherrin inhabited the

Piedmont region of Virginia The Piedmont region of Virginia is a part of the greater Piedmont physiographic region which stretches from the falls of the Potomac, Rappahannock, and James Rivers to the Blue Ridge Mountains. The region runs across the middle of the state from ...

above the

fall line A fall line (or fall zone) is the area where an upland region and a coastal plain meet and is typically prominent where rivers cross it, with resulting rapids or waterfalls. The uplands are relatively hard crystalline basement rock, and the coa ...

at the time of European encounter. They moved south into North Carolina in the early 18th century to evade encroachment by British colonists. Linguistic evidence indicates that the Meherrin share common ancestry with the Tuscarora and the Nottoway, and likely spoke the same Iroquoian language or a similar dialect. Common origins are also indicated in Tuscarora oral history.Rudes, Blair A. "Cowinchahawkon/ Akawęč?á:ka:?: The Meherrin in the Nineteenth Century", ''Algonquin and Iroquoian Linguistics''. 6 (3) p. 32-34. London, Ontario In 1705 the Virginia Colony established a reservation for the Meherrin at Maherrin Neck (later renamed Manley’s Neck), in an area claimed by both Virginia and Carolina. It was finally assigned to Carolina, and in 1706 Carolina ordered the Meherrin out of her territory, threatening violence to expel them. The Meherrin asked for more time, a year in order to harvest their crops, and asked for help from the Virginia colonists to make their case. Virginia took their side in the quarrel, but in August 1707 Carolinian official

Thomas Pollock Thomas Allen Pollock (August 1, 1925 – August 17, 1994) was a Canadian ice hockey player. He was a member of the Edmonton Mercurys that won a gold medal at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway. Pollock died of a stroke in 1994; he ...

, leading a troop of 60 men, attacked

Meherrin Town The Meherrin Nation (autonym: Kauwets'a:ka, "People of the Water") is one of seven state-recognized nations of Native Americans in North Carolina. They reside in rural northeastern North Carolina, near the river of the same name on the Virgi ...

, destroying crops, homes, and all belongings; his forces seized 36 men, depriving them of water for two days. In September the Virginia militia met with the chiefs, promising Virginia’s protection to prevent them from retaliating against Carolina. Col. Edmond Jennings, Virginia Council President, wrote a harsh reprimand to leaders of Carolinia. By 1707 the Meherrin had resettled on lands previously occupied by the

Chowanoke The Chowanoke, also spelled Chowanoc, are an Algonquian-language Native American tribe who historically inhabited the coastal area of the Upper South of the United States. At the time of the first English contacts in 1585 and 1586, they were th ...

near the mouth of the

Meherrin River The Meherrin River is a long 6th order tributary to the Chowan River that joins in Hertford County, North Carolina. A twenty-foot-high dam on the river creates a reservoir in Emporia. For most of its length, the Meherrin is not large enough f ...

.Meherrin Nation official website
Accessed: October 26, 2009. From 1711 to 1712, the Meherrin allied with the

against British colonists in the

Carolinas The Carolinas are the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina, considered collectively. They are bordered by Virginia to the north, Tennessee to the west, and Georgia to the southwest. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east. Combining Nor ...

and their Indian allies during the

Tuscarora War The Tuscarora War was fought in North Carolina from September 10, 1711 until February 11, 1715 between the Tuscarora people and their allies on one side and European American settlers, the Yamassee, and other allies on the other. This was con ...

. In 1713, they delivered two of their paramount chief’s sons as hostages to be kept by the colonists at the

College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William I ...

Williamsburg, Virginia Williamsburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 15,425. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Williamsburg is in the northern part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. It is ...

to ensure that they would keep the peace. In 1720 they made a treaty of peace with the Susquehanna, another Iroquoian tribe. In 1717 the Meherrin were given a reservation along the western shore of lower Chowanoc River, not far from its mouth in Albemarle Sound, near modern Colerain (Bertie County, N.C.). At the time, Governor Charles Eden thought that the reservation only contained 10,000 acres, but Surveyor Col. Edward Moseley later discovered that the reservation contained more than 40,000 acres. In 1723, the Virginia Colony confirmed the Meherrin right to the reservation land and severely criticized North Carolina for an illegal taking of Meherrin land. Most of the Tuscarora were driven off after many were killed and taken captive in the above war. The North Carolina authorities reviewed petitions from both the Meherrin and British colonists squatting on their land. Although by 1726, the Meherrin reservation had been greatly reduced in size and relocated to the old and abandoned Chowanoke fields, the Province of North Carolina confirmed in a treaty that it belonged to the Meherrin. The Meherrin lived in cohesive, distinct communities through the 19th and 20th centuries, maintaining their own schools and churches as part of their identity as a people. In 1975, Meherrin descendants reorganized the tribe and reclaimed its identity under Chief Wayne Brown. It became chartered in 1977 after increasing

activism Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

by members. They were recognized by the state in 1986. Many Meherrin can trace their ancestry to Sally M. Lewis (1838–1904), who sold several tracts of reservation land. The Meherrin tribal seat is Winton, North Carolina. The Nation's residents principally reside in and around the "Little California/Pleasant Plains/Union" area of Hertford County, North Carolina. They work in a wide variety of professional fields, as a high proportion of the tribe have college degrees compared to the general population in the county.

Historical Iroquoian Peoples

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, th ...

* Chonnonton * Erie *

Huron Huron may refer to: People * Wyandot people (or Wendat), indigenous to North America * Wyandot language, spoken by them * Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec * Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawato ...

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...

* Mohawk *

Petun The Petun (from french: pétun), also known as the Tobacco people or Tionontati ("People Among the Hills/Mountains"), were an indigenous Iroquoian people of the woodlands of eastern North America. Their last known traditional homeland was sou ...

(See also Protohistory of West Virginia) * Conestoga (

Susquehannock The Susquehannock people, also called the Conestoga by some English settlers or Andastes were Iroquoian Native Americans who lived in areas adjacent to the Susquehanna River and its tributaries, ranging from its upper reaches in the southern pa ...

) *

(Also Nottoway)

References

External links

{{authority control Native American tribes in North Carolina Native American tribes in Virginia 1975 establishments in North Carolina State-recognized tribes in the United States