Direct Descendants of Henry Berry Lowery by Kelvin Ray Oxendine....A Book Review

Another great book written by Lumbee tribal member Kevin Ray Oxendine. I was blessed to have received this book as a Christmas gift .

If you are researching Lumbee genealogy, this book should be part of your research library. The information included would save a researcher 100's of hours of research time.

 From the publisher:
"This book is composed of the direct descendants of Henry Berry Lowery, legendary hero of both the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and Tuscarora of Robeson County. Starting with Henry Berry Lowery and Rhoda Strong, this book carries their grandchildren down to the present time. With approximately 1,500 direct descendants listed, this book is a must have resource for anyone researching the family of Henry Berry Lowery and Rhoda Strong. With each listed descendant uniquely coded, this book holds a personal record of where each descendant belongs on the Henry Berry Lowery and Rhoda Strong family tree. In addition to this, the book also comprises written and oral histories about Henry Berry Lowery and Rhoda Strong. This book was released on December 7, 2015 in honor of the 150th wedding anniversary of Henry Berry Lowery and Rhoda Strong."

Book is available here at a very affordable price:  Direct Descendants of Henry Berry Lowery

Hat tip to Dianne Hart

Lumbee DNA Match....

A few years back an 'avid' researcher suggested I take a Family Finder test.  I agreed to make my findings 'public'. I am staying true to my word, and posting this new information. 

Funny I have never seen 'Missy Avid' make her DNA results public, if they even exist. How does that old saying go 'What's good for the Goose is good for the Gander'.

Much to my surprise, last week I came upon an atDNA (FTDNA Family Finder) match with a well established Lumbee family. My match is showing as a 4th cousin.

Thank goodness this match had a GEDCOM file posted. It enabled me to do a little research into that families history. A good example of why GEDCOM files should be posted at FTDNA.

I am not going to name my match at this time. I respect the privacy of my match and his family. When the correct time comes, and I have their permission , I will in fact name names. 

Here is what I know so far: 

The Y-DNA haplogroup of my match is E-M2 (E1b1a).

The Surnames Berry, Broom, Cumbo, Jacobs, Kearsey, Locklear, Lowry, Oxendine and Sampson are all surnames connected to this line.

The Tuscarora Tribe is the source of their Indian blood, and came from female lines.

Were owners of slaves

There are connections to Bertie County , North Carolina.

They were in this part of North Carolina before Robeson County was formed, it was Bladen County when they first settled there.

One Generation fought in the American Revolutionary War.

In the early days they were Whigs in politics.

One generation were known hog thieves.   

They are listed as FPC (Free Person of Color), Mulatto and Indian on tax records and the U.S. Census.

They were land owners.

So far that is what I have found. I'll be researching this match, until I find the common ancestor. I will be posting any new information I find.

Please note, I am not trying to say the Lumbees are Melungins, or that the Melungins are Lumbees. Two different groups with two different histories. I'm just following up on a DNA match.



That's my 2 cents  

 

Otary Collins

I first became aware of Otary Collins, from a document I inherited from family records. Otary Collins is my double third Great Granduncle.

I have an interest in Otary Collins as his wife Frances Collins nee Nichols, had to testify at a hearing when my 2nd Great Grandmother, Mary Collins nee Caudill applied for a Civil War pension for her and her children.

Mary's husband, Hiram Collins (my 2nd Great Grandfather) died of Typhoid fever while serving in the14th Regiment Kentucky Volunteer Infantry (Union), during the Civil War.

Frances had been midwife to Hiram and Mary's children, thus her testimony was needed as Kentucky didn't have Birth Certificates until 1910. My Great Grandfather Andrew B. Collins was one of those children.

Otary Collins was the youngest son of my 4th Great Grandfather Valentine Collins. The youngest brother to my David and Joshua Collins. He was born in 1816 (KY or TN ?), he married Frances Nichols Oct 29,1835 in Morgan Co, KY, he died in Magoffin Co., KY abt 1886.

Otary is not a common name, his name is shown with the following spellings on the US Census of Johnson County , Kentucky:

1850 Otary,1860 Otrey,1870 Otery,1880 Oatrey

I did some research on this uncommon given name and found 2 possibilities, each one from the Iroquoian language group, one Cherokee, the other Tuscarora.

Cherokee:  Ottaray [OTT-a-RAY] (o-ta-ri): Mountain, in an extinct dialect.

( From chenocetah.wordpress.com )

Tuscarora: From New River Notes

FROM THE TUSCARORA..... Ottaray--the over hills.

The word Ottaray, which signifies a mountain region, was written in the sixteenth century by the old Spanish explorers Qttari and John Adair in 1775 wrote it Ottare. At present it would be Ottara, Ottalay, as modern Indians in the Piedmont sound "R" where those in the Altamont use "L," and both have changed the ending to the sound of broad a.

These are two probable sources for the name Otary, I'm still not 100% positive of that theory. 

Dr. Richard Carlson mentions Otary and Francis Collins in his Dissertation , "Who's Your People"..

On page 286 he states " Not having land of their own, Otery and Franky apparently lived on David's (Collins) land as probably many other Indians did from time to time"   That's backed up by census records. 

From page 304:  "In that 1880 instance the old Saponi Otary Collins was one of the over 30 "poor persons" (the rest of whom were white) kept by overseer Rich McGuire that year. Why the old Indian would die there (paupers farm) and not among his people at Big Lick or Jennies Creek in unknown"

" But this is again reveling of the local Indian families' ongoing successful attempts to strategically accommodate to potentially difficult times, in that none of the court records show any other Indians as being classified as 'paupers' from the time Otary Collins died at the Poor Farm in 1881 until 1886"

That's all I know about Uncle Otra, wish I knew more. Sure is a sad note he died on the 'Poor Farm'.

That's my 2 cents.....