Coastal Brooks of North Carolina
Joseph Brooks
John Brooks
Research of the Brooks families living in
Currituck, Hyde, Craven, Beaufort & Pitt Counties
North Carolina
&
Their possible relationship to the Lost
Colony of Roanoke, 1587
& Pirates of the Coast of Carolina
Never in my wildest imagination did I
expect to come across Croatan Indians or
pirates! When I started this task of
analyzing the facts associated with James
Brooks of Pitt Co, NC, I approached it as I would any genealogical
task. Yes, this area was somewhat
unfamiliar to me in a genealogical sense.
My Brooks
come from the Anson Co, NC area, more a sub-mountainous territory than
anything else. The off chance (from DNA
data related to Abraham Brooks of Anson Co, NC) that my Brooks may be related
to the James Brooks family of Pitt Co, NC started me on this trek. One thing that came of that effort was a
possible answer to how Ephraim Brooks of Anson Co, NC fits into my Brooks
family… basically, that he probably doesn’t.
It may very well be that he came from Pitt Co, NC. As it turns out, my relation to the Brooks
family in Pitt Co, NC is not very likely, but I kept going because, as a
historian-in-the-making at East Carolina University, I was fascinated by the possibilities and
loved the abundance of good records from Hyde & Currituck counties. Besides, this was the birthplace of America itself!
I could learn something here.
Still, the pirates and Indians had a little something to do with it… J
I didn’t really
expect to go beyond James, b.c1738. I
thought that this was about the “brick wall” date. It has been for my Brooks… 1736 for us. But,
there are numerous good records for this area and it was rather an easy task to
follow a person’s life with a reasonable margin of error. Laughing, I called this genealogical
undertaking an “easy” task. After 26
years of doing something, it doesn’t necessarily become easy… just fun to do. So,
explore I did.
Past research into
the fate of the Roanoke colony has uncovered possible descendants of these colonists among
the local Croatan or Hatteras
Indians. That much, we pretty well knew
thanks to some amateur colonial wood sculpturing talents expressed on a tree as
“Croatoan”.
But, the details of their subsequent fate, we didn’t know and will
probably never know completely.
Although, some excellent research and absolutely brilliant (in my
opinion) reasoning has been displayed by Lee Miller in her book, ROANOKE: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony. I got this book real cheap from www.amazon.com. If you want a real murder mystery involving
scientific accuracy, you’ll love it. An
historical CSI! Beware, though, she has
critics. Whether or not she is right
doesn’t alter the fact that her book is an excellent and interesting
introduction to the available data on the subject.
Ms. Miller was
simply following the facts (guided by her interpretation of events). Recently, through new satellite imaging
techniques and archaeological digs, more of these facts are surfacing as well
as hints at their subsequent re-infiltration back into the white man’s society. These possible descendants are presumably
concentrated in Chocowinity, NC… not far from where James Brooks lived
most of his adult life there on Swift Creek.
There are also populations in Free Union (now, Plymouth in Washington Co, NC).
So, how do the Brooks fit in? The premise is that settlers to this region
of Carolina would have needed wives (the settlers were
almost always single males… 7 out of 8, actually) and they took those wives
from the local population. Imagine love
starved men finding natives with lighter skin, blonde hair and blue eyes! Hello, “East Coast California!”
The re-infiltration of the Lost Colonists back into American society
would be relatively simple… more importantly, without much notice from the
casual passersby.
Yes…
re-infiltration. It has been proposed
that members of the Lost Colony are still among us today… at least, their
descendants are. This has been the work
and theory of a local native of the Outer Banks and a researcher with East Carolina University… Mr. Fred Willard. His website at www.lost-colony.com contains mounds of
data and research involving an unprecedented multi-disciplinary approach to
this subject… the proverbial “fine-toothed comb.”
The Brooks of this
region are undoubtedly involved in the Indian population of the Mattamuskeets of Hyde county, probable descendants of the Hatteras (formerly “Croatan”)
Indians of Lost Colony fame. On the
original site of the Croatan near present-day Buxton,
there is a bay on the sound side of the Outer Banks called “Brooks Bay,” and is
likely the very spot that Stephen Brooks would one day ferry supplies to the
mainland of Hyde County for the Revolution. This island was once located in Currituck
county and likely the site of John Brooks’ settlement and subsequent death in
1708. It is at least possible that John
Brooks I was a brother of the infamous Joseph Brooks I who served with the
ignoble “Blackbeard.”
All of this history took place right here… the historical “hotbed” of
the Outer Banks.
Currituck county in 1708 covered a lot of territory. It may very well be that John Brooks I lived
further south in Currituck Co, NC (than its present location) which ran a long
way down the barrier islands of the outer banks, past Roanoke Island to
directly east of Hyde Co, NC. In fact,
Hyde Co, NC took over a portion of Currituck Co, NC in 1745… the part of the
mainland region (eastern side of Lake Mattamuskeet to the water) directly to the east of its
previous territory. This may well
explain why the Brooks “apparently moved” when the county simply changed
name.
When the Tuscarora War broke out in 1713 the Indians from this
swampy area joined with the belligerent hostile Indians laying waste to
hundreds of European settlers. The main bodies of the Tuscarora
were defeated about 1714. The Croatan/Mattamuskeet
contingents escaped and were able to hide in the Alligator River interior (Beechland) and waged very effective guerrilla warfare for
four or five years. Forays into Manteo, the Pamlico basin and a small outpost
on the Alligator River (this
location has not been found) resulted in nearly one hundred colonists killed
(Shepard/Willard 2002). The North
Carolina authorities initiated “a peace
settlement with John Padgett and his men” (Padgett’s Indian name was Inuquner [Shepard/Willard 2002]. Another important Indian
was named John Barbour, whose Indian name was Correuiert
[Shepard/Willard 2002]). This peace treaty was supposedly held on the Outer
Banks and eventually resulted in a peace settlement (this new emerging research
may have found two more original Croatan Indian
names). The settlement included a very valuable Indian reservation in Hyde County. A large
group of Indians maintained their original lands in Beechland
including all the land from the shores of Lake Mattamuskeet to the Pamlico Sound (Garrow: The Mattamuskeet
Documents). This was a huge concession by the state authorities resulting in a
very large Indian reservation and encampment including almost one million acres
of land from the Mattamuskeet Lake, including
the entire Alligator River flood plain
to Roanoke Island and the Outer Banks of North Carolina
(Garrow, Shepard/Willard, Long
2000). This peace treaty anchored the land, which ultimately led the Croatan/Mattamuskeet Indians towards their final
destination in two small villages now called Chocowinity (on the Pamlico River) and Free
Union (near present-day Plymouth
[Shepard/Willard 2002]).
Mr. Fred Willard, quoted
above, of ECU has been undergoing the task of “hunting” down these “Lost Colony” remnants for the past ten
years or so. And, he is very much
involved in researching the Alligator basin (Tyrrell County) for any sign of European ancestry.
Interestingly
enough, John Brooks II, shows a deed in 1709
Currituck Co, NC on the mainland right in this area where the reservation would
later be in now Hyde Co, NC. From then,
until 1716, there is no sign of him. Was
he hiding out with the Croatan/Mattamuskeet at this
point? Of course, the lack of records
for this very early period is not necessarily a “smoking gun”. Regardless of John Brooks II’s
political affiliations, he is somehow a part of this Indian Reservation where
we find our Brooks descendants. The
hypothesis here, and I think it a good one, is that John & Stephen both had
married in with the Indian population, indeed their mothers may both be natives
of these Carolina tribes from the Beechland
“hideout” and, therefore extant members of the “Lost Colony”.
As I got further
along in my genealogical studies, I became aware of this unusual quality about
these Brooks. For all intents and
purposes, the records seemed like those you might find anywhere and, for awhile
it seemed that way. Reading or learning always has a way of altering your
perception. As I went further into this
subject, I became aware of a sea-faring community a lot like that of the early
Algonquian tribes along these shores… like the Croatan
or the Pamptico, etc.
But, that was just what you might expect from a seaside community. Peaceful, relaxing lifestyle… Jimmy Buffet
style! It appears today, through modern
scientific evidence as well as good, old-fashioned genealogy that these folks
may have more than lifestyle in common with these natives.
Fred Willard’s
website containing his research on the “Croatan
mystery” can be found at www.lost-colony.com. The opening paragraph goes…
“There
are presently 250-300 people living seventeen miles due east of Greenville, North
Carolina in a small town with the Indian name
of Chocowinity. This group of people all live within a three-mile radius of a
"targeted" Indian village named Panawicky
(there are seven variant spellings of this name). The Panawicky
village is on the 1588/1618 Theodore deBry maps. Its
location, as of this date, has not been confirmed. This contact period Indian
village appears on about twenty or more maps dated up to about 1700. This group of people, living in Chocowinity, have recently
been informed that they and their ancestors may be a finite part in the famous
mystery of the ‘Lost Colony of 1587’.”
As it turns out,
there is a lot of “new” data aside from DNA on the web now that wasn’t readily
available to researchers in past years and this info clearly outlines the paths
of the Pitt Co, NC Brooks back through Beaufort, Craven, Hyde & Currituck
Counties, NC.
Is it
possible?
I believe it
is. John Lawson visited the Coastal
Carolina Indians in 1701 and, knowing the story of the Roanoke Colony of 1587,
had this to say in 1709:
"A
farther Confirmation of this [Roanoke Island settlement]
we have from the Hatteras Indians, who either then
lived on Roanoak-Island, or much frequented it. These
tell us that several of their Ancestors were white People, and could talk in a
Book [read], as we do. The Truth of which is confirmed by gray Eyes being found
frequently amongst these Indians, and no others. They value themselves
extremely for their Affinity to the English, and are ready to do them all
friendly offices. It is probable, that this Settlement miscarry’d
for want of timely Supplies from England; or thro’ the Treachery of the
Natives, for we may reasonably suppose that the English were forced to cohabit
with them, for Relief and Conversation; and that in process of Time, they conform’d themselves to the Manners of their Indian
Relations. And thus we see, how apt Humne Nature is to degenerate.”
The Hatteras History website ( http://www.hatterasguide.com/history.htm
) contains:
John White and
116 colonists landed on “Hattorask” on June 22, 1587, and they encountered the
friendly natives prior to moving on to Roanoke
Island, where they set up a colony. When John White came back
to his Roanoke Island colony in 1590 after three years of being away in
England, the 116 colonists were gone, the only connection to their whereabouts
were the letters “CRO” and “CROATAN” carved into a tree. White assumed this
meant the missing colonists had gone to Hatteras to
live with the Croatan tribe, but he was never able to
go there to find out for himself. We may never know what happened to the “Lost
Colonists,” but there are some who believe that they did indeed go to Hatteras Island to seek help from the kind natives.
Legends of blue-eyed, light-skinned Indians living on the island suggest a
mingling of Native American and European genes. And in the 1990s, an
archaeologist found a 16th-century English signet ring during a dig in Buxton.
An excerpt from
Mr. Willard’s website gives sound reasoning for how the Brooks and many
families became part of the local Indian tribe and thus, gave us matrilineal
descendants of the ill-fated colonists:
When the first
European migrations moved south from the Jamestown settlement
they were predominantly young and male; very few of them were women until late
in the nineteenth century. The eminent historian Thomas Parramore's
conjecture (Department of History, Meredith College, Raleigh, North
Carolina) is that there was only one woman for
each eight men that migrated to the Albemarle region during
this time frame (1650/1750). There must have been serious contentions between
the Native male population and the European males seeking female affection.
This theory is
convincing. The female descendants of
John White and his colony may very well have married back into English families
who came down from the Jamestown settlement in need of wives.
But, that’s not
all…
Another twist in
the family research include some possible Brooks
connection to pirates of the early 18th century, namely one Edward
Drummond, Teach or Thatch, or whatever his real name might be. We know him simply as “Blackbeard.” And it has long been known that a father and
son joined his crew by the name of Joseph Brooks Sr.
& Jr. Both of these men fought Lt.
Maynard at Okracoke Inlet when Blackbeard
was captured. Joseph, Sr. died in the
battle in 1718 and his son was hanged in Williamsburg in 1719, after being delivered to the
authorities by Maynard. There are some
Joseph’s in following generations of this Brooks family and the Joseph Brooks
Sr. would have been of the same generation as the John
Brooks who died in 1708 Currituck Co, NC, the first one we know of. And descendants of Stephen
Brooks, now in Tennessee, have passed down the tradition that Stephen Brooks (b.1703
who was a mariner of some questionable reputation himself on Hatteras Island) was a son of this Joseph Brooks, Sr. Stephen Brooks Jr.
lived on Lake Mattamuskeet (site of the Indian Reservation from 1714)
and married a Farrow. Mary Farrow is the
daughter of Jacob Farrow, Jr. and is probably descended from Francis Farrow in
Currituck Co, NC. As it turns out,
Brooks & Farrow are two of the eighteen primary surnames being researched
as “Lost Colony” Indian descendants by Willard and his team.
Then, looking at a
map, we find Chocowinity near Washington, NC at a point where the Tar River flows into the sound. Swift Creek branches from just south of this
point, crosses the Beaufort Co. line after three miles or so, flowing northwest
through Pitt Co, NC. In 1782, James
Brooks had land on Swift Creek, living just a few miles from Chocowinity. And, when Pitt Co, NC
formed from Beaufort Co, NC in 1761, John & son James Brooks were on the
Pitt side of that division while John’s older son, William Brooks was left in
Beaufort… later, the Craven County area.
Don’t listen so
much to me, but read the data on www.lost-colony.com
and colleagues of Fred Willard. This is
absolutely fascinating. I just wish it
was my family! J
Contact
information (from his website):
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The
Lost Colony Center for Science and Research
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9192
Highway 171
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Williamston, NC 27892
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(252)
792-3440
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WillardFred@hotmail.com
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Links for further study:
The Lost Colony Center
for Science and Research
A Society of Friends Facilitating Excellence in Education
Blackbeard at
