08/11/2026
Gingasoe Niko:
Hey how are you all? I was wondering if y'all have any records of Nottoway (sometimes spelled Nattoway and Nottaway) that live there in Ohsweken? To give a little background I am a tribal member of the Nottoway tribe and I have always been told by elders that we have some family that went North specifically Ohsweken or Ontario and of course there were some that went to the Tuscarora rez near the Niagara. Our most common tribal surnames (documented on federal records and our tribal roll in 1808) are Turner, Hurst, Woodson, Scholar, Step, Seneca, Bailey, Artis, and Branch. Historian Buck Woodard has found a record from 1803 of a Nottoway woman by the name of Melbury Turner requesting permission to relocate to New York from NC. I personally think she was likely married to a Tuscarora then moved north with that partner. It was a very common thing for my people to go with whatever the Tuscarora did because we were essentially twin brothers/sister. To give some further historic background, we're closest to the Tuscarora culturally, historically, and through language and customs. Nearly all of our words are the same in fact Tuscarora born linguist JNB Hewitt referred to our language as "a dialect of the Iroquois". The Tribal govt website for the Tuscarora in Grand River mentions us by name. Also mentions a site located here in the heart our territory that dates back to "600 AD". Many of our ancestors remains were found here and are currently sitting in cardboard boxes. 132 of our people. Also there's a document by a Mohawk historian named Ray Fadden that mentions some remnants of us and Meherrin moving to "settle among Iroquois" in 1802. However there's zero info on what happened after just vague info. There's knowledge on where exactly the Meherrin went even the Tutelo (our old enemies) still have knowledge up north. Ironically around this same time a Tuscarora delegation led by a Chief "saguressa" went to NC to collect remnants of his people. In this situation he specifically pointed out and chastised the NC government for not allowing him to take those who are mixed with negro blood saying it is "a great shame". A few years later in 1808 there was a census that specifically only documented children of known Nottoway women. A few of the adults married to "mulattos". By that time most of the Tuscarora and Meherrin had left us. Out of the Meherrin and Tuscarora we're documented the most and did not relocate or split off as a whole. We never once advocated or petitioned to join the original five nations. We were only a long time ally that just so happened to be distant ancient relatives. Many of my people are mixed with Black. It's nothing we hide it's well documented. Sadly it's part of why we had a hard time organizing in more modern times (especially jim crow era) like the other tribes. In fact you can look it up many of these tribes shunned their black mixed relatives. If you made it this far, Nyawé. Sorry for the super long message but I am passionate about teaching others about my people. After all, that is a small part of how our culture survives. How we survive.
