Re: Giles Spurr
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In reply to:
Re: Giles Spurr
Angela Lawson 3/21/09
By Laura A. SherfeyCopyright March 21, 2009
Thank you for your quick response and for correcting me -- I wrote on memory, as I have nothing written down, and got confused about Hyatt and Mary being Giles T.'s parents.I am glad to have a listing of Giles' children -- thanks!
To answer the question, "Where did the family come from? What country?" is not difficult, but it is lengthy.Please prepare to have an open mind, for what I have learned about our family's roots and origins probably will overwhelm your mind.I have a good memory of what my Great-Grandfather, Charles Edward Spurr (Emmas' little brother), told my mother, and she told me, "Never forget, we are descended from the 'Black Dutch.'We came from North Carolina, West Virginia Guinea, Virginia, and Tennessee before we moved north to Indiana."
My mother told me this when I was about sixteen, after I had discovered an old photograph of Nero, Burl, Charles, William, Richard, Lewis (the brothers, sons of Giles T.) altogether.I was surprised because they all looked like some form of Mulatto, and they all seemed in close association with Charles Edward, my Great-Grandfather whom I recognized.I took the photo (it had been hidden in the depths of one of the pieces of my grandmother's luggage in the bottem of her closet) into the next room of my grandmother's house (the same house that used to be owned by Charles Edward and Cora Starrett (sp?) Spurr)where my mother was.
I asked her, "Mom!Who are all these Mulattos standing with Great-Grandfather?She said, "Let me see that!Hush -- don't talk so loud.Your Grandmother will get very upset by the knowledge of the black mix in our family tree.Don't say anything to her about this photograph or that we have black blood in us."She took the photo and looked at it, and said, "Why, that's your Great-Grandfather Charles Spurr, and those are all his brothers!Here," she said, handing me the photograph, "put this back where you got it, and never mention it; come back here and I will tell you more."
I went and hid the photo from where I had found it, and returned.My mother said that her Grandfather Charles Edward had told her one time, "Never forget that we are descended from the 'Black Dutch.'"
I asked my mother, "What does that mean?"
She said, "I don't know, but I recall my grandfather told me we came from someplace like West Guinea.He also said that our family came from North Carolina to Virginia, to West Virginia, to Virginia again, to Tennessee, and finally to Indiana.I don't remember what he said about Guinea -- West Guinea?I don't remember."
Several years later, when the internet became a reality in the lives of Americans, I sought out a keyword search on "Black Dutch," but found nothing.Then, after I had begun a genealogical/family history on my own, I discovered
that in North Carolina there had been an early colony (I don't have the specifics with me; they are all in the form of notes as I am going to write a book about all this someday) that failed.They were mostly Germans, and there were African Americans (but I do not know if they were the Germans' slaves, or others' slaves).
I do not remember why the colony failed.At any rate, it seems to me that they had to abandon their colony, and in order to survive, they "hit the woods," to so speak.That is, they went into the woodlands to live among the Native Americans.The Native Americans in that part of the country were descendants of Powhatan, and others were there as well, since the Natives migrated.
The Native American component is another study altogether, and I have been in the midst of researching and collecting notes on that in the past year or so.But, one element of their genealogy is the lost colony on Roanoke Island; John White sailed away to return with supplies, but was unable to return to Roanoke Island for at least a year or two (don't have the details with me now).When he returned with supplied, all the English were gone from the colony, which was deserted.
The colonists had agreed that if trouble came, they would mark a tree with a couple of code words so that whoever came to the island to help them (from England) would find the tree and know what happened to them.When White arrived at the deserted colony, he looked for the tree, and on it was inscribed something like, "CROATAN" (as I've mentioned, I don't have all the facts and notes in front of me; I amgoing by memory).Apparently, by that word, White realized that the colonists had been attacked, and had been either rescued by or fled to the Croatan Natives to live with them.
The word, "Croatan," refers to Native Americans, probably of Powahatn ancesry, possibly others, who long ago received fleeing Croatians -- Europeans from Croatia --
who came to North America, but we do not yet know when.Croatia became a separate nation back in the 7th century, and it is located on the northeast top of the Meditteranean opposite Italy.So, part of the Native Americans that the Germans and blacks mixed with in the 1700s had a genetic background that included European Croatians.It is also known that other Europeans and Africans came to North America at various times, and these are very likely incorporated into our family gene pool: Greeks; Romans; Jews; Romas (Gypsies; their origin is India); and a host of others, including, as mentioned, the English Lost Colony of Roanoke Island.
Today, those Native American peoples are best represented by the Native group known as the "Lumbee" Indians.I have seen photographs from the early 1900s in a book about these Natives.Two male individuals who are Black and Native American look shockingly similar to my Great-Uncle Giles Spurr (d. Aug 2001) and one of my sisters -- we have been known as "White" or "Caucsian" for generations, yet these same features manifest among us.Presently, the Lumbee are located near the Lumber River in North Carolina, which is how they got their name.
I have seen a photograph of a present day male descendant of from the Pawmunkey (means, "pure cotton" -- they grew cotton and sold it to the early settlers) Indians on the Eastern Seaboard, and he looked very similar to one of my cousins (one of my Great-Aunts' sons) now deceased.
Anyway, these were part of the begining of the "Black Dutch," but the "Dutch" part was misspelled and misunderstood -- it is originally spelled, "Deustch," (I hope I even spelled that correctly) and refers to the German language.My Great-Uncle Giles told me that we were from the "Dutch" people, and he thought it meant we were from Holland.I don't know who wrote it down; possibly it was Giles, but in the written Spurr Family history that he compiled, it is written that we came from Holland.There is not one shred of evidence for this, however.
This is just a short version of the origins of the North Carolina Spurr family, who moved to Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, and finally, Indiana.I found out the the phrase, "West Virginia Guinea," is a derogatory (if not somewhat humurous) term for people whose ancestry includes African American, English and/or other European, and/or Native American.This mix is extremely close to the Black Deustch people group, but not neccessarily the same.That my Great-Grandfather Charles Spurr's oral history includes these in our lineage indicates that genealogical research needs to be done on these people from West Virginia.
In Tennessee, the place from where the Spurrs traveled, Sparta, White County, there is a heritage of Cherokee (Chief Calfkiller and his predecessors) and Caucasian (White) mixing.This mix existed before the known pioneers came there and created White County in 1807 (date ? -- no notes with me, but it is very close to that year).You can understand from all this that our family history, genetics, and lineage is very complex, and largely misunderstood -- also, a shock to one's comprehension, at first.But more people are discovering the same kind of family roots -- there was a good deal of mixing with the Natives among early explorers, colonists, and pioneers; plus, North America seems to have been the place for many people groups, over time, to either flee to, explore, and otherwise inhabit.
I forgot to mention, for example, that the Chinese during the Ming Dynasty (1400s) left at least one shipload of people in present day Massachusetts.Dr. Brent Kennedy, in a speech recorded at a university library, reported that in one study of Appalachian children, 80 percent had Asian eyefolds.This indicates Chinese ancestry.My second cousin Melinda Spurr (now deceased daughter of Effie and Jerry Spurr (Jerry was Charles Spurr's middle son) had very profound Asian eyefolds, and I recall beng very puzzled as to why, when I was a young teenager.
I have not begun this part of research, yet, but I have a clue that we are also related to Nancy Hanks, mother of the 16th President of the USA, Abraham Lincoln.Hanks' mother came from West Virginia, and Nancy Hanks, as Abraham Lincoln himself, are dark-skinned people.The dark skin could be more of a manifestation of India genetics -- that's just how varied and complex the gene pool seems.
There is alot of information in this response....I also know a few anecdotal stories about our family.Unfortunately, I know nothing at all about Emma, and I recall wishing I could find something about her; perhaps someday I will.Otherwise, I recall that Giles T. Spurr could be short-tempered with his sons, but very congenial with his daughters and all women.He was dark, not very tall, had an orchard of cherry trees that people came from all around to pick cherries from and to pay him for.He raised horses, too. I got this information from a statement written about him that is located somewhere in Indiana, but I don't have it in front of me, and I do not recall the citation.
I know and have seen where he and Malinda are buried; they belonged to a small Christian church that no longer is there.If you could copy the book you have I will send you a money order to pay for the copying and mailing costs, if you will mail it to me.Thanks for your help.
I will be glad to share anything else I know.
Because this is copyrighted, if you use it in any writing, you will need to give the proper citation for it.The citation would read: "Follow-Up Message, by Laura A. Sherfey, March 21, 2009, Re: Giles Spurr, Spurr Family Genealogy Forum, Genforum, ttp://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-genforum /forums/spurr.cgi?152," and then give the date you accessed the message, e.g., "21 Mar 2009."
More Replies:
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Re: Giles Spurr
Angela Lawson 3/22/09
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Re: Giles Spurr
Laura Sherfey 3/22/09
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Re: Giles Spurr
Angela Lawson 3/22/09
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Re: Giles Spurr
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Re: Giles Spurr