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Has The Lost Colony been found? Not
quite yet, but researchers are getting warmer
for sure.
Washington County Historic Society will
host a lecture by Fred Woolard, an
independent scholar and archaeologish, on the subject of
the late-breaking discoveries about The Lost Colony 7pm,
Nov. 21 at the Washington County Extension Office on
Water Street. Admission is free.
Woolard, director of the Lost Colony
Center for Science & Research, says he believes he
knows where the so-called lost colonists settled with the
Croatans and that residents of at least two communities
in northeastern North Carolina may be descendants of the
Croatan Indians, a tribe that history had all but buried
forever. The trail of land deeds signed by the Croatan
Indians recently discovered lead right to the Plymouth
area's Free Union and Ange (Pinetown)
communities and to Chocowinity.
There are dozens of oral histories told
of Indians in the ancestry of many local residents,
particularly those in what is known as the Piney
Woods community just over the Washington and
Martin county line, near Angetown. Could
these be descendants of the orginial "Lost Colony?"
Woolard believes its quite likely.
Woolard hasn't found The Lost Colony,
but with the paper trail he's followed, he has been able
to basically rewrite the history of the lost Croatan
Indians, which are not lost at all.
In 1990, Wollard discovered artifacts
and land deeds signed by the kings and queens of the last
of the Croatan Indians. These, he says, give every
indication that the English commingled at Croatan with
the natives. In 1993, Wollard discovered the lost Croatan
Indian site in Buxton. Following the
migration trail by means of land deeds from Buxton west
until the trail runs out, researchers have tracked the
last decendants to two local communities near Plymouth
- Free Union (Uniontown or Piney Woods) and Ange (Angeltown)
- and in Chocowinity. In fact, while tracing
Croatan linage, the same Anglicanized names keep cropping
up - Carawan, Gibbs, Jennette, Payne, Barber,
Buck, Pierce, Sawyer, Cahoon, and Elk.
A Chocowinity teenager, Emily
Elk, traces her ancestry directly to the signers
of the deed to Croatan on Hatteras Island, William
and Mary Elk.
Wooland is a retired business executive
in Annapolis, MD. who retired to the Outer Banks to enjoy
fishing
In 1996, he discovered the Port
Ferdinando Inlet, presently at Bodie
Island Lighthouse. This inlet was used by all of
the Roanoke voyages, including the famous 1587 Lost
Colony.
"If you follow the Croatan Indian
trail, " Wollard said, "you'll find The Lost
Colony.
Woolard's lecture promises to be both
revealing and fascinating. He will cover the findings of
100 researchers who have traced land deeds showing a
merging of the Indians and the Europeans to uncover what
Wollard calls "overwhelming evidence."
Accompanying Wollard will be a team of
five researchers who will be available for a question and
answer session following the lecture.
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