CONTENT WARNING
Materials in the Library of Virginia’s collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical and mental ability; and gender and sexual orientation.
Context
Indigenous Virginians and the English colonists conceived landownership in different ways. Tribal members did not "own" land individually, but lived in small communities and hunted, planted, and gathered food or other materials in the larger surrounding area. The English colonists patented their land and claimed exclusive right to that property. Treaties signed between Virginia tribes and the colonial government during the 17th century granted land to the tribes but did not contain patents or legal rights to ownership of the land.
In 1723, Meherrin tribal members petitioned the royal governor, Hugh Drysdale (d. 1726). They informed the governor that Englishmen were taking their land and threatened "to take our corn" that they had grown. Describing themselves as obedient subjects, they asked for the governor's help by putting a stop to such harassment and theft.
The Meherrin, an Iroquois people, lived on the banks of the Meherrin River in southeastern Virginia, near present-day Emporia. At the end of the 17th century they had complained to the governor that colonists were encroaching on their land and sought to obtain ownership of it. In 1705, the Virginia Assembly assigned the boundaries of a reservation for the Meherrin and ordered that offenses committed by the English within the reservation to be handled by the county court. The reservation was in an area of dispute between Virginia and North Carolina, and after the border was finalized the Meherrin became tributaries of North Carolina in 1729. The Meherrin received formal tribal recognition from the North Carolina government in 1986.
Citation: Virginia (Colony), Colonial Papers, Petition of the Meherrin Indians, Sept. 9, 1723. Accession 36138. State Government Records Collection, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Standards
Suggested Questions
Scan It: Scan the transcription of the document. What word or phrases stand out to you? What do those word or phrases tell you about the people involved in writing the petition?
Post Activities
Analyze: We know today that the colonists seized the lands that Indigenous Virginians were living on with very little compensation given to them. Why do you think the colonists felt justified in doing this? Think about the social, religious, and economic issues of the time.