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Historical Pamunkey Indian Ancestor Edward “Ned” Bradby:
An Investigative Commentary
Prepared March 2015
Question addressed:
Whether the Pamunkey petitioner meets criterion 25 C.F.R. § 83.7 (e)
(descent from a historical tribe), including whether the historical Pamunkey
ancestors identified by BIA in the Proposed Finding are in fact Pamunkey
Indians, and whether demonstrably non-Indian residents of the Pamunkey
reservation were identified in historical documents relied upon by the
Proposed Finding (such as petitions, tax lists, and church records) as
identifying exclusively Pamunkey Indians, based solely on their residency in
the Pamunkey reservation community.
This research effort concludes that a historical Pamunkey ancestor identified
by BIA in the Proposed Finding (hereafter, “PF”) was not an indigenous tribal
Pamunkey Indian by birth, but a demonstrably non-Indian person who
became a resident of the Pamunkey reservation and changed his identity to
that of an indigenous tribal Pamunkey Indian. The documentation reviewed
for this report and partially reproduced in the following pages highlights
deficiencies, inconsistencies, omissions, and weaknesses in BIA’s analysis of
the Pamunkey Petition (#323) and the conclusions set forth by BIA in its PF.
Additionally, research to date also suggests that other demonstrably nonIndian residents of the Pamunkey reservation were identified in historical
documents relied upon by BIA in its PF (such as petitions, tax lists, and
church records) as native Pamunkey Indians based solely on their residency
in the old Indian Town. Some of these individuals are mentioned or touched
upon in the pages that follow, but a full examination awaits a subsequent
report.
The acknowledgment regulations at 25 C.F.R. § 83.7(a)-(g) specify that a
petitioner must show that “available evidence establishes a reasonable
likelihood of the validity of the facts relating to [each] criterion,” but also does
not require conclusive proof. Id. § 83.6(d). Interior (BIA, OFA) must “take into
account historical situations and time periods for which evidence is
demonstrably limited or not available.” Id. § 83.6(e).
The matter of Edward “Ned” Bradby’s Pamunkey Indian identity:
Edward “Ned” Bradby is documented in the record with surname variants
Bradbry, Bradley, Bradberry, and Bradbury. BIA identifies Edward or Ned
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Bradby not only as a historical Pamunkey Indian, but also as one of just six
such individuals having “descendants in the petitioner” (PF @94).
Based on federal census enumerations of 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, and 1870, a
special county census of 1833, as well as an 1872 Southern Claims
Commission application and testimony, Edward or Ned Bradby was born
sometime from 1793 to 1798. He was of tithable age—or taxable at one-tenth
rate—or over sixteen years, as early as 1813 and certainly no later than 1814.
He was about twenty-one years old between 1816 and 1818, and was
approximately thirty-three to thirty-five at the federal census for 1830 but in
1833 reported he was thirty-five years old.
The earliest extant verifiable documentation for Edward or Ned Bradby’s
residence in King William County is the federal census of 1830. There is no
indication from the record that he resided in the county before then. That
year, too, Edward Bradby allowed for his enumeration as a Free Person of
Color, or a non-Indian (1830, King William County, Virginia, NARA Series:
M19, Roll: 201: 94).
Edward Bradby joined the Lower College Baptist Church in King William
County on February 27, 1831 (entered as member No. 152, Lower College
Baptist Church Minutes, Church Book 1, Virginia Baptist Historical Society,
University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia). On the same date, also listed,
as a new member was a “Lucy Bradby,” probably Edward’s spouse (King
William County, Virginia, Register of Marriages, Pleasant Bradby to Lucy J.
Miles, February 15, 1860, wherein Pleasant’s parents are identified as Ned
and Lucy Bradby). Ned Bradby and Lucy Bradby were not designated or
entered into the church minutes as aboriginal tribal Pamunkey Indians.
However, they were listed as part of a group including several persons
possessing typical or traditional Pamunkey Indian Town surnames, such as
Langston, but also with persons having the last names Craddock, Dickey,
Holmes, Howell, and Tomson. None of the latter five surnames are identified
or recognized by BIA in the Proposed Finding (PF) as “Historical Pamunkey
Indians” (See Appendix A – 1).
However, BIA does conclude in the PF (@ p. 31) that:
The Lower College/Colosse Baptist Church was not an exclusively Indian
institution, but the documents in the record indicate that the Pamunkey acted
together as a group within the confines of the church organization.
Considering that “non-Whites” were legally prohibited from forming churches
without White leaders after the 1831 Nat Turner’s Rebellion, the fact that the
residents of “Indian Island” acted as a subgroup within the established church
provides some corroborating evidence of interaction. The presence of their
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names on a list the church compiled identified them as “Indian,”
geographically located them on “Indian Island,” and also identified them
specifically as Pamunkey.
Review of the record shows that in fact the Lower College/Colosse Baptist
Church was a predominantly non-Indian institution, and that prior to 1850
residents of Pamunkey Indian Town were overseen not by “Indian” members
of the group but by Free Colored or African-American deacons and elders
appointed by the church (see, for instance, “A Copy of The Rules of Bruington
Church, adopted by the Lower College Church according to a resolution by
the church August 21st 1824,” Article 6).
The first time anyone “of the Indian tribe” was appointed by non-Indians to
such a position of authority within the church was in 1850 (Book 2, 2 March
1850: @27). Even so, that authority was shared with an African-American
man. Indeed, as late as 1865, on the “Saturday before 2nd Sunday Nov 1865,”
the church appointed a committee to visit one Lambeth Page, since it was
reported to the church that “he the said Lambeth Page with other members of
this chur having whiped J C Holms maliciously and against the rules and
regulations of the church.” The committee consisted of white “Brother F
Martin” and “Wm Z Penny” along with “colored” or African-American deacon
and elder Jessee Dungee “to see the above named persons + to investigate +
summon all parties ingaged in the matter to appear before this church at our
next monthly meeting.” These persons were Lambeth Sampson Page, Silas
Miles, Pleasant Bradby—son of Ned Bradby, Sr., and Lucy—William Cook,
Delaware Bradby, and Edward Bradby (Jr.), identified by the PF as
Pamunkey Indians (Church Book 2; PF @ top 37).
On the “Saturday before 2nd Sunday December 1865” the “Case of Lambeth
Page and others came up,” and “some of the parties being present, the case
was inquired into.” The parties appearing were Silas Miles, Pleasant Bradby,
William Cook, Delaware Bradby, and Edward Bradby” all of whom “made
Confession of their improper conduct, and asked forgiveness of the church +
on their expression of Sorrow they were forgiven.” The church then appointed
a committee to wait on “John Holmes”—presumably an Indian Town resident
according to BIA (PF @37)—and “cite him to the church at our next monthly
meeting, to answer to charges against him of improper conduct.”
BIA uses this case as evidence to support the contention that the Pamunkey
Indian Town community, as a cohesive group or collective entity, utilized the
church to help them resolve disputes. However, the evidence from the church
books can be interpreted to show rather that non-Indian church elders,
deacons, and committeemen actually managed the community’s internal
“tribal” affairs, as some of the parties involved in the case never even
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appeared on church membership rolls or elsewhere in the minutes (e.g., J.C.
Holmes and William Cook). The “tribe”—in the form of a chief or chiefs and
headmen or councilors, and with or without the presumably official
Pamunkey Town trustees—did not adjudicate or exert authority in the public
flogging case involving Lambeth Page, Silas Miles, Pleasant Bradby, William
Cook, Delaware Bradby, and Edward Bradby, Jr., against J.C. Holmes.
Still, BIA interprets the church record to indicate that Pamunkey Indian
Town residents formed and acted as a distinct subgroup within the church
community. BIA concludes that they joined as a group in 1833, and, in 1866,
left as a group (PF @37, and ns. 170, 171). The PF cites a newspaper article
from 1899 to assert that Agnes Sampson was the only Pamunkey Indian
Town resident to remain a member of the Colosse Baptist Church
congregation after the Civil War. The inference from the PF is that Agnes
Sampson remained at Colosse due to a dispute she had with Ony Langston
(PF @36, 37, and n.170).
However, on September 12, 1868 (Church Book 2)—over three years past the
cessation of the Civil War—Pamunkey Indian (PF @40 and n.186; 66 and
n.311; and 96 and ns.470, 472) and Indian Town resident “Terril Bradby”
along with Albert Dover were two “colored” men “once members” of the
church who had been “excluded for improper conduct.” They came before the
church and “expressed a wish to be restored” to the congregation. A few years
earlier when initially joining the congregation, Bradby acknowledged his
current membership at Gillfield Church (Colosse Minutes @78-79, Book 2,
October 13, 1861).
The assembled church leaders considered Bradby’s and Dover’s request and it
was moved and seconded that the two “colored” men be received back into the
fellowship. A year later, on September 11, 1869 (Church Book 2) among a
“List of Colored members asking for letters of dismission [sic] to unite with
the Bethany Baptist Church,” in King William County was “Catherin
Langston,” a Pamunkey Indian Town resident. Langston joined Colosse
Church on September 8, 1860, with Lucy Langston, Matilda Langston, and
Susan Ann Bradby. Catharine Langston appears on the federal censuses of
1850 and 1860 residing within the Indian Town community (1850, King
William County, Virginia, NARA Roll: M432_955: 264A, Image: 60; 1860,
King William County, Virginia, NARA Roll: M653_1357: 606, Image: 188).
Terrill Bradby’s and Catharine Langston’s continued connection to and
membership at Colosse—some two and even three years after the
establishment of the first independent but affiliated regional association
church in Indian Town—as well as her request to join the non-Pamunkey
Indian Town congregation at Bethany, weakens the claim that Agnes
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Sampson was the only Pamunkey Indian to remain at Colosse after the Civil
War (which ended May 9, 1865) and who elected to not move her membership
to the Pamunkey Indian Town church.
(On the separation and creation of the Pamunkey Indian Baptist Church, see
Lower College and Colosse Church Book 2, June 9, 1866; Second Sunday of
August, 1866; second Saturday before Sunday, September, 1866; and then
meeting minutes of March 1866, April 1866, and May, 1866, in which
“Colored Members” were asked to appear to “advise [the church] [of] some
plan for their Spiritual interests,” and where committees were formed and
ordered to speak with and report on, and to assist, the “Colored” members or
“any Color. Members that may wish to organize themselves into a separate
organization that may be of a good standing in this church.”)
In fact, even as late as a called meeting of Colosse Church on September 12,
1869, Indian Town resident William Allman came before the church asking
for restoration of membership, he having been recently excluded for
drunkenness. The church forgave him and restored Allman to membership.
William “Aldman” was enumerated as “Ind” or Indian for the federal census
of King William County in 1870, listed on one of three schedule pages set
aside for the county’s “Indians Not Taxed,” including one hundred seventeen
(117) individuals from families named Bradby, Cook, Holt, Langston, Major,
Miles, Page, and Sampson (1870, West Point, King William County, Virginia,
NARA Roll: M593_1658: 171A, 171B, 172A; Images: 347, 348, 349; the
surname ‘Allman’ is also documented as variants Alman, Aldman, Almon and
Allmond. PF also cites as connected to Pamunkey Indian Town one Thornton
Allmond, Betsy Allmond, indeed, the spouse of William Terrill Bradby, and
E.R. Allmond. See Appendix B, Appendix page 5, “Pamunkey Indian Census,”
and 72; 96, n.470; and 106, ns.497, 498).
Documents from the Lower College and Colosse Baptist Church record do not
necessarily indicate that Pamunkey Indian Town residents or the
“descendants of an Indian Tribe” who lived there acted together as a group
within the confines of the church organization. Prior to 1860, there is really
only one reference to concerted activity on behalf of or by some of the alleged
Indian descendants. Otherwise, often these individuals cannot be
differentiated in the record from other “Free Coloured” or non-Indian church
members. Free Colored church members are often listed alongside presumed
“Indians,” many of the latter themselves frequently called and considered
“Free Coloured” (See, Lower College and Colosse Baptist Church Minutes,
Book 1, 1791, for John Collens, Wm Cooper, Wm Gunn, John Langston, James
Langston, Gideon Langston, Patr,k Bradley [one of two “free negroes” from
Richmond who lived on Indian Island], Willis Langston, Edw,d Brisby, Wm
Sweatt, Rich,d Bradby [one of two “free negroes” from Richmond who lived on
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Indian Island], Wm Sampson, Arch,d Langston, Philip Scott, and Wm
Pearman; and October 25, 1812, for “Free Coloured” Billey Bowsman, Elizth
Gunn, Jane Collens, Salley Cooper, Francis Sampson, Agness Custelow,
Mary Bradby, Keziah Bradby, Lucy Langston, Ann Brisby, Peircy Gurly,
Betsey Sampson, Anny Driver, Elizath Holt, Leah Langston, Frances Roane,
and Eliza Burton; other lists of “free Colored members” of 1813-1818 show
Jessey Bradberry, Wallace Langston, James Langston, Edward Brisley
[Brisby], William Gun[n]; November 12, 1818, Betty Gun; September 19
1830, for Allen Sweet (Sweat); November 7 1830, for Oney Langston, Jack
Langston, and Edward Brisby; November 14 1830, for Free Colored William
Holt, William Swett, Patsey Gurley, Ells Brisbun [probably Elsey or Elzey
Brisby], Ferdinand Win, Cooper Langston, Miles Bradby, and Taswill Gurley;
then, Book 2, in the “Lists of Colored Free Members of Colosse Church,”
taken in 1850, 1853, 1855, 1858, 1860, 1861, 1864, and 1869, see the
surnames Adams, Allmon, Arnold, Bradby, Brisby, Collins, Cook, Custaloe,
Dickey, Dungee, Edwards, Fortin, Gurley, Harris, Hill, Hock, Holmes, Holt,
Langston, Miles, Page, Sampson, Swett, Tuppence, Wheely, and Winn. Note,
especially, aside from the obvious “Pamunkey Indian” individuals and names
that are “Colored”—e.g., Bradby, Cook, Langston, Miles, and Sampson—the
Free Colored individuals and surnames Adams, Allmon, Arnold, Burton,
Collens [Collins], Dickey, Driver, Dungee, Edwards, Fortin, Harris, Hill, Holt,
Page, Pearman, Scott, Tuppence, Wheely, and Win or Winn.).
The residents of the old Indian Town or of “Indian Island” were not
consistently identified in the record as the descendants of an Indian tribe.
They were never specifically identified as “Pamunkey Indians,” anyway, but
only as “Free Coloured,” “descendants” of Indians, and sometimes simply as
“Indian” or as persons who resided on Indian Island or at the old Indian
Town.
Moreover, as the few examples provided make plain, Pamunkey Indian Town
residents often joined the church separately as individuals, and did so long
after the alleged distinct Pamunkey Indian subgroup supposedly joined the
church one time as a body and attended “as a group” (PF @29, 31). That
Pamunkey Indian Town residents likewise affiliated with or maintained
membership at other churches, like Terrill Bradby at Gillfield and Catherine
Langston at Bethany, or that William Allman joined and re-joined Colosse
several years after the establishment of Pamunkey Indian Town Church,
demonstrates that the community did not function exclusively as a tribal
entity and that Lower College and Colosse Church did not serve “the group as
a whole,” even though the PF (@30) states that “the group as a whole
submitted its members’ names for inclusion in the church records, as opposed
to a number of individuals applying for church membership separately.”
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Indeed, other notable examples from this record include:
Members present on June 14, 1795 (Book 1) included William Cooper. Cooper
was not identified here as Indian, but see PF @26, and ns.121, 122; p. 27;
Appendix A – Historical Pamunkey Indians, Appendix -1, wherein he is
treated entirely as a native and “historic” Pamunkey Indian. Really, the
assertion that Cooper was a native and historic Pamunkey Indian is based
solely upon two documents, both legislative petitions, one from 1798 and the
other from 1812, upon which his “x” mark appear.
To iterate points made, supra, particularly in the note at pp. 5-6, the October
25, 1812, “Free Coloured” church Membership Roll (Book 1) lists a Billey
Bowsman, Elizabeth Gunn, Jane Collens, Salley Cooper, Francis Sampson,
Agness Custelow, Mary Bradby, Keziah Bradby, Lucy Langston, Ann
Brisby, Peircy Gurly, Betsey Sampson, Anny Driver, Elizabeth Holt, Leah
Langston, Frances Roane, and Eliza Burton. The PF identifies several
persons from this list as “Historical Pamunkey Indians” (Appendix A). These
are John, Lewis, and William Gunn, William Cooper, Francis Sampson
and then also at least nine others named Sampson, twelve persons named
Bradby, fourteen named Langston, four to five named Brisby, four named
Gurley, and seven named Holt. Note the appearance on this particular
membership list, though, of persons named Bowsman (Bozeman or, perhaps,
Bowman), Burton, Collens (Collins), Custelow (Custalow), Driver, and Roane,
all of which appear from context to have joined at the same time with the
several apparent “Pamunkey Indians” also listed on the same day. However,
BIA treats none of these as Pamunkey Indians in the PF.
On August 23, 1818 (again, Book 1), Jessey Bradberry (Jesse Bradby) joined
the Lower College congregation. He is identified by the PF as a Historical
Pamunkey Indian (Appendix A). On August 20, 1825 (Book 1), “Geddean
(Gideon) Langston,” is noted in the accounts. He is not identified in this
record as Indian, but see PF, Appendix A. On September 19 1830 (Book 1),
Allen Sweet (Sweat) became a member of the church. He is not identified in
this record as Indian, but see PF, Appendix A.
On November 22, 1835 (Book 2), when the Pamunkey Indian Town residents
or the “descendants of an Indian Tribe” who lived there acted together as a
group to join the church, the long-standing traditional or foundational
Pamunkey Indian surnames Cook and Sampson were absent, they did not
appear, and they were not included on the so-called “Island List” (see PF @8,
n. 15; p. 30, and ns.132-135). However, Agnes Sampson was a member on
July 3, 1852 (Book 2, @29), and Thomas Cook and William Cook appeared in
the 1860s (see Book 2, the 4th Sunday of October 1861 and the Saturday
before the 2nd Sunday of December, 1865), separate from any group action,
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joining as individuals. Likewise, on June 28, 1841 (Book 2), the church
baptized and received into membership Washington Langston.
On October 9, 1851 (Book 2 @ p. 27,), the minutes show that the church’s
total membership at that time amounted to one hundred eighty-three
persons. The “free col.” (free colored) members consisted of just eight males
and thirteen females. The non-free colored, or slave, portion of the
congregation numbered fifty-three males and seventy-three females.
Beginning on June 25, 1851, eight free colored women were listed as
members. These were Caroline Langston, Matilda Brisby, Nancy Langston,
Betsey Swett, Agnes Sampson, Ony Langston, Loretta Sampson, and
Elizabeth Gurley.
Still, there are additional examples of supposed Pamunkey Indians
remaining affiliated with Colosse after the Civil War and the establishment
of Pamunkey Indian Baptist Church at Indian Town. On May 8, 1868 (Book
2), John Langston went before the church and asked to be excused for his
inappropriate behavior. The following day, May 9, 1868, Sarah Ann Langston
requested to be restored to membership and was “received into the Church.”
Finally, on June 11, 1870, (Book 2, @ p. 58), “Eliza Alman” asked that the
church restore her to membership and “it was moved & Seconded That She
Should be restored to the Church in full fellowship.” Eliza Alman is not
identified as Indian in this record, but on August 24, 1870, she reported as an
Indian for the federal census of 1870. She resided in Indian Town with the
“Indians not Taxed” in West Point Township, King William County (1870,
West Point, King William County, Virginia, NARA Roll: M593_1658: 171, and
172A).
The argument advanced by the PF (@29, and n. 131) that “people of color”
were after 1831 prohibited by law from forming churches without white
leaders does not provide any insight into the existence of any purported pre1831 native or indigenous “tribal” subgroup within the predominantly white
and slave congregation of Lower College Church. In fact, by such reasoning
as exhibited by BIA in the PF, the supposed Pamunkey Indian subgroup
ought to have had its own separate congregation prior to 1831. They did not.
Even when they did, from time to time, join Lower College and later Colosse,
they often did so as individuals, not as a group, and they were generally
accepted and regarded as free colored members, not Indian.
At any rate, after his first two documented appearances in King William
County in 1830 on the federal census—and in the Indian Town community—
and in 1831, when he joined Lower College Baptist Church with apparent
spouse Lucy, Edward “Ned” Bradby or Bradberry was taxable on property he
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owned in 1834 (King William County Personal Property Tax Books, 18331851, Reel 199: 16). He was not taxed as, or listed in the book as, a
Pamunkey Indian. Jesse Bradby and William Bradby were also taxable that
year. They, too, were not taxed or listed as Indians.
In 1833, King William County compiled a special census of resident “Free
Negroes & Mulattoes” (King William County, Virginia, Auditor of Public
Accounts, Free Negroes, 1833, Misc. Reel 1322, Library of Virginia,
Richmond). Ned Bradby was listed with William Bradby and Miles Bradby:
In 1835, “Ned” Bradby and Jesse Bradberry were taxables (King William
County Personal Property Tax Books, 1833-1851, Reel 199:15). They were
listed among the general population and not designated or listed as
Pamunkey Indians. In 1839, Edward Bradby and Jesse Bradby were still
taxable (ibid: 14).
In 1841, William Bradby was taxable as a Free Negro or Mulatto—that is, as
non-Indian—he was African-American (id: 15). In 1843, William Bradby and
Edward Bradby were again taxable as Free Negroes or Mulattoes—that is, as
non-Indian, or African-Americans (id: 12). The same year, taxable and listed
as “Indn” or “(Indn)”—that is, Indian, were Tazewell H. Langston (id: 11),
William Holt (id: 16), Leroy Page Sampson, and William Sweet (id: 18). Why
were these four men Indian but Ned and William Bradby black?
In 1845, “Billy” (William) Bradby, Ned Bradby, and Beverly Bradby were
listed with the county’s “Free negroes & Mulattoes” (id: 2). Others on the
same county tax list for 1845 who were taxable and listed as “(Indn),” “(Ind),”
or “(I)”—all meaning ‘Indian’—were Joseph Arnold, Robert Arnold, Tazwell H
Langston, James Langston, Jack Langston, William Sweat, and Leroy Page
Sampson (id: 1, 8, 11). Again, why were the Brabdys black and the Arnolds,
Langstons, Sweat and Sampson Indian? Then, in 1846—and for the first
time—Billy Bradby and Edward Bradby were taxable as “(Ind)” or Indian (id:
1). A Matilda Bradby listed on the same page with them was taxed as and
with the “free Negroes.” This Matilda Bradby was actually Matilda Brisby
using the Bradby/Bradberry surname.
This Matilda is recognized by BIA in the PF as an historic Pamunkey Indian
and ancestor of the modern Pamunkey Indian Tribe or Petitioner (#323).
Matilda Brisby/Bradby was also enumerated for the federal census of 1860 as
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“Matilda Bradbury,” the sixty-seven year-old non-Indian (“M” or mulatto)
head of a six member all-mulatto household that contained twenty-two year
old Matilda (a daughter), thirty-seven year-old John (probably a son), forty
year-old Fielding (perhaps a son or younger brother, Fielding Dickey), ten
year-old Minerva, and seven year old John Bradbury (1860, King William
County, Virginia, Roll: M653_1357: 610, Image: 192.).
Ned Bradbury appears on the same page of the same census schedule for
1860 as a sixty-five year-old non-Indian (mulatto) head of an all-mulatto
household, including children Susan (aged seventeen years), Pleasants (or
Pleasant, aged thirty-three years), and Lucy (aged twenty-two years; see
1850, infra, Federal Census entry for Ned Bradberry or Bradbury). Ned
Bradbury’s eldest son, also known as and listed as “Ned Bradbury,” was on
the following page of the 1860 census schedule. As Ned, Jr., he was
enumerated as the twenty-eight year-old (born 1832) non-Indian (mulatto)
head of a five-member household containing wife “Caty”—probably formerly
Caty Langston—and his six month old son “Ned.” Others in the household
were two year-old John Langston and six month old Emelina Langston (1860,
King William County, Virginia, Roll: M653_1357: 610, Image: 192.).
In 1847, “Ned” (Edward) Bradby paid tax on personal property as an “(Indn)”
(King William County Personal Property Tax Books, 1833-1851, Reel 199:1).
In 1848, Billy (William) Bradby, Matilda Bradby (Brisby), and Edward
Bradby were listed consecutively on the tax roll without color or racial
designation (ibid: 1). However, on the same, but listed as Indian (“[Indn]”)
were Ro. (Robert) Arnold, Joe Arnold, Sam Arnold, Billy Cooke, Billy Holt,
Jack Langston, James Langston, Lewis Sampson, and Billy Sweat. What
happened in 1848 that Edward “Ned” Bradby and brother William were not
recognized as Indian, while nine individuals were so designated? Then, the
next year, 1849, Dicey Bradberry and Ned Bradby were taxable “free
negroes” while Ellison Edwards, Robert Arnold, William Holt, James
Langston, Jack Langston, Billy Sweat, and Lewis Sampson were all Indians
(“[Indn]”) (id: Second District, 1). If Ellison Edwards was taxable as an
Indian, as was, sometimes, though infrequently, Ned Bradby, why does the
PF make no mention of Edwards?
In 1850, Edwards resided very near, if not in, the Indian Town community.
Among his neighbors were members of the Arnold, Bradberry, Brisby,
Collins, Dungee, Gurley, Harris, Holt, Langston, Lazenberry, Major, Miles,
Page, Sampson, Stokes, and Sweat families (1850, King William, Virginia,
NARA Roll: M432_955: 265A, Image: 62, and 263A, 263B, 264A, and 265B).
In 1870, thirty year-old Elizebeth Edwards, one of Ellison’s daughters—aged
sixteen in 1850, or born 1834—resided in the household of Holt “Lanxton,” or
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Langston, and she was an “Ind” or Indian, and they lived in Indian Town
(1870, West Point, King William, Virginia, Roll: M593_1658: 172A, Image:
349).
Surely, based on similar evaluations manifest in BIA’s PF for Petitioner
(#323), whereby individuals are granted status as “Historic Pamunkey
Indians” based on as few two documents or even just one document, the
evidence presented here warrants a finding in favor of Ellyson Edwards and
Elizabeth Edwards being recognized as Pamunkey Indians, regardless of
whether they have descendants among the modern Petitioner (among those
recognized in the PF as Historical Pamunkey Indians based on a single
document are Beverley Bradby, Elzey Brisbon, Hartwell Gurley, Patsy Holt,
Ony Langston, Pleasant Miles, Lewis Sampson, and James Williams. There
are others.) It is quite possible the same may be said for other persons.
In all, BIA recognizes eighty-one (81) “historical Pamunkey individuals” from
review of “combined county tax lists, historical Pamunkey petitions, and [the]
church record in the half century between 1787 and 1836, for the purposes of
demonstrating descent from the historical Indian tribe.” It appears that BIA
did not utilize certain other documents in reaching their identification, or
drew an arbitrary line at 1836 in order to determine who was a Pamunkey
Indian. Ellison Edwards and Elizabeth Edwards are very clearly identified in
the record as Pamunkey Indians, he as early as 1849. In the context
presented herein, one has to ask if there are others like the Edwards’ in the
record, identified as Pamunkey Indians or Indian residents of Pamunkey
Indian own, who are not so recognized in the PF.
Perhaps good examples of this are found in the persons of Fielding Dickey
and Parthenia Twopence. On November 8, 1854, the Richmond Dispatch ran
a brief notice in which Parthenia Twopence was referred to as a member of
the Pamunkey tribe (Richmond, Virginia, Daily Dispatch, November 8, 1854:
2).
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Fielding Dickey is the Fealden Dickey, a single free colored man of King
William County, who in 1840 resided in the Indian Town community. In 1850
“Fielding Dicky” of King William County was a thirty-five year-old mulatto in
Matilda Brisby’s household, and Matilda Brisby is recognized and identified
in the PF as an Historic Pamunkey Indian and ancestor of the modern
Petitioner (1840, St Johns Parish, King William, Virginia, Roll: 564: 78,
Image: 215; 1850, King William, Virginia, Roll: M432_955: 263A, Image: 58;
PF, Appendix A; @95; and 97-98).
The record indicates that Fielding Dickey was born about 1815, when
Matilda—who reported her age as sixty in 1850—was fifteen years old. Was
Matilda Brisby an older sister to Fielding or was she his mother? Though the
precise nature of their relationship is still not clearly understood, there is a
discernible relationship between the two. Buttressing this deduction is the
fact that in 1870 Fielding Dickey lived in the Indian Town household of
Thomas Sampson and his wife Martha A. Brisby Sampson—Matilda Brisby’s
daughter Martha Ann. Fielding was enumerated as Indian (1870, West Point,
King William, Virginia, Roll: M593_1658: 172A; PF: 97).
The second book of the Lower College and Colosse Baptist Church minutes
also show, @ 78-79, that on October 13, 1861, the same day that “Lavenia
Miles of Pomonkey Indian Town, came before the church for admission,” and
that “Nancy Sweatt of [the] same place appeared before the church,”
“Fielding Dickie applied to” the same for admission and “on motion was
restored to the fellowship of the church.” On August of 1858, Fielding Dickey
was also listed in the Colored Membership with Jack Custiloe, Jesse Dungee,
Joseph Dungee, Jack Langston, Isaac Miles, Edward Bradby, James Henry
Langston, William Holt, Warner Adams, Isaac Miles, Jr., William Langston,
Larkin Holmes, Evans Bradby, William Swett, William Miles, Major Cook,
Richard Langston, John W. Langston, Delaware Bradby, Holt Langston,
Aaron Arnold, Thomas Sampson, John Langston, William Sampson, Thomas
Langston, James W. Winn, and Terrill Bradby. At least nine of these men are
recognized and identified in the PF as Pamunkey Indians.
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13
Indeed, as early as 1831 Fielding Dickey was listed in the Lower College
Church minutes with members Menervia Swett, Dizey Bradby, and William
Bradby (and from Minerva Sweat down to William Bradby, written in the left
column or margin, in a different hand and instrument from other material on
the page, and, apparently, only next to just these three individuals is this:
“Indians”), Agness Craddock, James Holmes, Virginia Langston, Parthena
Swett, Abraham Swett, Rodia Arnold, Robert Arnold, Parkey Langston,
Edward Bradby, Isaac Miles Jr., Tazwell Lagston [Langston], Lucy Bradby,
Catherine Major, David Miles, Nancy Tompson, Francis Tompson, and
William Howell (Lower College and Colosse Baptist Church Minutes, Book 1,
December 11, 1830, list of members, nos. 136-160, and February 27, 1831).
Clearly, his close association with so many members of the Indian Town, his
extended residence on Indian Island from at least 1840—and most likely
1830—through 1870, and his identification as “Indian” in the record ought to
make Fielding Dickey a Historic Pamunkey Indian.
At any rate, and returning to Matilda Brisby and the Bradbys, in 1851,
Matilda Bradby was listed on that year’s tax book for King William County
as Matilda Brisby. Delaware Bradby was also taxable on a horse but he was
not accorded or designated by any color or racial term (King William County
Personal Property Tax Books, 1833-1851, Reel 199:1851:1). On the same
page, however, Ned Bradberry and Beverly Bradberry were taxable “free
Negroes” (id: 1).
The record demonstrates that upon his initial documentary appearance in
King William County in 1830 and on through 1851, a period spanning some
twenty-one years, Edward “Ned” Bradby or Bradbury maintained varying
color or racial identities. He was almost always free colored or mulatto until
the mid-1840s, and even then Ned Bradby did not consistently maintain
“Indian” identity or was only intermittently recognized as Indian, most likely
due to his residence in the old Indian Town community.
In an interesting instance from 1855, “Edward Bradley” (Ned Bradby)
published a classified advertisement in the Richmond, Virginia, Daily
Dispatch seeking the return of his lost “FREE PAPERS,” together with an
apparently separate “Indian Register,” granted him “from the trustees of the
Pamunkey tribe of Indians.” In this ad Bradby identified himself not as a
native Pamunkey Indian, but as a “free man of color” (Richmond, Virginia,
Daily Dispatch 6/20/1855: 1).
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14
A decade later, in his 1865 testimony in the Petersburg City case of John
Leddy and Sarah Barber, administrators of the estate of Jane Updike, vs
Lavinia Sampson, “a free Coloured Woman,” Edward “Ned” Bradley (Bradby)
of King William County said that he had siblings named William Bradby,
Pleasant Bradby, Sterling Bradby, and Ritta Bradby Updike. He also named
as his (and their) mother, one “Suckey Bradby,” formerly “Miles,” and halfsister to “Nat Miles” (Circuit Court Clerk’s Office, City of Petersburg,
Virginia, Records of the Circuit Superior Court of Chancery, Box: 175-177, 2
April 1864-1867, John Leddy, etc., v. Admr. of Jane Updike, etc., 1868-024.).
“Ritta” or Luretta Bradby married a prominent non-Indian, Free Black John
Updike, who moved to Petersburg, Virginia, from Rhode Island (see W.
Jeffery Bolster, Black Jacks: African-American Seamen in the Age of Sail,
Harvard University Press; Reprint edition [October 15, 1998]. John Updike’s
mariner certificate is shown, following p. 112; also, Luther P. Jackson, “Free
Negroes of Petersburg, Virginia,” Journal of Negro History, Vol. 12, No. 3
[July, 1927]: 365-388, esp. 379, 368, 384; L. Diane Barnes, Artisan Workers in
the Upper South: Petersburg, Virginia, 1820-1865: Louisiana State University
Press, 2008: 149; Federal Census, 1840, Petersburg Center Ward, Dinwiddie,
Virginia, NARA Roll: 557:36, Image: 76; 1850, Petersburg, Petersburg
[Independent City], Virginia, Roll: M432_941: 336B; 1860, Petersburg East
Ward, Petersburg [Independent City], Virginia, Roll: M653_1342: 226, Image:
232).
Luretta Bradley or Ritta Bradby and John Updike married in 1822. The
record shows that Luretta Bradley or Ritta Bradby was a “colored” or mulatto
woman. She is not identified as Indian. John Updike was enumerated on the
federal census for 1830 with a woman in his household aged between twenty
and twenty-nine. This woman was almost certainly Luretta or Ritta Bradby
Updike, that is, the sister of Edward “Ned” Bradby, Sterling Bradby,
Pleasant Bradby, and William Bradby (1830, Petersburg, Dinwiddie,
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15
Virginia, NARA Series: M19, Roll 196: 379; Petersburg, Virginia, Hustings
Court Marriage Register, 1785-1850; Marriage Bonds and Licenses, 18061832, December 22, 1822.)
In his 1865 testimony in the Jane Updike case in Petersburg, Edward
Bradley (Ned Bradby) identified Martha Miles Bland of Petersburg as the
former Martha Miles, the daughter of his mother’s half-brother, Nathaniel
Miles.
Nathaniel or Nat Miles—shown below as “Nathl Miles”—was taxable in
Charles City County as early as 1796 (Charles City County, Virginia, Auditor
of Public Accounts, Personal Property Tax Books, 1788-1807, 1809-1823,
Library of Virginia, Mf. No. 78):
In 1813 and 1814 Nathaniel “Nat” Miles was listed in Charles City County as
a mulatto taxpayer:
In 1820, a Nathaniel Miles headed a “Free Colored” household in the Charles
City County. He was listed as being between twenty-six and forty-four years
of age. There were four males in his household under the age of fourteen
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16
(1820 U S Census, Charles City County, Virginia, NARA Roll: M33_135: 10;
Image: 21):
In 1830, Nathaniel Miles headed a free colored household in Charles City
County (1830, Charles City, Virginia; Series: M19; Roll: 194: 104):
Nathaniel Miles’ household in 1830 included five males aged from under ten
years to as old twenty-three. There were also a female under ten and two
females older than ten but less than twenty-three, and one aged between
thirty-six and fifty-four. Nat Miles was between fifty-five and ninety-nine. If
he was approximately forty-four years old in 1820 then he should have been
about fifty-four or fifty-five in 1830. This indicates he was born likely around
1775 or 1776. Therefore, he was certainly old enough in 1796 to have been
tithable and taxable.
On October 21, 1831, a Harris Miles registered as a Free Negro with the
court of Charles City County. According to sworn testimony, Harris Miles
was born free in Charles City County in 1810, a son of “Nat. Miles.” On the
federal census for 1840, Harris Miles headed a Charles City County free
colored household. He was listed one page ahead of his father Nathaniel
Miles (1840, Charles City, Charles City County, Virginia, Roll: 553: 133-134).
On June 21, 1838, Graham Miles, also born free in Charles City County, in
1813, registered with the Charles City County court as a Free Negro,
specifically as a mulatto, or a person of mixed “Negro” and white heritage,
and a “son of Nat Miles.” Then, in 1843, a “Martha Miles” entered the
Charles City County Free Negro registry as a twenty-three year-old mulatto
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17
woman who was born free in the county in about 1818, and the “daughter of
Nathaniel Miles.”
The record indicates, then, that the Nathaniel or Nat Miles family was nonIndian, free blacks or mulattoes. As Nat Miles’ sister, it seems that Susannah
or Susan, aka Sucky Miles, ought also to be a free black person. Yet her son—
of an as of yet still unknown father—was, or rather, became, a Pamunkey
Indian.
Still living in 1865, Edward or Ned Bradby—by then really long since known
as Edward Bradby, Sr., he having also had a son named Edward, born 1830—
swore in the above-cited Petersburg City Chancery case of Leddy et. al. v
Administrator of Updike that his mother was “Sukey” or Susannah Miles
Bradby. Then, in 1872, in his Southern Claims Commission application, in
which he is referred to both as “Edward Bradley” and “Edward Bradby,” he
claimed to be some seventy-six years of age, or born 1796, and seventy-five, or
born 1797. He also swore he was “an Indian, belonging to the Pamunkey
Tribe.” He stated, too, that he had been “a resident of this Island,” or Indian
Island, for over fifty years. That places Bradby in Indian Town by around
1822 (Southern Claims Commission, Claim of Edward Bradley [Bradby],
No.14976, King William County, Virginia, Before the Commissioner of
Claims, under an Act of Congress of March 3, 1871. NARA RG 217, Treasury
Department, E 732, SCC Settled Case Files, Box 381, and NARA Roll 25,
Target 9, No. 14976, Report 6, December 4, 1876).
It is significant that Edward Bradby asserted in 1872 that he was seventy-six
years old, or born about 1796, and yet had only been a resident of Indian
Island or Indian Town since circa 1822. Edward or Ned Bradby should have
been at least twenty-four years old by 1820. However, there is no evidence of
his presence in King William County at all prior to 1821—indeed, he was
never tithable or assessed as an owner of personal property or real estate
before 1834 (King William County, Virginia, Personal Property Tax Books,
1833-1851, Library of Virginia, mf. no. 199: 16.). There does not appear,
moreover, to be a man of his age in any other “Bradby” or Brabdberry
households in King William County in 1820. Indeed, there was but one such
household in the county in 1820, an all-white family—no males between
fifteen and twenty-five years of age—headed by white slave owner John
Brabdberry, of no known relation. John was related to the Richard and Ann
Bradby family, a family that left the county shortly after 1830 (1820, U S
Census, King William, Virginia, NARA Roll: M33_136:306, Image: 331).
Ned Bradby’s earliest appearance in the Lower College Baptist Church
minute books was on February 27, 1831 (as member No. 152), the same day
as spouse Lucy Bradby (member no. 155). Certainly, the first evidence for
Edward “Ned” Bradby’s residence in King William County is the federal
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18
census of 1830 (1830, King William County, Virginia, Series M19, Roll: 201:
94).
Probably imperfectly recalling in 1872 just when he moved into Pamunkey
Indian Town and just how long he had been resident there—after all, he was
not sure even of the year of his birth—the documentary record indicates that
Ned Bradby moved into King William County and onto “Indian Island”
sometime after 1822, and likely several years later, and not conclusively until
1830.
As he claimed in 1872 to be a Pamunkey Indian, how is it, then, that Edward
“Ned” Bradby only became an Indian Town resident when he was around the
age of, perhaps, thirty-two to thirty-five years? Where had Ned Bradby been
all those years, if he was a Pamunkey Indian?
A review of the record demonstrates beyond doubt that a Ned Bradby was, in
fact, listed on the federal census of Virginia for 1820. However, he was not a
resident of King William County, but of James City County (1820 U S
Census, James City County, Virginia, NARA Roll: M33_137:118):
The schedule shows that the household contained four “Free Colored” males
between the ages of fourteen and forty-four, two of them born then between
1795 and 1806, the elder two between 1776 and 1794. There was also one girl
under the age of fourteen. Three of these persons were engaged in some form
of agriculture. All five of them were free persons of color and the household
also included one slave whose age and sex were not reported. This record also
shows that Bradby lived in the midst of a sizable free black community (Ibid,
118, 116, 117, 119). (nota bene: The neighborhood in which Ned Bradby
resided consisted of Free Colored households headed by James Lee, Mical
Nelson, Cupid Lee, Antoney Brown, Cupid Johnson, Aggey Taylor, Jonathan
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19
Canady, Kitty Cumbo, Larpool Cole, Hager Lee, John Cumbo, Ned Davis,
Betsey Canady, Pleasant Gaines, Polly Davis, Judy Taylor, Ishmal Carter,
John Cosby, Davy Deverix, Mical Copeland, Ned Dickson, Jean Lightfoot,
Kitty Harris, William Banks, Silvey Collier, Daniel Cumbo, William Carter,
Arrianor Nelson, Rebecker D. Wallace, Parley D. Wallace, Charles Carter,
William and Mary Cole, Sarah Cole, Nanny Roberts, Clary Rozarro, and
George Sheppard. According to contemporary tax lists [James City County,
Personal Property Tax Books, 1782-1824, Library of Virginia, No. 183],
among others who lived in the area were Isaac Gordan, a “cold [colored] man,”
William Locus, a “cold man,” and Edward Spurlock, “Mult” [mulatto]. These
several names likewise appear in the King William County record. See the
federal census, 1830, op. cit. passim, for Gordan and Spurlock, and Lower
College and Colosse Baptist Church Minutes, September 6, 1812, Book 1, for
Locus/Locust.)
By 1820, free blacks constituted 15% of the entire James City County
population. Also, bear in mind that James City County adjoins New Kent
County, Charles City County, King and Queen County, and York County—all
of which counties had sizable black populations, and all of which appear,
from context, to be relevant to the wider Pamunkey Indian Town narrative.
James City County’s free black community could be found both in and near
the small city of Williamsburg, bestriding both James City and York counties.
The record does not suggest that, between 1780 and 1860, there were any
known or reputed Indians in the area.
In any case, the ages reported from the male inhabitants of Ned Bradby’s
James City County residence in 1820 do correspond reasonably well with the
ages reported a decade later in King William County by William Bradby, Ned
Bradby, and a Miles Bradby (infra).
The Richard Manning Bucktrout Daybook and Ledger, kept by James City
County resident Richard Manning Bucktrout from 1850 to 1866 contains
several interesting references to a free colored man named Pleasant Bradby
or Bradberry (Richard Manning Bucktrout Daybook and Ledger, 1850-1866,
Swem Library, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia: Pleasant
Bradby, December 11, 1850:15, March 19, 1859:150, and January 1,
1861:185). (nota bene: there are also entries for a Warner Almond, “a colored
free man.” Almond is yet another free black surname that appears in the
King William County record [tax lists, Pamunkey tribe documents, and
church minutes] and is associated with the Pamunkey Indian Town
community. See, first, PF @ 72, and p. 96, n.470, and Appendix B, 1901
Pamunkey Census by James Mooney. Then, see the federal census, 1840,
1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, op. cit. passim, and Lower College and Colosse
Baptist Church Minutes, September 9, 1854, no. 30, and 2nd Saturday,
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September 1865):
20
In 1840, Pleasant Bradby headed his own Free Colored York County
household. Pleasant was between thirty-six and fifty-four years of age, or
born 1786 to 1804. A man named Miles Bradby would reside in the same
vicinity in 1870 after moving there from James City (1840, York, Virginia,
Roll: 576: 318; 1870, Bruton, York, Virginia, Roll: M593_1682: 527A):
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21
As can be seen in the last line in the image immediately above, Miles Bradby
or Bradberry had a son named Ned (“Ned. B .”). This is also verified by the
James City County marriage register of February 12, 1885, when “Ned
Bradbury,” son of Miles Bradbury and Betsey Bradbury wed Pinkie Ann
Jimmerson.
Now, in 1865, in his testimony in the Petersburg case of Leddy v Updike,
modern Pamunkey Indian Tribe ancestor Edward “Ned” Bradby claimed he
had a brother named Pleasant (PF @96). Ned also named one of his own sons
Pleasant (PF @95). Note, too, as remarked immediately below, that the Free
Colored Pleasant Bradby of York in 1840, later a free colored man of James
City County and Williamsburg, was in the same age bracket as
contemporaries Edward or Ned Bradby and Miles Bradby of King William
County.
Miles Bradberry was in King William County in 1830, and was between
twenty-four and thirty-five years of age, or born 1794 to 1806. Then in 1840,
as Miles Bradby, he reported being between thirty-six and fifty-four, or born
1786 to 1804. He clearly resided within the Indian Town community, listed
alongside William and Ned Bradby, whose ages also fell between thirty-six
and fifty-four, meaning they, too, were born 1786 to 1804. “Pamunkey”
neighbors named Holt, Langston, Page, and Swett surrounded them (1830,
King William, Virginia, Series: M19, Roll: 201: 95; 1840, St Johns Parish,
King William, Virginia, Roll: 564: 78):
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22
Then in 1850, a Miles Bradbury was in James City County, a twenty-five
year-old black farmer, born in Virginia about 1825. Recently wed, spouse
Betsey resided with him, along with their one-year-old daughter (1850,
James City, Virginia, Roll: M432_953: 276B, Image: 184):
In 1870, though, Miles Bradby or Bradberry reported he was fifty-one, or
born 1819, a six year divergence from the previous enumeration. As in 1850,
he and his family were black (1870, Bruton, York, Virginia, Roll: M593_1682:
527A).
The discrepancy in age is not uncommon, and it has already been
demonstrated as an issue for Ned Bradby. Individuals who were not entirely
certain of their age frequently reported different numbers at separate
censuses as well as for other documentation—affidavits, testimony, public
auditor’s accounts, and so forth. The point here is that while this Miles
Bradby—born, judged on the available sources, somewhere between about
1818 and 1825—is too young to be the same Miles Bradby who was in King
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23
William County and Indian Town with Ned and William Bradby in 1830 and
1840, he does nonetheless supply a key link in this account.
The evidence from the record intimates a conspicuous familial cohesion with
the shared given names used by these Bradby or Bradberry families—“Ned,”
Pleasant, and Miles. The evidence also indicates that modern Pamunkey
Indian group ancestor Edward “Ned” Bradby moved into King William in the
first place from James City County, though not until about 1830, and that a
Miles Bradby—and probably William Bradby, too—seem to have
accompanied him. All the more intriguing is the fact that less than a
generation later, a man named Miles Bradby apparently moved from King
William County into James City County and named his own son “Ned.”
Additionally, when Miles Bradby moved into James City, and then later
York, he was residing in the same counties in which also resided Pleasant
Bradby—Edward or Ned Bradby’s probable brother. It is an established
fact—noted even in the PF—that modern Pamunkey Indian group ancestor
Edward “Ned” Bradby had a brother named Pleasant. This is a brother for
whom there is no documentation in the King William County record.
Moreover, recall that Ned Bradby’s and Pleasant Bradby’s mother’s name
was Susannah or Sucky Bradby, “formerly Miles” (emphasis added) whose
half brother was Nat Miles. This last detail is not meant to suggest that
Miles Bradby and Ned Bradby were also brothers, but rather to indicate the
very compelling probability of some type of familial connection between
them—perhaps as cousins—and the Miles family, generally.
Whatever the case, one of the most intriguing elements to emerge from the
James City County record is the 1859 Bucktrout Daybook entry for a credit
against the “Estate of ____ Bradberry” for the construction of a coffin and
carrying of the same down to the landing, which expense was “Paid by”
Pleasant Bradberry, “his Brother” (Bucktrout Daybook, supra, 150):
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24
The heading for this record is “Williamsburg 1859,” suggesting that the
unknown “Bradberry” or “his Brother” Pleasant, or both of them, may have
resided in the city at that time. Unfortunately, the extant death registers for
James City County, York County, and Williamsburg are incomplete or lost—
York County’s only cover 1856 to 1858, and Williamsburg’s do not begin until
1865. Furthermore, there is little extant date-relevant court, land, tax, and
other pertinent documentation for any of these jurisdictions. However, in his
1865 Petersburg chancery court testimony, wherein he named brother
Pleasant Bradby, Edward also mentioned another sibling, Sterling Bradby.
Sterling was “decd” or deceased. His children were Charles and Jennie.
Sterling Bradby’s children’s ages in the document above indicate he was
deceased no later than 1861 and perhaps as early as 1860. These orphaned
children—apparently their unknown mother was deceased prior to Sterling’s
death—had been placed by August of 1870, if not before, in the Indian Town
home of Richard Bradby and reported for that year’s census enumeration as
Indians. They were twelve and nine years of age, or born sometime in 1858
(Charles) and before August 24, 1861 (Virginia or “Jennie Lind”—see
document, supra). (1870, West Point, King William, Virginia, Roll:
M593_1658: 171B, Image: 348.)
The Sterling Bradby noted above should not be confused with Edward or Ned
Bradby’s nephew, son of his brother William, who died in 1864 (Colosse
Church Book 2: Membership List of 1855, noted “Dead,” January 1864), the
result of being murdered in a drunken brawl by his brother, Edward’s
nephew Terrill or William Terrell Bradby (see King William County, Virginia,
Register of Marriages, May 19, 1858, where Sterling reported that he was
thirty-one years old, or born 1827, and that his parents were William and
Dizey Bradby. Then, see PF @96, and King William County, Virginia, Ended
Chancery Cases, Thornton Allman, et.al., vs. John Langston and Wife, et.al,
File 32, 1909-003).
For the federal census of 1860, the younger Sterling “Bradbury”— son of
Ned’s brother William—reported he was thirty years old, or born about 1830.
His household consisted of he and wife Ellen (Frances Ellen Almond), and a
ten-year old boy, also named Sterling. If Edward or Ned Bradby’s brother
Sterling Bradby’s son Charles was six years old in 1865, as Ned indicated in
his Petersburg testimony, then he should have been born by 1859. Yet,
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25
nobody of the name was present in the younger Sterling Bradby’s 1860 King
William County household, or, indeed, anywhere at all within the “Indian
Town” community (1860, King William County, Virginia, NARA Roll:
M653_1357: 610, Image: 192).
The younger Sterling, who was born about 1830, could not have been the
brother of Edward “Ned” Bradby, Sr.’s, sister Ritta Bradby, who was
daughter of Edward’s mother Sucky Miles, sister to Nat Miles. He was,
instead, a son of Edward’s brother, William. The record indicates that
another of William’s sons, Ryland “Riley” Bradby, was not born until about
1842. In 1860 he lived in the household of Nancy Langston. His father,
William, was by then already deceased (1860, King William, Virginia, Roll:
M653_1357: 611, Image: 193). The last time Ned’s brother William appeared
in King William County as a taxable was in 1848. The following year, Dicey
Bradberry—William’s spouse—was taxable in his place. He probably died,
then, sometime in 1848 or 1849.
Ned Bradby’s brother William was long deceased by 1865. Ned Bradby’s
brother Sterling must have died sometime around 1860-1861. Ned Bradby
did not state in 1865 that his brother Pleasant was deceased. Between 1860
and 1870, there was only one still-living adult male Pleasant Bradberry or
Bradby in Virginia who was old enough to have been Ned Bradby’s
contemporary—the man who was in the same age bracket as he at the census
of 1840, and the man documented in York County, Williamsburg, and James
City County in 1859, 1861, and 1870. It was this latter man, Pleasant Bradby
or Bradberry, who in the spring of 1859, as a resident of Williamsburg, paid
the cost for the building and transportation of a coffin that was charged
against the estate of another Bradberry, whose given or forename is not
documented—it is likely this person was “his Brother,” Sterling Bradby.
To iterate, Pleasant Bradby of York County, James City County, and
Williamsburg, from 1840 to 1870, was a free man of color. A relation, Miles
Bradby, who apparently moved from King William County—remember a
Miles Bradby on the 1840 census next to William and Ned Bradby—into the
same area as Pleasant by 1850 and was listed on the same 1870 agricultural
schedule as he, was always black in the record (1840, St Johns Parish, King
William, Virginia, NARA Roll: 564: 78, Image: 215; 1850, James City,
Virginia, NARA Roll: M432_953: 276B; 1870, Bruton, York, Virginia, NARA
Roll: M593_1682: 527A, Image: 434; James City County, Register of Births,
1853-1896: 23, October 20, 1860, and 41, June 1874; 1880, Stone House,
James City, Virginia, NARA Roll: 1374: 373A, Enumeration District: 035;
1880, Powhatan, James City, Virginia, Roll: 1374: 391D, Enumeration
District: 035).
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26
How can it be that Miles Bradby and Pleasant Bradby were always black, but
Ned Bradby Indian? How is it that Ned and Pleasant’s mother Susan or
Susannah “Sucky” Miles’s brother Nathaniel “Nat” Miles was black or colored
or mulatto, as were his children, but two of her four sons were somehow
native Pamunkey Indians?
In closing, it is worth noting that the PF @ 96 states “[t]here is no evidence
explaining why Edward ‘Ned’ Bradby (Sr.) does not appear on the 1836-1843
Pamunkey petitions, as he would have been an adult by about 1817.”
Edward “Ned” Bradby certainly was an adult by 1817, and probably by 1813.
He did not appear on the Pamunkey Indian Town documents of 1836 to 1843
because he was not a Pamunkey Indian. Indeed, the record indicates that
Bradby had but recently (circa 1830) moved into the county and into the
“Indian Island” community. It is likely that the other adult males of the
group did not yet consider Ned to be fully a member of their group. Indeed, in
the Pamunkey Indian Town letter of 1842, as cited in the PF, the signatory
adult males—most likely representing all of the adult males who were
members of the “tribe”—admitted there were “some here [in Indian Town]
who are not of our tribe” (see PF: 33, n.148). One of these non-tribal men had
to have been Edward “Ned” Bradby.
In the PF, too, BIA bases its judgment that William Bradby was a historic
native Pamunkey Indian on just two pieces of evidence (PF @ 96). These are
the “ca. 1835 Colosse Baptist Church record” and “an 1865 City of Petersburg
Circuit Court (Chancery) case record that identifies him as a Pamunkey
Indian.”
The first item, also known as the “Island List” does not unambiguously state
that the members joining the church at that time were in fact native
American Indian members of the indigenous Pamunkey Indian tribe, but
rather merely the descendants of “an Indian tribe.” Conspicuously absent
from the short list—consisting of just thirty-five individuals—was anyone
with the well-documented and traditional or foundational Pamunkey Indian
surnames Cook and Sampson.
The second item, the 1865 chancery court testimony of Edward “Ned” Bradby,
does indicate that William Bradby was Ned Bradby’s brother. However, Ned
Bradby also mentions siblings named Pleasant Bradby and Sterling Bradby,
neither one of which is a historic Pamunkey Indian based on documentation
submitted to BIA by the Petitioner (Pamunkey Indian Tribe, #323) and on
the conclusions reached by BIA in its analysis of documentation for its
Proposed Finding in favor of Federal Acknowledgement for the Petitioner.
Moreover, in his testimony Ned Bradby did not identify William Bradby or
even himself, the “respondent,” as a Pamunkey Indian—“the 1865 City of
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DRAFT
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Petersburg Circuit Court (Chancery) case record” cited by BIA as “evidence
that identifies” William Bradby “as a Pamunkey Indian,” does not, in fact, do
so.
Conclusion
The Pamunkey petitioner group’s ancestor Edward “Ned” Bradby was a free
black or colored man, born about 1794 to 1798, a son of Susannah Miles,
sister of Nathaniel Miles, a free black man of Charles City County, Virginia.
Context from the documentary record suggests that Edward “Ned” Bradby or
Bradberry may have resided in Chesterfield County sometime between 1810
and 1816. He apparently relocated, perhaps with his brothers, by 1820 to
James City County. Sometime after 1822 but before the census of 1830,
Edward Bradby moved from James City County into King William County’s
Pamunkey River Indian Town community, with William Bradby and a
relation, Miles Bradby. Pleasant and Sterling Bradby remained in James
City County.
Through revaluation of the record cited in the PF, as well as the
consideration of documentary sources not cited in, or reviewed for, the PF,
this report arrives at the deduction that a historical Pamunkey ancestor
identified by BIA in the Proposed Finding (hereafter, “PF”), that is, Edward
“Ned” Bradby, was not an indigenous tribal Pamunkey Indian by birth.
Edward “Ned” Bradby is a demonstrably non-Indian person, son of a free
black woman—and a man who had at least two free back brothers and one
free black sister—who became a resident of the Pamunkey reservation and
gradually changed his identity to that of an indigenous tribal Pamunkey
Indian. The documentation reviewed for this report and partially reproduced,
supra, highlights deficiencies, inconsistencies, omissions, and weaknesses in
BIA’s analysis of the Pamunkey Petition (#323) and the conclusions set forth
by BIA in its PF.
Additionally, research to date, some of which is also included above, suggests
that other demonstrably non-Indian residents of the Pamunkey reservation
were identified in historical documents relied upon by BIA in its PF (such as
petitions, tax lists, and church records) as native Pamunkey Indians, usually
based solely on their residency in the old Indian Town, or on just one or two—
and often indirect or inferred—documentary references. Some of these
individuals are mentioned or touched upon in this report, but a full
examination requires an entirely separate report. Additionally, this research
has discovered in the record some individuals not identified as Pamunkey
Indian who have as much standing as Historical Pamunkey Indians as many
of those so identified by BIA for the PF.
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