AN AMERICAN MYSTERY
Colonists of Roanoke Island Lost in 1587

Their Descendants Believed to Be the Croatan Indians of 1887-The Facts in a Very Romantic History
Condition of the Croatans of the Present Day. (Special Correspondence)
Contact: Myrtle Bridges December 15, 2016

											Raleigh, N.C. June 29
	In 1587 Sir Walter Raleigh sent John White with three vessels loaded with colonists to found a settlement on the coast 
of far away and almost unknown America. White landed on what is now North Carolina, and established his colony on Roanoke 
Island. A short while after the departure of the fleet for England, leaving the colonists behind, a child was born-the first 
on American soil. To it was given the name Virginia Dare. The new country, so auspiciously settled, was named Virginia, after 
England's "Virgin Queen," Elizabeth, and for the same reason the name Virginia was given the first born. The colonists, when 
the fleet sailed, were busy preparing their rude homes, and had thrown up a rough fort, after the manner of the time, to guard 
against a danger which must have seemed imaginary, so kind were the Indians who lived in that region. The friendliness of the 
latter was so great that they aided the new comers in every way. The fleet carried to England good tidings of the settlers, "in 
a land well watered, with great abundance of fish and game, with such grapes and fruits as have not before been seen by Englishmen."
Three years passed and then the mystery began. It had been the plan that in a little while the ships would return and that the 
colonists' numbers woud be augmented by new arrivals from England. But it was three years before a relief expedition sailed. In 
1590 it reached Roanoke. Where were the colonists? Echo only answered the question. The people landed, searched the island, 
thoroughly, but not a trace was there of the lost colony, save the outlines of the fort and the word "CROATAN" rudely carved upon 
the trunk of a tree. There were no Indians, and the colonists had evidently left in a body. There were no graves, no evidences of 
conflict; nothing to tell any tale of their whereabouts. The word "Croatan" was more than meaningless. The ships finally sailed away 
with this awful story of the unknown.
	For three centuries, on both sides of the water, the most melancholy interest has been attached to what came to be known as 
"the lost colony of Roanoke," an interest which but deepened as the years passed.

Now where and what was Croatan? It was in Tyrrell county, on the North Carolina mainland, and across the sound from Roanoke. 
It was there the white people went, no doubt at the special request of Indian friends, who promised them a more generous land.
The bridge, in one sentence, the space of three centuries of time, the county of Robeson must be visited, for there rests 
the other end of the mystery of 1587. The Croatans are in Robeson. As the descendants of those older Croatans, whose name 
was the one link in a chain otherwise lost, and as the descendants also of the lost colonists of Sir Walter Raleigh's ill 
fated expedition, they can justly lay claim to more of romance than any other people on this continent.
	During the recent session of the North Carolina legislature, a member from Robeson county, Mr. Hamilton McMillan, started 
thought in a new direction by asking for special aid for the Croatan Indians. He declared that a great injustice had been done 
them in that they had been classed as negroes. He claimed that they were Indians, of a high class, and of historic name and fame, 
and that they desired and deserved separate schools and special aid. Three hundred years after the colony of White was lost, the 
descendants of those colonists petition the legislature for aid in educating their teachers-a legislature sitting in a city named 
after Raleigh, the patron of the colony.
	The legislature has hearkened to the matter and has granted separate schools and special aid for normal schools to the Croatans, 
meanwhile restoring them to their proper position as Indians and as citizens.

Thus the two ends of the chain were picked up. It now remained to discover the links between. To do this a visit to the Croatans 
became necessary, and in Mr. McMillan's company it was made. The county of Robeson lies on the state's souther border, adjoining South 
Carolina, and a hundred miles from Raleigh. The land there is fertile, much of it in swamp, filled with luxuriant vegetation, while 
there are vast stretches of the long leaf pine while formerly yielded the staple of North Carolina's commerce-- tar, pitch and turpentine. 
The Croatans now living there number 3,000. They have enrolled nearly 1200 children of school age. They have twenty-six churches, and 
are divided into Baptists and methodists. They have in the past few months built good schoolhouses. The very best roads in all the state 
are found there. A century or more ago they opened the great Lowry road from Robeson to Campbellton (a historic Scotch settlement), and 
this was used as a post road until railroads came. It was along this road that fast riding couriers carried the tidings of the treaty of
 Ghent to Gen. Jackson at New Orleans in 1815. (This was the treaty signed in Belgium, city of Ghent, that ended the war of 1812 between 
 the US and the United Kingdom. Signed December 24, 1814)
	Very careful inquiries were made to ascertain the past history of this tribe. The Croatans came to Robeson county (then Bladen county) 
between 1715 and 1732. An investigation of land grants in their possession was made. The oldest grant that could be discovered is dated 
in 1732, and by it King George II granted a large tract to two chief men of the tribe, named Henry Berry and James Lowry or Lowrie, who 
"came from Virginia," as tradition has it, for the Croatans yet speak of eastern North Carolina as "Virginia." There is said to be a 
grant by George III to John White, but it cannot be discovered. The name of John White is very suggestive. Over twenty names of White's 
lost colonists are today among them.

Many inquiries were made as to tribal traditions. The tradition is common that the tribe formerly inhabited the country around Pamlico
county, including portions of what is now Carteret and Hyde counties and all of Tyrrell and Dare. Among the Lowry family there is a tradition 
that their "feythers" (fathers) lived on the shores of Lake Matamuskeet, in Hyde county. The best informed men say that Croatan was the name 
of a place, and that the name was later given the tribe by the English. An intelligent Coratan clergyman says that the true tribal name is 
Hatteras (or Hattorask, as the Croatans call it.)
	Now here is another link. The Hattorask Indians are the ones who were on Roanoke island when White's colony landed. No Indians lived 
habitually on the island; they only went there from the main land to fish or hunt, or perhaps for greater coolness in summer.
	Another tradition, well preserved, gives another link in the chain of evidence. It is that lake Mattamuskeet, before alluded to, was 
a "burnt lake" or "lake burnt out of the ground." And so it was, wonderful as it may seem. The soil of Hyde is all peat, and in dry seasons 
it occasionally catches on fire. In such a case the very island itself is consumed and pits or depressions are formed, which presently fill 
with water. The best evidence is that in a vast fire, perhaps centuries ago, Lake Mattamuskeet was thus formed. It is thirty miles long, at 
no place over eight feet deep, and not a fish of any kind has ever been seen in its waters.

But yet strange facts were discovered. The language of the Croatans is peculiar in tone. They use two sounds of the letter 'a'-a broad 
sound of 'a' as in father and the sound of 'a' as in date. Dare is pronounced Darr. The name of Virginia Dare is familiar to their chroniclers. 
The Darr family name has disappeared in Robeson county, but is found among a branch of the tribe in Lincoln county, NC. One of the Darrs served 
as a soldier in the United States army in the war of 1812. Their language is peculiar in that it is strictly Anglo-Saxon. It contains many 
words in common use which have been obsolete for a long period in most of England. For instance, "housen" is the plural of house; "crone" is 
to push down; for "ask" they say "aks" (old English); the "father" they say "feyther." Knowledge is spoken of as "wit."
	As to family names, over twenty of those held by the long lost colonists are found. James (pronounced in the old English way, Jeams) 
Lowry is a very common name among them. The name of Locklear is also found, and Cuzzie Locklear is one of the oldest living members. The 
name Dial was formerly Doyle. The name Goins was one O'Gwinn. Priscilla and Rhoda are the most common names of women, and Henry that of man. 
One of the oldes men is Aaron Revels, who is more than 100 years of age. He is an uncle of Senator Revels, of Mississippi.
	The prevalence of the name Lowry has been referred to. According to taradition a man named James lowry came from "Chesapeake" and married 
in the tribe, and became the progenitor of a large and influential family. That family, at the time the tribe broke up, moved away from the 
Roanoke section, went to western North Carolina, perhaps to Buncombe. Lowry's descendants, they say, were leaders among … Governor James 
Lowry Swain, who after serving as chief magistrate of North Carolina was for over a quarter of a century president of the State university, 
was a descendant as was also Lieutenant Governor james Lowry Robinson, of this place.
	They have always, their traditions say, been warm friends of the white people. It is said that long ago they fought under Bonnell(Barnwell) 
in the wars against the Indian tribes. Many of them were in the Continental army in the war of the revolution, and a company was sent to fight 
the British in the War of 1812. The English names of men in these companies are remarkable as those of Whites colonists in many cases. Some 
of the Croatans were slave owners, and some kept houses of entertainment for travelers.
	Their cleanliness is a characteristic. Physicians who practice among them speak of this and sy they never hesitate about sleeping or
eating in the house of a Croatan. They are hospitable people also, and very obliging. They are proud of their race and have far stronger 
race prejudices than either whites or negroes. They are the best of friends, but the most dangerous of enemies. Indian characteristics are 
marked. Their fondness for cloth of a red color is remarkable, and in this most of their women are dressed. They march in "Indian file" in 
their travels. They are reticent, unless one gains their confidence. They are of all colors, from pure white to copper. Many of them can with 
difficulty be distinguished from white people.
	Their women are in many cases beautiful, with supurb figures, as voluptuous in some cases as those of the far famed hawaiian maidens. 
One of their most beautiful women was Rhoda Lowry, who was sometimes spoken of as "Queen Rhoda." Their movements are grace itself, and the 
dress is worn in a most becoming way, though simple in texture and design.

The Croatans were recognized as white people, and attended the same schools with white pupils. But in 1835 another curious thing in 
their eventful history occurred. They were deprived of the right to vote, and classed "free persons of color" under an amendment to the 
state constitution, adopted that year, which prohibited that class from voting or attending school. The Croatans allege that they were 
deprived of voting to effect a chante in the politics of their country. They were not allowed to attend school from 1835 to 1868. Since 
the latter date some of the poorer class attended the public colored schools. But that is at an end. They are now a race apart, fully 
recognized and carred for educationally.
	Somne seventeen years ago a member of the tribe, Henry Berry Lowry, disgraced it by becoming the chief of a band of outlaws, which 
for months terrorized that section and caused a national sensation. Finally they were killed and that blot was wiped out.

Such is the history of the Croatans, from 1587 to 1887. They were dwellers in Tyrrell, Dare, etc., who happened to be on Roanoke 
island. They induced White's colonists to go to the mainland with them. They intermarried and out of regard for the white race the latter's 
family names were chosen. After years of life in eastern Carolina the tribe, after the manner of many others, moved to other places and chose 
Robeson as its main abiding place. The rest has been told, part on well grounded tradition, part on well known facts. The Croatans of today 
deserve a double place in history.
	It is pleasant to mention that the state of North Carolina, which named it capital Raleigh, after the worthy Sir Walter, has named its 
easternmost county Dare, in honor of that little tribe, whose eyes first saw the light there and whose name has gone down into the romance 
of history. F. A. Olds. "An American Mystery" Los Angeles Times [Los Angeles, California] 12 July 1887