User:Batsondl/Sandbox Maryland

Online Resources
Native American Online Genealogy Records
 * Maryland Online Encyclopedia

Tribes Recognized by the Federal Government
There are currently no tribes recognized by the Federal Government in the state of Maryland.

Tribes Recognized by the State of Maryland
Cedarville Band of Piscataway Indians Piscataway Conoy Tribe

Historical Tribes in Maryland
Algonquian Indians on the Western Shore of Maryland

The primary chiefdom of the Piscataway (or Conoy) Indians, consisted of five smaller Indian chiefdoms owing allegiance to the largest, the Piscataway.


 * Anacostians, along the Anacostia River – in what is today Washington, D.C., western Prince Georges County, and Alexandria, Virginia.
 * Piscataway, along the Potomac River from Broad Creek to Piscataway Creek to Pomonkey Creek, in what is now Prince Georges County, Maryland.
 * Mattawomen, located near Mattawomen Creek in Charles County, Maryland and Quantico Creek in Prince William County, Virginia.
 * Nanjemoy, from Mallows Bay on the Potomac River to Nanjemoy Creek in Charles County, Maryland.
 * Potapoco, located along the Port Tobacco River in Charles County, Maryland. They moved in the late 1600s to the Rappahannock River in Virginia.

Two independent Algonquian chiefdoms on the lower Potomac River’s northern shore.


 * Chaptico (also called Cecomocomoco), located along Cuckhold Creek, Wicomico River, and Brenton Bay. After 1707, they seem to have blended into the rest of the population of the area and ceased to exist as a separate tribe or culture.
 * Yoacomaco, located near the St. Mary’s River in 1634.

The Pawtuxent and allied chiefdoms along the shores of the Patuxent River.


 * Pawtuxant, located in today’s Calvert County from Solomon’s Island to Hunting Creek. They migrated upriver in the 1650s and joined with the Chaptico Indians in 1692.
 * Acquintanack, located in what is today St. Mary’s County, from the mouth of the Patuxent River to Swanson Creek. They lost their territory in the 1640s and joined with the Pawtuxants.
 * Mattapanient, located around the Western Branch of the Patuxent River in today’s Prince George’s County.
 * Assacomoco, located along the east shore of the Patuxent River from Hunting Creek in Calvert County to Lyons Creek in Anne Arundel County.

 Algonquian Indians on the Eastern Shore of Maryland 

The principal chiefdom of the Nanticoke, located along the eastern shore from Pocomoke River to the Sassafras River. They are a southern relative of the Lenni Lenape. A group identifying themselves as Nanticoke remain today, located primarily in Delaware.


 * Assateague, in the area around Asseateaque Bay. They joined with the Pocomoke Indians on a reservation on the Upper Pocomoke River, in what is now Worcester County.
 * Pocomoke, located on the Pocomoke River (called Wighcocomoco by John Smith in 1608) in today’s Somerset and Worcester Counties. They were allied with the Amamesses, the Morumsco, and the Acquiantica Indians.
 * Amamesses, located on the Annemessex River.
 * Morumsco, of Fishing Bay on the Pocomoke River.
 * Acquiantica, of the Pocomoke River.
 * Nanticoke, a large principle chiefdom located on the Nanticoke River in today’s Dorchester, Somerset, and Wicomico Counties. They included the Wicomico, Monie, and Manokin chiefdoms located on the rivers along the lower eastern shore bearing the same names. A copy of a 1758 petition of members of this tribe, published in the Archives of Maryland, is available.

Choptank, whose territory was in today’s Talbot, Dorchester, and Caroline Counties. A listing of Choptanks who sold land in Dorchester County in 1726-1727 is available. They had land granted to them for a reservation, but it was sold by the Maryland government in 1822.

Monoposon and Mataoeake, located on the southern shore of the Chester River in Queen Anne’s County in 1631.

Ozinies, located along the north shore of the Chester River in today’s Kent County. They were defeated by the Maryland colony in the 1660s and were dispersed.

Tockwogh, located on the Sassafras River, in today’s Kent and Cecil Counties. They were allies of the Susquehannock. They were not present after 1634 when Maryland was established.

Shawnee, who migrated to the Susquehanna River in Cecil County in the 1690s, and thence to Allegany County, where they lived until the 1730s.

 Iroquoian-Speaking Indians of Maryland 

Susquehannock – Their primary location was in the area of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. However, they controlled the lands from the Patapsco River, north on the western shore of Maryland and from the Sassafras River north on the Eastern Shore. They moved to Piscataway Creek in Prince Georges County in 1675. The English drove them out in 1763 and the remaining members of the tribe moved back to Pennsylvania and New York, where they became part of the Six Nation Iroquois Confederation. A good article on the history of the Susquehannock Tribe is available online.

Massawomeck, lived in what is now Allegany County, Maryland and in the states of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. They ceased to be mentioned in historical records after 1635 and their fate is unknown.

Tuscarora, originally from the North Carolina region, they migrated to what is now Frederick County, Maryland around 1720, after losing the Tuscarora War, fought by this tribe and the English colonists of North Carolina. They eventually migrated north to become part of the Six Nation Iroquois Confederation.

Another more simplified way of classifying the tribes of Maryland is detailed in Native American Tribes of Maryland, an online resource for students. That source states that the three main groups were the Nanticoke tribe (including the Piscataway and Conoy), the Powhatan tribe (including the Accohannock), and the Susquehannock tribe.

There may have been other tribes or bands associated with Maryland, as Hodge's Handbook of American Indians... and from Swanton's The Indian Tribes of North America have identified the following as additional tribes in the state – Chicacones, Kittamaqundi, Potomac, and Taocomcoes. These may simply be alternate names of tribes identified earlier in this article.

Maryland Indian Schools
(OPTIONAL HEADING)  Maryland Indian Schools Currently Open: (if Applicable) Maryland Historical Schools:(if Applicable)

Missions in Maryland
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Indian Health Agencies in Maryland
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Maryland Map of Indian Lands
Map

Maryland Native Americans Historical Background
Records

Records of the American Indian Tribes of Maryland
Historically, there are few "official" records of individual Indians who resided in Maryland. The records that were kept and still exist consist mostly of general histories of tribes or groups, personal records kept by early settlers in the area, and records of the efforts of churches or individual missionaries to "Christianize" the Indians. The records that still exist are scattered in many archives and other records depositories and no good, single inventory of those records is known.

Colonial Maryland (Prior to 1776)
As is often the case, historical documents listing individual Indians are very scarce for the colonial time period. Most records listing individuals were not kept until the federal government was formed and standard practices were established concerning the creation and preservation of such record. Some of the records for this time period may be found in historical societies and archives, libraries, the historical societies and archives of religious denominations, and in private collections of colonial records. A comprehensive inventory of such records would be very helpful.

The Federal Period (1776 to present)
The Office of Indian Affairs, forerunner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, was not established until 1824. Prior to that time, the few records that were kept often were more general in nature, describing the inter-relationships between Indians and non-Indian settlers. Some correspondence to and from the Office of Indian Trade, 1800-1824, and the Office of the Secretary of War, 1800-1824, have been preserved by the National Archives and have also been microfilmed.

By the time the Office of Indian Affairs was formed, all of the tribes of Maryland had either moved from the state or had been integrated into the non-Indian culture. Many of the records of Indian descendants in Maryland, therefore, will be in the usual records used by genealogists, such as deeds, other land records, probate records, church records, census, etc.

Anyone who claims connection to the Piscataway Tribe should read the Wikipedia article on the tribe. That article explains briefly the efforts to disqualify the tribe as Indians, based upon their intermarriage with African-Americans.

Archives
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Libraries
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Museums
Maryland

Societies
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Other Repositories
The holdings of the Maryland State Archives include histories of the Indian Tribes of Maryland. In this archives, they are classified under the research topic of Native Americans. A search of their holdings may be made online.

For Further Reading

 * "Accompanying Pamphlet for Microcopy 1011", National Archives Microfilm Publications, Appendix.
 * American Indians: A Select Catalog of National Archives Microfilm Publications. Washington DC: National Archives Trust Fund Board, National Archives and Records Administration, 1998.
 * Gilbert, William Harlen, Jr. Surviving Indian Groups in the Eastern United States. Pp. 407-438 of the Smithsonian Report for 1948. Available online.
 * Hill, Edward E. (comp.). Guide to Records in the National Archives of the United States Relating to American Indians. Washington DC: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration, 1981.
 * Hill, Edward E. The Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1880: Historical Sketches. New York, New York: Clearwater Publishing Company, Inc., 1974.
 * Historical Sketches for Jurisdictional and Subject Headings Used for the Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1824-1880. National Archives Microcopy T1105.
 * Hodge, Frederick Webb. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Washington D.C.:Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #30 1907. Available online.
 * Isaacs. Katherine M., editor. Omni Gazetteer of the United States of America. U.S. Data Sourcebook, Volume 11 Appendices, Bureau of Indian Affairs List of American Indian Reservations, Appendix E, Indian Reservations. Omnigraphics, Inc., 1991.
 * National Atlas of the United States of America -- Federal Lands and Indian Reservations Available online.
 * Preliminary Inventory No. 163: Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Washington DC: National Archives and Records Services. Available online
 * Semmes, Raphael T. Captains and Mariners of Early Maryland. Baltimore, Maryland: The John Hopkins Press, 1937. (FamilySearch Library .) The book has an extensive bibliography, an index to the names of persons, and a separate index to names of Indians. -- A useful history of the Native American tribes of Maryland to 1700.
 * Swanton John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #145 Available online.