PRELIMINARY DRAFT Historical Pamunkey Indian Ancestor Edward

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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reservation were identified in historical documents relied upon by the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 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Indian residents of the Pamunkey reservation were identified in historical
documents relied upon by BIA in its PF (such as petitions, tax lists, and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 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
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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,”
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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.
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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
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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
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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:
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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
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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 pre-
1831 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, 1833-
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1851, 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)
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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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