I still don’t quite understand who really owns the land on Mt. Zion Road, the ancestral home of many of my relatives. Is it the Mingo Tribal Preservation Trust or the Tuscarora Ranch, LLC? Nevertheless, I became quite interested in the Mingo and Tuscarora Indians and their connection with Wilkes County, North Carolina. Therefore, I resorted to the Internet and hard-copy references for information. And this is what I learned…
I found that understanding the difference between the Mingo Indians and the Tuscarora Indians is complicated. As in much literature, different authors tend to have different interpretations of concepts and events. Therefore, my comments represent my assimilations and interpretations of what I have read from various sources.
The Mingo Indians were a small group of Native Americans who were related to the Iroquois Indians. By 1750 they had moved into Ohio and today are often referred to as the Ohio Seneca Indians. I haven’t found any reference to the Mingo Indians in North Carolina.
The Tuscarora Indians, an agricultural tribe that was also related to the Iroquois, inhabited the coastal plans of North Carolina along the Neuse River. As with most of the Native Americans, they were very much opposed to the western expansion of the white settlers. The Tuscarora Indians also developed a very lucrative trade serving as the middlemen in trading rum and other goods with the Indians in the Piedmont region. As a consequence of encroachment by the settlers into their land and mistreatment by the white settlers, a war between the Tuscarora Indians and the settlers erupted in September 1711 and continued through March of 1713 at which time the Indians were defeated. By 1722 many of the Tuscarora Indians returned New York to live with their northern relatives, the Iroquois. Again, I found no documentation of Tuscarora Indians in Wilkes County, North Carolina. Wilkes was inhabited by the Cherokee Indians during those early years.
The connection between the Mingo Indians and the Tuscarora Indians appears to be their blood relationship to the Iroquois Indians.
If any of my followers have additional information regarding these two groups, please comment. As always, I encourage your comments, suggestions, corrections, and information.
The Mingo Tribal Preservation Trust, Tuscarora Ranch, LLC and Pitchfork Mountain Ranch, LLC are ALL the same person. Most lands in the name of the Mingo Tribal Preservation Trust were transferred into other LLC's within the last year due to the foreclosure of a large tract of land in Yadkin County (1,372 acres in Jonesville, NC) to avoid their being "attached" and sold to satisfy the deficiency from the foreclosure auction of that tract.
ReplyDeleteAll of these are set up with the Trustee as Jesse W. Horton, Jr. and the registered agent as Richard Kline (attorney) from Davidson, NC - all of this can be found on the NC Secretary of State website under the corporations section.
RENA— No developer, it seems, can tackle Little Brushy Mountain. But it’s not for lack of trying.
ReplyDeleteOver the years, there have been plans for a variety of uses. All of them have failed.
In the early 1990s, a group of investors from Statesville proposed an RV resort — something at the time that seemed fairly plausible. But the development never came to pass and the proposal ended up in foreclosure.
About a decade later another prospective developer came forward. This time it was a massive land baron. Jesse W. Horton Jr., of Deep Gap, owned thousands of acres in Caldwell and Wilkes counties. And he wanted to add Little Brushy Mountain, all 1,372 acres, to his collection. In January 2004, Horton’s company — Mingo Tribal Preservation Trust, paid $3.1 million for the two-square-mile area tract about two miles south of Jonesville.
The property straddles the east side of U.S. 21, extending north to Howell School Road, west to Swan Creek, and south to the Rena community.
There are no comparable size properties in the area. Jonesville and its 2,200 residents are slightly larger.
Horton and the Mingo Tribal Preservation Trust were accustomed to buying and selling large tracts of land. The group controls 3,000 to 4,000 acres in Wilkes and Watauga counties. In December 2003, the N.C. Wildlife Commission paid $21.4 million to the group for 5,646 acres that straddle the Caldwell/Wilkes county lines.
Not long after purchasing Little Brushy Mountain, Horton talked about an upscale development — a village concept that would attract investors with deep pockets.
The entire tract is zoned rural agricultural. Horton would have needed to get planning board and commissioners’ approval to build a residential area or retail development. When Jonesville and the county extended public utilities to U.S. 21 and Interstate 77 at the foothill of the mountain, it greatly increased the value of Horton’s property and facilities development.
But it never happened. And like the Statesville developers, Little Brushy Mountain went back on the auction block at the Yadkin County Courthouse. Horton had secured a massive $8.8 million deed of trust against the mountain from Parkway Bank in Caldwell County in June 2007.
But Horton never made one payment. And Parkway Bank, a small community bank, was stuck with a mountain it didn’t need after they foreclosed on Horton.
Parkway Bank recently paid $5.7 million for Little Brushy Mountain and it’s back on the market. There have been no bidders since the foreclosure.
Dear Anonymous, Thank you for the information you provided in this post and for the additional information you added to my Sept. 11, 2011, post. My hopes are that the beautiful land on Stoney Fork and Mt. Zion Road will remain farmland retaining the same natural and pastoral setting as it must have been when my ancestors farmed that same land. Additionally, I have a deep concern for the family cemetery plot that is on part of the land. One of the graves in this plot is 147 years old. My 3rd great grandparents, William Thomas and Nancy Jane Carlton Land, two great uncles, and some other great uncles and cousins are buried in the cemetery. I have submitted information concerning the cemetery along with my concerns about it to the North Carolina Cemetery Survey Project at the North Carolina Division of Archives and History in Raleigh. This project is an endeavor by the state department to make a permanent record of old cemeteries. If you wish at any time to send a comment that you do not want to be made public, please indicate that you wish it to remain private, and I will not publish it in my blog. If you will include your e-mail address in your request, I will respond to you through e-mail. Again, thanks for your interest, your concern, and your comments.
ReplyDeleteI am very interested in your family. I am trying to learn about a Mingo John Thomas who moved from Grayson Va to the Mingo Valley in Ohio in the very early 1800s. I have just begun this so I do not have a lot of info so was wondering about this area.
DeleteThank you for your comment. I'm sorry to be so long in seeing it. I don't have any information about a Mingo John Thomas. Can you provide a little more information? I hope that I will be able to continue replying to comments. For some reason, I haven't been able to send a reply lately.
DeleteVivian,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment.
I wish I knew more about the Tuscarora and Mingo Indians. I do not know what contact, if any, my ancestors may have had with them or even if those tribes were in the area at that time. I think there may have been some Tuscaroro Indians in the area, but I don't know about Mingo. I do know that a substantial number of Cherokee Indians inhabited the area in those early years. In fact, they camped on the Yadkin River had a village in the area which is now the site of the city of Wilkesboro.
About a year ago, I became aware of the Mingo Tribal Preservation Trust that holds many acres in the area in and around Stoney Fork in Wilkes County, NC. This trust did not come into being until about 1993. I have recently been told that "a lot of activity" is going on there but am not sure exactly what it is.
I don't know that my comments will be of much help to you in locating your individual. You might try contacting the Mingo Tribe to inquire about him and/or how to search for him. Usually, the various tribes have websites that will provide one the opportunity to e-mail them.
You can find much information on the Internet about Indian tribes and conflicts in NC in the 1700s. You may have already researched these sites.
You mention that you are interested in my family. Please let me know more about your interests. Also, please conact me if you have additional questions.
Again, thanks for your comment and interest.
Thank you, TK, for the most helpful information that you provided today, July 7, 2013, about the Mingo Indians. I am certainly not an expert on the topic and appreciate your input. Since you included an e-mail address, I won't publish your comment. However, if you wish that I publish it, please let me know. Thanks, again.
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Anonymous, Thank you for your comment and interest in my blog.
ReplyDeleteThe Mingo were of mostly Seneca blood, things like Wiki states Mingo means treacherous however Mingo is a coastal Algonkian word from Mingwe which means Snake, typically you will find things such as Black Mingo in NC and SC.
ReplyDeleteThe Mingo occupied NC living among the Tuscarora communities in eastern NC. Take note at one point the Tuscarora territory extended all the way south of the Cape Fear River and as far west as the foot hills of NC where they pushed back the Cherokee many hundreds of years ago when the Cherokee attempted to expand. They were aligned with the Tutelo people, which were a Saponi/Siouan people that joined the Tuscarora and migrated to NY with some that left NC. The Tutelo occupied near the area of Wilkes on up to West VA where the Mingo later occupied.
Before during and after the war, Mingo men were found all over NC and SC conducting raids and rescuing slaves... these slaves typically being captured Mingo and Tuscarora. By this time the Tuscarora/Mingo were practically the same
During the war Core Tom who was Seneca helped instigate the conflict, Seneca is used interchangeable with Mingo in terms of NC occupation by the way.
in the 1700s a village called Mingo was found on the eastern side of the Chowan river next to Edenton. This was directly across from the Deer clan village and right on former Chowan nation territory. Which the Chowan merged with the Tuscarora. Later you find Mingo in Sampson county where a great deal of Tuscarora from the area migrated to, to live alongside some of their Neuse river relatives that remained in the area. You also find them in great numbers in Nash where Black Mingo creek was located. They were also around Dunn Benson and Smithfield areas near Black Mingo Swamp NC. And they lived between to Coharie water ways and the Black river in Bladen and Sampson county which in the 1700s, Black river was actually called Black Mingo river.
There was a Tuscarora/Seneca settlement in SC during the time of De Soto according to the captured Tuscarora man who lead De Sotos trail. A great deal of these families that I've traced from Mingo NC were also later found in Black Mingo swamp SC. I suspect this might be near the old Mingo colony.
At this time, Mingo really wasn't a seperate identity as a nation, that wasn't until the Ohio valley however these were if you will a "proto Mingo" and perhaps where the name originated from considering the Chowan was Coastal Algonkian, and Mingo was found in their former territory after they joined the Tuscarora.
The Seneca acted as enforcers and colonist for the 6 nations if you will... They watched over much of the Ohio and southern territories and this particular group was rogue. They fought everyone from George Washington, to the Cherokee, to the earliest of Spanish and British colonist.
Some of the earliest Mingo into the Mingo nation were Tuscarora Chiefs that had recently migrated from NC.
-Fix
P.S. if you would like to contact me for more information send me an e-mail to FrankJCain1988@Gmail.com
Oh furthermore, many of the Tuscarora who remained in NC were Deer Clan.
ReplyDeleteDeer Clan was eventually removed from the NY Tuscarora due to political reasons. Claims state that Deer Clan was Seneca however I and many disagree. We do however agree that the Deer Clan is a strong make up of the Mingo/Tuscarora connection.
I have a 5th great-grandfather, William Adams, who was born in 1760 in present-day Wilkes County, NC (before it became Wilkes). His father's name is probably John, William, or Charles (due to the 1771 Tax List of Wilkes County). William and his unknown wife (probably Native American) migrated to Eastern Kentucky around 1780 to 1783 where his wife gives birth to Charity Adams. I don't know the fate of William and his unknown wife. On her 1800 marriage record, Charity claims that she was an orphan. I'm trying hard to solve this mystery.
ReplyDeleteCould someone please email me! I feel as though I have an oppression and it's getting worse. I'm part black foot so I understand the cleaning. I need help as I am having serious suicidal thoughts:(
ReplyDeleteRenee is
Renee, There is no way to email anyone who posts in this site. Neither I nor anyone else has your email. Unless you send me your email, the only way I or anyone else can respond to you is in this public site. I don't publish anyone's email unless I have permission from the person.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte - do you think that Unknown is possibly the same person who posted the long piece on the Mingo back in 2014? His email address is contained at the end of that post.
DeleteJeannepool, Thanks for your comment. I'm pleased that I am able to reply. Sometimes, for some reasons, I am unable to reply to my posts. You may be correct about the unknown being the one who posted the long piece in 2014. Thank you for following me. I haven't written in a long time. I need to get back to it, but I have just about exhausted my West information. I believe that the only way I'll be able to learn more about my West ancestors is through Y-DNA testing.
ReplyDelete