Finding the Lost Colony

The first startling images of the New World came to Elizabethan England from the watercolor paintings of John White in 1585 (Tucker).  No other Englishman had ever painted America. In addition to being the first governor of an English colony in America, White is also grandfather to the first English child born in America. This child, Virginia Dare, is likely one of my ancestors. I am defended from the Lost Colony of Roanoke.

Croatoan

Fast forward 300 years to 1885: the year the North Carolina Legislature passed an Act recognizing the Indians of Robeson County as a separate race, giving them the name Croatan Indians (Osborne, 488).  This name is a reference to the Indians who befriended “Sir Walter Raleigh’s Lost Colony.” Raleigh’s plans to establish a permanent colony in the “new world” were beset by hardships. On his second attempt, the 117 colonists arrived too late in the year to plant crops (Dial, 2). When Governor John White left the colony in 1587, to return to England for supplies, he instructed the leaders to move the colony 50 miles inland if needed, but they were to leave an agreed upon distress signal, the sign of a cross, should disaster befall them (p. 3).  

White was delayed in returning from England with supplies due to war with Spain. However, upon his return in 1590, he found no distress signal only the word Croatoan carved in capital letters on a post. White interpreted this as “a certain token of their [the colonists] being at Croatan which is the place where Manteo was born . . .” (p. 4). Manteo was an Indian friendly to the colonists. However, White made a search, but he never found the 117 Englishmen. White never saw his granddaughter again.

A New Name

Croatan was an island off the coast of North Carolina where the Hatteras Indians lived.  Hamilton McMillan, the sponsor of the 1885 Act, gave the name Croatan to the Indians of Robeson County in a desire to connect these people to the Lost Colony of Roanoke (Dial, 8). This ancestry was, until that time, only documented by the verbal history of the tribe. (The Croatans would later be given the name “Lumbee” by the State of North Carolina.)

As a rule, the Indians of Robeson County in the late 19^th century were very poor, but some had become prosperous farmers. Such was the case with great, great grandfather, James E. Dial. It was said that his large cotton farm compared favorably with the best farms in North Carolina.  The average yield on some of his acres was two bales per acre (Osborne, 488).

Croatan Normal School

In 1887, the Legislature passed a separate Act establishing a Croatan Normal School for training teachers of the Croatan race to provide public education to Croatan children (Lowery, 98).  This Act named four trustees. James E. Dial was one of them (p. 99). In the spring of 1888, the Croatan Indian Normal School welcomed its first class of 15 students. The school, which would later become the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, would become the oldest college founded by and for Native Americans in the United States.  

McMillan championed both the 1885 and 1887 acts. According to McMillan, “The passage of these acts created much enthusiasm among the people…the tribe seemed to forget about the past, and to be inspired with a new hope” (Osborne, 488).  The past to which he referred was the conflicts that occurred during the period of reconstruction and, specifically, the civil unrest caused by the “Lowrie war.” Creation of the Croatan Normal school also brought positive results.  As of 1911, there were 25 public schools for the education of Croatan children in Robeson County (p. 489). Also, each school was taught by a member of the tribe. Two schools had two teachers.  Each teacher was trained at the Croatan Normal School. Dial was a faithful supporter of this school, servicing as a trustee for 35 years (Locklear).

The Faithfulness of Our Forefathers

My father’s life was also characterized by faithfulness. Faithfulness requires obedience. The faithfulness of God is seen clearly in Jesus. As the one who was the perfect image of God and the “exact imprint of his nature,” Jesus is God’s faithfulness in action, all the way to the cross. Faithfulness requires action.  Sometimes actions for which we are not even sure. However, my nature is that I want to know. But, we are called to step out and live by faith. Significantly, faith is central to understanding the Bible. Actually, Hebrews 11 provides the highlights for God’s story through the lives of the protagonists or God’s heroes.  Faith describes the relationship between God and the heroes of faith. 

“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance . . . ”

Hebrews 11:13

The truth is I have been blessed to have a real earthly example of faithfulness.  My father was faithful to God’s call for his life.  Did he literally hear God say to him every Sunday and Wednesday, “Get up and go to church?”  No, he did not, but he knew in his being that was God’s will.

Called To Be Faithful

My dad was a faithful provider for his family.  Did he literally hear God saying every morning, “Get up and go to work?”  No, but he knew that was God’s plan for his life.  My Dad was a faithful husband and father.  While I understand that he did not literally hear the voice of God saying be a blessing to your wife and children, I know he felt it with every fiber of his being. We are called to be faithful, just like our heavenly father is faithful. Our lives should be characterized by faithfulness.

Thanks to men like James E. Dial we now know the truth about the Lost Colony of Roanoke. In a tribute, Clifton Oxendine said at Dial’s funeral, “He found keen interest in all matters affecting the welfare and elevation of his race… It was soon learned by all that knew him that he cared more for his reputation as an honest man than he did for the mere praise of mankind” (Locklear). If only we had a watercolor painting of James E. Dial.

Copyright © 2020 Chuck Locklear

Bibliography

Dial, Adolph L., and David K. Eliades. The Only Land I Know: a History of the Lumbee Indians. Syracuse University Press, 1996.

Locklear, Lawrence T. “UNCP’s Founders.” The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, http://www.uncp.edu/about/history/uncps-founders.

Lowery, Malinda Maynor. “The Lumbee Indians: an American Struggle.” Amazon, The University of North Carolina Press, 2018, http://www.amazon.com/Lumbee-Indians-American-Struggle-Lehman/dp/1469646374.

Osborne, W. E. “The Croatans, A Peculiar People Now Living in North Carolina.” The New Age. New York, January 1911, p. 482-489

Tucker, Abigail. “Sketching the Earliest Views of the New World.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Dec. 2008, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/sketching-the-earliest-views-of-the-new-world-92306407/.