Accohannock

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The Accohannock purport to be a Native American Indian Tribe of Maryland. Current headquarters are located in Marion Station, Maryland. The tribal website would have it that the Accohannocks originally inhabited the territory that presently includes the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia; and makes the claim that this territory included the Chesapeake Bay home villages near what is present day Crisfield, Maryland. Some of the historically inaccurate statements originally posted on the tribal website have been corrected or deleted. Other unverifiable statements are still presented as historic fact.

The website further contends that the Accohannock Indian Tribe is an Algonquian-speaking sub-tribe of the Powhatan nation and part of the Accomac Confederation. It relates that Colonial policy in the 17th century weakened and dismantled the native culture; and that with the loss of its territory, self-government and other aspects of the tribe were destroyed.

It goes on to say that historically, they were hunters, trappers, and farmers, hunting various animals such as deer, elk, and bear, and growing crops such as squash and maize, which is a type of corn [sic].

What can be determined is that the Accohannock as a Native American Indian Tribe of Maryland, with current headquarters located in Marion Station, Somerset County, Maryland, are a relatively recent organization with its roots in the late 1960s/1970s. The impetus for the organization seems to have come from the late, Annabelle Ross McKay Bradshaw of Salisbury, Maryland, who late in life re-christened herself Clan Mother Head-of-the-Arrow. Subsequently her mother, the late Lois Eileen Hall McKay Carey, became Clan Mother Praying-Warrior; and her uncle, Rudy T. Hall, became known as Laughing Otter. Mr. Hall's wife Mary became known as Running Deer.

Originally joining an existing Native American organization, they and supporters later split from them and formed the Accohannock Indian Tribe. Sometime later, Clan Mother Praying-Warrior was instrumental in elevating her brother Laughing Otter to the chieftainship of the newly formed group.

[It should be noted that other siblings and children of these three do not subscribe to the Native American ancestry story line and claim to have no knowledge of such an oral family tradition. It should further be noted that repeated requests for historical, indeed any, documentation of these claims, bloodlines, & oral history (from both individuals and local groups concerned with area history) have been met with silence. ]

Although Native Americans originally inhabited the territory that presently includes the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay region, archeological evidence for home villages at present day Crisfield, Maryland is sketchy. The largest historically documented Native American village (c. 1678) in the area was miles away at Askiminokonson in what is present day Worcester County, Maryland.

Little historical information exists to show any of the Native Americans of the DelMarVa peninsula referring to themselves as the Accohannock Indian Tribe. Native Americans of the area were Algonquian-speaking but, there was no "Accomac Confederation" -- or any "Confederation" on the Eastern Shore. At one time there was a paramount chief of the Accomacks, but for the most part Native Americans in the area grouped themselves under various hereditary rulers, both male & female, whose power/influence was confined locally.

Colonial policy in the 17th century may indeed have weakened and dismantled the native culture resulting in the loss of territory, self-government and other cultural aspects; but it would not have affected an Accohannock Tribe, since such a tribe did not exist at that time. (For a good synopsis of local history please check out THE ASSATEAGUE INDIANS: WHAT BECAME OF THEM?http://www.ocmuseum.org/articles/indians.asp).

Historically, Native Americans of the area were hunters, trappers, fisherman, and farmers making use of the indigenous resources of the area.

The group referring to itself as the Accohannock tribe currently is neither a federally recognized tribe, nor a state recognized tribe. It has incorporated itself in the state of Maryland as an IRS 501(c)(3) organization. It is of interest to note that there is another similar group in the area calling itself the Occohannock Tribe, yet another group calling itself the Pocomoke, and one of the oldest, historical groups, the Nanticoke.

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