Nottoway language

Nottoway or Cheroenhaka is an extinct Iroquoian language of Virginia. There are attempts at revival. ^[3] Nottoway is related to Tuscarora. There are still Nottoway Indians living today, not only in Virginia but also in Wisconsin and Canada where some of their ancestors fled in the 18th century; the language, however, has been almost entirely lost, known only from a few scanty wordlists jotted down 200 years ago.^[4]

The vocabulary and /or tongue (Dar-sun-ke) of the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indians is a compilation of lists and source materials dating back to March 4th, 1820. Former President Thomas Jefferson’s hand written letter to Peter S. DuPonceau, on July 7, 1820, states that the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian vocabulary was obtained on March 4th, 1820 from a woman by the name of Edie Turner, styled as their “Queen” and that he had procured a copy of the vocabulary from John Woods, a former Professor of Mathematics at the College of William and Mary. Jefferson also infers in his letter of July 7, 1820, that at the time of the recording of the vocabulary, members of the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribe, Southampton County Virginia, was still living on seven thousands acres of tribal reservation land, west of the Nottoway River, two miles from Jerusalem [Courtland…WDB] in Southampton County Virginia. ^[5]

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