In a message dated 03/12/2000 11:12:42 PM Eastern Standard Time, tombrown@jhu.edu writes: << There are two surnames among contemporary Delaware Nanticokes that can be traced back to an individual identified as an Indian in colonial times: PACKHAM and PARSONS. >> PUCKHAM? See http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/Palmer-Rustin.htm Quote -- PUCKHAM FAMILY 1. John1 Puckham, born say 1660, was an Indian who married Anthony Johnson's granddaughter, Joan Johnson, in Stepney Parish, Somerset County, Maryland on 25 January 1682/3: John Puckham an Indian baptised by John Huett minister on 25th day of January one thouseand six hundred eighty two And the said John Puckham & Jone Johnson negro were married by the said minister ye 25th February Anno Do./ Maryland. Unquote. Ned Heite had the following to say about this marriage in an e-mail we received 10/21/1998 -- Quote -- John Puckham, Indian, got baptised, married Jone Johnson, and became a mulatto in 1682. Okay, stick with me. This is going to be convoluted. I am intentionally juxtaposing a bunch of unrelated facts out of context. Watch what happens. There was a George Puckham at the Winnesoccum Indian cultural event in 1742. When Daniel Durham of Little Creek Hundred, Kent County, died (1785), he left his son Benjamin (d. 1810) the time of an apprentice boy named George who was to be free at age 21. Three years later Ellinor Puckham witnessed John Durham's probate record. A George Puckham was either the son or the son in law (being one of two heirs at law) of Rachel Handsor, whose intestate estate was probated in Kent County, 1815. How many George Puckhams are there? Are they related? Was the one at Winnesoccum the grandson or such of John Puckham, who got baptised and married Jone Johnson (granddaughter of Antonio) in 1682. Who says that Antonio (a.k.a. Anthony Johnson) was African? Just because his son patented a tract called Angola? Angola is a Portugese name! Let's take it from the top now. Down in Virginia we have a "Turk" named Francisco as a headright. We have a man named Rodriguez (Driggus) who takes a white wife and lives somewhere between white and black society, as do his sons. Jone Johnson marries an Indian. Indians named Francisco represent the Nanticoke in conferences with the Governor of Pennsylvania. Then there is that Spanish Indian slave with an English wife in the seventeenth century Kent County census, name unknown. That is just before Conselor (Gonsela, or whatever) comes on the scene. The name of the game is loose ends. Don't say "Game" too loud because there is a Game family who are verifiably Indians and that sure sounds like a corruption of something else. Before you dismiss this rambling as dippy old Ned smoking the wrong stuff, let's consider that in fact there really were "moors" or Spaniards, or Portugese, or other swarthy, non-protestant people who showed up, with some skills at reading, maybe farming, and so forth. They were indentured servants, since Virginia didn't recognize chattel slavery til the 1660s, and then pretty unevenly. Looking for wives, they naturally would not be looking at white landed planters' daughters, of whom there were very few. I'd guess they were about the same color as the local Indians. Questions, Questions, Questions. Why is it there are so many answers before the questions are properly stated? Unquote. - ----------------------------------------- Aquabetty@aol.com Family History page www.mitsawokett.com Betty & Ray Terry 11505 Montgomery Rd. Beltsville, MD 20705 301-937-1766 God made us sisters; Prozac made us friends.