[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5130 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5130

To extend Federal recognition to the Rappahannock Tribe, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 6, 2006

Mrs. Jo Ann Davis of Virginia introduced the following bill; which was 
                 referred to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To extend Federal recognition to the Rappahannock Tribe, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) During the initial months after Virginia was settled, 
        the Rappahannocks had 3 encounters with Captain John Smith. The 
        first occurred when the Rappahannock weroance (headman) 
        traveled to Quiyocohannock (a principal town across the James 
        River from Jamestown) where he met with the Englishman to 
        determine if Smith had been the ``great man'' who had 
        previously sailed into the Rappahannock River, killed a 
        Rappahannock weroance, and kidnapped Rappahannock people. He 
        determined that Smith was too short to be that ``great man''. 
        On a second meeting, during John Smith's captivity (December 
        16, 1607 until January 8, 1608), Smith was taken to the 
        Rappahannock principal village to show the people that Smith 
        was not the great man. A third meeting took place during 
        Smith's exploration of the Chesapeake Bay (July 1608 until 
        September 1608), when Smith was prevailed upon to make peace 
        between the Rappahannock and the Moraughtacund Indians. The 
        Moraughtacunds had stolen 3 women from the Rappahannock King. 
        In the settlement, Smith had the 2 tribes meet on the spot of 
        their first fight. When it was established that both sides 
        wanted peace, Smith told the Rappahannock King to select which 
        of the 3 women he wanted; the Moraughtacund King got second 
        choice; Mosco, a Wighcocomoco (on the Potomac River) guide, was 
        given the third woman.
            (2) In 1645, Captain William Claiborne tried unsuccessfully 
        to establish treaty relations with the Rappahannocks. The 
        Rappahannocks had not participated in the Pamunkey-led uprising 
        in 1644, and the English wanted to ``treat with the 
        Rappahannocks or any other Indians not in amity with 
        Opechancanough, concerning serving the county against the 
        Pamunkeys''.
            (3) In April 1651, the Rappahannocks conveyed their first 
        tract of land to an English settler, Colonel Morre Fauntleroy. 
        The deed was signed by Accopatough, weroance of the 
        Rappahannock Indians.
            (4) In September 1653, Lancaster County signed a treaty 
        with Rappahannock Indians. The terms of the treaty gave 
        Rappahannocks the rights of the Englishmen in the county court, 
        and it tried to make the Rappahannock more accountable to 
        English law.
            (5) In September 1653, Lancaster County defined and marked 
        the bounds of its Indian settlements. According to the 
        Lancaster clerk of court, ``the tribe called the great 
        Rappahannocks lived on the Rappahannock Creek just across the 
        river above Tappahannock''.
            (6) In September 1656, (Old) Rappahannock County (modern-
        day Richmond and Essex Counties) signed a treaty with 
        Rappahannock Indians. The treaty mirrored the Lancaster County 
        treaty from 1653, and added 2 points: Rappahannocks were to be 
        rewarded, in Roanoke, for returning English fugitives and the 
        English encouraged the Rappahannocks to send their children to 
        live among the English as servants, who the English promised 
        would be treated well.
            (7) In 1658, the Virginia assembly revised a 1652 Act 
        stating that ``there be no grants of land to any Englishman 
        whatsoever de futuro until the Indians be first served with the 
        proportion of 50 acres of land for each bowman''.
            (8) In 1669, the colony conducted a census of Virginia 
        Indians. At that time, the majority of the Rappahannocks were 
        residing at their hunting village on the north side of the 
        Mattaponi River. At the time of the visit, census takers were 
        counting only the tribes along the rivers. This explains the 
        low number of 30 Rappahannock bowmen counted on the river. The 
        Rappahannocks used this hunting village on the north side of 
        the Mattaponi River as their primary residence until they were 
        removed in 1684.
            (9) In May 1677, the Treaty of Middle Plantation was signed 
        with England. The Pamunkey Queen Cockacoeske signed on behalf 
        of the Rappahannocks ``who were supposed to be her 
        tributaries''. However, before the treaty could be ratified, 
        the Queen of Pamunkey complained to the Virginia Colonial 
        Council ``that she was having trouble with Rappahannocks and 
        Chickahominies, supposedly tributaries of hers''.
            (10) In November 1682, the Virginia Colonial Council 
        established a reservation for the Rappahannock Indians of 3,474 
        acres ``about the town where they dwelt''. The Rappahannocks 
        ``town'' was their hunting village on the north side of the 
        Mattaponi River, where they had lived throughout the 1670's. 
        The acreage allotment was based on the 1658 Indian land act 
        (seen above), which translated into a bowman population of 70, 
        or an approximate total Rappahannock population of 350.
            (11) In 1683, following raids by Iroquoian warriors on both 
        Indian and English Settlements, the Virginia Colonial Council 
        ordered the Rappahannocks to leave their reservation and unite 
        with the Nanzatico Indians at Nanzatico Indian Town, which was 
        located across and 30 miles up the Rappahannock River.
            (12) Between 1687 and 1699, the Rappahannocks migrated out 
        of Nanzatico, returning to the south side of the Rappahannock 
        River at Portobacco Indian Town.
            (13) In 1706, by order of Essex County, Lieutenant Richard 
        Covington ``escorted'' the Portobaccos and Rappahannocks out of 
        Portobacco Indian Town, out of Essex County, and into King and 
        Queen County where they settled along the ridgeline between the 
        Rappahannock and Mattaponi Rivers, the site of their ancient 
        hunting village and Mattaponi Rivers, the site of their ancient 
        hunting village and 1682 reservation.
            (14) During the 1760s 3 Rappahannock girls were raised on 
        Thomas Nelson's ``Bleak Hill'' Plantation in King William 
        County. One girl married a Saunders man, one married a Johnson 
        man, and the third had 2 children, Edmund and Carter Nelson, 
        fathered by Thomas Cary Nelson. In the 19th century, these 
        Saunders, Johnson, and Nelson families are among the core 
        Rappahannock families from which the modern tribe traces its 
        descent.
            (15) In 1819 and 1820, Edward Bird, John Bird and his 
        unnamed wife, Carter Nelson, Edmund Nelson, and Carter Spurlock 
        (all Rappahannock ancestors) were listed on the tax roles of 
        King and Queen County. They are taxed at the county poor rate. 
        Edmund Bird is added to the list in 1821. This is significant 
        documentation because the overwhelming majority of pre-1864 
        records for King and Queen County were destroyed by fire.
            (16) Beginning in 1819, and continuing through the 1880s, 
        there was a solid Rappahannock presence in the membership at 
        Upper Essex Baptist Church. This is the first instance of 
        conversion to Christianity by at least some Rappahannocks. 
        Twenty-six identifiable and traceable Rappahannock surnames 
        appear on the pre-1863 membership list; 28 were listed on the 
        1863 membership roster; that number had declined to 12 in 1878 
        and had risen only slightly to 14 by 1888. One reason for the 
        decline: in 1870, a Methodist circuit rider, Joseph Mastin, 
        secured funds to purchase land and construct St. Stephens 
        Baptist church for the Rappahannocks living nearby in Caroline 
        County. Mastin documented from 1850 to 1870. St. Stephens was 
        the dominant tribal church until the Rappahannock Indian 
        Baptist Church was established in 1964. At both, the core 
        Rappahannock family names of Bird, Clarke, Fortune, Johnson, 
        Nelson, Parker, and Richardson predominate.
            (17) During the early 1900s, James Mooney, noted 
        anthropologist, maintained correspondence with the 
        Rappahannocks, surveying them and instructing them on how to 
        formalize their tribal government.
            (18) In November 1920, Speck visited the Rappahannocks and 
        assisted them in organizing the fight for their sovereign 
        rights. In 1921, the Rappahannocks were granted a charter from 
        the Commonwealth of Virginia formalizing their tribal 
        government. Speck began a professional relationship with the 
        Tribe that would last more than 30 years and document 
        Rappahannock history and traditions as never done before.
            (19) In April 1921, Rappahannock Chief George Nelson asked 
        the Governor of Virginia, Westmoreland Davis, to forward a 
        proclamation to the President of the United States. A list of 
        tribal members and a handwritten copy of the proclamation 
        itself were appended. The letter concerned Indian freedom of 
        speech and assembly nationwide. Chief Nelson testified also 
        before Congress requesting acknowledgement of the Rappahannocks 
        civil and sovereign rights, quoting Isaiah 40:31; ``They that 
        wait upon the Lord shall renew their Strength; they shall mount 
        up with wings as Eagles; They shall run, and not be weary; and 
        they shall walk, and not faint''.
            (20) In 1922, the Rappahannocks established a formal school 
        at Lloyds, Essex County, Virginia. Prior to that time, 
        Rappahannock children were taught by a tribal member in Central 
        Point, Caroline County, Virginia.
            (21) In December 1923, Rappahannock Chief George Nelson 
        testified before the United States Congress appealing for a 
        $50,000 appropriation to establish an Indian school in 
        Virginia.
            (22) In 1930, the Rappahannocks were engaged in an ongoing 
        dispute with the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States 
        Census Bureau about their classification in the 1930 Federal 
        census. In January 1930, Rappahannock Chief Otho S. Nelson 
        wrote to the Chief Statistician of the United States Census 
        Bureau asking that the 218 enrolled Rappahannocks be listed as 
        Indians. In February, Leon Truesdell replied to Nelson saying 
        that ``special instructions'' were being given about 
        classifying Indians. That April, Nelson wrote to William M. 
        Steuart at the Census Bureau asking about the enumerators' 
        failure to classify his people as Indians. Nelson said that 
        enumerators had not asked the question about race when they 
        interviewed his people. In a follow-up letter to Truesdell, 
        Nelson reported that the enumerators were ``flatly denying'' 
        his people's request to be listed as Indians. Furthermore, the 
        race question was completely avoided during interviews. The 
        Rappahannocks had talked with Caroline and Essex County 
        enumerators, and with John M.W. Green already, without success. 
        Nelson asked Truesdell to list people as Indian if he sent a 
        list of members. The matter was settled by William Steuart who 
        concluded that the Bureaus rule was that people of Indian 
        descent could only be classified as ``Indian'' if Indian 
        ``blood'' predominated and ``Indian'' identity was accepted in 
        the local community. The Virginia Vital Statistics Bureau 
        classed all nonreservation Indians as ``negro'', and it failed 
        to see why ``an exception should be made'' for the 
        Rappahannocks. Therefore, in 1925, the Indian Rights 
        Association took on the Rappahannock case to assist them in 
        fighting for their recognition and rights as an Indian Tribe.
            (23) During the World War II, the Pamunkeys, Mattaponis, 
        Chickahominies, and Rappahannocks fought the draft boards about 
        their racial identity. The Virginia Vital Statistics Bureau 
        insisted that certain Indian draftees be inducted into Negro 
        units. In the end, 3 Rappahannocks were convicted of violating 
        the Federal draft laws. After spending time in a Federal 
        prison, they were granted conscientious objector status and 
        served out the remainder of the war working in military 
        hospitals.
            (24) In 1943, Frank Speck noted that there were 
        approximately 25 communities of Indians left in the Eastern 
        United States that were entitled to Indian classification. The 
        Rappahannocks were included in this group.
            (25) In the 1940s, Leon Truesdell, Chief Statistician, 
        United States Bureau of the Census, listed 118 members in the 
        Rappahannock tribe in the Indian population of Virginia.
            (26) In April 25, 1940, the United Stated Department of the 
        Interior, Office of Indian Affairs, included the Rappahannocks 
        in their list of Tribes by State and Agency.
            (27) In 1948, the Smithsonian Institution Annual Report 
        included an article by William Harlen Gilbert titled, 
        ``Surviving Indian Groups of the Eastern United States''. The 
        Rappahannock Tribe was included and described in this article.
            (28) In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the Rappahannocks 
        operated a school at Indian Neck. The State agreed to pay a 
        tribal teacher to teach 10 students bused by King and Queen 
        County to Sharon Indian School in King William County, 
        Virginia. In 1965, Rappahannock students entered Marriott High 
        School (a white public school) by Executive order of the 
        Governor of Virginia. In 1972, the Rappahannocks worked with 
        the Coalition of Eastern Native Americans to fight for Federal 
        recognition. In 1979, the Coalition established a pottery and 
        artisans company, operating with other Virginia tribes. In 
        1980, the Rappahannocks received funding through the 
        Administration for Native Americans, to develop an economic 
        program for the Tribe.
            (29) In 1983, the Rappahannocks received State recognition. 
        This Bill acknowledges the perseverance of our people and their 
        long struggle to maintain their community, tribal culture, and 
        traditions, to take their rightful place in the history of the 
        United States.
            (30) Thomasina E. Jordan is commended for her tireless 
        effort and work to gain federal recognition for Virginia 
        Indians. Thomasina E. Jordan laid the foundation to make 
        federal recognition a possibility. The Virginia Indians stand 
        on her shoulders.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    For the purposes of this Act--
            (1) the term ``Tribe'' means the organization possessing 
        the legal name Rappahannock Tribe, Inc., only and no other 
        tribe, subtribe, band, or splinter groups representing 
        themselves as Rappahannocks;
            (2) the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of the 
        Interior; and
            (3) the term ``member'' means an enrolled member of the 
        Tribe, as of the date of the enactment of this Act, or an 
        individual who has been placed on the membership rolls of the 
        Tribe in accordance with this Act.

SEC. 3. FEDERAL RECOGNITION.

    (a) Federal Recognition.--Federal recognition is hereby extended to 
the Tribe. All laws and regulations of the United States of general 
application to Indians or nations, tribes, or bands of Indians, 
including the Act of June 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 461 et seq.) which are 
not inconsistent with any specific provision of this Act, shall be 
applicable to the Tribe and its members.
    (b) Federal Services and Benefits.--
            (1) In general.--The Tribe and its members shall be 
        eligible, on and after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
        for all services and benefits provided by the Federal 
        Government to federally recognized Indian tribes without regard 
        to the existence of a reservation for the Tribe or the location 
        of the residence of any member on or near any Indian 
        reservation.
            (2) Service area.--For purposes of the delivery of Federal 
        services to enrolled members of the Tribe, the Tribe's service 
        area shall be deemed to be the area comprised of King and 
        Queen, Caroline, and Essex, Spotsylvania, Stafford, and 
        Richmond Counties, Virginia.

SEC. 4. MEMBERSHIP; GOVERNING DOCUMENTS.

    The membership roll and governing documents of the Tribe shall be 
the most recent membership roll and governing documents, respectively, 
submitted by the Tribe to the Secretary before the date of the 
enactment of this Act.

SEC. 5. GOVERNING BODY.

    The governing body of the Tribe shall be the governing body on the 
date of the enactment of this Act, or any new governing body selected 
under the election procedures specified in the governing documents of 
the Tribe.

SEC. 6. RESERVATION OF THE TRIBE.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if the Tribe transfers 
other land within the boundaries of King and Queen County, Essex 
County, Richmond County, Caroline County, Spotsylvania County, or 
Stafford County, Virginia, to the Secretary, the Secretary shall take 
such land into trust for the benefit of the Tribe.

SEC. 7. GAMING PROHIBITION.

    No land taken into trust for the benefit of the tribe shall be 
considered Indian lands for the purposes of the Indian Gaming 
Regulatory Act (25 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.).

SEC. 8. HUNTING, FISHING, TRAPPING, GATHERING, AND WATER RIGHTS.

    Nothing in this Act shall expand, reduce, or affect in any manner 
any hunting, fishing, trapping, gathering, or water rights of the Tribe 
and its members.
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