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From: Pat Doster <>
Subject: [MDSTMARY-L] Q & A's to Thanksgiving Colonial Quiz
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 09:36:48 -0500


Good response from Charley Moore and Bob Flygare!
Every Thanksgiving, I sit squirming as primary children recount story of the Pilgrims and Squanto. Gosh, what happened to the story of the real "First Thanksgiving" in Jamestown?
Anyone realize Plymouth in 1620 was *not the first Thanksgiving?
What about the land of our ancestors, Maryland, anyone recall history of SMCo being recounted in their -12 years?
Few years ago, I got so hot on the subject, I began giving school talks on colonial history.
The kids loved it, teacher's mouths dropped open, and all had a good time learning abt. colonial Va./Md. I used Joy Hakim's "Making Thirteen Colonies," p.o. her "A History of US" series.

Maryland Thanksgiving Quiz Answers

Q: What does Chesapeake, Patuxent, and Potomac mean in Algonquian language?
A: Chesapeake means "Great Shellfish Bay"; Patuxent means "at the rapids or falls;"
Potomac means "landing place for goods," a mixture of Iroquois, Powhatan & Delaware.

Q. What was the name of the chief who met Leonard Calvert & Co. when he landed 1634?
A. "Wannis" or "Wannas" chief of Piscataway Indians, resided Moyoane village up river.
Q: Who served as interpreter?
A: Henry Fleet, with Calvert when he met with Piscataways, suggested Calvert make a courtesy call
on the Indians to show settlers had come in peace. Fleet had lived among the Indians for sev.
years (like Thomas Savage in Va.) and recalled Va. mistakes. Fleet assured Wannis the settlers
on Ark and Dove had not come to harm the Piscataway nation because many of them had been
persecuted themselves and run off their land. They would never do the same to others.

Q. How much land did Calvert buy, where was it located and how much did he pay for it?
A. Leonard Calvert bought about 30 miles of land along St. Mary's River with bolts of fabric, axes,
and farm tools which would make life easier for Indians.

Q. Did Marylanders celebrate the English Harvest Home with the Indians during 1st year?
A. If they did, I didn't find an account, but being English, of course they celebrated if they were well
enough, had food to share and found agreeable Indian friends to invite to the feast.

Q. What would they have eaten unique to Chesapeake region?
A: See Charley's ABC email.
Q. Where would the Harvest Home celebration have taken place?
A. Once an Indian village, the new town called St. Maries City became the first capital of Maryland.

Q. What did the s. Md. tribes teach the Md. colonists about living in the New World?
A. For abt. 20 yrs, the Piscataways joined with white settlers against their traditional enemy, the
Iroquois. In return, the Indians helped the settlers survive. They shared their cleared land,
teaching the British how to grow corn and native crops (pumpkins, squash, beans). They
showed them how to dip soft-shell crabs in hot bear fat before cooking; and according to the
letters of Father White, the Indians delighted them with roast oysters.

Q. Name at least 8 sub-tribes in s. Md. and tell where each lived. Water is the key.
1. Potomacs lived upper reaches of Potomac River near DC.
2. Anacostans lived just south and east.
3. Piscataways, dominate tribe, lived W-shore along Piscataway Creek in Chas/PG Cos.
4. Patuxents lived along both shores of Patuxent River in Calvert Co. and SMCo.
5. Mattawomans lived along Mattawoman Creek in Chas./PGCos.
6. Potopacs ?
7. Chapticos - along Chaptico Bay and Run. Town named for them in SMCo.
8. Yocomicos lived nr. SMCity

Q. What belief did the Indians hold about ownership of the land?
A. Indians considered request to buy land a joke, they thought this notion of the settlers was crazy.
Each time the settlers bgt. land with trunkets, Indians thought they were selling hunting/grazing
rights. The whole notion of land ownership was inconceivable to the Indians.

Q. Where would you go to visit an Indian heritage museum?
A. Smithsonian? You tell me. Cherokee is my first choice, but then I live in Blue Ridge Mts.

Q. What eventually happened to Maryland's Indians? Where did they go and why?
A. By the 1700s, settlers had pushed Indians off their homelands. Choptanks, Nanticokes and
Piscataways asked the colonial gov. to set aside sections of land for them, so four tracts were set
aside for them: Coptank reservation on Secretary Creek and the Chicone on Nanticoke River near
Marshyhope on E-shore. Broad Creek Reservation lies in Delaware. Piscataway res. was at
Nanjemoy in Charles Co on s. side Piscataway Creek. Many Indians soon left Md.
The Piscataways moved to Point of Rocks in Frederick Co some continued n. into Pa., NY,
Canada. Others remained behind at Zekiah Swamp nr. former Piscataway reservation.

Q: How many people with Indian heritage live in Maryland today?
A. In 1980, Census figures said 9,026. No one is sure. Patricia King: "As many as 23,000
currently live in Maryland."

Source: "We the People: Maryland's Ethnic Heritage: American Indians" from "Maryland Magazine," Division of Historical & Cultural Programs, 1990.

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