Agenda - 02-19-2002 - 5b - Laserfiche WebLink

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RESOLUTION OF SUPPORT . 4 FOR STATE RECOGNITION WHEREAS, the ancestors of the Occaneechi-Saponi were an ancient people who collectively called themselves Yesah or the people who originally came from lands to the west, over the Appalachian and Blue Ridge mountains in an area known today as the Ohio River Valley, and WHEREAS, nearly one thousand years ago, the Yesah came under attack from a powerful enemy and were forced to migrate over the mountains to their east and settle in what is now the piedmont of Virginia and North Carolina, and WHEREAS, as a result of their power, the influence of the Occaneechi and of the Yesah peoples were spread far and wide and both the general language of trade and the rituals of the Indigenous religion of the region were spoken in the Occaneechi dialect, and WHEREAS, in May of the year 1676, the independence of the Occaneechi and of the Yesah peoples came to an abrupt end, when Nathaniel Bacon led his militia into the land of the Occaneechi in the spring of the year and forced a fight which ultimately broke the power of the tribe and scattered the Yesah people, and WHEREAS, after being attacked by Bacon' s militia, the Occaneechi were forced south and settled along the Eno River near present day Hillsborough, North Carolina, and WHEREAS, in 1713, the colony of Virginia and Great Britain signed a treaty of peace with the Yesah and the Occaneechi returned to Virginia where they were joined by their cousins the Saponi, Tutelo, Stuckanocks, and Meiponsky, and WHEREAS, all the tribes joined together and adopted the name of the Saponi and were thereafter known as the Saponi Nation, and WHEREAS, by the .mid 1700' s the tribe had resettled in what is now Greensville, Brunswick, Mecklenburg and Northampton counties on the Virginia/North Caroilna border, and WHEREAS, they stayed there until the 1780' s when in response to increasing pressure from- neighboring whites, the community began moving back to the area near the Eno River where they had once lived, settling in the northeast section of Alamance County and adjoining Orange County and WHEREAS, since that time, some of the people moved to Ohio and Indiana but the bulk of the Saponi people remained in "Little Texas" forming an independent Indian community which was based on small scale farming, and WHEREAS, the Saponi people formally reorganized in 1984 as the Eno- Occaneechi Indian Association, Inc. with a Tribal Board of Directors which represents the tribe at the Local, State and National level and which deals with problems facing the community, and WHEREAS, in February of 1995, the Tribal Board of Directors voted to amend the name of the tribe to the OCCANEECHI BAND OF THE SAPONI NATION to more accurately reflect the ancestry of the tribe. NOW, THEREFORE, THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS does hereby recognize the OCCANEECHI BAND OF THE SAPONI NATION as a Native American tribe indigenous to Orange County and FURTHERMORE, THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS does hereby support the OCCANEECHI BAND OF THE SAPONI NATION in their request for recognition from the State of North Carolina. This the 4th day of December, 1995.