Ancestor's anniversary of his death, April 28, 1659

Mark Symonds

1584–1659

BIRTH 1584 • Birch, Essex, England

DEATH 28 APR 1659 • Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts Colony

Here's a repost of my earlier blog about him and his 2 wives (not at the same time!) and daughters. I've tried to clarify by using his and his second wife's wills to show how their daughters belonged to the Mrs. Symonds.

Monday, August 6, 2018

Mark Symonds' and wife Joanna of Ipswich, MA

Joanna Symonds is my choice for today. She is second wife of my 9 times great grandfather, Mark Symonds.  My line goes through her predecessor, Susan Edgar Symonds.  Their daughter Susanna Symonds Ayers was my 8 times great grandmother.  For some reason the folks over at Ancestry decided (why?) to merge the two wives into one, Joanna Susanna!  Never mind the data that proves they were two separate people. I spoke about the 2 wives HERE.

Joanna's parents are unknown.  She did marry Mark Symonds in Ipswich, Essex County MA (or perhaps in Essex England) in 1620.  The same listing of New England Marriages before 1700 states Mark Symonds married his first wife in either 1609 or 1612.  It doesn't name his first wife, but it does give the name of Joanna as his last wife. 

The Preston-Foster house on Water St. in Ipswich MA 1790 (not an ancestor, just one of the early homes still standing in Ipswich)

Mark's will written on 25 April of 1659 gives Joanna as his wife's name, and assigns her the job of executrix. (He died on the 28th April.)  He also names his daughters, Susannah Ayers (my ancestress) and Abigail Pierce.  John Warner Jr. (husband of daughter Priscilla) is given a bequest, as well as his estate divided among the 3 daughters, (Susanna, Abigail, Priscilla) and the children of his deceased daughter, Mary Chapman.

"Joanna, the last wife of Mark Symonds stated in her will “God having given me two daughters,” Priscilla and Abigail. This indicates Joanna was not the mother of the older children, and that there was at least one earlier wife of Mark Symonds."

The Ipswich written record of deaths in 1659 lists Mark Symonds, but not that he's the husband of any surviving wife, though Joanna was definitely still alive.

She provided a written record of her inventory of Mark's possessions.

"debts __ from the estate ... delivered in court __ the _2th of June 1659 by Joanah Symonds relict of Marke Symonds as attest Robert Lord clerk"

All of Mark Symonds surviving children had married by the time he died.

Joanna lived another 7 years herself.  She wrote a will giving her 2 daughters bequests.

9 May 1666 – Joanna’s will proven in Ipswich Court:

I Joana Symonds of Ipswich . . . doe make and ordaine this my last will and Testament . . . And for my outward estate I . . . dispose God haueing given me two daughters which are maryed both and have children my will is equally to dispose of what estate I leave behind . . . unto my said two daughters and there children, i. e., namely unto my daughter Prisilla the wife of John Warner and to her children after her decease the one halfe of my estate And to my daughter Abigaill the wife of Robert Pearce the other halfe equally devided … I doe apoynt my loueing Sons in law John warner & Robert Pearce to be my executors . . . and doe declare this to be my last will and testament this sixt day of Aprill 1666. In presents of us William Goodhue, Robert Lord. Joana Symonds.

And an earlier document in Nov. 1659 following her husband's death, had showed that the sons in law (Chapman and Ayers) sold the house and lands, with agreement of the widow.

24 Nov 1659 – Ipswich Deed:

wheras ther was an estate left by Marke Symonds unto his children after the death of his wife. And by agreem* mutually betweene the widdow & them to alow the widdow a certeine Sum yearly dureing her life and for to devyde the estate presently, and by agreement betweene themselves, the lands with some other small things fell to Edward Chapman (who maryed one of Marke Symonds his daughters) for his part of the estate, And the house being by the consent of all hands put into the hands of John Ayres to make sale of . . . This therfore wittnesseth that I John Ayres for . . . four score pounds . . . sell vnto my Brother Edward Chapman of Ipswich the dwelling house, barne & land about it . . . three acres be it more or less . . . wch was lately Marke Symonds … In wittness whereof … 24 November 1659 . . . John Ayers and John Baker

Recorded 1st of Aprill 1673. by Robert Lord

Late April birthdays of ancstors

Reposting for Julia Ann Holloman Bass Green...

Julia Ann Holloman Bass Green (Julian?) was born on April 24 in 1785 in Wayne County, North Carolina, the mother of Col. Richard Bass. Death March 11, 1861 in Morehouse Parish, Louisiana,

What of Julia Ann's Holloman family?

Her father was Thomas Holloman (Holliman) - born in 1740 in Surry, Surry, Virginia, died in 1790 in Raleigh, Wake, North Carolina.  Records on Ancestry.com show he lived in Johnston County, NC in 1784.  These counties (Wayne, Johnston and Wake) are all in close proximity, and several were formed with shifting boundaries of neighboring counties.

Her mother is only known as Emaline, born in 1746.  

Julia Ann is the youngest of 5 children in the family.   

Julia Ann married John Bass on Oct. 8, 1805.  John was born in 1784 in Wayne County, North Carolina, and died in 1822 in Perry, Alabama  

His Bass family were early settlers in VA, with at least one marriage with a Nansemond Indian woman.  I spoke of some of her Bass relations HERE.    Of note is Dr. Andrew Bass (1698-1770) born in Norfolk Independent City, Nansemond County, Virginia, who donated the land for the court house of Waynesborough, Wayne County, NC.  He was the great uncle of Julia Ann's husband, just as a note of interest as to the family's status in the community.  However, history fluctuates a lot in a few generations, so perhaps that's a premature assumption of high standing of the Bass family.

Julia Ann had 8 children.  The family moved to Perry County, Alabama between the births of Elizabeth on 9 Oct 1810 in Wayne County, NC and Molly Ann Moseley Bass on 18 Jun 1811 in Perry, Alabama.  Julia Ann's youngest 4 children were born in Alabama.  

My grandfather's mother's father was Richard Bass, Julia Ann and John Bass's youngest son.
I posted about Richard Bass earlier HERE.  To quote myself:

 His father's estate had a petition against it which gives Richard's birth as 1814.  This date is not corroborated by his census data as well as his grave marker which all reflect an 1819 birth.  So the legal petition in Alabama might have been wrong.  Another source has him born in NC rather than AL.  Wherever he was born, he was the youngest of 8 children of his parents, and his father died when he was very young, and he was raised by a step-father. His mother was Julia Ann Holloman Bass Green.  Father was John Bass, both from Wayne County, NC, which is near where I currently live.  His step-father was Jetson Green, who raised him from when he was around 6 years old.

When John died in 1822 (or maybe earlier) the widow remarried to Jetson Green who petitioned the courts to settle the debts.  The estate was inventoried at which time apparently there were slaves, household goods, land and 7 children. Jetson Green says he'd been married to 'Julian' since 1821.  This is an interesting collection of documents to have survived, dated 1823 to 1830, regarding the debts on John's estate, how the widow needed guardianships for the young children, and another person (last name Holloman) signed Julian's name spelled that way, to one petition or letter.   Julia Ann had two brothers and 2 sisters, and I cannot make out the first name of the signature.

Julia Ann was now Mrs. Green, and she didn't stay in Alabama.  There was another westward move to Caldwell Parish, Louisiana where the Jetson Green family lived for the 1840 Census.

By 1850 she lived in Union Parish, LA as head of her own household with an overseer, L. Freeman and his family, but no Green family members listed. However, also noted is that on the 1850 Slave census, Mrs. Julia A. Green is listed as owner of  8 slaves, of whom 2 were females over 55 years old.

At a stated 70 years of age in the 1860 Census, Julia Ann lived with the Barton family (her daughter Elizabeth, known as Lizzie?) in Morehouse Parish, LA.  She died there March 11, 1861.
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More Late April birthdays like Mark Symonds' death date on Apri 28, 1659.  I'll share my earlier post about him tomorrow.

Mark Symonds

1584–1659

BIRTH 1584 • Birch, Essex, England

DEATH 28 APR 1659 • Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts Colony

Catching up with known birth anniversaries of ancestors

No posts for the last 10 days!
Which ancestors had their birth anniversaries since my last post?

Apri 18, 1853 was the birthday of Alice Luella Rogers Ross. A great aunt who helped raise her nephew's children, including my grandfather, George E. Rogers Sr.  Aunt Alice Luella also gave birth to 12 children of her own.  When her brother (and George Rogers' father) W. Sam Rogers died, she was only 26 years old, and just had her first 2 children, who were about the same age a my 2 year old grandfather and his 1 year old sister.

There was no mention in any of the records I've found, as to what happened to my great grandmother, Betty Bass, who was just 19 years old at the death of W. Sam Rogers, her husband (who was 29 years old.) She apparently moved to Galveston and later on had her 2 children living with her.  But the Ross family had guardianship of the 2 Rogers children for much of their childhood.  Aunt Alice Luella was never talked about by my grandfather. But he carried the middle name, Elmore, the same as his guardian, Alice Luella's husband, John Elmore Ross.  Uncle John Elmore Ross went by his middle name, much as Aunt Luella went by her middle name. And my own father carried the middle name of Elmore as a junior also, but went by George.

But from all those children (most of whom lived to adulthood) I've never tried to contact any of these cousins!  So that's an interesting proposition.  Here's an early list of their families. 

April 23 was the birthday of Marion J. Philips, 1823-1907.  He was my grandmother, Ada Philips Swasey Rogers' great uncle.   I've written about him before (Here) with a copy of his letter to my grandmother...and HERE about my discovering more about his life and death.

Now to go back another hundred years, April 23 was also the birth anniversary of Elizabeth Lewis Kennon, 1724-1799. I focused on her life in this post HERE.  She was my 6 times great grandmother, who lived in Virginia during the American Revolution, and was buried in an unmarked grave in North Carolina.  She had 7 children, at least 6 of whom lived to adulthood.  The cemetery she was buried in is part of a historic site known as Machpelah, in Townsville, Granville County, NC, which has some buildings dating back to the 1850s, but not as far back as her own life.  This county is just over the line from Virginia, where the Kennon family had lived. The different counties names on records of the Kennon/Cannon sons in NC are probably based on how these counties were formed as the area became settled.  They are all along the northern border of NC with Virginia...Caswell County, Vance County and Orange County, NC.    I have looked a bit more at her children (mainly the sons) to see more about their lives, and found one John Cannon that probaby wasn't my great times 5 grandfather.  This man wrote a will, and called himself a mariner, married to Elizabeth, and no mention of children, but lived in New Bern NC...which is not near the area the other Cannons lived, nor near Knoxville TN where I believe my ancestor died. Some of my research about the early Kennon/Cannon families is minimal, and deserves more in-depth looks. This was last year's start of this pursuit HERE.

There were 2 more (at least) birthdays of ancestors which I missed sharing here.  So I'll have something to post about tomorrow!

Being with family

I went to a wedding.  I haven't been doing much genealogy for the last week.  I've been with my live family instead of those who have gone before us!

Another written record about John Basse (1616-1699)

SOURCE:

https://southernrootsandbranches.wordpress.com/2013/08/03/john-basse-a-story-of-the-new-world/

A cousin who blogged in 2013 about his connection to the Bass Family...very nicely written, so I went back to the original to get the pictures to add here as well! Thanks Billy Pittard. I have no recent posts by him, so perhaps he's moved on to other interests since his last blog in July 2018.

John Basse, a Story of the New World

Posted in Bass, Batey, Henderson on August 3, 2013| 96 Comments »

John’s grandfather, Humphrey Basse and his brothers, William and Thomas were French Huguenots who immigrated to London during the reign of Elizabeth I seeking religious freedom. Humphrey married Mary Bouchier, daughter of Dominick and Genevieve Bouchier, also French Huguenots. Humphrey was an entrepreneurial man, first as a merchant haberdasher, and then as an investor and stockholder in the Virginia Company which financed settlements in Jamestowne, Virginia. Humphrey invested in the Third Charter of the Virginia Company signing as a founder on March 12, 1612.

Arriving in Virginia

In 1619 when John was three years old, his father, thirty-year-old Nathaniel Basse made his first trip to the new colony. On April 27, 1619 Nathaniel arrived at Jamestown on Captain Christopher Lawne’s ship. They brought workmen, supplies and one hundred settlers. Their camp was at the mouth of a creek near Jamestown, still named, Lawne’s Creek, from which they built the first settlement in Isle of Wight County, Virginia.

By mid-summer 1619, there were about a thousand English living in Virginia. In early August, the first legislative assembly in America met in the church at Jamestowne. This meeting established the principle of elected self-rule in America and became a foundation of our Republic. Five months later, the Virginia Company dissolved its subsidiary company which had been formed to exclusively supply the colony. Thereafter, free trade prevailed in the colony and laid the foundation for free enterprise as the form of the American economy.

Nathaniel made frequent trips between Virginia and London over the next few years. On November 21, 1621 he made his move to establish a home in the New World and patented 400 acres on the James River at Pagan Creek in Isle of Wight County. Here he founded Basse’s Choyce Plantation and built a home for himself and his young family.

John’s maternal grandfather, Silas Samuel Jordan was also an early Virginia Adventurer. In 1620 he received a grant of land on the James River at Bailey’s Creek near the present Hopewell, Virginia. Here, at what is still called Jordan’s Point, he and established a home for his family in the New World.

Indians kept a close watch on the English settlers.

Throughout this period, relations with the Indians had been volatile. Early encounters had been hostile, and then the “Peace of Pocahontas” gave the settlers a sense that conditions would remain amenable.

Having established Basse’s Choyce Plantation, John’s father began to move his family to Virginia. In early 1622, six-year-old John Basse along with at least one of his brothers were at Basse’s Choyce when their parents made a return trip to England.

And then disaster struck. Emperor Powhatan (father of Pocahontas) had died four years earlier and had been succeeded by his brother, Opechancanough. He wanted no part of the white men and he patiently organized a surprise attack that was carried out by almost every tribe in the area. On the same day, at the same time, and anywhere there was a white man, he was to be killed.

At midday on Good Friday, March 22, 1622, there were twelve hundred forty English inhabitants in the Colony of Virginia. Of these nearly four hundred were killed by Indians. At the house of Captain John Basse, only six-year-old John Basse survived. John’s oldest brother seven-year-old Humphrey and possibly other siblings were killed in the attack.

Virginia Indians attack the colony, March 22, 1622

John’s parents, Nathaniel and Mary arrived back in Virginia on the ship Furtherance within the next couple of weeks only to find their oldest son (and possibly others) killed in the massacre, and six-year-old John was missing without a trace. They found the woods around the English settlements patrolled by hostile Indians.

Nathaniel and Mary had little time to mourn because Basse’s Choyce had to be immediately repaired for the birth of another child. On May 8, 1622 their sixth child, Edward, arrived. To make matters even more dire, in December an epidemic arrived with the ship Abigail, and killed twice as many people as the Indian attacks. The colony also had a poor harvest that year and experienced another “starving time” throughout the winter of 1622-23. Less than 500 survived to see the spring of 1623.

Amid the carnage that happened that fateful Good Friday, young John Basse managed to slip away from the attackers and into the forest. Fortune smiled on the boy as he was found and taken in by friendly Nansemond Indians who were fleeing from the hostilities. His rescuers managed to reach the Nansemond River with John before their enemies had organized patrols in the woods.

John’s rescuers took him into their tribe and gave him advantages and standing. He absorbed the Nansemond culture. In spite of the danger, missionaries continued to teach the Nansemonds – including young John Basse – and he matured to become literate and a Christian.

By the time he was twenty-two John had fallen in love with a Nansemond girl whom he knew as Keziah Elizabeth Tucker, daughter of Chief Robin the Elder, but to the English she was the Princess Keziah Elizabeth, daughter of the King of the Nansemond Kingdom. On August 14, 1638 John and Keziah Elizabeth, age 14, were married. She was born about 1624 at Kecoughton, an Indian village in Virginia (now part of the city of Newport News). “Keziah” is an old testament name that can mean faithful or female equality.

Writing on the cover of the “Book of John Basse”

At some point during his remarkable lifetime, John acquired an English prayer book which served as his family Bible. In this book he recorded many important facts and events. This book exists today and is in the possession of his Nansemond tribe descendants.

John Bass’ prayer book is a manuscript religious book of about 100 pages. It measures 4 5/8″ by 7 1/4″. The author’s name not known. The earliest date of a sermon entry is March 4, 1660. In ink on the cover is written “Book of John Basse Norfolk Co., Vir. A. D. 1675.”

John recorded the following passage in his prayer book:

“John Basse was born ye 7 day of September in ye year of our Lord 1616 ye son of Nathll Basse and Mary his wife… he married Elizabeth dafter of Robin the Elder, King of ye Nansimuns kingdom, a Baptized xtian, in Holy Matrimonie accdg to ye Canons of ye Church of England, ye 14th day of August in the Year of our Blessed Lord 1638.”

At some point it is believed John reconnected with his birth family because his brother Edward (born immediately after the massacre of 1622) married Keziah Elizabeth Tucker’s cousin.

John and Keziah were living in Nansemond territory when it became Upper Norfolk and then Nansemond County, Virginia. John passed away in 1699 at the age of 82 in Norfolk, Virginia. Keziah Elizabeth passed away in 1676 at the age of 52.

John and Keziah Elizabeth had eight children and today have countless descendants.

My (Billy Pittard) Ancestry from John and Keziah Elizabeth Basse is as follows:

John Basse (1616-1699) + Keziah Elizabeth Tucker (1624-1676)
William Bass (1654-1741) + Catherine Lanier (1650-1692)
John Bass (1673-1732) + Love Harris (ca. 1677-1732)
John Bass (1715-1777) + Elizabeth Winborne
Jacob Bass (1740-1792) + Ann Fuller (1733-1791)
Theophilus Bass (1753-1826) + Rachel Vinson (1755-1824)
Etheldred Bass (1785-1875) + Nancy Brien (b. ca. 1790)
John B. Bass (b. 1813) + Susan Barbee (b. ca. 1819)
Sarah Jane Bass (1840-1876) + John Bond Henderson (1834-1898)

Sarah Jane Bass, first wife of John Bond Henderson

See my post on the Henderson Family of Middle Tennessee for the continuation of this part of my ancestry which comes forward through my mother and maternal grandmother.

In the above ancestry, Theophilus Bass forward were residents of Wilson County, Tennessee, particularly around Watertown.

Interestingly, I also have a connection to John and Keziah Elizabeth Basse through my maternal grandfather, Frank Blackburn Batey as well, but in that case it is a through marriage rather than blood. My ancestor, Captain William Batey, the progenitor of the Batey family of Middle Tennessee married a second time after his first wife, my ancestor died. His second wife, Ann Bass was the great granddaughter of John and Keziah Elizabeth Bass.

It’s safe to say that a great many locals from Middle Tennessee are descended from John and Keziah Elizabeth Bass.

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nansemondhttp://chowanoke.webs.com/bassegenealogy.htm
http://www.geocities.ws/eldavis.geo/jbassebi.html

A special thanks goes to my distant cousin Mary Frances Andrews Meek of Knoxville, Tennessee who shared this story and much more with me many years ago. Her research was thorough and diligent.

--------------------The above blog was published in 2013 -------

Grandmother Elizabeth Keziah Bass

My 8 times great grandmother was a Nansemond Indian.  She converted to Chrisitianity, and married John Basse.  I've given background of their lives in the last 2 posts.

At the bottom of the bill to gain federal recognition of the Nansemond tribe, I've posted a copy of the document which states how she was baptized and married to John Basse, and it even states her parentage as a Native American.

This tribe has waited a long time to be recognized, and perhaps to obtain some benefits.  But I notice that the bill does not allow them to set up gambling (a great revenue resource for some tribes). I wonder if the tribe in Suffolk will be able to keep the land that they were planning to make into a historic village, similar to Jamestown.

I admit to not keeping up with all the doings in Virginia.

But I recently listened to a podcast about Bacon's Rebellion.  And it is apparently being taught differently in schools now. So I'm interested in the second episode.  It's on "All the things you missed in History Class."  Not that Bacon's Rebllion had anything to do with the Nansemond Tribe, but it does give some back story as to how endentured people (European, African, Indian) were needed for the tobacco industry of early colonial America.

My native ancestors

H.R. 984: Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2017

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr984/text

One Hundred Fifteenth Congress of the United States of America

At the Second Session

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday, the third day of January, two thousand and eighteen

H. R. 984

AN ACT

To extend Federal recognition to the Chickahominy Indian Tribe, the Chickahominy Indian Tribe—Eastern Division, the Upper Mattaponi Tribe, the Rappahannock Tribe, Inc., the Monacan Indian Nation, and the Nansemond Indian Tribe.

1.

Short title; table of contents

(a)

Short Title

This Act may be cited as the Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2017.

(b)

Table of Contents

The table of contents of this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

Sec. 2. Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978.

Title VI—Nansemond Indian Tribe

Sec. 601. Findings.

Sec. 602. Definitions.

Sec. 603. Federal recognition.

Sec. 604. Membership; governing documents.

Sec. 605. Governing body.

Sec. 606. Reservation of the Tribe.

Sec. 607. Hunting, fishing, trapping, gathering, and water rights.

VI

Nansemond Indian Tribe

601.

Findings

Congress finds that—

(1)

from 1607 until 1646, Nansemond Indians—

(A)

lived approximately 30 miles from Jamestown; and

(B)

were significantly involved in English-Indian affairs;

(2)

after 1646, there were two sections of Nansemonds in communication with each other, the Christianized Nansemonds in Norfolk County, who lived as citizens, and the traditionalist Nansemonds, who lived further west;

(3)

in 1638, according to an entry in a 17th century sermon book still owned by the Chief’s family, a Norfolk County Englishman married a Nan­se­mond woman;

(4)

that man and woman are lineal ancestors of all of members of the Nansemond Indian tribe alive as of the date of enactment of this Act, as are some of the traditionalist Nansemonds;

(5)

in 1669, the two Nansemond sections appeared in Virginia Colony’s census of Indian bow­men;

(6)

in 1677, Nansemond Indians were signatories to the Treaty of 1677 with the King of England;

(7)

in 1700 and 1704, the Nansemonds and other Virginia Indian tribes were prevented by Virginia Colony from making a separate peace with the Iroquois;

(8)

Virginia represented those Indian tribes in the final Treaty of Albany, 1722;

(9)

in 1711, a Nansemond boy attended the Indian School at the College of William and Mary;

(10)

in 1727, Norfolk County granted William Bass and his kinsmen the Indian privileges of clearing swamp land and bearing arms (which privileges were forbidden to other non-Whites) because of their Nansemond ancestry, which meant that Bass and his kinsmen were original inhabitants of that land;

(11)

in 1742, Norfolk County issued a certificate of Nansemond descent to William Bass;

(12)

from the 1740s to the 1790s, the traditionalist section of the Nansemond tribe, 40 miles west of the Christianized Nansemonds, was dealing with reservation land;

(13)

the last surviving members of that section sold out in 1792 with the permission of the Commonwealth of Virginia;

(14)

in 1797, Norfolk County issued a certificate stating that William Bass was of Indian and English descent, and that his Indian line of ancestry ran directly back to the early 18th century elder in a traditionalist section of Nansemonds on the reservation;

(15)

in 1833, Virginia enacted a law enabling people of European and Indian descent to obtain a special certificate of ancestry;

(16)

the law originated from the county in which Nansemonds lived, and mostly Nansemonds, with a few people from other counties, took advantage of the new law;

(17)

a Methodist mission established around 1850 for Nansemonds is currently a standard Methodist congregation with Nansemond members;

(18)

in 1901, Smithsonian anthropologist James Mooney—

(A)

visited the Nansemonds; and

(B)

completed a tribal census that counted 61 households and was later published;

(19)

in 1922, Nansemonds were given a special Indian school in the segregated school system of Norfolk County;

(20)

the school survived only a few years;

(21)

in 1928, University of Pennsylvania anthropologist Frank Speck published a book on modern Virginia Indians that included a section on the Nansemonds; and

(22)

the Nansemonds were organized formally, with elected officers, in 1984, and later applied for and received State recognition.

602.

Definitions

In this title:

(1)

Secretary

The term Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior.

(2)

Tribal member

The term tribal member means—

(A)

an individual who is an enrolled member of the Tribe as of the date of enactment of this Act; and

(B)

an individual who has been placed on the membership rolls of the Tribe in accordance with this title.

(3)

Tribe

The term Tribe means the Nansemond Indian Tribe.

603.

Federal recognition

(a)

Federal Recognition

(1)

In general

Federal recognition is extended to the Tribe.

(2)

Applicability of laws

All laws (including regulations) of the United States of general applicability to Indians or nations, Indian tribes, or bands of Indians (including the Act of June 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 461 et seq.)) that are not inconsistent with this title shall be applicable to the Tribe and tribal members.

(b)

Federal Services and Benefits

(1)

In general

On and after the date of enactment of this Act, the Tribe and tribal members shall be eligible 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.

(2)

Service area

For the purpose of the delivery of Federal services to tribal members, the service area of the Tribe shall be considered to be the area comprised of the cities of Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach, Virginia.

604.

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 enactment of this Act.

605.

Governing body

The governing body of the Tribe shall be—

(1)

the governing body of the Tribe in place as of the date of enactment of this Act; or

(2)

any subsequent governing body elected in accordance with the election procedures specified in the governing documents of the Tribe.

606.

Reservation of the Tribe

(a)

In general

Upon the request of the Tribe, the Secretary of the Interior—

(1)

shall take into trust for the benefit of the Tribe any land held in fee by the Tribe that was acquired by the Tribe on or before January 1, 2007, if such lands are located within the boundaries of the city of Suffolk, the city of Chesapeake, or Isle of Wight County, Virginia; and

(2)

may take into trust for the benefit of the Tribe any land held in fee by the Tribe, if such lands are located within the boundaries of the city of Suffolk, the city of Chesapeake, or Isle of Wight County, Virginia.

(b)

Deadline for determination

The Secretary shall make a final written determination not later than 3 years of the date which the Tribe submits a request for land to be taken into trust under subsection (a)(2) and shall immediately make that determination available to the Tribe.

(c)

Reservation status

Any land taken into trust for the benefit of the Tribe pursuant to this paragraph shall, upon request of the Tribe, be considered part of the reservation of the Tribe.

(d)

Gaming

The Tribe may not conduct gaming activities as a matter of claimed inherent authority or under the authority of any Federal law, including the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (25 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.) or under any regulations thereunder promulgated by the Secretary or the National Indian Gaming Commission.

607.

Hunting, fishing, trapping, gathering, and water rights

Nothing in this title expands, reduces, or affects in any manner any hunting, fishing, trapping, gathering, or water rights of the Tribe and members of the Tribe.

VII

Eminent domain

701.

Limitation

Eminent domain may not be used to acquire lands in fee or in trust for an Indian tribe recognized under this Act.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate.

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