Susannah Dabney

I can help somewhat on Algonquian marriage customs in the 17th Century. I am descended from Cornelius Dabney and his second wife, Susannah "Swann," who he married in 1680. She was half Algonquian, the daughter of Col. Thomas Swann and Betty, the daughter of Cockockoske, Queen of Pamunky. Cockockoeske was the granddaughter of Opechancanough (brother of Powhatan). Susannah was raised by her Algonquian mother and the tribe called her Susannah Swann. Thomas Swann never recognized her as a daughter but left his fortune to a daughter of Susannah in his will (without stating that either Susannah or her daughter were related to him).

Susannah was about 15-16 when she married Cornelius, who as a widower was 49. The normal age for a Virginia Algonquian girl to marry in the 17th Century was 13-15. Virginia Algonquian boys married at about 16.

The Virginia Department of Historic Resources has prepared a book FIRST PEOPLE for classroom use which desribes a typical wedding of a 17th Century Algonquian girl of 13 with an Algonquian boy of 16.

High-status men such as Powhatan and Opechancanough each took a new pair of teenage wives every year or two. Descent of rulership was matrilineal, with only the first (permanent) wife counting. Among these rulers, the later wives were kept only until they bore a child, upon which time the young wife and child were established in a high-status house in the village of a tributary tribe and usually married to a high-status man in that village. Since a male could only inherit rulership through a ruling mother, a ruling male hoped that his sons, sent to live in tributary villages as described above, would marry high-status female rulers whose sons could become rulers. Powhatan, and after his death, Opechancanough, each ruled over about 30 tribes each of which had its own ruler. It was the object of the Paramount Ruler to have the high-status individuals of all the tribes be related to a central ruling family.

Often this rsulted in girls of 13-15 being married to high-status males in their 50's and 60's. Opechancanough was 95-100 years old when he was assassinated in Jamestown in 1646. He had been born about 1548, was taken hostage by Spaniards in 1560, lived in Mexico and Spain for ten years, came back as interpreter for a Jesuit mission in 1570, re-united with his older brother Powhatan, was given a pair of young wives by Powhatan upon which he promptly killed the Jesuits who had told him he could have only one wife.

When a high-status Englishman visited a Virginia Algonquian village, he was given sumptuous meals, an elegant high-status house for overnight accomodations and a young woman to share his bed. This was an intentional mechanism to bring genes from high-status Englishmen into the local gene-pool. The villagers knew the identities of the English fathers and bestowed the appropriate father's surname on the appropriate child. Thus, Queen Cockockoeske had a son named John West and her daughter Betty (later Queen Betty ) had the daughter named Susannah Swann. Betty was daughter of Cockockoeske by Totopotomoi (a ruler descended from the ranking sister of Powhatan and Opechancanough.

Cornelius Dabney spoke Algonquian and was the official interpreter for Queen Cockockoeske in her dealings with King Charles II and the government in England, as well as with the Virginia Assembly (later House of Burgesss). King Charles II sent a three-man Commission and several ships of soldiers to set things right during and following Bacon's Rebellion. The Commissioners lodged at Col. Thomas Swann's plantation, Swann's Point. One of these Commissioners became Acting Governor, another was in charge of the fleet and the third in charge of the land forces. This third Commissioner was a former Governor of Virginia, Francis Moryson, the father-in-law of Cornelius Dabney.

Cornelius and Cockockoeske worked up a draft of a treaty which was rather favorable to Cockockoeske, restoring her to powers previously held by Powhatan and later Opechancanough. Francis Moryson edited this draft and presented it to the other two Commissioners and it was adopted with minor changes. This Treaty of Middle Plantation (1677) is still the basis for the relationship of these Indians with the government.

Early documents of the Jamestown Colony state that the Algonquian women were both voluptuous and willing. I recall that Adrian Van Der Donck said approximately the same concerning the women of the Mohegan Tribe of Algonquians in New York, among whom he was a high-status guest.

Please note that the story of the Esopus Chief's daughter saving the life of (Hendrick?) Pels is virtually identical with Pocahontas saving the life of Captain John Smith.

Descendants of Cornelius Dabney by his two wives include Patrick Henry (the orator and Governor of Virginia), Dolly Madison (wife of President James Madison), Dabney Carr (brother-in-law of President Thomas Jefferson), Nancy Astor (first woman to sit in the British House of Commons), Zacchary Taylor (President of the United States), also the wife of President Jefferson Davis of the Confedearacy, and many others.

Best Wishes, Frank S. Crosswhite http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/Dutch-Colonies/2007-02/1 171959452

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I, too, descend from Cornelius Dabney and his wife, Susanna. Although, I firmly believe that Susanna was from the family of Cockacoeske, we have no proof of it, only some supporting evidence. Since Cornelius lost his first wife while he was the personal interpreter to Cockacoeske, it would have been the "thing to do" for Cockacoeske to have presented him with a female member of her family as his wife. Subsequent ties between Cornelius Dabney's grandson, William (my ancestor) and the Quarles family of Caroline County, far away from his home in Albemarle, indicate that William Dabney met his wife at the Quarles residence while visiting with his relative of Indian descent from Cocacoeske, whose guardian had become Roger Quarles.

Cockacoeske was a member of the Pamunkey Tribe. william.deyo.ctr@@navy.mil 8-4-2016 William Deyo is the tribal historian for the Patawomeck.