Documentation  ·  Evidence  ·  Truth

Research & Records

We are building the documentary record of who we are — one request, one document, one confirmation at a time.

For three centuries, the official record was used as a weapon against our people. Birth certificates altered. Tribal identities erased. Families reclassified into categories that stripped them of legal standing and historical visibility. The paper genocide was methodical, and it worked — until descendants began to push back.

This page documents our active research into the historical record — the requests we have submitted to federal archives, state repositories, and tribal genealogical collections, and the findings that have already confirmed what our families always knew.

This archive will grow. Every response received, every document confirmed, every surname located in a colonial record or federal survey will be added here. We are building the case, document by document, for a history that was never lost — only hidden.

Submitted — awaiting response
In progress
Response received

Active Requests — 2025

Records Submissions

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

Genealogical Records Request — College Park, MD

Submitted

Submitted April 2025  ·  archives.gov/research/order

  • Colonial era Virginia Indian affairs records — Saponi, Cheraw, Monacan, Fort Christanna (1714–1730)
  • Virginia Indian Company and Governor Spotswood correspondence relating to the 1714 treaty
  • Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Eastern Office records — Piedmont Siouan peoples in GA, VA, and the Carolinas
  • Army Corps of Engineers records — Buford Dam construction, surveys, property records, community impact (1940s–1950s)
  • Federal census records identifying Indian families in Forsyth County GA, Hall County GA, and Brunswick County VA

Submitted to: archives2reference@nara.gov  ·  Record Groups: RG 75, RG 77, RG 29

Library of Virginia

Historical Records Request — Richmond, VA

Submitted

Submitted April 2025  ·  lva.virginia.gov

  • Brunswick County land and court records referencing Saponi, Griffin, Mitchell, and related founding surnames (1714–1800)
  • Colonial Virginia Indian affairs records — lists of families resident at Fort Christanna
  • Virginia Racial Integrity Act era records (1924 onward) — reclassification of Indian families in Brunswick and Mecklenburg Counties
  • Walter Plecker correspondence and Bureau of Vital Statistics records referencing Piedmont indigenous families
  • Free persons of color records in Brunswick and surrounding counties previously identified as Indian

Submitted to: archdesk@lva.virginia.gov

Georgia Archives

Open Records Request — Morrow, GA  ·  O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70

Submitted

Submitted April 2025  ·  georgiaarchives.org

  • Forsyth County property records predating 1912 — family surnames as landowners
  • Hall County historical records referencing community settlement in Gainesville after 1912
  • State records referencing the Oscarville community and Forsyth County expulsion of 1912
  • Georgia state census and tax records identifying Indian families in Hall, Forsyth, and Banks County
  • Records relating to the Rucker Industrial School — land purchase, construction, educational licensing

Submitted to: georgiaarchives@sos.ga.gov

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — Savannah District

FOIA Request — 5 U.S.C. § 552

Submitted

Submitted April 2025  ·  usace.army.mil/Missions/FOIA

  • All surveys, property assessments, and community impact records from the Buford Dam project (1940s–1956)
  • Records identifying cemeteries, burial sites, or community structures in the Lake Lanier basin prior to flooding
  • Land acquisition and compensation records — families displaced by the dam project
  • Correspondence referencing the Oscarville community or Forsyth County residents in relation to the dam
  • Environmental and archaeological surveys conducted prior to or during dam construction

Submitted to: CESAJ-FOIA@usace.army.mil

Bureau of Indian Affairs — Eastern Regional Office

FOIA Request — 5 U.S.C. § 552  ·  Nashville, TN

Submitted

Submitted April 2025  ·  bia.gov/foia

  • Historical records referencing Cheraw, Monacan, Saponi, or Catawba peoples in GA, VA, or the Carolinas
  • Eastern Office records relating to unrecognized Piedmont Siouan communities
  • Correspondence or records relating to Richard Haithcock or the Saponi Catawba Nation
  • Historical rolls, census records, or community surveys of Southeastern indigenous peoples
  • Records referencing indigenous communities in Hall County or Forsyth County, Georgia

Submitted to: foia@bia.gov  ·  Eastern Regional Office, Nashville

Atlanta History Center — Forsyth 1912 Project

Research Inquiry — Atlanta, GA

Submitted

Submitted April 2025  ·  forsyth1912@atlantahistorycenter.com

  • All records, census data, and research relating to families displaced from Forsyth County in 1912 — specific family surnames
  • Photographs, oral history recordings, and documentary materials from the Forsyth 1912 project
  • Records identifying indigenous or mixed-heritage families among the displaced Oscarville community
  • Research relating to Beulah Rucker Oliver's life prior to 1912 in Forsyth County

Submitted to: forsyth1912@atlantahistorycenter.com

Saponi Catawba Nation

Descendant Inquiry — Tribal Enrollment & Genealogy Department

Submitted

Submitted April 2025  ·  Direct contact — Principal Chief Gobele Adkins / Melanie Levy, Interim Genealogist

  • Genealogical research referencing Griffin, Mitchell, Allen, Evans, Tabor, Bowman, and Haithcock surnames
  • Wolf Clan lineage documentation connected to founding family surnames
  • Materials documenting the relationship between the Saponi Catawba Nation and families in Hall and Forsyth Counties, Georgia
  • Guidance on related nations or communities in our geographic territory

Attn: Melanie Levy, Interim Genealogist  ·  Norwood Davis, Historian

Already Confirmed

What the Record Shows

Saponi Catawba Nation — Surname Banner Document

All Seven Family Surnames Confirmed in Saponi Records

The Saponi Catawba Nation's own genealogical surname document — displayed publicly at tribal gatherings — lists Griffin/Griffen/Griffan, Mitchell, Allen, Evans/Evens, Tabor/Taborn/Tabourne, Bowman/Bowling/Bolen, and Haithcock/Heathcock/Hathcock explicitly within the Saponi surnames. Ned Griffin, Morgan Griffin, Gideon Griffin, and John Griffin are individually named. Evans appears in multiple individual entries. Cato/Catoe also confirmed.

Significance: Direct documentary confirmation from the Nation's own records that our founding family surnames are Saponi surnames — not circumstantial, but explicitly listed.

Saponi Catawba Nation Website — History Page

Saponi Bands Documented in Georgia

The Saponi Catawba Nation's own website states that Saponi bands are located in Ohio, Georgia, and Texas — confirming that Saponi presence in Georgia is recognized by the Nation itself as an extension of the Piedmont Siouan diaspora, not an anomaly.

Significance: Our community's presence in north Georgia is not a departure from Saponi history — it is part of it.

Direct Oral Testimony — Chief Richard Haithcock, Saponi Catawba Nation

Wolf Clan Identity and Saponi Lineage Confirmed by the Nation's Chief Genealogist

In a personal meeting, the late Chief Richard Haithcock — the Nation's principal genealogist and chief — directly identified our lineage as primarily Saponi rather than Catawba, and confirmed Wolf Clan connection. His exact words: "Girl, you've been running all your life." This testimony, from the most authoritative genealogical voice in the Saponi Catawba Nation, constitutes a direct oral confirmation of lineage.

Significance: No documentary source carries more weight than a direct identification by the Nation's own chief. This testimony is part of our permanent record.

Colonial Virginia Historical Record

Griffin Surname at Fort Christanna — 1714 Treaty

The historical record documents Reverend Charles Griffin's presence at Fort Christanna and his central role in the Saponi reservation school. The Griffin name is documented in the founding record of the 1714 treaty — the same surname present in our community in Gainesville, Hall County, Georgia today.

Significance: A direct documentary chain connecting the Griffin surname from the 1714 Fort Christanna reservation to our present-day community — across three centuries and two states.

Spanish Expedition Records — 1540 / 1567

Piedmont Siouan Peoples Documented at Joara

The de Soto expedition of 1540 and the Juan Pardo expedition of 1567 both document contact with our ancestral peoples at Joara in what is now western North Carolina — among the oldest written records of any indigenous community in the interior Southeast.

Significance: Our people's presence in the Piedmont corridor predates European colonization and is documented in the oldest available written records of the region.

Primary Sources

Key Documentary Record

1714

Fort Christanna Treaty — Brunswick County, Virginia

Government-to-government treaty between the Saponi Nation and Virginia Governor Alexander Spotswood establishing the Fort Christanna reservation. Griffin surname documented in founding records.

1924

Virginia Racial Integrity Act — Bureau of Vital Statistics

State legislation used by Walter Ashby Plecker to systematically alter birth records of Indigenous families without consent, reclassifying them to eliminate legal standing as Indians. Targeted Piedmont families including those in Brunswick County.

1912

Forsyth County Expulsion — Oscarville, Georgia

Documented expulsion of more than one thousand residents from Forsyth County by racial terror. Our ancestors among those displaced across the Chattahoochee into Hall County, Georgia.

NRHP

Rucker Industrial School — National Register of Historic Places

Founded 1914 by Beulah Rucker Oliver at 2101 Athens Highway, Gainesville, Georgia. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Now the Beulah Rucker Museum, operated by her descendants.

SCN

Saponi Catawba Nation Surname Document

Tribal genealogical banner document listing surnames of the Saponi, Catawba, Tutelo, Occaneechi, and related nations. All seven of our founding family surnames confirmed in the Saponi column. Document publicly displayed at tribal gatherings and archived on the Nation's website.

This record is not complete. It will never be complete — because our history is still being lived, and because every generation adds to it.

What it is, is honest. Every entry on this page is documented, submitted, or directly confirmed. We do not claim what we cannot support. We do not need to. The truth, followed carefully, is enough.

This archive is updated as responses are received  ·  Last updated April 2025