Centuries-old slate discovered at Jamestown dig[VA]

AP ^ | 08 June 2009 | ZINIE CHEN SAMPSON

[BGHater]

Archaeologists have pulled a 400-year-old slate tablet from what they think was an original well at Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America.

The slate is covered with faint inscriptions of local birds, flowers, a tree and caricatures of men, along with letters and numbers, according to Preservation Virginia, which jointly operates the dig site with the National Park Service. It was found at the center of James Fort, which was established in 1607 along the James River in eastern Virginia.

Research director William Kelso said the inscriptions were made with a slate pencil on the 4-inch-by-8-inch slate. The writings were wiped off, but they left grooves on the surface, he said.

"There were things written over things, written over things," Kelso said.

Researchers at NASA Langley put the slate through three-dimensional digital analysis so they could decipher its pictures and text. The imaging system normally is used to inspect materials for aerospace use.

An eagle and a heron appeared on the slate, along with three types of plants, which haven't yet been identified. A depiction of lions--the British armorial sign in the early 1600s--indicates that the writer could have been a government official, Kelso said.

The phrase "A minon of the finest sorte" also appears on the slate, and Kelso said "minon" may have been an alternate spelling of "minion," possibly referring to a cannon, slave or servant.

The artifact shows the high level of interest the English settlers had in the New World's flora and fauna, Kelso said. The archaeology team thinks that someone probably started the artwork and writing in England, and added to the slate over time after arriving in the new colony of Virginia.

[Hegemony Cricket]

No no no - I said if you want to *get well* take *two* tablets and call me in the morning...

[EternalVigilance]

According to family tradition, and the LDS records, we’re descended from the union of John Smith and Pocahontas, which produced a son, Peregrin. Can’t prove it by the official records, since Smith would have been in BIG trouble if the truth were known back in England. But the story makes a lot of sense, especially in light of their well-known relationship at Jamestown, and their later well-documented encounter when Pocahontas visited England just before her death.

The middle name “Powhatan” has been used down through the generations many times.

I’ve also got several other forebears who are quite provable as early Jamestown settlers. The family eventually left the Virginia Tidewater and moved into Kentucky with Boone, and then moved on into Missouri when Jefferson opened up the Louisiana Purchase. From there they spread out into Iowa, Nebraska, and one, Joel Estes, went west and discovered the area that became known as Estes Park, CO.

[Hegemony Cricket]

"I still haven’t found the original privy"

Try cutting the grass very, very short out to about 75-100 feet from the house. Then go out either early morning or late evening when the sun is at a low angle to the ground. You should be able to see a square/rectangular depression, probably oriented parallel to the house wall.

[EternalVigilance]

One of my great-great uncles, a gentleman named Jesse Hiatt, is credited with the discovery of the Delicious apple.

Famous Iowans

Patience led pioneer Jesse Hiatt to a tasty reward. He is credited with the discovery of the Delicious apple, one of the world's finest.

Hiatt, a devout Quaker, was raised in Randolph County, Pa., and farmed for his parents. After their deaths, he moved to Iowa in 1856 to be near a brother and settled in Madison County. He and his wife, Rebecca Jane, built a two-room log cabin and raised a family of 10 children.

Hiatt was proud of the orchard he planted on his farm in the 1860s, and in 1872 planted apple seedlings in two rows. A mutation grew between the rows, and he chopped it down, only to have it grow back the second year. Again he chopped it down. The third year, when the sprout grew back, he said: "If thee must grow, thee may."

The farmer nurtured the tree for 10 years before it produced a single apple. Hiatt, who had already developed the Hiatt Sweet and Hiatt Black apples, loved its aroma, texture and red-and-yellow streaks. He loved the taste even more, telling his wife that "this is the best-tasting apple in the whole world."

He named it the Hawkeye in honor of his adopted state and began another 10 years of promoting his discovery. Clarence Stark of the Stark Bros. Nursery of Louisiana, Mo., listened, choosing the apple as best in the nation from entries submitted for a contest. The nursery acquired the marketing rights to the apple in 1893 and renamed it the Delicious. The nursery believed that the aberrant apple tree had been an accidental cross of Bellflower and Winesap seeds. The result was a tree that produced strong branches and abundant crops.

The original tree died in the early 1940s because of an early frost, but sprouts grew near the original stump. In 1922, a marker was placed in Winterset City Park to honor Hiatt.

[married21]

“Apparently I am descended from Mary Queen of Scots”
____________________
My husband’s family has a story of one of his Scottish ancestors who stood on a bridge and spat on Mary Queen of Scots as she passed under. He was hanged. The family remains proudly Protestant to this day. (My husband, however, converted to Catholicism some years before I met him. No grudge against Mary Queen of Scots on his part, I guess.)

[Sacajaweau]

They were actually pretty close to the houses....Go 100 feet and you’ve probably gone to far. If you know someone who is into “witching”...make a fun day of it.

[sneakers]

Far enough away so you can’t smell them in the summer, and close enough so you don’t freeze your butt off getting there in the winter!

I’ve been on all the privy digging websites. Even bought one of those six foot spring rods with the probe on the end. I know where the most recent one is (last used in the 60’s, I believe), but still have to find the first one. A two hundred year old house would have several privy pits. I still think it’s under the apple tree! It’s in about the right spot - almost straight down from where the back door used to be. LOL! Who knows what treasures lie in wait there! ;-)

[ScottinVA]

Jamestown is a fascinating historical site. Where I lived in Williamsburg was just a 15-minute bike ride there. For those who have an interest in America’s early history, Virginia is a great place to live.

[plainjane27]

Hello

My grandmother told me I was related to the John Dodd who married Jane Chief Eagle Plume’s daughter. Her mother was Agnes Elizabeth Dodd. Her grandmother was Paulina and her grandfather Samuel Dodd. She was born in Natural Bridge Station Virginia. Her father’s side is full blooded Cherokee. I would love to hear more from you ... I do not know anything further about her Dodd line and am having difficulty finding info. If you have a family tree, would you share it.

[bgill]

Welcome to FR. I see you signed up probably from a search for Dodd but please stay and visit here. It’s fun but addicting!

Sorry, I haven’t really worked on the family stuff for years and it’s all packed away but there’s a dozen lineages of them on line. A word of advice, don’t believe anything on line until you get your hands on the original records and verify it yourself. People lie and make up junk and others come along and take it for the truth. The LDS branch libraries are as unreliable as the internet since there’s not checks and balances but use them as hints of where to start. The best place, without access to original documents, is the DAR books which most any large library will have.

I’d also question how a full blood Cherokee would come from English ancestry or be in that part of the country at the time.