| Show Virginia D Dare are Stone St c nea II at t G Georgia College Recalls Romantic Story of The Lost Colony of Roanoke I ty I r Put s I 7 y t TilE TIIE BAPTISM I OF VIRGINIA DARE From an old wood cut By Dy ELMO SCOTT WATSON G O m Western Newspaper Union recent announcement that college at T THE Gainesville Ga has acquired as a permanent possession possession possession posses posses- sion the enigmatic Virginia Dare Stone which purports purports purports pur pur- ports to tell the fate of the lost colony of Roanoke has revived interest once more in one of the most fascinating mystery stories stones in History SO This stone which was found last year on the east cast bank of the Chowan river in eastern North Carolina bears on one side an inscription which is in effect an epitaph for Virginia Virginia Virginia Vir Vir- ginia Dare the first English child hild born in America and her father Ananias Dare since it says that they went hence nence into Heaven in 1591 Also on this side is a request that the stone be borne to Gov John White of Virginia so that he might send aid oid to the he colony The other side of the slab has hasa a message inscribed in Elizabethan Elizabethan Eliza Eliza- bethan characters and signed with the initials E. E W. W D. D presumably presumably pre pre- Eleanor White While Dare daughter of Governor White While and mother nother of Virginia Dare which tells how the colonists went up Albemarle Sound and into the Chowan howan riv river r soon after White While returned to England for lor supplies in 1587 In four lour years the message says they were reduced in number to lo 24 by sickness and death at the hands of hostile Indians Finally in 1591 the savages ages killed all but seven of the remaining colonists and they were buried burled on small hills near the river The story on the stone is logIcal logical log log- ical enough according to historians histo histo- rians who have examined it But Dut acceptance of its information as a final solution of the famous mystery mystery mys mys- tery must await corroborative evidence Authentic or Hoax Is the Virginia D Dare Stone Slone an authentic relic of the Lost Colony or oris is it another hoax Opinion on that point is divided Some believe that there is quite as much reason for regarding it as genuine as there is for accepting accepting accept accept- ing as authentic the Sir Francis Drake Plate which was found out in California a short time before before before be be- fore the discovery of this stone Others believe that this stone was planted as was the lead plate which was found in WashIngton Wash Wash- ington D. D C C. in 1924 This plate about the size of an automobile license tag bore the inscription iTina Dart Dare Died II Here her ere 1590 The discovery of this plate and with it several other articles supposed supposed sup sup- posed to be the personal property of Virginia Dare aroused a great I deal of f interest at the time But it soon died down when an examination examination examination ex ex- of the relics by experts experts ex ex- showed th that t the whole thing was a hoax The Virginia Dare Dar Stone may turn lurn out to be another fake But Dut even so 60 it can not detract from the Interest which Americans will always have in her story compounded compounded compounded com com- pounded as it is of a very small amount of fact and a larger mass massof massof massof of legend The fact part constitutes constitutes lutes one of the briefest bits of ol biography in all American history I It is composed of this statement of her grandfather Gov John White While in a a. a letter to Sir Walter Raleigh The August 1587 Eleanor daughter to the governor governor gover gover- nor and wife to Ananias Dare one of the assistants was dells ered of a daughter in Roanoke and md the same was christened there here the Sunday following and because this child was the first Christian born in Virginia she was named Virginia That is absolutely all that is certainly known of her The rest rests is s supposition plus legend Between 1584 and 1587 Sir Wal- Wal tl n I z I VIRGINIA DARE From an old woodcut In North Carolina Illustrated In Harpers Harper's New Monthly magazine 1 1857 ter Raleigh sent out three expeditions expeditions expeditions to lo colonize Virginia but they failed to become permanent settlements settlements set set- because they were composed composed composed com com- posed entirely of men Raleigh finally realized that something else was needed needed w women needed women men and arid chil chil- dren So the expedition which he sent out in 1587 headed by John White who was to be governor of The Citie Cilie of Raleigh in Virginia Virginia Vir Vir- ginia included 17 women and i children Among them were Whites White's daughter White While Dare and her husband Ananias Dare destined to to tobe be the parents of the first English child born in what is now the United States Stales Because of trouble with wilh his crew White was not able to take the colonists to a location on Chesapeake Bay Day as instructed Instead h hay he t stopped slopped at Roanoke Island In search of 15 men left behind the previous year by Sir Richard Grenville leader of another another an an- other Raleigh expedition After they landed White decided to remain remain re re- main on Roanoke Island for a time at least and set about building building build build- ing a town lown Returns to England Then followed the birth of his Ws granddaughter and soon afterwards afterwards after atter- wards White decided to return to England He lie started on August 27 leaving settlers at Roan Roan- oke When he arrived in England he found round that country busy with preparations to resist the Spanish Armada Isis Ills fleet of vessels was seized by the government and when he assembled another it was driven back by pirates near Madeira So it was not until 1590 that he was able to obtain passage to America This was on a privateer fleet of three vessels sent out to prey upon Spanish commerce After a series of adventures with witt the enemy they finally finaly reached reaches Roanoke Island at night and were cheered by the sight of smoke rising and a fire glowing through When they reached the shore at the north end of the island stand they blew trumpets and sang familiar English songs But Dut Instead of the joyous welcome wel wel- welcome I come which they expected to receive receive receive re re- they were greeted with si sl si- lence They found only the footprints footprints footprints foot foot- prints of the Indians who had fled led at their approach but on a aree tree ree was carved the letters C R O. O Pushing on to the site of the Citie of Raleigh they discovered ered red that the houses had been taken down and the place enclosed enclosed en en- closed with a high palisade On one of the p posts at the right side of the entrance was carved the word Croatan and inside the fort ort were many bars of iron two wo pigs of lead four iron iron-fow- lers ers iron locker shot and such suchlike suchlike like ike heavy things thrown here and there almost overgrown with grass and weeds But there was no other sign of the colony No Distress Sign Before leaving White While had Instructed instructed in in- the colonists if they decided decided decided de de- de- de to move to carve their destination on a tree adding a 8 across across cross if they were in distress The absence of a cross from the tree and the post on which they found the he carved words gave White While hope that his people were still living Croatan Island was the site of a 8 village of Indians whose chief Manteo had been to lo England with the first Raleigh expedition and who was friendly to the English It was situated on ort Pamlico Sound according to a map drawn by White or it may have been the is is is- land of which Cape Hatteras NC N. N C C. is now a part But when White urged the captain captain cap cap- tain of the fleet to send a party parly to Croatan his request request request re re- quest was refused Their supplies were low and the captain was anxious to resume his operations against the Spanish Later Sir Walter Waller Raleigh sent no less than five expeditions to search for his Lost Colony But the seas were swarming with Spanish privateers and there is no record that any the of-the of the ships reached Croaton When the first permanent Eng lish settlement was established at Jamestown Va in 1607 a a 8 party was sent out to try to learn the fate fale of the colonists They gathered gathered gath gath- ered conflicting stories from the Indians One of them was that the colonists had lived peacefully with the Indians Indian for a while Then they were all aU suddenly slain by I orders of Chief Powhatan Another Another Another An An- other story said that all except four men and two boys were killed while still other versions version indicated that one girl was spared From these versions sprang the legends legends' that have grown up around the name of ol Virginia Dare For more than a 8 century the vicinity of the ill-fated ill colony was unexplored and its fate accepted as an unsolved mystery Then in 1709 John Dawson an English explorer visited the Hatteras Indians In In- Indians who had hall gray or blue eyes and were familiar with the art artof artof artof of reading in that they knew that the English could make paper paper pa pa- per speak These Indians were less than in number and it was believed that they were descendants descendants descendants de de- of survivors of the Roanoke Roanoke Ro Ro- Colony who had been assimilated assimilated as as- into the Indian tribe living on Croatan Island Was Virginia Dare one of the survivors and did the blood of the first English child born in m Inthe inthe the United States Slates flow in the veins of this mixed race No one knows for sure and it is probable that no one will ever know Among the legends that have grown around the name of Virginia Virginia Vir Vir- Virginia ginia Dare is the one which says that mother and daughter were among the survivors of the Lost Colony that the Indians gave Mrs Dare the name of the White Doe and her little girl the name of the White Fawn and that she was beloved by a brave young chief After the White Fawns Fawn's death her spirit assumed the form of that graceful animal and at times lingered fondly around the place of her birth often gazing gazing gazing gaz gaz- ing wistfully out over the sea The legend also has her slain in that form lorm by her lover who had been persuaded that the enchanted enchant enchant- ed arrow he used would restore her to him in the flesh he had known and adored Did She Escape That Virginia Dare may have been one of the survivors is Indicated in indicated indicated In- In by William secretary of the Jamestown colony colony colony col col- col- col ony in his The History of Tra Tra- vaile valle written in 1612 1012 concern concern- Log jog the events that occurred in Virginia in 1608 10 In the first volume of that work he says At and Ocha Ocha- by the relation of Ma Ma- champs the people have houses built with stone walls and one story above another so taught them by those English who escaped escaped es es- es the slaughter at Roanoke at which time this our colony under the conduct of Captain Newport landed within the Chesapeake bay where the pee pee- pIe breed up tame turkeys about their houses and where at the preserved seven of the English alive four men two boys and one young maid who escaped the massacre and fled up the River Chanoke Chowan This young maid may have been Virginia Dare who at the time mentioned mentioned men men- would have been about 21 years of age If she did survive it is possible that she may have grown up among the Indians and married one of them thus giving some basis for the legend cited cHed above Another legend describes her as asa asa asa a beautiful girl whom the magic of a rejected suitor changed into a white while doe and the silver sUver arrow of another warrior restored to human form That legend of the white doe and the silver arrow or as some versions have it the silver sUver bullet bullet bullet bul bul- let has survived all aU the years and is known from Maine to lo Flor Flor- ida It was probably the inspiration inspiration tion for Bryants Bryant's poem The Deer of the old old- time school reader Still another version of the story forms the basis for lor Mary ti lu lurA rA t n E t THE TilE MAID lAID OF MYSTERY Statue of Virginia Dare by liss byl Miss Louisa Lander Johnstons Johnston's novel Croat Croatan an who accepts the theory that the colonists colonists colonists col col- were adopted into inlo the Hatteras Hatteras Hatteras Hat Hat- teras teras' tribe and amalgamated with them She makes Virginia Dare the heroine of her story She shows the despondent colonists colonists col col- col apparently deserted by the mother country beset by hostile Indians falling in with the proposal proposal pro pro- proposal of the friendly Hatteras Indians and abandoning their settlement settlement set set- to go with the natives to their own villages Virginia is reared among the Croatan later is captured by another another another an an- other band of Indians who look upon her as a goddess Is rescued by her sweetheart Miles Darling and they return together to Croatan Croatan Croatan tan town which they regard as their real real and only home Statues Statue's Romantic History Besides being the inspiration for Bryants Bryant's poem The White White- Footed Deer Virginia VirsinIa Dare was also the inspiration for another poem The White Doe by Mrs 1 R R. R R. R Cotton Colton That in turn was the inspiration for a statue which itself has had a romantic his his- tory It was carved in Rome in 1860 by Miss Louisa Lander On its way to America the ship bearing the statue was wrecked off the Spanish coast For two years the figure lay in the oceans ocean's depths Then the vessel wa was raised the statue recovered anc and taken laken to New York While on display there it was nearly destroyed by fire In her will Miss Lander bequeathed i ito it il to the North Carolina Hall Hail o of History in Roanoke where it was finally placed a few years ago This statue called caned The Maid of Mystery shows Virginia Dare grown to womanhood and the costume such as there is is decidedly de de- a Grecian or Roman type rather than Ulan the Indian type which she probably wore For Eor if she ever grew to womanhood it was wa while she was a 8 captive among the Indians or an adopted daughter daugh ter and the wife of an Indian chief that chief that is If we accept the legends dst |
