Upper Mattaponi Tribe
Contact Information
P. O. Box 174
King William, VA 23086
804-769-0041
WEB: http://www.uppermattaponi.org/
Chief: Kenneth Adams
History & Information
For centuries the ancestors of the Upper Mattaponi people lived in towns along the waterways of Virginia. They harvested corn, beans, and squash and hunted deer. They spoke an Algonquian language, and when the British came in 1607 they were prosperous members of the Powhatan paramount chiefdom. Captain John Smith’s map of 1612 indicates that the tribe’s present location corresponds with an Indian town called Passaunkack.
In the mid-1600s, the upper reaches of the Mattaponi River were still frontier, and other tribes had been forced into the area by the expansion of the British. A 1673 map drawn by August Hermann notes the largest concentration of Indians near Passaunkack, home of the Upper Mattaponi. The Peace Treaty of 1677 was signed on behalf of the Mattaponi by werowansqua Cockacoeske, and a reservation of Chickahominy and Mattaponi was established near Passaunkack. During the 1700s, the Chickahominy migrated back to their homeland. Those people who remained were the ancestors of the Upper Mattaponi.
Through the 18th and 19th centuries, the Upper Mattaponi were known as the Adamstown Band, because so many of the tribal citizens had the last name Adams. By 1850 a nucleus of at least 10 Adamstown families were documented in the area, farming and hunting. A Civil War map of 1863 designated the area as Indian Land, and by the 1880s the Adamstown Band had built its own school. Because of the racial climate, Indian people had few rights and found it difficult to prosper. Even so, they valued an education, and the first federal funds were requested in 1892 for education of the Adamstown Indians. In the early 20th century, a cultural revival spread throughout the tribes of the region, and the band changed its name to the Upper Mattaponi Indian Tribe.
In 1919 the tribe built a small one-room schoolhouse, Sharon Indian School. This building served them until 1952, when a brick structure was erected adjacent to the original building. The new school was closed in 1965 with the policy of desegregation, and it is now on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Buildings. It is the only public Indian school building still existing in Virginia. Today Sharon Indian School is used for events such as tribal meetings and cultural gatherings.
By the 1800s, most Upper Mattaponi people had converted to Christianity and worshipped in their homes or in other Indian churches, in particular the Pamunkey and Mattaponi reservation churches. In the early 20th century, church services were held in the one-room school building, but in 1942 the tribe built a new church, Indian View Baptist. Every summer, homecoming is held on the grounds, and hundreds of Upper Mattaponi and dozens of Indians from other Virginia tribes join together there.
During the last half of the 20th century, even as the Upper Mattaponi people maintained their tribal identity, they became part of the fabric of mainstream America as physicians, pharmacists, accountants and business owners. The tribe has purchased land, where many cultural events are held, and they have plans to develop a new tribal center.