Bill Deyo, Tribal Historian states the following….
The Wahanganoche Family
One of the most important Patawomeck ancestors was Chief Wahanganoche, alia Whipsewasson, King of the Patawomeck. He was the last known chief before the 1666 massacre of the tribe by the English. The survival of the tribe is due to his shrewd insight into the future and to his tactful allowance of the marriages of his daughters to influential Englishmen. The 1666 massacre left the tribe almost in a state of annihilation, in which the English attempted to kill all of the men and to place the women and children into servitude. Only a few escaped. The English did not bother to Patawomeck wives of English settlers and had no idea that the children and descendants of those wives would join together to save the tribe and preserve the Patawomeck heritage.
Wahanganoche was the son of I-Oppasus, commonly called Japasaw by the English, the lesser chief of Patawomeck. His mother was a daughter of Pamunkey Chief, Powhatan, Head of the Powhatan Ferderation of tribes, and was a full sister of the Indian Princess Pocahontas, Matoaka Rebecca Powhatan, 1595-1677. I was not through his father, but through his mother, that Wahanganoche inherited his title of King of Patawomeck, as she was of the direct line of the royal matrilineal succession. His aunt, Pocahontas, was first married to the Patawomeck warrior, Kocoum, the younger brother of his father, Japasaw. Pocahontas was married to Kocoum in 1610, per the Colonial Secretary of the Virginial Colony, William Strachey. She had at least one daughter, Jane Ka-Okee, before the English captured her at the Patawomeck village in 1613. Ka-Okee was left behind to be raised by Japasaw’s family. She married a Mr. Pettus, and Englishman, and raised a number of children on land adjoining her cousin, Wahanganoche. It is stongly believed that Wahanganoche married one of the daughters of Ka-Okee, as that would have been the only way for him to carry on the tradition of his ancestors in taking a wife of the royal matrilineal succession to ensure that his own children would have the chance to one day lead the tribe. Since the Great King of Patawomeck (whose name had not been preserved), the older brother of Japasaw, had severed relatlions with the Pamunkey tribe when he failed to support them in their massacre of the English, the only representatives of the matrilineal succession available to Wahanganoche were the daughters of his older cousin, Ka-Okee, who happened to live on the adjoining property in Passapatanzy.
Wahanganoche and his family were baptized into the Christian faith in 1642 by Father Andrew White. Twenty years later, Wahnaganoche was falsely charged with treason and murder by Col. Giles Brent and others and was tried before the Colonial Council. He was acquitted of all charges, and in compensation for his unjust imprisonment, injuries, and affronts, was paid handsomely, by the order of the court, by Col. Brent, Col. Fowke, Capt. George Mason, and Mr. John Lord. He was given his freedom to return home in 1662, but according to a 1664 letter written by Col. John Catlett, the Chief lost his life during his journey home. From the content of the letter, it appears obvious that Wahanganoche was murdered. Ironically, the Chief had been given a silver badge by King Charles II to grant him safe massage across the English lands. That badge was unearthed on the Catlett property 200 years later and is currently on exhibit at the Virginia Historical Society.
It is not known how many children Wahanganoche had, but some of the names are known and their spouses by tradition and some supporting evidence. He has at least two sons who escaped across the Potomac River to Maryland during the 1666 massacre. According to the Maryland Archives, they were both captured by the Susquehannock tribe in Maryland and were turned over to the colonial Maryland government. Their fate is unknown. It is possible that they survived, however, and were the Indians in Maryland of the Potomax Tribe that are referenced in the 1897 obituary of Matilda Delilah DeSheilds 9born 1784 and died in 1897 at the age of 113), daughter of Montgomery Delilah and Nancy Potomax, daughter of Chief Richard Henry Potomax, whose tribe had once occupied the territory across the river below Alexandria.
Chief Wahanganoche’s daughters were traditionally known as Keziah Arroyah (the wife of a Mr. Bryant), and a daughter whose Christian name appears to have been Mary (wife of Col. Henry Meese), a daughter called Grace by some (wife of Col. Peter Ashton), and a daughter, name unknown (wife of John Grisby). The descendants of these daughters intermarried with each other, and also intermarried with the descendants of orphans of the 1666 massacre, two of whom are said to have been Elizabeth Ontonah Curtis and William Redman. This continuous intermarriage among cousins of Indian blood helped to keep the Indian blood and Indian features strong to the present day.
The daughter called Keziah Arroyah appears to have been one of the older children. She married a Mr. Bryant, who is believed to have been the Richard Bryant who was transported to Virginia during the period of about 1644 to 1650 by Christopher Boore, who patented land next to that of Capt. Giles Brent in 1654 in what later became Stafford County. It is not known how many children Keziah had, but it seems clear from their associations that four of them were Dr. Richard Bryant, born 1651, who married his first cousin, Anne Meese; Silent Bryant, whose first wife is believed to have been Lucy Doniphan; Thomas Bryant, who appears to have married his Indian housekeeper, Eleanor; and Martha Bryant , who married Thomas Foley. Dr. Richard Bryant married Anne Meese Redman, daughter of Col. Henry Meese and his Patawomeck wife. Anne was traditionally the young widow of William Redman, an orphan of the 1666 massacre who was raised by the Redman family. They had children Nathaniel Bryant; Dr. Richard Bryant, who married Seth Anderson, an apparent descendant of Cockacoeske, Queen of Pamunkey; Elizabeth Bryant (second wife of Richard Elkins); Ann Bryant (wife of William Proctor); Silent Bryant (wife of Thomas Jeffries); and Susannah Bryant.
Dr. Richard Bryant II and Seth left a multitude of descendants in the Stafford/King George County area. Their daughter, Margaret Bryant, married her cousin, Samuel Owens, son of John Owens and Elinor Bryant (of the Wahanganoche bloodline). Leah Owens, a daughter of Samuel and Margaret, married her cousin, James Monteith, son of Thomas Monteith and Phyllis Gallop (the half-sister of Leah’s father, Samuel Owens).
Two of the daughters of James and Leah Monteith, Keziah and Leah, married sons of their maternal uncle, Reuben Owens, whose wife was also a daughter of a sister of Margaret Bryant! George Owens, another son of Reuben, married his cousin, Lucy Rogers, whose mother, Ascenith, was another one of the daughters of James and Leah Monteith. Arroyah, daughter of James and Leah, married her first cousin, John Finnall, son of Johnathan Finnall and Madalen Monteith.
Elizabeth Bryant, a daughter of Dr. Richard Bryant and Anne Meese, married Richard Elkins and left many descendants by him. Richard Elkins had first married Mary Williams, daughter of Evan Williams and Christian Martin, a granddaughter of Ka-Okee of the Pocahontas line.
Silent’s first wife, Lucy Doniphan, whose name has been carried on as a given name among some of her descendants, is only believed to have left one child, a daughter, Elinor, who remained in the area of her birth while her father moved away with his second wife. Elinor married first to Robert Gallop, who dies in 1720, leaving her to raise four young daughters . One of those daughters was Phyllis Gallop, the wife of Thomas Monteith and ancestor of all of the Monteith family. Phyllis married secondly to her cousin, Benjamin Elkins, and had another large family by him. Elinor married secondly to John Owens and had at least two sons, Samuel Owens and Nathaniel Owens.
--------Soooo…here is how our lineage lays out……
Murmuring Ripple Powhattan, born 1452 in Blue Ridge, Orapax, Virginia, Chief of Attanoughkomouch Tribe, and my 13th GGF married Murmuring Stream Powhattan and had
Morning Ripple Winiocock Mangopesamon born 1496 in Werowocomoco, Orapx, Virginia-died 1518, Chief of the Powhatan, and my 12th GGF married Ripple Powhatan born 1480, and had
I-Oppasus, my 11th GGF, called Japasaw, and his wife, my 11th GGM, PauPauwiske Scent Flower Mangopeesomon, of the Powhatan 1517-1627, daughter of the Pamunkey Chief, Powhatan, and full sister of Pocahontas had
Wahanganoche 1545 in Algonquin Empire, Virginia, my 10 GGF, married a daughter of Jane Ka-Okee, who was the daughter of Pocahontas, and had
Keziah Arroya, my 9th GGM and Richard Thomas Bryant, my 9th GGF, had
Silent, my 8th GGF and Lucy Doniphan, my 8th GGM, had daughter,
Elinor 1690-?, my 7th GGM, who married Robert Gallop, then married John Owens 1685-1754, my 7th GGF. John and Elinor had
Nathaniel 1730-1807, my 6th GGF, who married Elizabeth Ann Marder 1735-?, who had
Sarah Owens 1749-1831, my 5th GGM, who married Hugh James Gorden 1733-1834, my 5th GGF and had
Elijah Gorden 1788-1862, my 4th GGF, who married Statia Anna Gootee, my 4th GGM who had
Samuel Owens Gorden 1815-1899, my 3rd great grandfather, who married Elizabeth Askren 1817-1891, who had
John Henry Gorden 1837-1921, my 2nd GGF, who married Martha Ann Slaughter 1839-1890, and had
Elbert Arden Gorden 1866- 1960, my GGF, who married Mary Ann Davison and had
Daisy Fay Gorden who married George Wayne Polly and had
Margaret Anne Polly who married Jack L. Tatum and had
Kathleen Denise Tatum …me