In Search of the Dungee Family: Looking at the Evidence and Making a Case

Were they Pamunkey Indians, Mattaponi Indians, Both, or Neither?

There seems to be a great bit of uncertainty as to the origins of the Dungee family of the Middle Peninsula counties of New Kent, King William, King and Queen, and Middlesex. The members of the King William branch of the family were mentioned in two separate tribal petitions for Federal Recognition, the Pamunkey Indian's petition, as well as the Mattaponi Indian petition. However, members of this family have stated that they have been refused enrollment on both tribal rolls for generations, with each tribe pointing to the other. Perhaps some of the confusion as to their tribal affiliation is rooted in history.

At different points in history, both the Pamunkey Indians and the Mattaponi Indians were referred to as simply the Pamunkey Indians. They were administered by the state as one entity and was often referred to as one entity on legal, and legislative, documents. Occasionally, distinctions were made with Pamunkey Indians on the Pamunkey River, and Pamunkey Indians on the Mattaponi River both being used to describe a place of residence, with the community being fluid, and people going back and forth between the two reservations. This would lead to confusion as to who came from which tribe in later years, when the tribes actually split into two different legal and administrative entities. From the records, it appears that each reservation had separate and distinct family lines, however a couple of the families appeared on both reservations, one of which was that of the Dungee's.

This blog post is specific to the Dungee family of Virginia's Middle Peninsula, particularly the counties of New Kent, King William, King and Queen, and Middlesex. Because the early records of three of the four named counties were burned, we will try to piece together what IS available.

Tithable Lists

The first documents we examined were the county tithable lists for Virginia's Middle Peninsula. According to the laws of Virginia, after 1782 all white males over the age of majority, typically 21, were tithable, unless they were exempt by the county court. Additionally, all free people of color both males, and females, over the age of 16 were taxed, slaves were taxed in a similar manner.

We found that a John Dungee was tithe on the very first list made, in 1782, living in St. John's Parish, King William County, VA. Although we are unsure of exactly where the parishes were demarcated, we observed that individuals with surnames associated with the Pamunkey Indians on the Pamunkey River tended to be tithed in St. David's Parish, whereas those associated with the tribe now known as the Mattaponi tended to be tithed in St. John's Parish. This is not surprising as St. John's Church is in close proximity to the Mattaponi Reservation. John Dungee was tithed in this parish every year except for one or two from 1782 through 1785 (when he was taxed in St. David's), probably being the same John Dungee who is then taxed in neighboring King and Queen County from 1783 through 1814 (including his estate), along with some members of the Collins family. In the St. John's Parish Joseph appears from 1787-1799, John 1797-1811, Reuben 1798 and 1799, Isbell in 1802, Joseph 1813-1820, William 1813-1820, Thomas 1813-1818, and another John 1815.

We also looked at the tax lists available for the years 1820 through 1833. We also found that all of the Dungee's taxed once again lived in St. John's Parish. They were Joseph Jr. 1842, Joseph 1842-1845, James 1842, Jesse 1842, Lucy 1842, Spotswood 1842-1845, Jesse Jr 1844-1845, and John 1845. There is a chance that some of the names may be the same person, however we have presented the individuals as they are listed on the tithable lists.

We then looked at the tithable lists for the surrounding counties. In King and Queen, we have John Dungee from 1783-1814 (including his estate). It appears he relocated here for a time, because these are the years he was not taxed in King William. It is notable that some members of the King William Collins family are also taxed in King and Queen during these years.

In New Kent, we discovered Reuben Dungee, John Dungee and Isbell Dungee. Reuben is taxed from 1800 through 1814. Isbell is taxed in 1807, and John in 1807. It is also clear that these three individuals relocated to New Kent from King William. Additionally, in 1813 New Kent made a separate list of free people of color over the age of 16, included were: Reuben Dungee and wife, Jesse Dungee, Sally Dungee, and Molly Dungee. Henry Dungee was taxed in New Kent in 1820. It appears that the roots to this set of Dungee's also lay in King William.

The last county we looked at was Middlesex County, Virginia. The only entry we have before 1820 is John Dungee 1817-1819.

The evidence from the tithable lists point to St. John's Parish, King William County as the epicenter for this branch of the Dungee Family.

Request of John Dungee and Lucy Ann Littlepage to Remain in Virginia, 1825 (Click here, this is a link)

Lucy Anne Littlepage was freed by her father, Edmund Littlepage (1767-1813) in his 1813 will. Her mother Sophia was freed, as well. She was called a 'girl' in the will and was left with 1000 dollars, to be laid out in bank stock, and paid an annuity from this deposit for her lifetime, and then it went to her 'lawfully begotten' heirs. Her mother, Sophia, was to be paid a five pound a year allowance for the rest of her natural life.

Sometime before December 1825, Lucy Ann Littlepage married one of our John Dungee's. After the marriage, the couple were informed that Lucy Ann had to leave Virginia, in accordance with state law, or be sold back into slavery and forever lose her inheritance. Being that Edmund Littlepage had other, legitimate white children, it may be possible that her siblings had a hand in trying to not only relieve her of her inheritance but also compensating themselves for the sale of a young, fertile, mulatto female slave, which typically bought in top dollar on the slave market. Most of Edmund Littlepage's other slaves were to be sold and the profit divided, in accordance with his will.

In the ensuing panic, John Dungee, Lucy Ann's husband, petitioned the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia to grant an exception for her to remain in the state. In his petition, he pointed out that Lucy Ann had an inheritance, came from a wealthy and prominent father, and was of good character. He added that he was descended from the aborigines of Virginia, supported himself as a sailor and commander of a Chesapeake Bay (and the tributary rivers of Pamunkey and Mattaponi) based vessel, and had near and dear connections he did not wish to leave. This petition was signed by numerous white men from King William and surrounding counties.

If we take a closer look at this document, John Dungee states that he was descended from the aborigines of Virginia, but he doesn't state which tribe. This really doesn't matter too much, because in 1825 both groups would have been referred to as Pamunkey Indians. If we try to place his residence by looking at the signatures on the petition that doesn't work either. This method would be unreliable because he had already stated he was a sailor and commanded a vessel, this would put him in contact with farmers and merchants all over King William and surrounding counties, as his letter of support shows. However, we can look at two things, where the Littlepage Plantation was situated, and who Edmund Littlepage was, we may can glean some clues. We know from his will that Edmund Littlepage owned Cohoke Mill, which he left to his legitimate children. This mill was very close to the current Pamunkey Reservation. He may have come in contact with John Dungee during the course of Dungee ferrying lumber, or other merchandise. Edmund Littlepage made his Last Will and Testament on May 8, 1813, he was called Edmund Littlepage, deceased, by August 23, 1813, when a codicil to his will was presented in King William court. This fixes the time of his death to the summer of 1813.

We can extrapolate a couple of things from the will. In 1813, Lucy was under the age of 12, as she would be freed at twelve. Because Sophia would be freed when Lucy was, and given an allowance, but still had five years to serve, this would fix Lucy's age at 7 years old in 1813 (born about 1806 and freed about 1818). Littlepage also left funds for a charity school to be built and ran in St. John's Parish, King William County, fixed at a location not above the courthouse. This tracks with his will, requesting that Lucy be educated out the estate monies. It also places the charity school, to be funded by Littlepage, in fairly close proximity to the Mattaponi Indian Reservation. This places Lucy in St. John's Parish, where she probably courted and married John Dungee.

We need to consider one final factor. Hardin Littlepage was a trustee for the Mattaponi Indian Tribe, and other members of the Littlepage family had been known to have close dealings with the families who were present on the Mattaponi Reservation, at that time. Hardin Littlepage, was the nephew of Edmund Littlepage, making him Lucy Ann Littlepage Dungee's first cousin. This places Lucy Ann Littlepage, her mother Sophia, and the charity school all in St. John's Parish, below the courthouse.

On a side note, regardless of the outcome of John and Lucy's request to the Govenor (the Dungee's prevailed), they decided to relocate to Baltimore, Md, taking Sophia with them. Lucy's money was stolen for the most part by the trustees, and administrators, in charge of overseeing her inheritance. A fascinating rundown of what happened to her, and her money, can be found here. What’s Owed Lucy Wilson: A King and Queen County Chancery Cause – The UncommonWealth. By 1850, John Dungee had died in Baltimore, and Lucy Ann had remarried a man named Jacob Wilson. Her mother was enumerated as Sophia Littlefield (may be an error with the census taker) age 70. Lucy had 5 children with John Dungee, and 3 with Jacob Wilson. Her last Dungee child was born in 1837, and her first with Jacob Wilson was born in 1840. This places John Dungee's death as occurring in Baltimore, Md between 1836 and 1839. All of Lucy's Dungee children were born in Maryland with William W. born in 1826, John B. in 1828, James H. in 1833, Edward H. in 1836, and Sophia in 1837.

1850 Federal Census, Maryland, Baltimore, Ward 6, Ancestry page 179, Household 1314. July 30, 1850.

John and Lucy's sons remained in the Baltimore area for their lifetimes, with many of their descendants later relocating to the Providence, Rhode Island area. Sophia, aka Mary S. Dungee, married Charles Harris, a King and Queen County native. They were resettled back in King and Queen by 1870, with several children, including Ransome Harris (born 1866).

Edmund Littlepage's will places Lucy, his emancipated daughter, in St. John's Parish, where she went to school and resided at the time of her marriage to John Dungee, which also, more likely than not, places him in this parish. That this John Dungee stated that he was descended from the aborigines of Virginia, and that he probably resided in St. John's Parish, suggests he was a Mattaponi Indian, or a "Pamunkey Indian on the Mattaponi River".

Auditor of Public Accounts, Entry 757, Reports of Free Negroes and Mulattoes, 1833-1836, Record Group 48, Library of Virginia

In the aftermath of the Nat Turner insurrection in 1831, the General Assembly enacted several statutes with the intent of compelling blacks (and non-whites in general) to leave the commonwealth. One such law, passed 4 March 1833 "making appropriations for the removal of free persons of colour" to the western coast of Africa, established a board of commissioners charged with carrying out the provisions of the act. Lists, such as these were meant to assist the commissioners in determining who might be encouraged to emigrate. Fortunately, the lists for King William and King and Queen still exist, and we evaluated them.

King and Queen List, 1833

Only one family of Dungee's were listed in this county in the year 1833. Polly 'Dungin', a farmer, was enumerated with her children Nancy and George, with no ages given. She lived close to Thomas Collins and Riley Collins (the sons of Mason Collins, Pamunkey Indian), who were enumerated immediately after Polly on this list. She was living on the land of Thomas Edwards, and the Collins family were living on the land of Thomas F. Spencer and working as sawyers. Thomas Spencer purchased the former Liberty Hall parcel in 1832, and it was located around King and Queen Courthouse. We are uncertain as to exactly where the residence of Thomas Edwards was situated, but on the 1850 census he is also living in the King and Queen Courthouse area. King and Queen Courthouse is located directly across the Mattaponi River from the Mattaponi Indian Reservation. This should not be surprising, because members the Tuppence and Key families (Mattaponi) also worked, sometimes intermittently, for local King and Queen whites.

King William List 1833

The way this list was configured makes it more difficult to follow. Families tended to be grouped by last name, and the reader has to tease out the familial relationships. With this being said, all members of the Dungee family were enumerated in St. John's Parish. The Dungee's on this list were;

• Joe, age 46, shoemaker

• Coleman, age 18, farmer

• Joe Jr, age 15, farmer

• John A., age 23, farmer

• Spotswood, age 7

• Jesse, age 14, farmer

• Lucy, age 41, farmer and weaver

• Eveline, age 23, farmer and weaver

The second entry has:

• Eleanor, age 21, farmer and weaver

• Betsy, age 40, farmer and weaver

• Betsy, Jr, age 15, spinster

• Mourning, age 26, spinster

• Flavey, age 12, apprentice to Fanny Lipscomb

• Maria, age 5

• Parkey, age 2

It is possible that this was all one entry and became separated through years of handling. This list seems to indicate that the entire Dungee family lived in St. John's Parish in 1833.

Federal Census 1800-1840

We discovered that the 1800 Federal Census for Virginia is spotty at best, so we started with the 1810 census by county and year.

1810

New Kent

• Reuben Dungee

• Isabella Dungee

Middlesex

• Mary Dungee

1820

New Kent

• Henry Dungee

1830

King William (No Township is Listed this Census)

• Joseph Dungee

• Lucy Dungee

• Susan Dungee

  
  

King and Queen

• Polly Dungee

  
  

New Kent

• Jesse Dungee

Middlesex

• Henry Dungee

1840

King William (St. John's Parish)

• Polly Dungee

• Lucy Dungee

• Joseph Dungee

• Joseph Dungee

• William H. Dungee

• Betsey Dungee

  
  

King and Queen

• Harry Dungee

• Polly Dungee

New Kent

• Eleanor Dungee

Middlesex

• Elijah Dungee

• Molly Dungee

• Henry Dungee

Once again, we see that the epicenter for the Dungee family is still St. John's Parish, King William County. We noticed that the Dungee lines in New Kent, King and Queen, and Middlesex tracked to lines we have already established as originating in King William. We find in later censuses that a Dungee family member, Evie Dungee, and her descendants have an assigned lot on the Mattaponi Indian Reservation. The censuses of 1850, and later, shows various members of the Dungee family as very close neighbors (some enumerated side-by-side) to Elston Major, chief of the Mattaponi Indians, and other known historical Mattaponi families. The family of William S. Dungee and his wife (later widow) Kate Adams Dungee (Upper Mattaponi) appear to have been the last of the Dungee family to reside on the reservation lot. We will talk about why in a subsequent blog. This reservation is located in St. John's Parish.

Multiple vital records like births, deaths, and marriages tie the Dungee family to other Native families in King William. Often, the Dungee's are outright called 'Indian' in the record. Births and deaths occurred in 'Indiantown' with informants who were either living on the Mattaponi Reservation or residing in nearby Wakema.

The John Dungee, the sailor and the one who was descended from the aborigines of Virginia, referred to earlier in this blog was probably the child of the first John Dungee listed in tax records with Reuben, Isabella, Joseph Sr, and others also being the children of this first John Dungee. We are pretty certain that the first John Dungee came to the Middle Peninsula from elsewhere (due to the lack of other Dungee's in the near counties), therefore all indicators point to his unidentified wife as being of Mattaponi Indian origin. However, due to the catastrophic loss of records in King William County, she is likely to remain unidentified.

Subsequent marriages by members of this family to Adams, Collins, Custalows, Acree, and Key's reinforces our belief that the Dungee's lived in St. John's Parish and were of Mattaponi descent. These marriages also resulted in the descendants often having descent from not only the Mattaponi, but established Pamunkey lines (Collins) and Upper Mattaponi lines (Adams/Holmes). This means that, depending on the particular line of descent, the Dungee family of the Middle Peninsula may be Mattaponi/Pamunkey, Mattaponi/Upper Mattaponi, or Mattaponi/Pamunkey/Upper Mattaponi, At the end of the day, they are most likely of Mattaponi descent, through the unknown wife of the first John Dungee. In our opinion, the evidence points to this tribe, which is further supported by the fact that the family possessed an on-reservation lot, most likely assigned by Elston Major, the then chief of the Mattaponi Indians.

In closing, we believe that not only were the Dungee family entitled to be assigned a lot at the Mattaponi Indian Reservation, but it also appears that the descendants of Joseph Dungee Sr. (wife Betsy Collins), and Joseph Jr (wife Rebecca Collins) were entitled to be assigned a lot on the Pamunkey Indian Reservation, as well. In short, the descendants of these lines descend from both tribes.

What do you think?