The Portuguese & The Indians

 

De Soto &  the Portuguese Ship & Captain Andre de Vasconcelos

As Luis de Moscoso passed through Elvas, Andre de Vasconcelos spoke with him, and requested him to speak to Don Hernando de Soto in his behalf, and gave him patents issued by the marques de Vilareal, conferring on him the captaincy of Ceuta, so that he might exhibit them. The adelantado saw these and found out who he [Vasconcelos] was and wrote him promising that he would favor him in every way and would give him men to command in Florida.

HOW THE PORTUGUESE WENT TO SEVILLE AND THENCETO SAN LUCAR; AND HOW THE CAPTAINS WEREAPPOINTED OVER THE SHIPS, AND THE MENWHO WERE TO GO IN THEM DISTRIBUTED. ( The DeSoto Chronicles)

''The Portuguese left Elvas on the 15th of January. They reached Seville on St. Sebastian's eve and went to the governor's lodging. They entered the patio upon which looked some balconies where he was. He looked down and went to meet them at the stairs where they went up to the balconies. When they were up, he ordered chairs to be given them so that they might be seated. Andre de Vasconcelos told him who he and the other Portuguese were and how they had all come to accompany him and to serve him on his voyage. He [i.e. Soto] thanked him and appeared well pleased with their coming and proffer. The table being already laid, he invited them to eat; and while they were eating, he directed his majordomo to find lodgings for them near his inn. From Seville, the adelantado went to San Liicar with all the men that were to go with him. He ordered a muster to be held, to which the Portuguese went armed with very splendid arms, and the Castilians very elegantly, in silk over silk, and many plaits and slashes. As such finery was not pleasing to the governor on such an occasion, he ordered a muster to be held on the next day and for every man to appear with his armor. ''

''To this the Portuguese came as at first, armed with very excellent armor, and the governor set them in order near the standard borne by his alferez. Most of the Castilians wore poor and rusty coats of mail, and all [wore] helmets and carried worthless and poor lances. Some of them managed to get a place among the Portuguese. Thus they passed in review, and those who were to the liking of Soto and whom he wished were counted and enrolled and went with him to Florida. Those who went numbered in all six hundred men. He had already bought seven ships and had placed in them the provisions necessary, appointed captains, and assigned his ship to each captain, giving each one a list of the men he was to take.''

HOW THE ADELANTADO AND HIS MEN LEFT SPAIN ANDARRIVED AT THE CANARY ISLANDS, AND AFTERWARDAT THE ANTILLES.

In the month of April, of the year 1538, the adelantado delivered the ships over to the captains who were to go in them. He took a new and good sailing ship for himself and gave one to Andre de Vasconcelos, in which the Portuguese went.


DeSoto & Cofitachiqui

Excerpts from Matters of the Heart

...''As she approached the bank of the river, their eyes met for the first time. She, the Queen of Cofitachiqui, was borne on a royal vessel, seated upon pillows and accompanied in other canoes by her beloved men. He, a slave of Andre de Vasconcelos, was a follower of Hernando de Soto and the expedition to explore and exploit the natural resources of the American Southeast.

On the third day, the Queen disappeared; de Soto sent his guards to find her but she was not to be found (Bourne, 1904, p. 110). Taking advantage of her absence, he entered one of the ancient temple mounds that were scattered about the town of Talemico, the religious and political center of the people of Cofitachiqui. The temple mound was one hundred feet long and forty feet wide with massive doors. As he entered through the doors, he encountered paired rows of massive wooden statues with diamond-shaped heads bearing first batons, then broadswords, and then bows and arrows (Hudson, 1976, p. 111).

Like the ancient pyramids of Egypt, these temple mounds contained statues of notable persons of antiquity and chests filled with the remains of the elders. Scattered about the temples were bundles of fur, breastplates, and weapons -- tools for the next life -- covered with pearls, colored leather, and "something green like an emerald" (Bourne, p. 100). [paragraph 3]De Soto and his men plundered the ancient temple. Among the booty were items of a European make, "Biscayan axes or iron and rosaries with their crosses" (Bourne, 1904, p. 100).

De Soto and his men determined that these materials were the remnants of an earlier expedition led by Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon. He and his men had settled on the coast of the Carolinas near on the Peedee River in 1526. African slaves were members of Ayllon's colony; when there was a crisis over leadership, the colony fell into disarray. In this crisis, there was a slave revolt. When the colony crumbled, many of the African slaves fled to live among the nearby Native Americans (Wright, 1902, pp. 217-228).

As they were on their journey, the Lady of Cofitachiqui "left the road, with the excuse of going in the thicket, where, deceiving them, she so concealed herself that for all their search she could not be found." De Soto, frustrated in his quest to find her, moved on to Guaxule (Jameson, 1907, p. 176).

Alimamos, a horseman of de Soto who "got lost," somehow wandered upon the refugee slaves. He "labored with the slaves to make leave of their evil designs" but only two of the refugees returned to de Soto. When Alimamos arrived back at the camp with the refugees who had decided to return, "the Governor wished to hang them" (Jameson, p. 177). [paragraph 6]However, the horseman also made another report. He stated that "The Cacica remained in Xualla, with a slave of Andre de Vasconcelas,(the Portuguese jp) who would not come with him (Alimamos), and that it was very sure that they lived together as man and wife, and were to go together to Cutafichiqui" (Jameson, p. 177).

The Portuguese definitely mixed with the Indians, just as Vardy Collins told the journalis in 1848.  From the de Soto Journals (Found Here)

• They captured a hundred head, among Indian men and women. Of the latter, there, as well as in any other part where forays were made, the captain selected one or two for the governor and the others were divided among themselves and those who went with them.
• As soon as the governor had crossed the stream, he found a village called Achese a short distance on. Although the Indians had never heard of Christians they plunged into a river. A few Indians, men and women, were seized,
• At the time of his departure, because of the importunity of some who wished more than was proper, he asked the cacique for thirty Indian women as slaves.....The Indians gave the governor thirty Indian women and the necessary tamemes [for DeSoto's men to wed then populate his planned settlement at Mobile Bay].
• 
  

The DeSoto Journals - Gentleman of Elvas   1557   

Click Here

Christian Priber

   

---

NOTES ON CHRISTIAN G. PRIBER

---

Christian Gottlieb Priber studied law at the University of Erfurt where he published his inaugural dissertation in October 1722 on Usu doctrinae juris Romani de ignorantiae juris in foro Germaniae (The Use of the Study of Roman Law and the Ignorance of that Law in the Public Life of Germany)

13 June 1735  he submits a Petition in London to be allowed to leave the country on the next ship to Georgia. Present at the Palace Court was the Earl of Egmont and Mr. Oglethorpe and others.  "Read a Letter from Christian Gottlieb Priber desiring to be sent in the next Embarkation to Georgia with a  Letter of Recommendation from Jr. John Eddleston to the Trustee. RESOLVED; that the said Christian Gottlieb Priber  be sent in the first Embarkation to Georgia.



December 1735  South Carolina Gazette:
"To be Sold by Mr. Priber near Mr. Laurans the Sadler, ready made mens cloaths, wiggs, spatterdashes of fine holland, shoes, boots guns, pistols, powder, a silver repeating watch, a sword with a silver gilt hilt, english seeds, beds & a fine chest of drawers very reasonable for ready Money, he intending to stay but a few weeks in this Town."

1 Jan 1736/7 P: 25 Feb 1736/7 CHARLES RUSSELL, Berkeley County, Esq. Wife: Mary, executrix. Wife's children: Rachell Heatley, William Heatley, Charles Russell, Sophianis Russell, John Russell, Euginia Russell, and Joseph Russell. Wit: Christian Gottlieb Priber, Henry Spacks, John Pearson.  (In 1725 Capt. George Chicken, Commissioner of the Indian Trade, on an expedition to the Indian country, speaks of stopping at Capt. Charles Russell's, and again in 1730 Sir Alexander Cuming, ambassador to the Cherokees, accompanied by Col. Chicken and George Hunter the surveyor, stopped at Russell's on the Cherokee path near Amelia.  This shows that almost immediately upon arrival Priber began association with the Cherokee traders)

Major Gibson

  MAJOR GIBSON.

Major Gibson is first found in Orange Co., NC tax list with Thomas Gibson, George, and Charles Gibson. By 1765 the Regulator movement had started up and Gibsons along with other families started leaving the area. Major Gibson is found on Potters Creek in Pittsylvania Co., Virginia off the Pigg River, the John Justice family that has DNA that matches these Gibson lived near as did John Gibson who had land in 1749 on Snow Creek.

1747 – Mar. 1, Isham Randolph Gent; 2800 acres both sides of Snow Creek. William Hunter, Robert Hooker, William Snuggs, Lambert Dodson, Abraham Little and John Gibson, were purchasers of land during 1747-8. Thomas Day, took up 320, acres on Stanton River, in 1748

DESCENDANTS OF EPHRIAM OSBORNE, SR EPHRIAM OSBORNE SR b 8/23/1723 d 1786 m 1741 Elizabeth "Betsy" Howard Was in the service of Christopher Gist on the Yadkin River in North Carolina, he settled North of the Yadkin in 1745. In 1751 he went to Snow Creek Virginia and to Staunton, Augusta Co Virginia and was able to visit relatives and families of James Watson and George Gibson. In 1757 or 1761 he moved from Rowan Co North Carolina to Grayson Co Virginia and lived there until he died.

• Abraham Fulkerson married to Sarah Gibson in Rowan County, NC 1766, bond by George Gibson.

• Lambeth Dodson patented 400 acres on the main fork of Mayo River which he transferred to George Gibson

In 1765 besides George Gibson and Ephraim Osborne living in Rowan County we find Gilbert Gibson Jr, and stepson Gibson Jones and David Gibson, sons of Gilbert Gibson Sr., of Louisa County. Gilbert and Gibson Jones sold this land situated on the TRADING PATH and Deep River, about this time, see the "Regulator Movement" in Orange County, this same time Samuel Collins, Moses Riddle, and Major Gibson left and are found in Pittsylvania Co., Virginia.  

The first tax of Randolph County after it was split from Guilford [Guilford split from Orange] 1779 Major Gibson is living on Back Creek with David Gibson - George Gibson is on Jackson Creek.  Thomas Gibson in in the Revolution as is Wilburn Gibson both born 1763 in Randolph Co., enlisted in Revolution from Guilford County - Stephen has land on Jackson Creek. George and Thomas are sons of David Gibson and Hannah Brookshire. 

Page 99 of Burke County Census lists

Isom Gibson, Major Gibson and Wilburn Gibson, this land appears to end up in Alexander County later.  Isom is very likely the husband of Millie Gibson who made a Wilkes County deed to her son David/Drury to hold land for his brother Isom, they are later found in Claiborne County, Tennessee and Owsley County, Ky., where Millie died.  Her death record indicates she was a JONES.  Wilburn Gibson abandoned his son, Hezekiah, married a lady named Rebecca and went to Ohio then Indiana.  

On page 98 in the 8th Company we find Stephen Gibson  next door to James Reed. Hezekiah, son of Wilburn Gibson was bound to James Reed,  also same page is Joseph Gibson, he was born about 1770 as record shows he wasn't of age in 1790.  

The neighbors of Joseph;  James and William Dockery, John and Edward Teague, John Price, Absolum Brown, Christian Keller, [these three on Catawba River] are found in the History of Alexander County with Major Gibson and Merriman McGee.  

Begins on Boyd's corner, near the Mineral Springs, and runs down Lower Little River to Samuel Oxford line, near the Catawba River. It then skirts several tracts that lie along the river, by metes and bounds, until it crosses Middle River, and then crosses the Catawba twice and calls for Absalom Pennington's grant, then turns north various courses around the north end of Barrett's Mountain to the beginning. The tracts of land belonging to the following named persons inside the boundary are excepted to wit: Martin Kellar, Christine Kellar, John Teague, Gen. McDowell , Jesse Perkins, Luke White, Wm. Yokely, Philip Price, James Pressly, John Yates, John Bradburn, John W. M. Dockery, Joseph Dickson, Wm. Fullerton, Major Gibson, John Price, Absalom Brown, Clisby Cobb and Edward Teague.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stephen purchased 200 acres in Burke Co in 1780 from John Edger, Major Gipson was PR for this land sale.  John Edger married Elizabeth Cummins and removed to Abbeville South Carolina, he does not appear to be related to Gibsons. 

Stephen was a Personal Representative for John Gipson,  from the same John Edger in 1780. Stephen had land listings in Randolph and Burke Counties in the 1790's. They moved to Wayne Co, Kentuck  in 1804. They were farmers and members of the Baptist Church. He married Grace Smith in 1812 and his bondsman was Stephen Gibson.