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Eno (people)
Encyclopedia
The Eno or Enoke, also called Wyanoak, was an American Indian
tribe located in North Carolina
during the 17th and 18th centuries that was later absorbed into the Catawba
and/or the Saponi
tribes.
(the first secretary of the colony of Virginia
) in his early-17th century book The Historie of Travaile Into Virginia Britannia. Strachey mentions the "Anoeg" to the southwest of the Powhatan Confederacy (centered near present-day Richmond, Virginia
) "whose howses are built as ours, ten daies distant from us...” . Another early mention is in a May 1654 letter from Francis Yeardley (an Indian trader from Virginia) to John Ferrar (deputy treasurer of the Virginia Company, in Huntingdonshire
, England); the letter was published in 1911 in Narratives of Early Carolina (1650–1708) by Alexander S. Salley as Francis Yeardley's Narrative of Incursions into Carolina, 1654. In his letter, Yeardley wrote that a Tuscaroran had described to him a “great nation" called the “Haynokes” who had “valiantly resisted the Spaniards further northern attempts” .
The village of “Œnock” in the Piedmont of North Carolina was visited by John Lederer
in 1670. Lederer reported that the Eno's town
James Needham and Gabriel Arthur also traveled through “Aeno,” described as “an Indian towne two dayes jorny beyond Occhoneeche [Island in Virginia]”, on their way to trade with the Cherokees in 1673.
In 1701, English adventurer John Lawson traveled from the coast of South Carolina
, north into North Carolina, and then to the coast near Washington, North Carolina
. In his book A New Voyage to Carolina, Lawson reports that the “Nation of Adshusheer” (located near present-day Durham, North Carolina
, and likely represented by North Carolina archaeological site 31Or13) had confederated with the Shakori and the Eno. He said their village was known as Adshusheer.
Lawson traveled east from Achonechy (Occaneechi Town, located near present-day Hillsborough, North Carolina
) “through several other Streams, which empty themselves into the Branches of Cape-Fair
” with Enoe Will, “their chief Man,” who “rules as far as the Banks of Reatkin” (the Haw River
). Lawson further described the location of Adshusheer, where nearby “There runs a pretty Rivulet by this Town. Near the Plantation, I saw a prodigious overgrown Pine-Tree, having not seen any of that Sort of Timber for above 125 Miles.” He, similar to Lederer, described the inhabitants of the village as “much addicted to a Sport they call Chenco, which is carry'd on with a Staff and a Bowl made of Stone, which they trundle upon a smooth Place, like a Bowling-Green, made for that Purpose, as I have mention'd before.” .
In 1712, John Barnwell
, a government official from South Carolina, traveled across North Carolina with a military expedition against the Tuscarora in eastern North Carolina. The expedition produced a map, created c. 1712-1725, that shows “Acconeechy Old Towns” on what appears to be New Hope Creek. This may depict the former site of Adshusheer.
By the early 18th century, the Enos, combined with the Shakoris, Tutelos, Saponis, Keyauwees, and Occaneechi
s, were reduced to a population of approximately 750 people.. About 1715, the Enos merged with the Catawbas in the North Carolina-South Carolina border area; the Enos became “member elements of the Catawba” perhaps due to the outcome of the Yamassee War, in which the Enos may or may not have participated. It is, however, “extremely unlikely” that the Enos “could have constituted a significant portion” of the Catawba Nation.. The Enoree River
in South Carolina may have been named after the Enos.
In 1716, Virginia Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood
proposed to resettle the Eno (along with the Saras and Keyauwees) at “Eno Town,” presumably either on the Neuse River
or in the Albemarle
area of North Carolina.; By 1716 the Enos for the most part had merged with the Catawba in South Carolina. They in whole or in part may have re-migrated to northern North Carolina with the Saponis in the 1730s.
"Weanock" and "Weanoc," John Smith, 1612
"Anoeg," William Strachey, 1612
“Wainoke,” Edward Bland, 1650
“Haynokes,” Francis Yeardley, 1654
“Oenock” and "Œnock," John Lederer, 1670
“Aeno,” James Needham and Gabriel Arthur, 1673
"Weyanoke," 1688
"Enoe," John Lawson, 1701
“Eenó,” James Adair, 1743
"Enos," James Mooney, 1894
"Enoch"
"Wyanoke"
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
tribe located in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
during the 17th and 18th centuries that was later absorbed into the Catawba
Catawba (tribe)
The Catawba are a federally recognized tribe of Native Americans, known as the Catawba Indian Nation. They live in the Southeast United States, along the border between North and South Carolina near the city of Rock Hill...
and/or the Saponi
Saponi
Saponi is one of the eastern Siouan-language tribes, related to the Tutelo, Occaneechi, Monacan, Manahoac and other eastern Siouan peoples. Its ancestral homeland was in North Carolina and Virginia. The tribe was long believed extinct, as its members migrated north to merge with other tribes...
tribes.
History
The Enos were first mentioned in historic documents by William StracheyWilliam Strachey
William Strachey was an English writer whose works are among the primary sources for the early history of the English colonisation of North America...
(the first secretary of the colony of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
) in his early-17th century book The Historie of Travaile Into Virginia Britannia. Strachey mentions the "Anoeg" to the southwest of the Powhatan Confederacy (centered near present-day Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
) "whose howses are built as ours, ten daies distant from us...” . Another early mention is in a May 1654 letter from Francis Yeardley (an Indian trader from Virginia) to John Ferrar (deputy treasurer of the Virginia Company, in Huntingdonshire
Huntingdonshire
Huntingdonshire is a local government district of Cambridgeshire, covering the area around Huntingdon. Traditionally it is a county in its own right...
, England); the letter was published in 1911 in Narratives of Early Carolina (1650–1708) by Alexander S. Salley as Francis Yeardley's Narrative of Incursions into Carolina, 1654. In his letter, Yeardley wrote that a Tuscaroran had described to him a “great nation" called the “Haynokes” who had “valiantly resisted the Spaniards further northern attempts” .
John Lederer
John Lederer was a 17th-century German physician and an explorer of the Appalachian Mountains. He and the members of his party became the first Europeans to crest the Blue Ridge Mountains and the first to see the Shenandoah Valley and the Allegheny Mountains beyond...
in 1670. Lederer reported that the Eno's town
...is built round a field, where in their Sports they exercise with so much labour and violence, and in so great numbers, that I have seen the ground wet with the sweat that dropped from their bodies: their chief Recreation is Slinging of stones. They are of mean stature and courage, covetous and thievish, industrious to earn a peny; and therefore hire themselves out to their neighbours, who employ them as Carryers or Porters. They plant abundance of Grain, reap three Crops in a Summer, and out of their Granary supply all the adjacent parts. [They] build not their houses of Bark, but of Watling and Plaister. In Summer, the heat of the weather makes them chuse to lie abroad in the night under thin arbours of wilde Palm. Some houses they have of Reed and Bark; they build them generally round: to each house belongs a little hovel made like an oven, where they lay up their Corn and Mast, and keep it dry. They parch their Nuts and Acorns over the fire, to take away their rank Oyliness; which afterwards pressed, yeeld a milky liquor, and the Acorns an Amber-colour’d Oyl. In these, mingled together, they dip their Cakes at great Entertainments, and so serve them up to their guests as an extraordinary dainty. Their Government is Democratic; and the Sentences of their old men are received as Laws, or rather Oracles, by them .
James Needham and Gabriel Arthur also traveled through “Aeno,” described as “an Indian towne two dayes jorny beyond Occhoneeche [Island in Virginia]”, on their way to trade with the Cherokees in 1673.
In 1701, English adventurer John Lawson traveled from the coast of South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, north into North Carolina, and then to the coast near Washington, North Carolina
Washington, North Carolina
Washington is a city in Beaufort County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 9,744 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Beaufort County. The closest major city is Greenville, approximately 20 miles to the west....
. In his book A New Voyage to Carolina, Lawson reports that the “Nation of Adshusheer” (located near present-day Durham, North Carolina
Durham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...
, and likely represented by North Carolina archaeological site 31Or13) had confederated with the Shakori and the Eno. He said their village was known as Adshusheer.
Lawson traveled east from Achonechy (Occaneechi Town, located near present-day Hillsborough, North Carolina
Hillsborough, North Carolina
Hillsborough is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 5,653 at the 2008 census. It is the county seat of Orange County....
) “through several other Streams, which empty themselves into the Branches of Cape-Fair
Cape Fear River
The Cape Fear River is a long blackwater river in east central North Carolina in the United States. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The overall water quality of the river is continuously measured and monitored by and conducted by the , , and the...
” with Enoe Will, “their chief Man,” who “rules as far as the Banks of Reatkin” (the Haw River
Haw River
The Haw River is a tributary of the Cape Fear River, approximately 110 mi long, that is entirely contained in north central North Carolina in the United States...
). Lawson further described the location of Adshusheer, where nearby “There runs a pretty Rivulet by this Town. Near the Plantation, I saw a prodigious overgrown Pine-Tree, having not seen any of that Sort of Timber for above 125 Miles.” He, similar to Lederer, described the inhabitants of the village as “much addicted to a Sport they call Chenco, which is carry'd on with a Staff and a Bowl made of Stone, which they trundle upon a smooth Place, like a Bowling-Green, made for that Purpose, as I have mention'd before.” .
In 1712, John Barnwell
John Barnwell
John Barnwell is an English former football player and manager. He was until recently the chief executive of the League Managers Association....
, a government official from South Carolina, traveled across North Carolina with a military expedition against the Tuscarora in eastern North Carolina. The expedition produced a map, created c. 1712-1725, that shows “Acconeechy Old Towns” on what appears to be New Hope Creek. This may depict the former site of Adshusheer.
By the early 18th century, the Enos, combined with the Shakoris, Tutelos, Saponis, Keyauwees, and Occaneechi
Occaneechi
The Occaneechi are Native Americans who lived primarily on a large, long Occoneechee Island and east of the confluence of the Dan and Roanoke Rivers, near current day Clarksville, Virginia in the 17th century...
s, were reduced to a population of approximately 750 people.. About 1715, the Enos merged with the Catawbas in the North Carolina-South Carolina border area; the Enos became “member elements of the Catawba” perhaps due to the outcome of the Yamassee War, in which the Enos may or may not have participated. It is, however, “extremely unlikely” that the Enos “could have constituted a significant portion” of the Catawba Nation.. The Enoree River
Enoree River
The Enoree River is a tributary of the Broad River, 85 mi long, in northwestern South Carolina in the United States . Via the Broad and Congaree Rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Santee River, which flows to the Atlantic Ocean ....
in South Carolina may have been named after the Enos.
In 1716, Virginia Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood
Alexander Spotswood
Alexander Spotswood was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army and a noted Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. He is noted in Virginia and American history for a number of his projects as Governor, including his exploring beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains, his establishing what was perhaps the first...
proposed to resettle the Eno (along with the Saras and Keyauwees) at “Eno Town,” presumably either on the Neuse River
Neuse River
The Neuse River is a river rising in the Piedmont of North Carolina and emptying into Pamlico Sound below New Bern. Its total length is approximately , making it the longest river entirely contained in North Carolina. The Trent River joins it at New Bern. Its drainage basin, measuring in area,...
or in the Albemarle
Albemarle, North Carolina
Albemarle is the county seat of Stanly County, North Carolina. The population was 15,680 at the 2000 census. It is governed by Mayor Elbert L. "Whit" Whitley, Jr...
area of North Carolina.; By 1716 the Enos for the most part had merged with the Catawba in South Carolina. They in whole or in part may have re-migrated to northern North Carolina with the Saponis in the 1730s.
Historic Eno variations
"Winocke," Thomas Gates, 1609"Weanock" and "Weanoc," John Smith, 1612
"Anoeg," William Strachey, 1612
“Wainoke,” Edward Bland, 1650
“Haynokes,” Francis Yeardley, 1654
“Oenock” and "Œnock," John Lederer, 1670
“Aeno,” James Needham and Gabriel Arthur, 1673
"Weyanoke," 1688
"Enoe," John Lawson, 1701
“Eenó,” James Adair, 1743
"Enos," James Mooney, 1894
"Enoch"
"Wyanoke"