Lost Colony Mystery Solved or Not?

This is a mystery you may have heard about, but what do you know of the lost colony of Roanoke?  Is it a great tragedy, or is it a story of survival and trust?  Some would have you believe it is still a mystery, but I believe the explanation that the local tribe accepted them among their people, and that the intermarriages of the colonists and the Native Americans of what is now Robinson County, North Carolina produced a unique people.  In 1934 these Native Americans who spoke a sort of Elizabethan English, and had blue or grey eyes were still inhabiting the area.  Edwin C. Hill wrote that these Indians known as the Robinson county Indians “…are the  descendants of the lost colonists of Roanoke.”

It was back in 1584 when two English ships discovered Roanoke Island, it was a year later when a group of ships was sent to the island to colonize.  The original discovery had been finance by Sir Walter Raleigh, and Raleigh was quick to want to capitalize on this discovery immediately.  First with these seven ships that were led by Sir Richard Grenville, and  later with more colonists and supplies in 1587, almost two years after the initial settlement.  This addition of supplies was greatly needed.  John White, the Governor, returned to England to retrieve more supplies, knowing what a difficult winter it would be.  

If you know the story, that is all we all we really know.  Only that when White returned almost three years later, he was sadly delayed by the British war with Spain, he was full of anticipation.  Among the 121 colonists he had left behind on the island were his wife, daughter, and granddaughter.  His granddaughter, Virginia Dare, was the 1st white child born in the New World.  So in 1590, in July, returning with supplies, White returned to an abandoned island.  Everything was mysteriously deserted, with no sign of any violence, or sudden evacuation.  The word “CROATAN” and on a another tree, “CRO” were scratched into trees were bark had been stripped near the colonies gate.  

There was no evidence that they were overcome by hostile Indians or Spaniards.  There was no signal of distress, as they had predetermined.  Some think they tried to fashion boats to go to another island or the mainland, but were overcome and drowned.  Still others believe the Croatan Indians who lived nearby, and were a friendly tribe, intermarried with them.  If they were assimilated by the Croatans Indians, that would explain why in 1719 (over a hundred years after the colony’s disappearance) white hunters reported running into light skinned Indians that spoke English in Robesone, what is now Robinson County.  A 1790 census showed that 54 out of 95 family names in Robinson County were the same as those of the lost colonists. 

These stories are believed by some, and some discredit them.  Whatever you believe, the story of the lost colony of Roanoke is a captivating one, and maybe a sad one, depending on what you believe.  For me, the evidence although not conclusive, and purely anecdotal is enough.  

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