THIS DAY IN VIRGINIA HISTORY
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October 27, 1821
The Nottoway Indian Tribe Met to Discuss Tribal Lands
Edith Turner (Wané Roonseraw) (ca. 1754–1838), who had taken part in land transactions since 1794 as chief of the Nottoway (Cheroenhaka) Indians living on the reservation, proposed to divide the tribe's land among individual Indians, perhaps in an attempt to convince more Nottoway to adopt white farming practices. Early in the nineteenth century most of the Indians on the Nottoway reservation refused to give up their predominantly hunting and gathering lifestyles. Forced to sell reservation land to pay debts, the tribe saw its landholdings decrease, making their traditional ways of living off the land increasingly difficult.