Queen Ann (Pamunkey Chief)
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Queen Ann (–1723) appears in Virginia records between 1706 and 1718 as ruler of the Pamunkey
tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...
of
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
. Ann continued her predecessors' efforts to keep peace with the
colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colonial empire, English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertG ...
. She became the leader of her tribe after
Queen Betty Betty, also known as Mrs Betty and Queen Betty, is believed to have been the name of the niece of Cockacoeske who succeeded her as Weroansqua or chief of the Pamunkey tribe, a Native American tribe of Virginia, in the late 1600s to early 1700s. ...
, in 1708 or before. Queen Ann is first mentioned in 1708. Prior to that the Weroansqua of the Pamunkey was Queen Betty who succeeded her aunt
Cockacoeske Cockacoeske (also spelled ''Cockacoeskie'') (ca. 1640 – ca. 1686) was a 17th-century leader of the Pamunkey tribe in what is now the U.S. state of Virginia. During her thirty-year reign, she worked with the English colony of Virginia, try ...
in 1686. Cockacoeske, Betty, and Anne are often confused with each other. It is certain that Cockacoeske was not the same as Anne; Cockecoeske is well documented to have died in 1686. It has been suggested that Queen Ann and Queen Betty may have been the same person: Ann's last record in history was in 1715, when she was noted as visiting the colonial authorities in Virginia. She had come to seek fair treatment for her tribe, who suffered encroachment and raids by settlers.Frank E. Grizzard, D. Boyd Smith, ''Jamestown Colony''
Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2007, p. 162, accessed 31 Jan 2009
The Pamunkey had, in spite of
Totopotomoi Totopotomoi (c. 1615–1656) was a Native American leader from what is now Virginia. He served as the chief of Pamunkey and as ''werowance'' of the Powhatan Paramount Chiefdom for the term lasting from about 1649-1656, when he died in the Battle ...
's sacrifice, been treated poorly by the Virginian settlers in the intervening years. Ann attempted to protect the survival of her people by petitioning to halt the sale of tribal land to outsiders, and halt the sale of liquor to members of the tribe. Ann had a son, whom she sent to the Indian school at the
College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III ...
in 1711. He was sent as part of an agreement with the governor of Virginia: if her son and another Pamunkey child were sent to the Indian school, the tribe's debt would be forgiven. Ann's son's name is not known as many records were either not kept or were destroyed by war and time. Ann is believed to have died around 1723.


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Further reading

* * * * * * 1650s births 1710s deaths Female Native American leaders People of the Powhatan Confederacy 17th-century women rulers 18th-century women rulers Tribal chiefs Pamunkey people 17th-century Native American women 18th-century Native American women 18th-century Native Americans {{NorthAm-mil-bio-stub