The only other bit of solid evidence left by the Colonists were the carvings “CRO” and “CROATOAN” found by Governor White upon his return in 1590. They had arranged with White to carve such a message if it became necessary for them to depart the colony for some reason. Additionally, they had agreed to include the mark of an eight-sided cross if they were forced to leave the island under duress. This mark was not found, which is a further indication that they had departed in a planned and organized way. In fact, White and the colonists had discussed moving “50 miles into the main” which may well have been the reason White had demanded some means of determining where they had gone should they chose to move the colony. Whatever the case, it would appear by the carvings that White found upon his return that those plans changed and instead of moving to the north as originally planned, or wherever “50 miles into the main” might have been,

the colony instead moved to the south to Croatoan Island, home of their Indian guide, Manteo, and his people with whom the colonists had good relations. White, in his journal, seems convinced that this is where his colony went. But since he was not allowed sufficient time to undertake a more extensive search beyond Roanoke Island, this is about as far as the facts can take us.

This project intends to take a different approach to the research problem. Believing that every good theory deserves consideration, there is one in particular that we now have the ability to investigate by employing Genetics. One of the most popular theories surrounding the mystery of the Lost Colony is that the colonists had assimilated into one (or more) of the local Indian tribes. This would be in keeping with a number of contemporary accounts of sightings of unusual Indians that had more European features than Native American, as well as a variety of reports received in London indicating that the colonists were alive. There are also traditions within Native American tribes that maintain that colonists had been among them and even fathered children by native wives. One tribe with such traditions are the LUMBEE of North Carolina. Many of the Lumbee have very European features, including light colored hair and complexions. Not the typical features we’ve come to expect in a completely indigenous people. The actress Heather Locklear belongs to a Lumbee family. Feelings among scholars have been mixed in regard to these claims, but they have never been properly or thoroughly investigated using the technologies available to us today.

The technology of choice for this project is Y-chromosome DNA testing. This is because the Y-chromosome (or Ycs) has an important genealogical use in that the chromosome is passed strictly from fathers to sons and remains essentially unchanged over the generations. All males carry the Y-chromosome of their father, and they from their father, and so on, throughout the history of the male line. Just as the Y-chromosome follows the male line, so do surnames. For this reason, the Native American assimilation theory can now be put to the test in a scientific way. The idea, in a nutshell, is that the Y-chromosome of Native Americans can be compared with men of English descent who also have the surnames of the colonists. We would not expect to find the same Y-chromosome in both groups. But if we do, it would confirm that they shared a common male ancestor. We could then begin a genealogical investigation to exclude the possibility of a later introduction of the Y-chromosome into the family line. Although this is a very scaled down version of the actual testing process, it does provide the reader with an introduction to the goals of the project. If you are interested in learning more about the project and how you, or someone you know, might participate, please follow the various links on this page or if you want to know why the “Lost Colony” may not be so lost, you can read some of the evidence here. If you are interested in possibly participating in the project, please read the notes under News & Details before contacting me.

We have been left with very few facts to aid the research effort. Archaeological and record evidence has been sparse. No skeletal remains of consequence have ever been found to indicate that the colonists had perished in a massacre perpetrated by either the Indians or the Spanish as some have suggested. All available evidence suggests that there had been an orderly departure from the colony. The colonists had taken the time to pull down the structures which had been erected and had even taken time to bury the belongings of Governor John White as they had agreed to do before he departed for England to inform Ralegh and the colonies sponsors that the colony had been seated at Roanoke Island instead of further to the north along the Chesapeake Bay as they had intended.

For over 400 years, the story of the 1587 Colony at Roanoke under Sir Walter Ralegh, perhaps best known to us as “The Lost Colony,” has been this country’s most enduring mystery. Despite numerous attempts to determine what happened to over 100 men, women and children, researchers have been frustrated by a lack of firm evidence upon which any conclusions might be drawn.