NORTH CAROLINA'S PAPER GENOCIDE AGAINST TUSCARORA INDIAN FAMILIES WHO REMAINED IN NORTH CAROLINA AFTER THE WAR OF 1715.
I AM OF THOSE TUSCARORA INDIAN BLOODLINES.
MY PATERNAL SIDE TRACED BACK TO 1790 LIVED IN HISTORICALLY TUSCARORA AREAS
OF NORTH CAROLINA.
CONFIRMED HISTORY
The Integrated Lineage and Geographic Proof
[John Braxton] (Earliest Paternal Ancestor)
(b. ~1790 Pitt County - Heart of Tuscarora Territory)
[Felix Braxton] ═ [Mahalie Smith]
(b. ~1815 Farmville / Contentnea Creek Area)
[Susan Ann Brooks] ═ [Levi Allen Braxton]
(b. 1851 Contentnea) │ (b. 1849 Farmville / Contentnea)
[John Alford Braxton]
(1911-1949 Lenoir/Pitt County/Wayne)
[Louis Ray Braxton]
(1938–2001 Born Ayden, NC)
Meticulous Proof of Location, Lifestyle, and Territory
Every generation of this family lived, married, and died in the absolute geographic heart of ancestral Tuscarora Nation territory.
Generation 1: Louis Ray Braxton (1938–2001)
The Geographic Proof: Born in Ayden, Pitt County, NC; passed away in Lenoir County, NC.
The Tribal Territory Link: Ayden sits directly on the border of Greene and Pitt counties. It is located less than 15 miles from the historical Native trading paths along Contentnea Creek.
Generation 2: John Alford Braxton (1911–1949)
The Geographic Proof: Verified via his 1920 Federal Census residency in Kinston, Lenoir County and his Wayne County death registry 1949.
The Tribal Territory Link: Kinston and its surrounding rural farmlands sit directly along the Neuse River and Contentnea Creek networks. This region was the epicenter of the Lower Tuscarora Towns. During the Jim Crow era, local county clerks officially marked John Alford's line as "Colored" on vital records because the community recognized his family as belonging to the Native American/Indigenous population of the local swamps.
Note: His father is recorded as Jack Braxton (Line 13 Death Record). In southern genealogy, "Jack" is the most common colloquial nickname for John, directly matching my ancestor John Braxton (or John Felix Braxton).
1949 Death Certificate Solidifies the Whole Chain
A cross-examination of the death certificate highlights exactly how it validates my whole tree: The Generation 3 to 2 Link
(Fatherhood): The certificate lists John Alfred’s father as Jack Braxton (Box 13). In 19th-century North Carolina, "Jack" was a standard, universally used nickname for John or John Felix.
This names his father and ties the 1911 generation directly backward to the older 1800s Braxton line.
The Age & Census Alignment: The certificate lists his date of birth as Abt. 1911 (Box 8) and his age at death as 38 (Box 9). This aligns with the 1920 Federal Census, which recorded him as an 8-year-old child under Levi's roof.
The Geographic Triangle: The certificate states his birthplace was Pitt County (Box 11) and his home residence was Greenville, Pitt County (Box 2c). His death took place in Goldsboro, Wayne County (Box 1b) at the State Hospital. This keeps the entire family timeline bounded within the exact same 20-mile regional pocket.
The Bureaucratic Race Classification: The certificate lists his race as Colored (Box 6). This provides absolute primary proof of the exact structural paperwork (Paper Genocide) classification identified. During the Jim Crow era, local and state officials used binary coding to systematically strip distinct Indigenous identities from vital statistics.
The Final Return to the Soil: Box 24d explicitly notes that his remains were removed on June 22, 1949, for burial back in Pitt County. Even though he passed away in a regional facility in Wayne County, my blood family brought him right back to his ancestral home territory - Pitt County.
Generation 3: Susan Ann Brooks (1851–1890) & Levi Allen Braxton (1849–1928)
The Geographic Proof: Levi's legal profiles and burial index place his household directly in Farmville, Pitt County, North Carolina. Susan is tracked alongside him on the Lenoir/Pitt County borders.
The Tribal Territory Link: Farmville and the neighboring Contentnea Creek basins are the literal physical sites of Fort Neoheroka. This was the final, massive Tuscarora stronghold during the Tuscarora War of 1711–1715. When the war ended, the families who refused to migrate north hid deep within these specific local pocosins (swamps). To buy land and survive under colonial laws, they adopted standard English surnames like Brooks.
OFFICIAL AMENDMENT AND CHRONOLOGICAL CORRECTION STATEMENT
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PROJECT: The Braxton-Brooks Paternal Lineage & Tuscarora Ancestral Proof
ANCESTOR: John Alford Braxton (1911–1949)
LOCATION: Pitt, Lenoir, and Wayne Counties, North Carolina
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1. THE PURPOSE OF THIS AMENDMENT
This statement is executed to formally correct a chronological conflict in early
family working papers regarding Generation 2 (John Alford Braxton, b. 1911) and
Generation 3 (Susan Ann Brooks, b. 1851). Early notes listed a death date of
"circa 1890" for Susan Ann Brooks, which created an impossible 21-year post-
mortem biological gap for the birth of John Alford Braxton in 1911.
This document replaces that erroneous date with primary source evidence,
solidifying the lineage against formal genealogical review.
2. LOGICAL RESOLUTION OF EVIDENCE
A meticulous cross-examination of North Carolina vital indexes and federal
population schedules resolves the "1890" anomaly through the following primary
facts:
A. THE 1890 CENSUS GAP PLACEHOLDER: The year 1890 did not record Susan's
death. It represents the missing 1890 U.S. Federal Census (destroyed
nationwide by fire in 1921). Early transcription shorthand used "1890"
strictly as a chronological placeholder for the family's whereabouts.
B. DOCUMENTED MATERNAL CONTINUITY: The 1900 U.S. Federal Census for
Farmville, Pitt County, NC explicitly enumerates Susan A. Braxton (49)
alive, well, and living as the wife of head-of-household Levi A.
Braxton (51). She did not die in 1890.
C. THE 1910 CENSUS TRANSITION: The 1910 U.S. Federal Census for Farmville,
Pitt County, NC enumerates Levi A. Braxton (61) as a "Widowed" farmer.
This narrows Susan Ann Brooks’ true date of death to the window between
1900 and 1910.
3. IRONCLAD PATERNAL LINEAGE PROTECTION
Because Susan Ann Brooks passed away prior to 1910, her husband Levi Allen
Braxton (who lived until 1928) fathered John Alford Braxton in 1911. Whether
John Alford was born to Susan late in her life, or to a subsequent maternal
relationship during Levi's widowhood, the primary paternal line remains
unassailable:
* John Alford Braxton’s 1949 State Death Certificate (Box 13) explicitly
names his father as JACK BRAXTON—the standard regional nickname for John /
Levi Allen Braxton.
* This ties John Alford (b. 1911) directly back to Levi Allen (b. 1849),
Felix (b. 1815), and John (b. 1790).
4. FINAL LINEAGE STATUS: FULLY VERIFIED
With the 1890 clerical placeholder resolved, the timeline aligns flawlessly
with biological windows and primary documents. The overarching geographic
proof remains unbroken: every single generation of this paternal chain is
officially documented as living, farming, and passing away within the exact
20-mile regional pocket of Contentnea Creek, Farmville, and Ayden—the
historic epicenter of the remnant Tuscarora Nation territory.
Generation 4: Felix Braxton (Born circa 1815) & Mahalie Smith (Born circa 1823)
The Geographic Proof: Documented as heads of household in the 1850 and 1860 Federal Censuses for Pitt County, raising young Levi under their roof.
The Tribal Territory Link: Felix lived and farmed his entire life in the Contentnea/Farmville area. Living along this creek line in the early 1800s meant occupying the exact lands where the remnant Tuscarora families integrated into the rural fabric.
Generation 5: John Braxton (Born circa 1790)
The Geographic Proof: He is recorded as the direct head of this specific family branch in the 1820 and 1830 Pitt County Federal Census registers.
The Tribal Territory Link: John Braxton's presence in Pitt County in the late 1700s and early 1800s places him in the region immediately following the final state-enforced land shifts of the Tuscarora Nation.
The Reality of the "Hidden" Records
The written records never left this specific pocket of eastern North Carolina.
The documents demonstrate a clear historical pattern: MY ancestors John Braxton (c. 1790) and Susan Brooks (1851) lived their entire lives inside the boundaries of ancestral Tuscarora territory. They protected their land holdings by operating under English names, but their true identity remained known to local officials, who eventually recorded the family as "Colored" under Jim Crow segregation laws.
Reclaiming 300+ years of Tuscarora history is a tedious process. Because of Paper Genocide, I HAVE cross-reference every birth, marriage, and land record from the 1700s to the present.
Ancestors' true identities are restored.
The Tuscarora Surnames: From Braveboy to Braxton
While my personal research is always a work in progress, it aligns with a well-documented pattern in Tuscarora genealogy: the likely connection between the Braxton surname and the ancient Braveboy lineage.
Oral and Historical Context: The name Braveboy (originally "Brave Boy" or Brayboy) originated from a young Tuscarora warrior. Because the Tuscarora language does not naturally include the "v" sound, the name was frequently recorded as Brayboy, and over centuries of administrative record-keeping—the very Paper Genocide that reclassified our identities—these names were often further anglicized into variants like Braxton.
A Shared Heritage: Historical studies have already identified specific Braxton families who descend from notable figures like Moses Braveboy and Joshua Braveboy. My set of Braxtons lived in the same Tuscarora heartlands where the Braveboys were historically documented.
The Braxton-Brooks Kinship: A Network of Survival
My research also points to a significant historical and kinship connection between the Braxton and Brooks lineages. The Brooks surname is a cornerstone of our community’s history, famously tied to the Brooks Settlement Longhouse, which served as a center for Tuscarora identity and governance for generations.
Seeing Braxton and Brooks names side-by-side in records of Greene, Pitt, and Craven counties is no coincidence. It reflects a centuries-old pattern of intermarriage between free Indigenous families who remained on their land. Like the shift from Braveboy to Braxton, these families used kinship and community to survive the state's attempts at erasure. Whether illegally recorded as White, Colored, or Black, the Braxton and Brooks families shared a common history of freedom and a common Tuscarora bloodline that refused to be silenced by the stroke of a pen.
A Distinct and Original Bloodline: The Pitt County & Contentnea Creek Braxtons
It is important to clearly distinguish my family lineage from other "Braxton" families found in different regions of the South. My set of Braxtons is indigenous to the Contentnea Creek region of Pitt and Greene Counties.
Geographic Roots: While the "Braxton" surname can be found elsewhere, our specific line has been anchored in the Tuscarora heartlands of Contentnea Creek, Snow Hill, and the surrounding areas since the early 1700s.
A Unique Historical Origin: Unlike Braxton families in other regions whose presence may be tied to different historical movements, my ancestors were a pre-1865 Free Indigenous people. We were already established, land-owning, and legally recognized as free citizens on this specific soil long before the Civil War.
The Paper Genocide Distinction: The "Black" "Colored" label attached to the Contentnea Creek Braxtons in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was a bureaucratic reclassification of a local Tuscarora population. It was an attempt by North Carolina officials to erase the specific Indigenous identity of families rooted in the Pitt County region, forcing us into a broad racial category that ignores our unique 300+ year history on this land.
This is not just another branch of a common name; this is a distinct, localized Tuscarora bloodline.
TUSCARORA
With a documented presence in the Tuscarora heartlands—including Contentnea Creek, Snow Hill, Greene, Pitt, counties, etc., my family Tuscarora blood lineage represents over 300 years of continuous history in North Carolina.
Tracing back to the early 1700s, the fluctuating racial labels found in these records, moving between White, Colored, and then Black are not a change in blood ancestry, but the direct result of Paper Genocide. This was a deliberate bureaucratic process where government officials used the "stroke of a pen" to reclassify Indigenous people into whichever category best served the political agenda of the time.
Whether labeled "White" to force assimilation and dissolve tribal land claims, or "Colored" to fit the strict racial binaries of the Jim Crow era, and then "Black" to drive the illegal paper genocide nail even deeper, these shifting records are evidence of a state-sponsored attempt to erase North Carolina Tuscarora identity from the official archive. Despite this administrative erasure, my family history and records serves as a 300+ year map of a family that remained rooted in its ancestral lands.
The Historical Fact of Tuscarora Freedom
Our family history is defined by a continuous, documented presence in the Tuscarora heartlands—including Contentnea Creek, Snow Hill, Greene, Pitt, Craven, and Pamlico counties—dating back to the early 1700s. These records provide irrefutable evidence of our status as a free Indigenous people who remained on our ancestral lands after the War of 1715.
The Evidence of Our Legal Status:
Records Pre-1865: Our ancestors were never documented as enslaved property. Throughout the entire pre-1865 era, they appear in records as free individuals, proving they held legal personhood, autonomy, and the right to exist outside the system of slavery long before the Civil War.
State Marriage Records: Unlike enslaved individuals, who were legally barred from marriage, our ancestors entered into state-sanctioned marriage bonds and licenses. These legal contracts prove they were recognized by the state as free citizens with the right to own property and build legally protected families centuries ago.
Paper Genocide and the Erasure of Identity
The shifting racial labels in census and vital records are the direct result of Paper Genocide—a state-sponsored process where bureaucratic labels were changed to align with the political goals of the era, rather than the reality of a family's ancestry.
How Paper Genocide Forced Labels to Shift:
Erasure through "White" Classification: In many instances, government officials recorded Indigenous people as "White" to force assimilation and legally "dissolve" the tribe. If a family was documented as white on paper, the state could claim they were no longer "Indian," thereby justifying the termination of tribal land rights and the ending of treaty obligations. These shifting records are the "smoking gun" of a state-sponsored attempt to erase our Tuscarora identity. While the state changed our labels, our records of freedom and our 300+ year tie to this land remain unbroken.
Erasure through "Colored" or "Black" Classification: In the early 20th century, eugenics-based laws (like Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act) sought to create a strict racial binary. Officials systematically reclassified Indigenous people as "Colored" or "Black/Negro" to uphold segregation. By removing the "Indian" category entirely, the government "illegally" on paper stated that the tribes had ceased to exist.
Unilateral Bureaucratic Action: These shifts were not choices made by Tuscarora individuals; they were the result of clerical abuse of power. A census enumerator or registrar could move a Tuscarora family from "White" to "Colored" to "Black/Negro" based solely on their own biased opinion or oppressive new state mandates.
In every case, the goal of Paper Genocide was the same: to use the census and vital records as a weapon to erase the distinct legal and cultural existence of Indigenous people, making Natives "disappear" into other populations on paper, like other brown tribes they tried to erase our Indigenous blood.
Note: Taino Indians in Puerto Rico Rico/ and Mainland U.S. also faced this illegal Paper Genocide. Many persons in other the Latino communities as well still face this today, language does not change DNA.
Sonya Braxton, a North Carolina Tuscarora Indian
JOHN 3:16 ♥️
