Beaver Creek Indian Tribe
The Beaver Creek Indian Tribe or Beaver Creek Indians is a state-recognized tribe and nonprofit organization headquartered in Salley, South Carolina, that represents the Beaver Creek Indians. The organization was awarded the status of a state-recognized tribe by the South Carolina Commission of Minority Affairs on January 27, 2006. They are not a federally recognized Native American tribe and are one several recognized nonprofit organizations within South Carolina that allege to be descended from the historic Pee Dee. The organization is not to be confused with the Pee Dee Indian Nation of Beaver Creek, a "state-recognized group" recognized by the South Carolina Commission of Minority Affairs in 2007.
The tribe claims descent from a band of Pee Dee who settled between the forks of Edisto River in Orangeburg County, South Carolina during the eighteenth century. This claim is entirely through their "earliest known ancestor" Lazarus Chavis. However, according to genealogical research, he was most likely the son of John Chavis, a free Black man from Virginia.
Government
On January 28, 1998, the organization was first chartered as a nonprofit organization, being originally called the Beaver Creek Band of Pee Dee Indians. The tribe is governed by a chief, vice chief, and tribal council. Every two years the organization holds an election for these positions, each lasting for a term of four years, with the chief in one category and the vice-chief and tribal council in another. Additionally, an elders council provides the tribal council with consultation and advice. While the tribe traditionally inhabited lands near Neeses, South Carolina, the organization today is headquartered in Salley.In 1999, the Pee Dee Indian Nation of Beaver Creek split from the government of the tribe following an administrative disagreement and was later recognized by the South Carolina Commission for Minority Affairs as an independent state-recognized tribal group in 2007.
History
The tribe claims descent solely through Lazarus Chavis, who they claim was a Native American and their earliest known ancestor. However according to genealogical analysis, Lazarus Chavis was most likely the son of Granville migrant John Chavis, who after proving his status as a free Black man, was known as a "free negro carpenter from Virginia". His father was Bartholomew Chavis, a man from Henrico County, Virginia, who had migrated to North Carolina.Mary, Richard, and Elijah Chavis moved from Granville County like John Chavis, who was most likely their father according to genealogical analysis. They filed land patents in Orangeburg County near the forks of the Edisto and settled there. Elijah and Lazarus Chavis were recorded together as free people of color on the Orangeburg census in 1710.
Post-settlement to state recognition
In 1859, Fredrick Chavis, son of Lazarus, filed a petition with the state of South Carolina on the behalf of his relatives residing near Edgefield County, South Carolina. The petition inquired as to whether "persons of Indian descent are considered to be free persons of color" and must pay the poll tax. During this era, the ancestors of the Beaver Creek were recorded as "mulatto". Additionally, several early 20th century birth and death certificates designated them as "Croatan", similarly to the Lumbee. Two Orangeburg residents were recorded as "Indian" on World War I civil enlistments.Within an article written by Brewton Berry in 1948 entitled "The Mestizos of South Carolina", the author refers to the ancestors of the modern Beaver Creek Indian Tribe as tri-racial "outcasts" that did "not fit into the biracial caste system" then prevalent in South Carolina. Berry notes that sometimes individuals within Orangeburg County were commonly called racial slurs by local whites but that he preferred to use the term mestizo for academic purposes when referencing similar people throughout the state.
By the late 1990s, more than one hundred future members of the Beaver Creek Indian Tribe, then led by J. Barry Chavis, began to meet in Neeses to plan to petition the government for proper recognition as the Beaver Creek Band of Pee Dee Indians. Members, often referred to as mulatto, had previously been referred to as Redbone or the racial slur Brass Ankle. When people knew of their "Indian" affilation, they sometimes mistakenly considered them Cherokee or Lumbee. Author Tim Hashaw notes the Chavis line originates with free Black people from Tidewater Virginia, and is present among Melungeons, Brass Ankles and the Lumbee, in families related to Louisiana Redbones.
The tribe achieved state recognition in the early 21st century. The organization was awarded the status of a state-recognized tribe by the South Carolina Commission of Minority Affairs on January 27, 2006.