1984
Martha W. McCartney
“Anthony
Langston’s identification of Menmend is the sole reference to this village in ethnohistoric literature. As it may have been the
settlement in which Opechancanough
was residing at the time of the 1644 massacre, evidence of the effects of English interaction as a result of a conflict
situation may be present at the site.
Although the area has not been tested archaeologically, “The Draft of York River in Virginia” pinpoints the site of Menmend within an approximately 200 acre (80 ha) tract.
In 1649, patents were issued for this island, then called Warranucock, and the land
immediately adjacent to it. Later in the century, both the island and creek became known as Goddins and by the third quarter of the
eighteenth century, the creek
itself was called Manquin (Fry and Jefferson 1751; Hermann 1670; Nugent 1969—1979:11:210,306; Thornton 1698). In 1705, the land east
of Manquin Creek was included in John Lightfoot’s
Fort Royall plantation (Bruce 1894:268;
Manskind Creek: Totopotomoy Creek. This creek probably derived its
earlier name from its
proximity to the region called Manskin or Manskin Indian land, which, according to the maps of John Lederer (1672) and John
Thornton (1698), lay opposite the
mouth of the creek. By 1663 the stream became known as Totopotomoy Creek, in possible commemoration of that
Pamunkey Indian leader who had lost his
life defending the English.”
1984 “Draft of
“York”
