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.