The Story of Our Lumbee Family Lineage
Keep this book close, read it often, and always remember the fierce warrior blood that flows through your veins.
CHAPTER 1: The Gathering at the Lumber River
Long before America was a country, your ancestors lived along the dark, winding waters of Drowning Creek—the river we now call the Lumber River. Your family did not arrive on ships; you were already here.
The ancestors of the Lumbee Tribe were a beautiful gathering of several smaller Indigenous nations, including the Cheraw, Hatteras, and Tuscarora peoples. When European diseases and wars tore through the coast, these different tribes migrated inland toward the protective swamplands of Robeson County.
To survive in a rapidly changing world, your ancestors did something brilliant: they adapted. They took legal titles to their own land through British land grants, learned the English language, and built thriving farms. Over generations, these different groups united into one family. They became the Lumbee people, taking their name from the life-giving river that protected them.
Core Historical Surnames
The earliest prominent surnames documented among the Lumbee Indians in the Drowning Creek and Lumber River settlements of Robeson County include: [1]
Locklear
Lowery/Lowry
Oxendine
Hunt
Chavis (and Chavers)
Revels
Cumboo
These were the prominent Family name. Each one is a relative.
A known fact about the Lumbee Tribe is that the last names "Henry", "Berry", and "Lowry" are not actually three different last names; rather, "Henry Berry" were his first and middle names, and "Lowry" (also spelled Lowrie or Lowery) was his surname.
A significant, verified genealogical fact connecting these specific names to Lumbee history is that the tribal surname Lowry traces directly back to an 18th-century ancestor named James Lowry and his wife, Sally Kersey.
James's son later intermarried into the prominent local Berry family (originating from a 1730s colonist named Henry Berry/O'Berry). This blended lineage ultimately produced the famed Lumbee cultural hero, Henry Berry Lowry.
Known Facts About Lumbee Surnames & Henry Berry LowryCore Surnames: "Lowry" (or Lowery) and "Berry" are among the core, foundational surnames of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina.
The "Lost Colony" Legend: A prominent piece of Lumbee oral history and genealogical study links the Lumbee Berry and Lowry lines to the English colonists of the 1587 Roanoke "Lost Colony". Early settlers noted that Native Americans in Robeson County already carried these English surnames and spoke English.
The Lowry War: Henry Berry Lowry became a legendary "Robin Hood" figure during the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. After Confederate Home Guards executed his father and brother, he formed an interracial guerrilla band (the Lowry Gang) to protect the Lumbee people from forced labor and discrimination.
He mysteriously vanished in 1872, and the $12,000 bounty on his head was never collected.
How Many Relatives Exist Today?There are approximately 1,500 to 2,000 direct descendants of Henry Berry Lowry alive today.Direct Offspring: Henry Berry Lowry and his wife, Rhoda Strong, had three known children: Sally Ann, Henry Delany, and Nealy Ann(Nealy Ann Polly is Grandma's Mother.)
The Descendant Record:
The comprehensive genealogical book, Direct Descendants of Henry Berry Lowery by Kelvin Ray Oxendine, has meticulously tracked and uniquely coded these generations from his marriage down to the present day.
Extended Relatives:
If counting extended relatives (descendants of his 11 brothers and sisters, plus uncles and cousins), the number of living relatives reaches tens of thousands across Robeson County and the broader Lumbee population, which totals over 55,000 enrolled members.
CHAPTER 2: The Mixing of the Bloodlines
As you look at your family, you might notice the beautiful shades of skin and patterns of hair that make your relatives unique. The Lumbee are a people of deep, intertwined roots. While our culture and soul are profoundly Indigenous, our DNA holds a story of survival, compassion, and shared struggles.
During the colonial era and the years of slavery, North Carolina was a dangerous place for people who weren't white. To our north in Virginia, many free, landowning Black families faced growing racism and harsh laws. Looking for freedom, many traveled south and settled in the Robeson County swamps alongside the Indigenous people.
At the same time, brave men and women who escaped the horrors of slavery fled into those very same swamps. The swamps were a sanctuary. Your ancestors did not turn these freedom-seekers away. Instead, they welcomed them into the community.
Indigenous families married free Black landowners and escaped slaves. One of the most famous examples in your own family tree is Mary "Polly" Cumbo, the mother of the great Henry Berry Lowry. The Cumbos were a well-known, proud line of free people of color with African heritage who had lived as respected landowners since the 1600s.
This blending of blood didn't make your ancestors any less Indian. It made them stronger. It was an alliance of blood and spirit, proving that the Lumber River was a place of freedom for anyone fighting oppression.
CHAPTER 3: The Civil War and the Lowry Band
In 1861, the American Civil War broke out. The white Confederate state government treated the Indian people of Robeson County terribly. They stripped them of their voting rights, took their guns, and began forcing young Lumbee men into "conscription"—which meant forcing them at gunpoint to build massive dirt fortifications, like Fort Fisher, along the coast.
The conditions at these camps were brutal. Men died of starvation and disease. Your family refused to be enslaved by the Confederacy. Young Lumbee men fled into the dense swamps, hiding out to avoid the Confederate draft. They became known as "bushwhackers".
Your great-great-great-great-grandfather, Allen Lowry, was a successful, proud farmer who owned hundreds of acres of land. He and his sons refused to let the Confederates mistreat their people. Allen's sons formed a secret group to protect the community, raiding local plantations to steal food and supplies and giving them to the starving families hiding in the swamps. They were led by Allen's son, William, and his younger brother—your legendary ancestor—Henry Berry Lowry.
CHAPTER 4: The Execution and the Lowery Wars
The conflict turned tragic in March 1865. A white Confederate militia called the "Home Guard" captured your ancestor Allen Lowry and his son William. They accused them of holding stolen property and helping Union soldiers.
Without a fair trial, the Home Guard marched Allen and William out into a field, forced them to dig their own graves, and executed them. They thought this would break the spirit of the Indian people. They were wrong.
At just 18 years old, Henry Berry Lowry witnessed the murder of his father and brother. He stood over their graves and swore an oath of justice. He took command of the group, launching an 8-year conflict known to history as The Lowry Wars.
Henry Berry assembled a fierce, dedicated band of warriors. It was a triracial alliance: Lumbee cousins, escaped Black slaves, and even a couple of poor white farmers who hated the wealthy plantation owners. For nearly a decade, this band operated out of the impassable underwater hideouts of Scuffletown and the surrounding swamps.
They hunted down the men who murdered Allen and William. They robbed the rich and gave food to the poor. The Governor of North Carolina placed a massive $10,000 bounty on Henry Berry's head—an absolute fortune at the time. Regiments of U.S. troops and federal posses were sent into the swamps to capture him, but they failed every time because the local community loved Henry Berry and protected him.
Then, in 1872, after pulling off one last massive raid to secure money for his people, Henry Berry Lowry vanished without a trace. He was never captured. He became an immortal legend, showing your family that Lumbees will never bow down to tyranny.
CHAPTER 5: The Battle of Hayes Pond
Nearly a hundred years passed, but the warrior spirit of the Lumbee never faded. By the 1950s, the Jim Crow South was deeply segregated. In Robeson County, things were split three ways: there were separate water fountains, schools, and counters for whites, Blacks, and Indians.
In 1957, a terrorist group called the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) decided to target the Lumbee people. The Klan burned crosses in the yards of Lumbee families to terrify them into submission. They announced that the Klan would hold a massive night rally at Hayes Pond near Maxton, North Carolina, on January 18, 1958, to "put the Indians in their place".
The Klan thought the Lumbee would hide. They underestimated who they were dealing with.
On that freezing January night, about 100 Klansmen gathered in a dark field around a single lightbulb and a microphone. Suddenly, out from the darkness of the woods stepped over 500 Lumbee men and women, many of them proud military veterans from World War II and the Korean War.
The Lumbees completely surrounded the Klansmen. One brave Lumbee stepped forward and shot out the single lightbulb with a shotgun, plunging the field into pitch blackness. The Lumbees began firing into the air and shouting warrior cries.
The terrifying Klansmen instantly dropped their robes, abandoned their banner, and scrambled into the freezing waters of the swamp to save themselves. Not a single person was killed, but the KKK was completely humiliated. Pictures of smiling Lumbee veterans holding the captured KKK banner made national headlines. The Klan never held another public rally in Robeson County again.
CHAPTER 6: Final Victory and Federal Recognition
For 137 years, the United States government committed a profound injustice against the Lumbee. Even though the State of North Carolina recognized the tribe, the federal government in Washington, D.C., refused to give them full recognition.
In 1956, Congress passed a deeply unfair law called the Lumbee Act. It said, "Yes, you are Indians, but we are not going to give you any of the federal funding, protection, or legal rights that other tribes get." It kept your people in a state of legal limbo.
But Lumbees do not give up. For generations, tribal leaders traveled to Washington to fight for their rights.
In December 2025, the 137-year-old fight was finally won. Congress passed the Lumbee Fairness Act, and the President signed it into law. In January 2026, the U.S. Department of the Interior officially added the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina to the Federal Register as the 575th federally recognized tribe in the United States.
What Full Federal Recognition Means:
Sovereignty: The Tribe has a direct, government-to-government relationship with the United States.
Land Trust: The federal government will take Lumbee land into trust, ensuring it can never be stolen again.
Health & Education: Millions of dollars in funding for Indian Health Services, schools, and college grants.
Respect: The absolute confirmation that the Lumbee have survived, thrived, and are officially who they say they are.
