In the test pit above, Andy Powell was excited to find a "feature", where he is pointing.  You can see the coloration difference in the dirt.  Unfortunately, many features turn out to be tree roots, as this one did.  Much of the time spent in archaeology is sweating and finding "things" that turn out to be nothing.  However, the other 1% of the time when you're actually finding something that might matter makes up for all the hours of sweating, insects and false starts. 

The next photo is Anne (at left) and Roberta (that's me) sifting for treasures.  The dirt once dug up has to be sifted to be sure that even the smallest items are recovered.  Sifting became my specialty.

Meet Nancy Frey 

"I was born in 1940 in a suburb of Toronto, Ontario, Canada to middle-class parents who, lacking formal education, insisted that every life experience should be a learning experience.  As a family we travelled to historical places in Canada, the U.S.A. and the U.K.  As a teenager, I sailed to London, England with four others girls and didn't come back until I was 21. In Canada I worked my way up from Collection Clerk to a Law Clerk with a specialty in real estate.  Along the way I've pursued the hobbies of motorsport and philately and turned my passion for photography into a small company which I puddle at.  I retired from motorsport this year after having served as both volunteer and professional including the organization of two F1 races in Canada and the Shell 4000 Car Rally, an FIA Event. 

 As a Law Clerk I was declared redundant in 1993 and since that time have kept myself busy doing 'whatever', including as much travel as possible.  In 2008 I went on a 37-day "UK Genealogy Tour" by myself, renting a car in Reading, Berkshire and driving over 1000 miles around England visiting all the places my ancestors came from, meeting relatives I never knew I had and genealogy friends, and doing some research at several Record Offices. 

 I've been doing my Family History for over 20 years now, both on the internet and hands on while in the UK.  As a member of many Rootsweb Lists, and a member and Moderator of many Yahoo! Groups, I am in contact with other genealogists all over the world.  After retiring, my computer skills were honed thanks to a government retraining grant, and I graduated with Honours from the Desktop Publishing School in 1995.  While I'm not a whiz, I did maintain my car club website for several years, and have edited Newsletters and Magazines as well as one published book.  The Lost Colony project is my idea of the perfect 'jigsaw puzzle'.  Putting it together sounds like an amazing experience to look forward to.'

Welcome aboard Nancy.  Wait until you see the results of the research Nancy is undertaking now....this is a very exciting time to be a Lost Colony researcher.

Andy Powell is Official

Andy goes from one official position to another.  First, he's Mayor of Bideford, England, and now he's officially on our staff as well.  Andy has been working with us now for 3 years as our historical liaison and I'm very pleased that he has officially joined our project in a staff position.  Of course, his pay will be the same as everyone else's, a big goose egg:) 

Andy is extremely committed, obsessed as he would say, and I felt it was time to make him "official". He indeed is in the perfect position in Bideford, and being a former mayor doesn't hurt a thing either.  Nelda has added his bio to the website and here is what Andy says about his passion for "the search".

"I first became interested in the Lost Colony some 30 years ago and was privileged back then to privately view John White’s Drawings. Time passed and all was forgotten until about three years ago when I discovered the link my home town of Bideford has with the founding of America. Since that time the Lost Colony has become an obsession; so much so that I have been encouraged to write a book on my research. What I hope to bring to the quest is my years of research into the project and a conviction that out there somewhere is the key to re-writing the history of America."

Nelda's Newest Website Creation

Nelda has been busy again.  She never fails to amaze me with her creative talents. 

Have you seen... under site map... Maps and Articles Index file section...the map of England and research placement? 

Click on the links and it shows you, per county, the various surname research that ties to that area.  Amazing!!!

https://sites.rootsweb.com/~molcgdrg/maps/england2day.htm

Thank you Nelda!!!

"I knew I had something somewhere to add weight to the theory that the Colonists had to know each other and had to be somehow connected to landed gentry…"  Andy

State Papers Domestic Elizabeth 1586 27^th April

Letter from Deputy Lieutenants of Cornwall and Devon to Privy Council: (The subject was that they could not get people to settle Munster in Ireland).

“We have generally made known through this country, her majesty’s offers, and do find none of sufficient ability offer to undertake the same. We suggest it would further the people’s willingness if some principal gentlemen of each county, of whose discretion and fidelity the people are persuaded, be sent with them as their captain of Governor, the people then would follow.”

So glad Andy found this.

Three More Colonists Discovered

Andy indeed has been quite busy.  As he has been transcribing the original records from the late 1580s and 1590s, Andy has discovered that there were three additional men who were indeed with the colonists who had previously been thought to have been in England. 

From Sir Walter Raleigh's Assignment of 1589, we discover that John Nichols  and Humfrey Dimmocke are specifically referenced as being "in Virginia".  Andy has also discovered that the ship's Captain, Edward Stafford, did not return to England with John White in 1587, but stayed with the colonists.  This does make sense, as a pinnace (small ship) was also left with the colonists, and they would have needed someone who could captain the ship to remain as well.

Prioritized Colonist List

In an effort to focus our efforts where they are most likely to be successful, Andy and I have spent several weeks compiling data to assist us in prioritizing the colonist surnames for research in England.  Nancy joined us during this period as well.

Our priorities were assigned as follows: #1, the highest priority, 2, a focus surname that has some connection on both sides of the Atlantic, 3, a difficult name with no

connections in the US and possibly ambiguous spellings or en extremely common surname, and 4, the surname is eliminated, often because the colonist is a female and Y-line DNA testing is by far the most likely to be productive for this type of a project.  Taken into consideration were whether or not these surnames are documented to be "Native" in the states, whether they are found among the earliest Hatteras Island families, among the Lumbee and whether or not Andy had found any Southwestern England connections.  Lastly, if previous English research has unearthed something of interest that might indicate a family or location, they were considered a good candidate as well.