Ababco Indians. An eastern Algonquian tribe or subtribe. Although mentioned in the original records of 1741 1 in connection with the Hutsawaps and Tequassiinoes as a distinct tribe, they were probably only a division of the Choptank. This name is not mentioned in John Smith’s narrative of his exploration of Chesapeake bay. The band lived on Choptank River, Maryland, and in 1741 the Colonial government confirmed them in the possession of their lands on the south side of that stream, in Dorchester County, near Secretary Creek. By 1837 the entire tribe to which they belonged had dwindled to a few individuals of mixed Indian and African blood. (J. M.)
Alternate Spellings
- Ababeves – Bozman, History of Maryland, I, 115, 1837.
- Bacon, Laws of Maryland, 1765[↩]