Chesapeake Tribe

Chesapeake Indians. (Algonquian: K’che-sepiack, country on a great giver. Tooker). Little more is known in regard to the name than that it designated also a small Powhatan tribe residing in Princess Anne or Norfolk county, Va., in 1608, and also their principal village, situated, according to Jefferson 1 , on Linnhaven river, in Princess Anne county, a small stream, according to his map, flowing north into Chesapeake bay. Smith says they were seated on the river now called Elizabeth, which falls into Chesapeake bay below Norfolk. Linnhaven, on Jefferson’s map, is distinct from and is located east, of Elizabeth river. White’s map 2 , drawn in 1585, locates them under the name Ehesepiooc, apparently on the stream indicated by Jefferson. In 1607 they were estimated at 100 warriors, equivalent to perhaps 350 inhabitants; by 1669 they had entirely disappeared as a distinct people.

For Further Study

The following articles and manuscripts will shed additional light on the Chesapeake as both an ethnological study, and as a people.

On the application of the name Chesapeake see:

1. Tooker, Algonquian Series, III, 1901.

Citations:

1. Jefferson, Notes, 138,1809[↩]
2. Hariot, Narr., Quaritch repr., 1893[↩]