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THE LEGEND OF JOHN CUCKLEMAKER CALE ~ I

© Copyright 2003 by Stanley Hoggard, with
grateful acknowledgment to Neil Baker

Is the story of Chief Cucklemaker a legend or a fact?

Over a time span of 200 years or more, the story of an Indian who lived during the 1700s has been told by a multitude of people who claim to be his descendants. Today the descendants are many, and the majority have settled in Bertie and neighboring counties. All are familiar with and still tell the story of their ancestors, Chief Cucklemaker and his French wife Elizabeth.

According to information that has been shared with us, the original name of the Indian was "Chief Cucua Mucua." It is believed that early settlers altered the name "Cucua Mucua" to "Cucklemaker" through an error in spelling.

The stories have been received from different sources that live in different directions. Chances are, these people have never met, but they tell the same story ~ up to a certain point. The past existence of Cucklemaker is not very well documented, and for this reason a few people believe the "Chief" never existed. In the following paragraphs we will share some of the "scant" information we have received over the years. We hope you can provide answers to some of the questions we will be dealing with. If you have answers, let us hear from you.

FROM THE PAST

According to family information, the grandchildren of Cucklemaker told many stories about their Indian grandfather. They said that he was an Indian chief; that he married a French widow with three children from her first marriage, and produced two more children through her marriage to Cucklemaker. Information from many sources agrees that the name of his wife was Elizabeth Marie Calais Duneleaux. It is believed that the date of his birth was 1750-55, and his marriage to the French widow was about the year 1778.

One of the stories of the past informs us that Cucklemaker refused to become involved in clashes against other Indians. Because of this, sometime during the year of 1792 Cucklemaker was ambushed and shot to death at the same location where Ross Church was built 12 years later. The person who committed the crime was never apprehended, and his identification remains a mystery to this day.

Ross Church Community is located near the center of Bertie County NC. We are told that this is where Cucklemaker made his home, acquired much land and enjoyed prosperity. My father and several of his siblings were born in the late 1800s. They remembered their grandmother Penelope Cale Mizelle Hoggard and her stories about her father Charney Cale, and grandfather John Cale, Indian. According to the family, Charney and all his children had strong Indian physical traits.

Penelope's grandchildren repeated her stories as long as they lived. They told of how Cucklemaker acquired much of his land through "foot-racing" competition, that he was "swift" on his feet, and a long-distance runner of great endurance. There are many other stories of which we can't recall all the details. There are conflicting stories which we will refer to later.

Some of the land that Cucklemaker was "assumed" to have owned is located between Ross Church and Todd's Crossroads, a distance of one mile. At the half-mile point between these two locations there is a field on the northwest side of the road with a small creek on its northeast boundary. The name of the creek is Cucklemaker Creek. This creek is also known as Cucklemaker Swamp, and probably is a better description as it appears today. Near this small creek is a large mound of earth. According to tradition, somewhere within this mound are the remains of Cucklemaker and his French wife Elizabeth. Most people believe that the answer to many of today's questions about their family was buried with them, and that the facts may never be known with any certainty.

THE MOUND AND THE CREEK

The mound is generally referred to as the "Old Indian Graveyard," also the "Cale Graveyard." It is believed that other members of the Cale family were buried at this location. The mound is about 200 feet from the creek, and about the same distance from the road.

The mound is now covered with a growth of large trees and a thicket of "cat-claw" briars. In the field where this mound is located, shards of pottery, fragments of clay tobacco pipes, and arrowheads have been collected until there is nothing to be found of any significance. Some of these probably date back for hundreds of years.

Some people believe that the mound was either built or started by the early Native Americans. My mother, Bessie Miller Hoggard (1899-1994), told me some years ago that she attended the last funeral and burial at this site: The year was 1906. It is believed that some of the early members of the James Ross Log Meeting House (Ross Baptist Church, organized 1804) were buried at this location.

Due to the trees that have grown in the area, the mound is no longer conspicuous from a distance. We live near this site and can see the trees that tower over it from our home. Each time we see those trees we think of the Indians of the past.

Cucklemaker Creek is very small for the volume of water that flows through it. During periods of heavy rainfall water flows over its banks and floods the road and fields. Water in the creek flows in a southerly direction through Will's Quarter Swamp as it meanders on its way to Cashie River. The nearest area of the creek to the Indian graveyard was named the "Baptizing Hole" about the year of 1800. According to the early records of Ross Church, hundreds of people were baptized in this small creek, as they became members, summer and winter.

Some people believe that the creek was named after Chief Cucklemaker. Others believe that the creek was named before his time, and he named himself after the creek. Since the Indians had lived in this area many years before the arrival of Cucklemaker, we would think that they had already named the creek. It was unusual for creeks and rivers to be named for individual Indians; they were usually named for the tribes that occupied the area. However, if this creek was known by another name, chances are favorable that it was changed to Cucklemaker sometime during the late 1700s.

Cucklemaker Creek was known as Cuckold Maker Creek/Swamp, also Cockle Makers Creek/Swamp during the 1700s. Obviously, cuckoldry is to violate the vows of marriage through unfaithfulness. It is an old English name that is rarely used any more, and we are at a complete loss to understand why it could have been used to name a creek. Cockle is also an old English name, and is our choice as an early name for the creek.

When the English began to visit the "New World" that became America, they were fascinated with the "dugout" canoes that the Indians used. They told of the Indians "moving across the water at goodly speeds in their cockle shells." The English named the canoes "cockle shells" for their resemblance to the elongated cockle (clam) shells found in their homeland.

Cucklemaker Creek is noted for the tall cypress trees that grow near the stream. It is possible that Indians used the cypress to build dugout canoes, including the Indian known as Cucklemaker. If so, in the eyes of the English during the late 1600s through the 1700s, the Indians would have been known as "cockle makers," which could explain the name of the creek. The name "cockle shell" was "borrowed" from an Englishman's journal that was recorded during the early 1600s. Any connection with the name "Cucklemaker" is only speculation. However, it is known through the documentation of old deeds that the name was derived from a similar name many years ago.

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Read more about the legend of Cucklemaker in a future issue of The Poor Town News. These articles will be integrated into the history of Ross Baptist Church community and adjacent areas in central Bertie County. The story of Chief Cucklemaker has been considered from many angles, but there still are many questions and few documented answers. Your information and comments are welcome. Please click on the names to contact the authors and researchers, Stanley Hoggard and Neil Baker.

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THE MAN FROM MUDDYFORK ~ VI
Stanley Ray Mcqueen, Kentucky

...... paw and i took a seat under the big oak and are enjoying the cool shade and i guess an hour passed ...... here come poor old cloyd back down the road ...... this time he had no mule leading it ...... he come to the edge of our yard and hollered at us to come over where he was standing ...... his face was red as a beet pickle and he was out of air it seemed ...... boys you ain't going to believe what happened up the road about a mile up ...... that tall mule fell down dead on me and he is laying just along the ditch line deader than a doornail ...... and i need you to go and snake him out of the wagon road for me ...... he nearly has it half blocked ...... well i'll be a monkey's uncle says paw trying not to laugh at poor old cloyd ...... how much you charge me to pull him off to my farm so i can bury that rascal before he starts stinking asked cloyd ...... paw scratches his head and tells him twenty dollars sounds about right to me ...... does that suit you paw asked him ...... yep i'll be glad to give that tom ...... i'm a loser every way i turn ...... that mule is costing me more said cloyd ...... well what about his burying ...... it will take one man two full weeks to dig a hole for that big mule to fit in ...... me and billy there will help you for forty more dollars paw advised him ...... ok that's a deal says cloyd ...... well something else i don't have no mule to plow out my cornfields ...... how much will you charge me for a mule to plow out my crops cloyd asked ...... well cloyd i have two mules and i'll not charge you a dime to borrow one of them ...... thanks tom that will help me out ...... i'm a broke up man i'm destroyed ...... that hundred i had to pay to boot ...... i just went on up to matt's farm and give him the hundred and told him about that mule dying ...... he just laughed at me and said better luck next time and took my hundred ...... and i have to go get my cow after we get the mule snaked down to my place and buried ...... by the way tom have you got any more money asked cloyd ...... yep i have got some money paw answered ...... well would you loan me ten more dollars ...... why yes i suppose so replied paw ...... why do you need just ten more dollars paw asked ...... well tom i ain't took a drink of whiskey in five years and when i leave here i'm headed over the ridge yonder to the bootlegger and buy me a horse-quart of moonshine whiskey ...... i'm a ruint man and i need some good spirits to cheer me up ...... well says paw you got one thing wrong about buying a horse-quart of moonshine ...... i think you mean a mule-quart don't you says paw who busted out laughing at the top of his lungs ...... then cloyd joins paw in his funning ...... i'll see you boys directly says cloyd ...... paw and me watched him walking toward the ridge where the bootlegger lives ...... his form gets smaller and smaller and finally he disappears into the woods ...... well son i hope you have learned a lesson from old cloyd ...... there is a old saying ...... don't count your chickens before they hatch chuckled paw.