virginia indians
To Baze/Boaz researchers:note The surnames Bays,Bias/Bass,
Baze/Boaz are original Virginia Indian Surnames.Also many
known Native Americans from this group were known to have
fought in the Revolutionary War.
american indian quarterly ? summer &&fall 2003 ? vol.27,nos.3 &4 797
within the subject area prior to the colonial interdiction there.Appointed
as Parson for St.Anne ’s Parish,which centered upon the Bedford-
Campbell counties area,at the time including the Blue Ridge summit of
later Rockbridge and Amherst counties,Reverend Robert Rose kept a di-
ary that includes a rare reference to the Bias/Bass family.In his diary for
October 1747 ,Parson Rose writes:“Went up to the mountain to look for
land and found only bears lay on top of the ridge near a pond called Bryress
or Blyre ’s cabin .”82 Percy suggests,“If he [Rose ] was talking about the very
top of the Blue Ridge in this area then one of the few places where there
could have been a pond is the Montebello section.”83 Given the Revolu-
tionary War service record of Obadiah,John,and Larkin Bias that locates
them in that portion of Amherst County,which subsequently became
Nelson,then the “Bryress or Blyres cabin ” becomes a likely candidate for
the original James Bias cabin.
In addressing the “Bryress or Blyres cabin,” it should be noted that
there are many variants acknowledged for the Bias/Bass family tree.More-
over,area records often alternate Bias with Byas and Byers,and so forth.
with variants including Byeas,Biass,Bazre,Boaz,Byase,as well as addi-
tional variants including Byass,Byaas,Baze,Boaz,Byasse,Bryer,Brier
being evident.Accordingly the name was not standardized as common
among literate people and Parson Rose ’s references must surely be to an
illiterate people with the name derived from oral tradition.In family oral
history,Hansford C.Vest (b.1919 )reported that James Benjamin Bias,a
cousin of Obadiah Knuckles (Bias)son of Hiram Bias came to live with
his nephew Hiram Vest circa 1890 –1900 at Hico during the final years of
his life.He was said to have spoken in a high-harking voice characteristic
of a Native American dialect.84 This orality —accent and dialect —sug-
gests that it would be difficult for listeners to understand and report,in
standardized literary diction,the surname without variation such as the
record indicates.Consequently,there is every reason to affirm the “Bryress
or Blyre ’s ” reference to be to the Bias/Bass family with its Indian heritage
and characteristically similar variants.
Brown notes that the first European land claims upon the area were
made respectively by Col.John Bolling and George Braxton in the early
174 s.Braxton ’s grant on the north side of the James,which includes the
subject Rockbridge and Amherst counties area,was dated 25 November
1743 ,and following his death in 1749 ,his son Carter Braxton inherited the
land.In another obscure reference,which may suggest the location of the.from Nansemond to Monacan by Jay Hansford c. VESTalso Physical anthropologist describe these people
as being able to pass for white. There were numerous of these surnames coming from original Indian families of Virginia.