Meherrin Indian Tribe
state-recognized tribe in North Carolina, United States
The Meherrin Indian Tribe is a state-recognized tribe and nonprofit organization in North Carolina. Its members identify as descendants of the Meherrin people. This group is not federally recognized as a Native American tribe.
The Meherrin Indian Tribe identify with the autonym Kauwets'a:ka, which translates to "People of the Water."
Organization
The Meherrin Indian Tribe was founded in 1976 and incorporated a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization on February 15, 1977. George E. Pierce of Winton, North Carolina, is the registered agent.
The officers as of 2021 were:
Acting Chief: Jonathan Caudill
Secretary: Dorthy McAuly
Treasurer: Tomika Brown
Counncilman: Jerome James.
They have more than 900 members.
History
The Meherrin Indian Tribe descends from free Black families who lived in North Carolina in 1830. The tribe claims Sallie M. Lewis as their key ancestor, and a portion of the membership has documented descent from her. She was born to Jacob Smith in Hertford County, North Carolina.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Meherrin Indian Tribe” as state-recognized tribe in North Carolina, United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as state-recognized tribe in North Carolina, United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q117322886. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1976, 1977, 2021 and 1830.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
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Three-step research path
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- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Meherrin Indian Tribe” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.