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6 William E. Sandidge, Clerk of Court I am William E. Sandidge. I was born in 1904 and I’m now ninety-three years old in this year of our Lord, 1997. I was clerk of court in Amherst County as were my father before me and his father before him. I am the namesake of both my father and grandfather. The Indians have been in Amherst County for probably a thousand years. As far back as anyone can remember the tribe was located about 4 ½ miles southwest of Amherst.They traveled back and forth,to and from the north.They had footpaths that went from Baltimore into Florida.Members from other tribes from the north used to come through here.Those were usually hunting parties.The tribe residing here was situated on about ten square miles of land.Way back then they did some farming, but they fed their families mostly by hunting and fishing. There was another trail that was traveled often in this area. It led from where the mission center is now down to the James River. There were no dams in the river back then and migratory fish would swim up the James.When the fish were running good there was a lot of fishing going on.The Indians smoked and dried the fish they caught. The county was full of wild turkeys, squirrels, and rabbits. Those afforded a good meat supply.There were wild plants, wild fruits, and nuts for a balanced diet.They also raised a lot of corn crops. Between 1910 and 1915,some of the Indians moved from Amherst County to Baltimore, and to West Virginia. Others, wanting to stay closer to home, moved to Lynchburg,Virginia, in order to find work paying a living wage. I knew Dr.W. A. Plecker personally. He was definitely a segregationist, no question about it. He was rabid on the subject of races and his idea of a perfect race. I didn’t agree with him, but he had gotten laws passed giving him the authority to classify Indians as Negroes. I was clerk of court in Amherst County. I was told by him in no uncertain terms I must write mixed or colored on any and all forms concerning Indians. Most Indians from here went to Baltimore or 46 / William Sandidge West Virginia to get married because any place other than here and Rockbridge County in Virginia would write down Indians as white, since none of Virginia recognized Indians as Indians. Plecker’s laws had barred Indians from the white schools here in Amherst where he had so much control via frequent visits to this courthouse. Praise God, the Episcopalian diocese came in and took over.They built a church and a tworoom schoolhouse so that the tribe’s children could be educated in the best way they could provide. In fact, one of my cousins, a very fine lady who lived about a mile out of Amherst, became a teacher at the Indian school. She taught school there about twenty-five years. She and a co-teacher were paid by the Amherst County School Board. I don’t know about the legality of using county funds to pay teacher’s wages to teach at a Christian School when the Indian students weren’t allowed to attend the public schools. I just know it was done that way. The census takers were also told they couldn’t write Indian on census forms. They must write mixed or colored. Dr. Plecker used to send us lists of names of people whom he said weren’t pure white.When we had our yearly meeting of the clerks for the state of Virginia he would stand before us. I can still see him in my mind’s eye standing before us and proclaiming, “If anyone of you disobey these laws having to do with so-called Indians I will see to it you are prosecuted to the fullest.” That man was mean and rough.There was a time when the Episcopalian minister and the bishop out of Roanoke came to see me.They wanted to know why I was refusing certain people proper marriage licenses and proper birth certificates . I explained to them it was because of Virginia state laws. “I have to obey the law,” I told them.They replied,“Can’t you disobey such laws when these laws are wrong?” I told them if I disregarded those laws, then before the sun...

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