Queen Ann (Pamunkey chief)


Queen Ann appears in Virginia records between 1706 and 1718 as ruler of the Pamunkey tribe of Virginia. Ann continued her predecessors' efforts to keep peace with English colonists.
She became the leader of her tribe after the death of her husband Totopotomoi in 1656, who was killed when he took troops to help English colonizers in Virginia when inland mountain tribes invaded in the mid-1650s.
Ann's last record in history was in 1715, when she was noted as visiting the colonial authorities. She had come to seek fair treatment for her tribe, who suffered encroachment and raids by settlers. The Pamunkey had, in spite of Totopotomoi's sacrifice, been treated poorly by the English settlers in the intervening years. Ann attempted to protect the survival of her people by petitioning to halt the sale of tribal land to outsiders, and halt the sale of liquor to members of the tribe.
It has been suggested that Queen Ann and Queen Betty may have been the same person:
Ann had a son, whom she sent to the Indian school at the College of William and Mary in 1711. He was sent as part of an agreement with the governor of Virginia: if her son and another Pamunkey child were sent to the Indian school, the tribe's debt would be forgiven. Ann's son's name is not known as many records were either not kept or were destroyed by war and time.
Ann is believed to have died around 1723.