Origin of the Eagle Clan

Early in the year 1619 Wiwakaleme witnessed the arrival of a giant canoe with white wings (a caravel) carrying men who had hair on their faces like dogs (Spaniards), which stopped at Waia to trade for food. The villagers did not like these men, and although they could have - they refused to trade any of their food to them. Still the hairy men persisted repeatedly until one of the Fararinno (warriors) raised his bow with arrow drawn and felled one of the strangers. Immediately other warriors raised their bows and soon many of the strangers lay dead or dying. The hairy men in the giant canoe quickly sailed away amidst the shouts and war cries of the euphoric Lokono warriors.

Wiwakaleme knew that he had witnessed something terribly wrong, for the sacred Hebeyono Bunahabe (Ancestors' ways) strictly forbade the taking of life in this manner for the lives of the people were not in danger ...this was clearly an act of murder; and Wiwakaleme knew that when such a paramount taboo was violated a terrible punishment would be meted out to the entire village - as surely as the crops would fail in the village Kobanibe (farms) if the girls did not maintain their virginity until marriage.

In a dream he had that night, Wiwakaleme saw that the hairy men would return in greater numbers to avenge their dead; and in doing so they would commit even greater atrocities on the villagers at Waia. He tried to warn his adopted tribesmen but the village Kafotay (Chief) was jealous of Wiwakaleme's abilities, and both he and his son (who was the first warrior to raise his bow against the strangers ) publicly ridiculed him - calling him a coward for not participating in the attack.

Wiwakaleme began to fast and pray to Adaiahuli (the Great Holy Spirit), and pleaded with him for help in saving his people from the impending death and destruction. On the fourth and last day of fasting and prayer a Great Harpy Eagle appeared to descend from the sun emitting terrifying shrieks and cries until it was directly over his head. It circled him four times - each time flying off in one of the four sacred directions (East, South, West and North) before finally alighting on the ground before Wiwakaleme. Through a thin veil of Yuri (Tobacco) smoke the Eagle spoke to him : "I am the sacred messenger of the Great Holy Spirit to his red children, he has heard your prayers and he knows your heart. You were chosen for a special purpose even before you entered this world and you will father a line of Chiefs that will have no end. Your special gifts will not die with you but will forever exist in your bloodline, passing from generation to generation for all eternity. I give you and your bloodline dominion over all Lokono, for the sacred fire of the people will flicker and die in all other clans; but the fire that burns in your heart will never be extinguished by the darkness in this world. Wiwakaleme, you will gather all who will heed your words and lead them from Waia south to a place that Adaiahuli has prepared for you. Fear nothing, for I will watch over you and your descendants until the end of time."

Wiwakaleme spent nine days gathering to his side all those who heeded to his warning, and on the night of the ninth day, while the village slept; he led his band of followers by the light of a full moon on a journey that eventually took them over 100 miles south to the fertile banks of the upper Demerara river; where they founded the village of Mudaukaho (later corrupted by missionaries to 'Muritaro') which means 'tranquility'. Wiwakaleme became the first Isau (Paramount Chief) of the band of Lokono-Arawaks from Waia - who now called themselves 'To Bariria Korobahado Lokono' (the Eagle Clan Arawaks).

Within weeks of the departure of Wiwakaleme and his followers the village of Waia was attacked mercilessly by the Spaniards who had returned to avenge the death of their comrades. The entire village was burned to the ground, and the jealous Kafotay, his hasty son, and most of the warriors were killed.

Towards the end of 1619 Wiwakaleme married four virgins from among the four classes which were represented among his followers (Artisan, Fisher, Hunter and Planter).

Wiwakaleme died in 1699 at the miraculous age of ninety-nine years and was buried on the summit of Kwarri mountain in the Kanuku range, the site of his discovery in the year 1600. No-one has ever been able to ascend to the summit of that peak, for his spirit stands guard over his gravesite preventing anyone from disturbing his remains; and welcoming the souls of his descendants as they return to the doorway to Aiyunbana (heaven) that exists there.

To this day the people of the Eagle Clan still bury their dead to face the rising sun, in anticipation of the day when the Great Harpy Eagle will return to herald the birth of the one foretold - who will lead all who will heed his warnings once more to a place of tranquility, protected from the great destruction that will sweep across the Earth.

1907 - Princess Marian's first child 'Vidi Arnold De-Wever' was born in Guyana, in 1926 he travelled to Cuba and was never heard from again. Investigative work done in that country in 1999 seems to indicate his apparent offspring in Eastern Cuba (how many other present day 'De-Wevers' could there be in that country who are not related to him !). Vidi (who is presumed dead) is survived by his only KNOWN child - 'Gloria', who was born in Barbados, Gloria lives in England.

1908 - Second child 'David Arnold De-Wever' was born in Guyana. David emigrated to England and served with distinction in the Royal Merchant Marine during World War II - being part of the Allied invasions of North Africa and Sicily, for his brave actions in these theatres of war he was awarded six medals of valour. It was just prior to these actions that he spent time among North American Amerindian tribes, and in the 1960's in Guyana he fought many legal battles with the government of that countries Communist dictator Forbes Linden Burnham - who sought to annex the greatly diminished ancestral Eagle Clan Territory 115 miles up the Demerara river, and evict our people from their homesteads. After this he unwittingly became the Faithkeeper of the traditionalist faction of the exiled Eagle Clan Arawak nobility, as the sole surviving elder male of the second generation maternally descended from Fourth Hereditary Paramount Chief Amorotahe Haubariria. He married Margaret ('Peggy') Skillen (of Ireland) - and the loving couple had 5 children (sadly their sole son died at birth) - 4 of whom survived and are still living in England (Patricia, Marian, Mariam, and Evon).

1909 - Third child 'Ena Ira' De-Wever' was born, she died at the tender age of four years old in 1913; and was buried in Guyana.

1910 - Fourth child ' Ruth Della De-Wever' was born in Guyana at Canaima-Poo - near to Saka, the ancient village capital of the Eagle Clan Chiefdom, on the upper Demerara river. The family emigrated to Barbados in 1925, and Ruth subsequently married Mr. Phillip Serrao in Barbados - where she lived until her death in January of 2001. Ruth and Phillip (who is also deceased) had eight children - Peter, Margot, Sidney (who lost his brave struggle with cancer in Canada in 1990), John (who also emigrated to Canada) , Ann, Phillip (who is the surviving twin, sadly his infant brother died at the tender age of 3 days old), and Kita. The five children who remain in Barbados to this day have jointly blessed the bloodline of the Princess by giving rise to what currently stands at 11 children and 10 grandchildren. Sidney is survived by his son Barry (who remained in Canada), and John has a son (John Paul) and a daughter (Sheryl) in Canada.

1912 - Fifth child 'Martha Isabella De-Wever' was born at Wismar hospital in Guyana, she met Mr. William Keith Chandler in Barbados and the couple were subsequently married. They had 10 children, sadly their second son - and fourth born child, died at birth. The surviving children are: Brenda, Samuel, Janice, Patricia, John, Murray, Greta, Jeffrey, and Theresa - who have jointly blessed the bloodline of the Princess by giving rise to what currently stands at 18 children, 16 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren. Sadly, Martha passed away in 1992; she was buried next to her mother's grave in Westbury Cemetary in the capital city of Bridgetown, Barbados.

1914 - Sixth child 'Hanna Mariah De-Wever' was born in Guyana, she met Mr. George Cecil Corbin in Barbados and the couple were subsequently married. They had 8 children, sadly their first son - and third child, died at 8 months in the womb. The other children were : Sheila (who passed away suddenly from a heart attack in 1997), Daphne, Merton (who was smothered to death in his nursing home hospital bed in Barbados in 1994), Cecil, Audrey, Judith, and Cheryl - who have jointly blessed the bloodline of the Princess by giving rise to what currently stands at 14 children, 22 grandchildren, and 1 great-grandchild. Hannah still lives in Barbados.

1916 - Seventh and last child 'Joshua Arnold De-Wever' was born in Guyana. He was a talented musician and died at sea when the cruise liner he was playing aboard during World War II was torpedoed by a German U-Boat in the North Atlantic in 1943. Joshua is survived by his only known child 'Tony De-Wever' - who resides in Canada.

1921 - His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales ( who later became King Edward) visited what was then 'British Guiana',and a ball was held in his honour in the 'Assembly Rooms'. Among the colonial society socialites who were invited as guests were Mr. Vivian Arnold De-Wever and his wife Marian - who was introduced to His Royal Highness by the then Governor of British Guiana as 'Princess Marian - daughter of the last Arawak King'; and from that night her being accorded the title of Princess and having been seated close to His Royal Highness at his request - and being publicly recognised by him as also being an hereditary noble, the Eagle Clan Arawaks (who never previously accorded high ranking females of the nobility with a formal title) forevermore applied the title of Princess to her. So entrenched is this status title among the Eagle Clan traditionalists - that upon the birth of Sabantho Aderi (Beautiful Little Dove), daughter of the present Fifth Hereditary Paramount Chief (Damon Gerard Corrie); the occaision was hailed as being the birth of the first Eagle Clan Princess in 120 years ! (Despite the fact that Damon is a ceremonial not a functional ruler - and will continue to be such until he founds his own village).

1924 - Vidi Arnold De-Wever migrates to Barbados to establish new businesses.

1925 - Princess Marian and their six children join Vivian in Barbados where she found the local colonial society to be extremely prejudiced against non-whites, no longer was she a socialite and respected descendant of an ancient nobility; merely a "Jungle Indian" - and her children grew up hearing white Barbadian neighbors admonishing their children not to play with "those people because they might eat you".

1928 - Princess Marian, overcome with grief resulting from her treatment in Barbados and the abandonment of her by her husband (he took son David to England and only returned after her funeral); died at the age of 49. She was buried in Westbury Cemetary in Bridgetown, Barbados; where her grave is the only known burial site of an Arawak royal in the British West Indies - sadly this fact is still oficially unrecognised by the Barbados government.

1960 - Vivian Arnold De-Wever died at the age of 75 and was buried (undeservedly) next to his wife.

1973 - February, a daylight vision of a great and terryfying Harpy Eagle appeared to Craig Francis Corrie 9 months before the November 12th birth of his brother Damon Gerard Corrie - the fourth born of the fourth generation maternally descended from Fourth Hereditary Paramount Chief Amorotahe Haubariria. Eagle Clan traditionalists consider the ominous vision to be proof that this child (Damon) is the young strong leader foretold to come.

1992 - August, Damon (who at the time was 19 years of age) travels to Guyana for the first time and visits the 200 sq. mile St. Cuthbert's Mission/Pakuri Arawak Territory for one day, it is the first time Damon makes contact with the non-ruling class Eagle Clan Arawak descendants of their ancient Chiefdom's general population. Feeling strong emotions and a genuine sense of belonging - Damon returns there on December 2nd . He met a 17 year old virgin called 'Shirling Normellia Simon on December 4th - and the couple fell instantly in love with each other, after only 7 days of courtship the couple married on December 11th. It was subsequently discovered that Shirling is a descendant of Fourth Hereditary Paramount Chief Amorotahe Haubariria's Semechi (Medecine man) - who's three Christianised sons were given the surname 'Simon', and who emigrated from the upper Demerara river to St. Cuthbert's Mission/Pakuri Arawak Territoty - where their descendants number over half of the 1,000 member Arawak community there today.

1993 - September 17th , Damon's first child 'Hatuey' (Army Ants) a son, is born to the couple on the reservation. The near century old requirements for the inheritor of the title of 'Fifth Hereditary Paramount Chief of the Eagle Clan Arawaks' were finally fulfilled by Damon. Hatuey was named after the greatest Taino- Arawak Chief to have ever resisted the Spanish invaders in the Caribbean.

1994 - September 26th , second child 'Aderi' (Little-Dove) a daughter, was born to Shirling on the reservation - while Damon was on a trip up the Demerara river...sadly she died at the tender age of three days; and was buried two hours before Damon's return. Not wishing to live with the regret of never having seen his baby daughter - Damon exhumed her little coffin, prised open the lid, and held her in his arms...not wanting to accept that she was gone. He added Tobacco to the ring of Hibiscus flowers that encircled her in her eternal sleep, as she wore her finest dress (a traditional hand-made Mayan creation); but as he re-sealed the lid he was overcome with grief, broke down and sobbed inconsolably; whereupon his wife's brothers 'Berthram, Foster and Ernest, re-buried her tiny coffin; traditionally ... to face the rising son.

1996 - April 18th, third child 'Tecumseh Shawandase' (Panther's eye that thines in the night, of the people of the South wind) a son, was born to the couple on the reservation. It is the first time that Damon is at his wife's side as she gives birth, Damon was inspired to name his son Tecumseh for the following reasons - firstly, a new comet (discovered by a Japanese Astronomer) was visible over the reservation for nine consecutive nights prior to his birth with it's tail pointing towards the Earth, causing a Clansman by the name of 'Glendon' to remark "It's pointing down like the star of Bethlehem, a King must be going to be born". Damon remembered that the great Shawnee leader Tecumseh was so-named because a meteor flashed across the sky at the moment of his birth - and this was viewed to be a divine sign that the child would become a great leader. Here was a new comet visible for nine nights (4 and 9 are holy numbers to the Eagle Clan) , surely this was also a sign of great leadership potential - Damon reckoned.

1996 - December 7th , Damon signs the Waitukubuli Treaty of Peace (in Dominica) with Karifuna-Carib Paramount Chief Hillary Fredericks of Dominica - on behalf of the Eagle Clan Arawaks, officially ending the 300 year-old 'technical state of war' between the two peoples.

1998 - May 20th , Damon signs the Ishirouganaim Declaration (in Barbados) with Karifuna-Carib Paramount Chief Hillary Fredericks of Dominica - on behalf of the Eagle Clan Arawaks. This document publicy declares the stated goal of the two allied tribal peoples (and all subsequent ratifying Amerindian Tribal Nations) to officially establish a sovereign Amerindian State in the Western Hemisphere by 2005.

1999 - January 18th , fourth child 'Sabantho Aderi' (Beautiful Little-Dove) a daughter, was born to Shirling at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados - the first time an Arawak (let alone one of noble descent) was born in Barbados in over 500 years. Despite being assured by three different doctors on staff at the Hospital that Damon would be called at home when the birth was imminent - so he could be at Shirling's side (as this would be the first birth without her mother and cousin midwives in attendance), Damon was never called. Shirling had begged the unfeeling nurse on duty that night seven times to call her husband - which the nurse refused to do. This baby was not born on the reservation as the others were for ultra-sound scans had indicated an 80% chance of a breech birth, and had this happened on the reservation either the mother - or the baby (sometimes both) would have died. Nevertheless her birth was hailed by Eagle Clan traditionalists as being 'the first Princess born to the Clan in over 120 years'. On January 20th mother and baby came home, the very next morning - on the fourth day that Sabantho was on the Earth - four black cats were discovered lying in a circle (a sacred shape) on the grass underneath Sabantho's bedroom window. These cats were never seen before this day, and the only other pets on the property are 200 tortoises and 1 cat-hating Labrador dog. Nevertheless, the cats are still with the family to this day, one male in particular has taken a special interest in Sabantho - sleeping under her bedroom floor in the cellar by night, frequently at her side both indoors and outdoors (depending on where she is ) by day. Experiments were done with this cat whereby all of the doors inside the house were left open, time and time again this male cat will enter the house and head straight for Sabantho's room - no other. Sabantho pulls on his tail, bites it, squezes him - even lies down and smothers him, and he does nothing; every other child in the family who even remotely annoys him gets scratched and spat at. Everyone accepts that this cat is her guardian animal, the last time the family owned a cat (it was also a black one) was 1979. Despite his reputation, the dog actually likes this cat.

Baptised 'Marian Luckie' by the English Anglican missionary priest Rev. Austin, she was the last surviving noble and first Christianised member of the Eagle Clan Arawaks - also the first to recieve a western education, and marry outside of her Clan - to a wealthy Dutchman in Guyana by the name of Vivian Arnold DeWever, in 1896.

2nd (and eldest surviving) son of Princess Marian

Note: This photo was taken during the 1940's in Canada as David was visiting the Mohawk Tribal Nation at trois rivieres, Quebec, at that time the Mohawks had adopted plains Indian dances and costumes. He was accorded the love and respect customarily due a Chief of the Eagle Clan while he lived, because for his lifetime the Clan had no Hereditary leader.

MARGARET POWLEY - born 1913, 2nd cousin of Princess Marian Luckie De-Wever.

CHRISTINE POWLEY - born 1929, daughter of Margaret Powley & 3rd cousin of Princess Marian).
IRENE EZILDA POWLEY - CAMPBELL - born 1931, daughter of Margaret Powley & 3rd cousin of Princess Marian.

AUDREY POWLEY - PETERS - born November 30th 1947, daughter of Christine Powley & 4th cousin of Princess Marian.
The Children of Audrey Powley - Peters (and all 5th cousins to Princess Marian) are:

CAROLYN PETERS - born 1965
DESIREE PETERS - born 1967
ANITA JOAN PETERS - PAUL - born October 19th 1969
MORRIS ANTHONY PETERS - born July 11th 1972
VONITA VIOLA PETERS - born February 16th 1976
JAMES ANDREW PETERS - born January 26th 1980
VONESSA VESS PETERS - born May 13th 1983
DIONNE DERRICK PETERS - born January 5th 1990

The children of Anita Joan Peters - Paul (and all 6th cousins to Princess Marian) are :

VENISE VIOLET PAUL - April 27th 1988
ZUMINA ZENITA PAUL - April 19th 1989
RONDALE RONALD PAUL - born May 4th 1991

LEONARD CLIFFORD CAMPBELL - born ?,son of Irene Ezilda Powley - Campbell & 4th cousin to Princess Marian. The children of Leonard Clifford Campbell (and 5th cousins to Princess Marian) are :

CLAUDETTE ALOMA CAMPBELL - born October 1st 1978
DONNA NATASHA CAMPBELL - born June 21st 1980
DAWN ANITA CAMPBELL - born September 27th 1981
DIANNA LYNN-ANN CAMPBELL - born March 9th 1983
GWENDOLYN CAMPBELL - born November 1st 1987
LAVINA CAMPBELL - born July 1st 1989
LEONARD CECIL CAMPBELL - born June 2nd 1991

NB - All of these persons are related to Princess Marian Luckie - De-Wever of the Eagle Clan Arawaks, who was the 4th & sole surviving child of Hereditary Paramount Chief Amorotahe Haubariria of the Eagle Clan Arawaks of the Upper Demerara River & his wife Twengga (who was the 4th daughter of Chief Kaigouchi of the Demerara Akawaios). When Chief Kaigouchi died in the Measles & Smallpox epidemic of 1850 his favourite son-in-law Chief Amorotahe Haubariria of the Eagle Clan Arawaks of Muritaro - became the Sovereign chief of all the Arawaks and Akawaios of the Upper Demerara River, and his territory extended from the present day Kumaka area near Linden - all the way south to canister falls (the Akawaio territory previously extended from Malali rapids to Canister falls).

This is why Marian was introduced by the Brittish Governor of Guyana in c.1921 to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales (who later became King Edward of England) as "Princess Marian - daughter of the last Arawak King". The Prince of Wales recognised Marian as an Amerindian Princess and kept her close to him for the remainder of the evening.

In the British colonial period in Guyana no other Amerindian leader equalled the power and inter-tribal influence of Paramount Chief Amorotahe Haubariria who is well known in the oral tradition of the Upper Demerara River but little known to Guyanese Academics.