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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 midst 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 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. 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).

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 grave-site 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.

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. The survivors fled further upriver and created the village that later came to be known as 'Santa Mission'. This site where the ancient village of Waia once stood later became the capital city of Georgetown, Guyana 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.

1696 - War against the Kalinago (island Carib) and Kalina (mainland Carib) alliance commences after Muritaho village is attacked. The Kalinago were seasoned fighters and had begun to return to their Barima river ancestral homeland in Guyana in increasing numbers, as wars against the European Nations in the Lesser Antilles raged on. In the first battle with the Eagle Clan Arawak-Panapi alliance the Caribs were repulsed, but with great loss of Panapi lives - for their encampment was attacked first; the surviving Panapi were adopted into Eagle Clan Arawak families...this the Panapi tribe ceased to exist as a distinct people.

1728 - Chief Haubariria dies and his son called 'Bultata' (Red-Headed Hawk) becomes the second hereditary Chief of the Eagle Clan Arawaks. He fought various skirmishes with the Caribs and with the Akawaios who lived on the southern reaches of the Demerara river (above the falls). During his lifetime he never had a major battle with either tribe.

1750 - Runaway African slaves seize and rape 2 Eagle Clan Arawak girls who were out foraging alone not far from the village, it is the first encounter between Eagle Clan Arawaks and people of the African continent as the Eagle Clan had avoided contact with coastal Guyana society since the early 1600's and it remains the most controversial 'un-characteristic' but integral aspect of our ARAWAK oral tradition history - for it is said that upon returning to the village and reporting what had happened to them aging Chief Bultata sent warriors to punish the strange Duri ('Burnt hair') men who were covered in 'black paint', the runaway slaves were soon captured and dismembered by the Eagle Clan warriors 'who could not rub the paint-off', and the Arawak warriors burned the limbs of the Africans and ate of their flesh to transfer their enemies strength to themselves. This is the only instance of ritualistic cannibalism in our oral history, and despite outsiders disputing it - we ourselves accept it as part the history of the Clan.

1798 - Chief Toratora (White necked-Hawk) is already leading the Clan, not known whether he is the son or grandson of Bultata as one wave of pestilence had swept through the Clan already after 1750. Toratora is the 3rd known Hereditary Chief of the Clan. In this same year he married a princess of the Makushi tribe of the south Pakaraima mountains called 'Takuiba'. She became his principal wife and the marriage secured a trade monopoly and verbal mutual defense pact with the Mountain Makushis. NB - Takuiba's Clan was Christianized in the early 1900's and given the surname 'Isaac', they continue to be one of the most influential Makushi Clans in Guyana and were prominent leaders of the failed 1969 armed rebellion against Guyana's Stalinist dictator Forbes Burnam.

1841 - A second pestilence (Smallpox epidemic) ravages the Arawak and Akawaio villages of the southern Demerara river - killing 50% of the populace including Chief Toratora, his wife Takuiba and all their children except last born son 'Amorotahe Haubariria' (Flying Harpy Eagle). Chief Amorotahe Haubariria had a principal wife called 'Twengga' - who was a daughter of Akawaio Chief 'Kaigouchi' (Jaguar) who ruled all the lands above the Malali rapids from his principal village of Saka (the overgrown site of which is now know to a few elders in the area as 'Saka Landing'). The marriage ended hostilities between the Arawaks and the Akawaios of the Demerara river and secured a military alliance against their mutual tribal enemy the Caribs.

1850 - A third Measles and Smallpox epidemic strikes the villages of the southern Demerara river claiming 25% of the population including all of Chief Amorotahe Haubariria's children at that time.

1851 - Irai-I, grandson of the notorious Carib Chief Mahanavra masses 90 of his warriors near Kanaima-yeng (stone altar/sacrificial site near to Great Falls) for an attack on the weakened southern Demerara river chiefdom. The Makushis honor their pact and send 25 warriors to assist the Arawak-Akawaio alliance, and Amorotahe Haubariria leads the combined force into battle at Itanime rapids on the Essequibo river. The Caribs were ambushed slaughtered with only one hand (five) in number escaping alive. Very few Arawak and Akawaio or Makushi warriors perished 'less than one hand' (less than 5 in number). Carib Chief Irai-I escaped but his brass crescent necklace (a Dutch gift to his grandfather Carib Chief Mahanavra many years before) is retrieved from the battlefield by a triumphant Chief Amorotahe Haubariria who wore it with pride as a war trophy from that day on - and kept it as a symbol of authority in the Eagle Clan. The Demerara was never significantly attacked again

1879 - Old Chief Amorotahe Haubariria's second to last child is born, she and her younger sister were his only surviving children but being females he could not pass his hereditary authority on to either of them, she was born at 'Sauka' principal village.We now come to Great Grandmother Marian - daughter of our last ruling hereditary Chief, the one who was called an 'Arawak Princess' by English colonial society in Guyana prior to World War 1...Though in the Arawak language there is no word for 'Prince' or 'Princess', a child of a Chief was called the son or daughter of the Chief....and ALL our chiefs were hereditary when we lived traditionally, there were no democratic elections every 3 years as there are now in Guyana, a system started by the colonial English who outlawed our traditional hereditary system in the first place! Also, the Chief of a Village is called the 3 syllable word 'Ka-fo-tay' - mistakenly prounounced 'ka-see-kay' by Spanish speakers.

1899 - In our oral tradition the legend of Great Great Grandfather Chief Flying Harpy Eagle (Amorotahe Haubariria), of whom it was said by his best friend and Medicine Man (Semechi) Spirit Macaw (Koyaha Maka): "died in 1899 and at the moment of his death turned into a Great Harpy Eagle that spread it's wings and ascended into the sky until it disappeared from view into the sunlight".

After the death of our greatest Chief since the founder of the Eagle Clan Chief Light From The Stars (Wiwakaleme) in 1600, and the emigration of his only surviving children (two daughters - the elder of whom was Christianized and renamed 'Marian Luckie'), the remaining people of the Eagle Clan scattered; with very few opting to remain at 'Muritaro' Mission under Anglican missionary Rev. William Piercy Austin (1807 - 1892). NB: Many years later in Barbados his granddaughter Ruth accompanied a friend to the home of a Clairvoyant the who lived in Whitepark at the time, the friend went in to see the mystic but Ruth was scared and stayed outside...but the Clairvoyant woman (who did not know Ruth or her name or anything about her background) called out to Ruth and told her: "Do not be afraid of anything- for an old Amerindian Chief is watching over your family".

To the present day, several descendants of the fourth generation descended from Great Great Grandfather in both Barbados and England have recorded (and are STILL recording) visions in broad daylight and dreams by night - of a Great Harpy Eagle that either speaks to us or silently gives us signs that help us in our lives. Even some among the fifth generation are experiencing this. The most famous broad daylight vision appeared to Craig Francis Corrie when he was himself a boy of 4 years old...both his parents saw him stop as he was walking EAST up the road to Grandmother Hannah's house in Deal Gardens, where both families then lived; then they both saw him look up into the sky as if he was seeing something - then he screamed out and turned to run back WEST to his home in terror with heart racing ...when he calmed down Craig told his parents that he had seen "a huge Eagle swooping down towards him from the sky holding a man in one foot and a woman in the other"... 9 months before the November 12th birth in 1973 of his brother Damon, and in later life Craig identified the Eagle he saw as being a Harpy Eagle - a species unknown to the Caribbean and never featured in any television program ever aired anywhere in the world (so he could not have 'imagined' a bird he had never seen before) for many years AFTER 1973.

So Great grandmother Marian lived to see the world she was born into, a naked traditional Lokono-Arawak society (the LAST one in Guyana) where our family lead the people by right of birth for centuries (a huge responsibility to a traditionalist who knows that you will answer to your ancestors when you die if you fail to lead the people well). She also saw a strange illness come to our people in her infancy (Measles & Smallpox) which killed 90 percent of them including her mother and several siblings, she saw her birthplace of the principal village of the upper Demerara River Isauka (and 'Isauka' means 'Chiefdom') be abandoned; with the dead being burned in their homes which were set on fire. No-one ever lived there again, Damon was the first (and only) descendant of hers (so far) to find & set foot there in the late 1990's (as they paddled down to McKenzie/Linden in their canoes to meet with Grandfather David when he visited Guyana in the 1960's)...a place people today simply refer to as 'Sauka landing'.

Our former Chiefdom, which was so vast that to this day Granny Hannah - daughter of Marian, still says "Guyana became bigger when they took our land away"....Great Granny Marian herself spoke to her children about leaving the Chiefdom and 'going to Guyana where strange people were living' - showing that in our people's minds less than 150 years ago this nation state then called 'British Guiana' was considered to be a foreign country full of foreign people they had never seen before (Black, White, East-Indian etc.).

Our last Medicine Man Koyaha Maka ('Spirit Macaw' in English) survived the epidemic - as did his 3 sons, but the people blamed him for not having strong enough spiritual powers to save the majority who died, so he lost his spiritual authority in the eyes of the people becoming disillusioned himself - and even allowed his own surviving sons to be Christianized by Reverend Austin; and they were given the surname 'Simon'. These 3 Simon brothers emigrated North from the Chiefdom and eventually settled on a new Anglican Mission called 'St. Cuthbert's on the Mahaica river (with other newly Christianized Arawaks who had been given the surnames 'Dundas', 'Bernard' and 'Kattow' already settled there), 60 miles south from the coastlander settlement called Mahaica town. The traditional name in Arawak for St. Cuthbert's is 'Pakuri'; and it was so named for the Pakuri trees that once were abundant there - of which only 1 remains in the Village (on the track that leads to the main river called the 'landing').

Damon's wife is herself a descendant of one of these 3 'Simon' brothers of our last Semechi who was the best friend of Great Great Grandfather - as are the numerical majority of the over 1,500 Lokono-Arawak residents of St. Cuthbert's/Pakuri; that is why Damon considers them to be our people and represents them at the highest levels at the OAS and UN; and the reason why he wanted his children to be born among them. NB: In the oral history of Pakuri (Damon's own father-in-law Joseph Simon and the late Grandfather Cuthbert Simon who was the oldest man alive - until he passed away in 2012) - both told him the legend of a 'Koyaha Maka' (Spirit Macaw) that rose out of the river and destroyed the canoes of attacking Kalinas ('Caribs') in the late 1800's, and Joseph Simon can take you to a spot downriver where in the channel one can dive and feel the broken hulls of several dug-out canoes....and dug-out canoes do NOT break in half under normal circumstances...so perhaps the old Medicine man DID have some powers to protect the people after all - for it was his sons who prayed on Pakuri for supernatural aid as they came under Kalina attack.

Our Great Grandmother Marian also had a younger sister that survived the epidemic as well, and this youngest sister married a Mr. John Bremner - who's son Joseph Bremner ALSO later migrated with his own adult son 'Herman' to the 240 sq. mile St. Cuthbert's Mission (Pakuri Arawak Territory); where Herman fathered a daughter called 'Mona' - who is now married to Dazil Jacobs and is the proud mother of two children (a boy and a girl).

Damon has personally tracked-down and met less than 50 blood relatives of Marian's first cousin who was Christianized and given the surname 'Powley' (the same time Marian was Christianized and given the first name 'Marian' and the surname 'Luckie') still living in the former territory of the old Chiefdom. So yes, Marian was the first to see and own a Bible - it was given to her by the Anglican Missionary Priest Reverend William Piercy Austin, a man who came to Barbados from England FIRST, was trained at the Codrington College in St. Joseph - and sent to Guyana to evangelize....and HE is the man who evangelized OUR Lokono-Arawak people of the Eagle Clan right after the epidemics destroyed our Chiefdom. Rev. William Piercy Austin (1807 - 1892) was made the first Anglican Bishop of Guyana - and in 1883 (the year he adopted Marian) - Archbishop of the West Indies! Damon still has the Bible that he gave to Great grandmother Marian, it is a prized posession - tattered though it is after over 120 years, not for it's contents - but because it is our only tangible connection to her outside of our own DNA.

Rev. Austin adopted Marian as a 4 year-old girl whilst her father our old chief Flying Harpy Eagle (Amorotahe Haubariria) was still alive, and she was the first person of our Eagle Clan Lokono-Arawak people to wear clothing, go to school and learn the ways of westernization. After becoming a young woman biologically and finishing her formal education in those days Great Grandmother returned to Malali Village (which was nearest to 'Sauka' to the south and Muritaro to the north) to be with her father and learn the ways of her people from him.

It was during this time in her late teen-aged years that she was seen by a young Dutch businessman in Guyana who was delivering goods to 'Muritaro Mission' from McKenzie (now called 'Linden Town); his name was Vivian Arnold De-Wever (his father owned the Argosy Newspaper among other businesses), who fell in love with her instantly and quickly wed her. Despite being so young and impressionable, and being raised most of her formative years by a Christian Missionary with a zeal for evangelization that saw him being rewarded with a title of Archbishop of the West Indies later in his life....Great Grandmother Marian was never brainwashed into becoming a 'self-loathing' 'anti-indigenous lifestyle' 'Bible thumping eccentric' by the step-dad Reverend who raised her, nor the Dutchman who married her (this strong woman trait comes up often in her 200+ descendants), instead - and in spite of the hostility to her TRUE indigenous spirituality, Great Grandmother Marian used to maintain her Lokono-Arawak spirituality she learned from her father (which both the Reverend - and later her husband, both considered to be 'heathen nonsense'....and this story was told to Damon by her daughter Hannah (who is his Grandmother)...once she saw her mother smoking pure tobacco and asked her: "Mama what are you doing?"...and great granny Marian told her last daughter: "Baby, I am praying for you and your brothers and sisters".

They were socialites in the colonial society of the DeWever's heyday in Georgetown with maids, nannies, man-servants and yard boys...but fortune waned when the patriarch of the DeWever family died and left all his businesses to Vivian (who was NOT an astute businessman like his father), and all the diamonds, rubies, pearls and gold Vivian bought for his wife paid for with company profits as presents had to be hidden with his sister Irene DeWever for safe-keeping from bondsmen as he moved to Barbados alone in 1924, then sent for his wife and six surviving children to join him in Barbados in 1925 with what was left of his inheritance.

Irene DeWever looked the part of a 'pure white' and acted the part to a racist extreme (even though the maternal grandmother of herself and Vivian was an Ethiopian purchased by their grandfather Dr. Morris Johnson of England who made her his wife- only her brother Vivian had a Semitic complexion), she never thought that an 'Amerindian from the jungle' like Great Granny Marian 'deserved' to have nicer and more numerous pieces of fine jewelry than her. So no surprise then that all Great Granny Marian's jewelry was kept so 'safely' by old aunt Irene - that she never got back a single piece!

To add to her unhappy life thus far, upon moving to Barbados (after ALL that occurred up to this time) Great Grandmother Marian now had to hear white Barbadian neighbors (such as George Cecil Corbin's white grandmother who raised him) shout out in public to their children who wanted to make friends with HER children (children of an ancient and noble royal Amerindian bloodline), such things as: "Come inside at once - do not play with 'those people' or they will eat you!" ...gone were the relatively happy days of her life in colonial Georgetown in British Guiana when among other noteworthy occasions Marian was introduced in 1920 to the then visiting HRH The Prince of Wales (who later abdicated the throne as King Edward VIII of England) as 'Princess Marian of the Arawaks'....now she had to live among white Barbadians who considered her and her children to be nothing more 'cannibals from the jungles of Guyana'. NB: Great Grandmother's eldest daughter Ruth Della married James Darrel Brandon Serrao, middle daughter Martha Isabella married William Keith Chandler, and youngest daughter Hanna Mariah married George Cecil Corbin (himself a descendant of Kalinago Chief 'Carib' Warner of Dominica through his mother Florence Warner) - so all three daughters of the Princess wed Barbadian men and spent the rest of their lives on this Caribbean island where over 100 of the descendants of these 3 ladies remain to this day...less than 90 years later.

To make matters worse her husband Vivian's businesses failed in Barbados as well and he left his wife Marian with 3 young teen daughters and youngest son Joshua in Barbados and took son David Arnold DeWever (who was then 18) with him to England in 1926 to start another new business. In that same year eldest son Vidi emigrated to South-Eastern Cuba.

Vivian Arnold DeWever did sent money back home to their neighbor Mr. Chandler (Father of William Keith - who fell in love with Martha Isabella and married her) to take care of his wife and children in his absence, but he didn't return himself in time, and in 1928 Great granny Marian died at the age of 49.....of a broken heart her 3 daughters all said. Great Grandmother Princess Marian is buried in Westbury Cemetery in the capital city of Bridgetown, Barbados; it is the ONLY known burial site of an Arawak royal in the entire Lesser Antilles...but if you go to the cemetery you would never know it. NB: David Arnold DeWever remained in England and wed Margaret Skillen, and there are 100+ descendants of the couple living in the United Kingdom today!

* Second child David Arnold De-Wever' was born in Guyana in 1908. David emigrated to England in 1926 and later 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 theaters of war he was awarded six medals of valor. It was just prior to these actions that he spent time among North American Amerindian tribes, and in the 1960's in Guyana he financed legal battles with the government of that countries Communist dictator Forbes Linden Burnham - who sought to annex what was left of 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 Faith-keeper of the descendants of the exiled Eagle Clan Arawak ruling class, as the sole surviving elder male of the second generation maternally descended from Hereditary Chief Flying Harpy Eagle (Amorotahe Haubariria). He married Margaret ('Peggy') Skillen (of Scotland) - and the loving couple had 5 children (sadly their sole son died at birth) - 3 of whom still survive and are still living in England (Patricia, Miriam, and Yvonne). Sadly Marian their second daughter died in 2012.

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

* Fourth child Ruth Della De-Wever was born in Guyana at Canaima-Po - near to 'Sauka', the ancient principal village of the Eagle Clan Chiefdom, over 115 miles south on the upper Demerara river. Ruth lived in Barbados until her death in January of 2001. Ruth and James (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 Quita. 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.

* Fifth child Martha Isabella De-Wever was born at Wismar hospital in Guyana in 1912, she and William had 10 children, sadly their second son - and fourth born child, died at birth. The surviving children are: Brenda, William, 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 Cemetery in the capital city of Bridgetown, Barbados.

* Sixth child Hanna Mariah De-Wever was born in Guyana in 1914, she and George 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 and celebrated her 98th birthday in March 2012.

* Seventh and final child was Joshua Arnold De-Wever who was born in Guyana in 1916. He was a talented musician who also worked at sea during World War II on the Lady Nelson (damaged on 10 March 1942 by German U-boat 161 in Port Castries St. Lucia), Lady Drake (sunk on 5th May 1942 by German U-Boat 106) and the 7,988 ton Canadian Merchant Navy ship the 'Lady Hawkins' that was torpedoed by the German submarine U-66 (under the command of Captain Richard Zapp) on 19th January 1942 in the North Atlantic...he survived the ships sinking - only to be murdered by a man in a lifeboat who hit him on the head to stop him from entering the lifeboat (which it is alleged - was already full, in my opinion a "Sorry mate we can't let you climb in - but you CAN hold on to the side and remain in the water until help arrives" would be the humane response...only a demented person would beat someone to death who only wants to survive just like you...it COULD have been an incident motivated by racism I suspect). Joshua who obtained citizenship in Canada, is survived by his only known child 'Tony De-Wever' - who still resides in Canada - and his two children and 5 grandchildren as follows: Anthony & Juliette Byer -De Wever
Children
Ric Byer -De Wever married to Karen Hunt
Children Anya & Natalya
and
Lisa Byer -De Wever married to R.S(Steve) Bush
Children Caitlyn & Cassandra
and step daughter Chelsea

NOTES OF THE SINKING:
At 07.43 hours on 19 Jan, 1942, the unescorted Lady Hawkins (Master Huntly Osborne Giffen) was hit by two stern torpedoes from U-66 and sank after 30 minutes about 150 miles from Cape Hatteras. The master, 85 crew members, one gunner and 164 passengers (including two DBS) were lost. The chief officer, 21 crew members and 49 passengers were picked up after five days by theCoamo and landed at Puerto Rico on 28 January.

1992 - August, Damon (who at the time was 19 years of age) travels to Guyana for the first time and visits the 240 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 (Medicine man) - who's three Christianized sons were given the surname 'Simon', and who emigrated from the upper Demerara river to St. Cuthbert's Mission/Pakuri Arawak Territory - where their descendants number over half of the Arawak population 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 tracking down descendants...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, pried 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 he had purchased from friends a Mopan Mayan elder called Micaela Wewe from Belize); 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 sun.

1996 - April 18th, third child 'Tecumseh Shawandase' (Panther's eye that shines 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 since that 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 Kalinago-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 Kalinago-Carib Chief Hillary Fredericks of Dominica - on behalf of the Eagle Clan Arawaks. This document publicly 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 before 2020.

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, the cats stayed with the family for 9 months and were never seen again. Everyone accepts that these cats were her guardian animals, the last time the family owned a cat (it was also a black one) was 1979.

2007 - January 28th, fifth child 'Laliwa Hadali' (The Sun's Yellow Butterfly) a daughter, was born to Shirling on the reservation. From the first day of her earthly life tribal elders have been remarking that 'this child has lived before', and due to her advanced level of understanding for her age - AND the mysterious fact that deceased daughter Aderi who previously appeared to her parents and siblings on several occasions - has not appeared to her parents or siblings since Laliwa was born; plus the fact that Laliwa was born on a January 28th which is 4 calendar months from the date of Aderi's death (September 28th) - with 4 and 9 being sacred numbers to us....might perhaps indeed be a sign that this IS the return of the daughter so grieved over for all these years. In July of this year, Damon revived the ancient Lokono-Arawak stick whipping game called Makwari - which had not been played in over 100 years due to the influence of the Church that forbade the playing of it. He dedicated an entire month of Games (with generous support of members of his family and friends) to his deceased brother-in-law Ernest Courtney Simon.

2011 - On January 28th Laliwa Hadali received her first Tobacco ritual for her 4th birthday. In August of the same year her older sister Sabantho Aderi underwent her traditional 9 day long puberty rite of passage.

2012 - In March current Matriarch of the Eagle Clan and last surviving child of Princess Marian, Hannah Mariah, celebrated her 98th birthday.

2012 - In September the first ever CARICOM Inter-Tribal Games were held, and it was held on Pakuri Arawak Territory in Guyana with athletes from the Lokono-Arawak, Kalinago-Carib and Makushi Tribal Nations participating. The Games were an idea that came to Damon in August - 4 weeks before he saw that they became a reality with the help of enthusiastic supporters. This month also saw the creation of the Flag of the future Amerindian Republic, also created by Damon.

2012 - On November 12th this year Damon commissioned a large gravestone Plaque to be done in black marble stone with gold lettering IN BOTH ARAWAK AND ENGLISH to FINALLY give Princess Marian's earthly remains the respect long overdue for her pivotal place as the founding Matriarch of the exiled family - and that includes all 200+ of her blood descendants on both sides of the Atlantic who are the last carriers of this ancient bloodline and DNA (whether they remember it or not), and THIS is how he decided to celebrate his 39th birthday this year....by remembering, and honoring our first heroine, and letting her LAST surviving child (his own grandmother - and Princess Marian's LAST surviving child Hannah Mariah & current Matriarch) SEE IT with her own eyes before she too leaves this world.

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 1906.

Decendants of
Princess Marian (PDF)

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 Great Grandmother Marian was introduced by the British Governor of Guyana in 1920 to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales (who later became King Edward VIII of England) as "Princess Marian - daughter of the last Arawak King". The Prince of Wales recognized 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.