Chief Walt Brown's Bio / Vitae
Chief Walter D. “Red Hawk” Brown, III is the “ELECTED” Chief of The Cheroenhaka [Che-ro-en-ha-ka ] (Nottoway) Indian Tribe, Southampton County, Virginia. Chief “Red Hawk” was born on his family’s “century” farm in Southampton County, Virginia. He grew up on his family’s farm experiencing the age old “Traditions” and “Culture” of the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indians, by farming, raising hogs, fishing, hunting, trapping and curing hides for sell with his father.
Chief Walt “Red Hawk” Brown proudly documents his genealogy (paper trial) to an ethno-historic “matrilineal line” of the 18th and 19th Century Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indians in Southampton County, Virginia. He is the 5th foster Great Grandson of Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribe’s Queen, Chief Edy (Eidth) Turner (1754-1828), who married William Green in 1819, both of whom were listed as Free Person of Color (FPC) on their Southampton County marriage license. Queen Edy (Eidth) Turner raised Chief Brown’s 4th Great Grandmother, Mary “Polly” Woodson Turner, both of whom are named on the 1808 Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribe’s Special Census conducted on the former land of the tribe’s reservation in Southampton County, Virginia. Mary Turner married Pearson Turner (Artist Town) and beget Patcy Turner (1816-1856). Patcy Turner is Chief Brown’s 3 rd Great Grandmother. Her death record of 1856 (Southampton County) list Mary Turner as her mother (FPC). Patcy Turner, married Anderson Artist (common law wife) and they beget Beady Artist, Chief Brown 2nd Great Grandmother. Beady Artist –Brown married Archie Brown and they beget Eliza Brown-Artist, Chief Brown Great Grandmother, who beget John Walter David Brown Sr., Chief Brown’s Grandfather. John Walter David Brown married Ophelia Rogers and they beget Walter David “Coon Hunter” Brown, Jr., Chief Brown’s father, who married Ruth Odell “Cooking Bird” Everett-Brown.
Chief Brown is a Southampton County elected official and currently serves on the Southampton County Board of Supervisors. In 2003, he became his party’s choice, and ran for Virginia State Senate, but lost. In 2004, He was elected as a 4th Congressional District Alternate Delegate to the Republican Nation Convention in New York. He attended as one of 30 Native American Delegates.
Chief “Red Hawk “Brown is a retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel, having served 28 years on active duty. He has held many commands and leadership positions in the United States and Overseas. He has served tours of duty in Germany, Greece, Turkey, Korea, Italy, England, and Japan. He is a Vietnam and Desert Storm Era Veteran. Chief “Red Hawk” Brown is a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), the American Legion and Disabled Veterans (DAV). He also serves on the Executive Board of Directors of the Western Tidewater Senior Services Program. He is a Baptist Minister and currently serves as Associate Pastor of Diamond Grove Baptist Church, Franklin, Virginia.
His early education began in a one room country school house (Diamond Grove Elementary School) in Southampton County VA – grades 1st through 6,th a school set aside for “People of Color.” For the first six years of his early education Chief Brown had to walk the 1.5 mile stretch from his family’s farm to school and back each day. He was a senior at Norfolk State University when drafted by the U. S. Army. While on active duty he attended the University of Maryland and the State University of N.Y., earning a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) Degree in Social Science in 1976. He also earned a Masters of Science (M.S.) Degree in Logistics Management from Florida Institute of Technology in 1983.
Chief Brown is a graduate of the Armed Forces Staff College-Class #81; the US Army’s Race Relations Discussion Leaders Course, and the Department of Defense Project Management Course. He has taught Joint Operations at the National Defense University’s Joint Forces Staff College, Norfolk Virginia, and also JROTC in the Wythe County Public School System having responsibility for three high schools. In 1999 and 2000, he served as Census 2000 Manager for all of Virginia’s Congressional District # 4 having responsibility for 7 cites and 11 counties and some 1,100 employees.
Chief Brown was elected Chief of the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribe, Southampton County, Virginia in 2002 and again in 2006. He has four children: Kisha “Red Fern” Brown-Richards; Chris “Two Wolves” Brown; Felicia “Moon Flower” Brown and David “Slow Turtle” Brown.
The Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribe Annual Pow Wow & Gathering is on the 4th weekend of July at the Southampton County Fairgrounds, Courtland, VA. It is a celebration of the “Green Corn Harvest” – Key-to-ok-ney (Harvest Time).