In the 1990s, the member claimed descent from Sallie M. Smith Lewis (ca. 1844–1904), who they described as "the last full-blooded Meherrin Indian." In 2011, they identified as descendants of Meherrin people who they said lived on Potecasi Creek in North Carolina. The historical Meherrin people were last described as living in North Carolina in 1763. The proposed finding by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Acknowledgment found that "evidence does not demonstrate that Sallie M. (Smith) Lewis or the historical landowners allegedly near Potecasi Creek were Indian, Meherrin Indian, or members of a Meherrin Indian or other Indian tribe."
