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HI,
I believe that I descend from some folks w/ Melungeon ancestry. See my urls noted below:
A Melungeon mailing list that is family friendly - to join, send an e-mail to:
Melungeons+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Melungeon Printed Resources: MLGN Resources
Melungeon Definition 2000.
By a committee composed of Karlton Douglas (chair), Mike Nassau, Dennis Maggard, Nancy Sparks Morrison, ... contains several urls as well..</B>w[SIZE=2]ww.melungeondef2000.webs.com/ Melungeon Definition
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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I did a little research and can clear up some of the Maggard stuff. The original Maggard (actually Maegert) that came from Switzerland had two sons who entered Kentucky. One of them, Henry, married a Cherokee woman - actually the daughter of Cheif Corntussle. My Maggard ancestor, Samuel, married a White woman. It looks like Henry's descendants must have continued marrying Indians and Melungeons because they were rounded up and taken on the Trail of Tears.
Isn't Goins a common surname for Melungeons? It does seem like a lot of people in KY have Native ancestry. I've also heard that some Melungeons have African ancestry as well and can be viewed as a Tri racial isolate.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
11,974 posts, read 25,476,450 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ckhthankgod
Isn't Goins a common surname for Melungeons? It does seem like a lot of people in KY have Native ancestry. I've also heard that some Melungeons have African ancestry as well and can be viewed as a Tri racial isolate.
I'd say nearly all Melungeons have at least some African ancestry. They were known to take in runaway slaves from the flatlands. In cases where the suffered persecution by Whites than were even known to raid plantations and take the slaves back in the hills with them. Remember many Melengeons claimed "Black Dutch" ancestry to explain their dark features while passing as White.
I also agree that most Kentuckians have at least some Indian ancestry. Remember that most people here share at least several common ancestors over the past 200 years, so if one guy back then married an Indian then all the thousands (maybe millions) of descendants have that Indian blood in them.
I strongly suspect my father (who died when I was 1) is more than 1/32nd Indian, which is all I have confirmed. He looks like he just landed on a ship from Sicily with his bronze skin and jet black hair. I know his family tree is mostly Scottish, English, and Welsh so there's got to be some more Indian/ Melungeon in there some where! (He has a comparable complexion to my aunt's husband who is nearly a full blooded Cherokee)
Goins is a common Melguneon surname in Eastern TN, Western VA, and Eastern KY. Other common last names are Collins, Moore, Mullins, etc. Geography is another factor. Due to discrimination most Melguneons who couldn't pass as White grouped together in several areas, most notably around Pound, VA and Sneedville TN. Multiple generations of my dad's family lived very close to Pound VA.
censusdata, people from Wales or with Welsh ancestry also often have dark hair and eyes and olive complexions, so your father's appearance could result from several different ancestral strains.
I'd say nearly all Melungeons have at least some African ancestry. They were known to take in runaway slaves from the flatlands. In cases where the suffered persecution by Whites than were even known to raid plantations and take the slaves back in the hills with them. Remember many Melengeons claimed "Black Dutch" ancestry to explain their dark features while passing as White.
I also agree that most Kentuckians have at least some Indian ancestry. Remember that most people here share at least several common ancestors over the past 200 years, so if one guy back then married an Indian then all the thousands (maybe millions) of descendants have that Indian blood in them.
I strongly suspect my father (who died when I was 1) is more than 1/32nd Indian, which is all I have confirmed. He looks like he just landed on a ship from Sicily with his bronze skin and jet black hair. I know his family tree is mostly Scottish, English, and Welsh so there's got to be some more Indian/ Melungeon in there some where! (He has a comparable complexion to my aunt's husband who is nearly a full blooded Cherokee)
Goins is a common Melguneon surname in Eastern TN, Western VA, and Eastern KY. Other common last names are Collins, Moore, Mullins, etc. Geography is another factor. Due to discrimination most Melguneons who couldn't pass as White grouped together in several areas, most notably around Pound, VA and Sneedville TN. Multiple generations of my dad's family lived very close to Pound VA.
I've read that the Bowling family was also Melungeon but they weren't, far as I can tell. My particular line is descended from Pocahontas, which would likely account for 'some' darker skin/hair. They were in VA for many many years but my line did migrate to Hawkins Co. TN in the late 1700s. I know that some of my ancestors, in other lines, married Indians but not sure exactly what tribes. I guess Cherokee was the most prolific in those areas though. My great grandmother was definitely Irish/Indian and looked it! Her parents were born/married in VA before migrating to KY.
Melungeons inherently are of European, African, and Native American descent. Most Native Americans (particularly in the East) have European ancestry. Many actually have more European than Native ancestry so that does not make the Native/white mix a distinct group. The culture formed by the tri-racial population in the backdrop of an overwhelmingly white Appalachia makes the Melungeons distinct.
In Virginia, the Mattaponi and Chickahominy tribes are largely tri-racial. But because they identify as Native American and aren't attempting to pass as white their heritage isn't really debated. But in the South, to be of any discernable African heritage was a permanent consignment to slavery or inferior, segregated Jim Crow social status (see: Susie Phipps (http://aad.english.ucsb.edu/docs/Omi-Winant.html - broken link)). In many places in the coastal and piedmont South, Native Americans refused education rather than attended colored schools and obtain the social stigma of "black". When Virginia forced racial designations on its citizenry in 1910, black and white were the only two options.
But true Melungeons are unique because even mild African and Native traits were highly visible in the almost exclusively white Appalachia, notably after the black populations were run out of the small towns and rural areas of Appalachia and clustered in Charleston, Roanoke, Lexington, Pittsburgh, etc. After the intense racialization of the 20th century, I'm curious as to whether Melungeons continue to identify themselves as a distinct group or identify as being "white" if they are able to.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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This is said to be an actual picture of my Cherokee ancestor, Ellender Feathers. (Actually a charcoal drawing). She was born in what is today Estill County KY and died on Black Mountain in 1850
My wife's family is from West Virginia from many years ago but some of them do look Native Americans even though they called themselves Italian. Back then in Kansas and other states, it was safer to pass yourself as an European than as a NA or else, you would pay for it one way or other. My wife is still trying to figure it all out. On the Genealogy, Family Trees and Family History Records online - Ancestry.com website...so far no luck.
There certainly were many Italians working in the West Virginia coal mines, but many isolates of indigenous descent as well
Quote:
Originally Posted by censusdata
There was dna testing done a few years ago and it showed them to be one third white, one third black, and one third indian. Many expected them to be have Arab dna, thinking they descended from Moorish prisoners that Spain released off the East Coast in the 1500s.
Quote:
Originally Posted by simplesouthernman
I think your best source for info on Melungeons is The University of Viginia at Wise. I believe that is where the annual Melungeon gathering is held. If I were a betting man I would bet that DNA evidence will show a Moor ancestry. Great topic OP.
Yes, they were organized by M Brent Kennedy, a professor there if I remember correctly.
I've heard their descent includes the Lost Colony of Roanoke, moors and Jews who fled the Spanish Inquisition, Turkish prisoners dropped off along the southeastern seaboard by Sir Francis Drake as well as runaway slaves, Portuguese (or "portugee" as they referred to themselves when questioned by the encroaching English and Scots-Irish settlers) and indigenous peoples.
Many of their most common surnames sound Irish.
Quote:
Originally Posted by censusdata
I'd say nearly all Melungeons have at least some African ancestry. They were known to take in runaway slaves from the flatlands. In cases where the suffered persecution by Whites than were even known to raid plantations and take the slaves back in the hills with them. Remember many Melengeons claimed "Black Dutch" ancestry to explain their dark features while passing as White.
I also agree that most Kentuckians have at least some Indian ancestry. Remember that most people here share at least several common ancestors over the past 200 years, so if one guy back then married an Indian then all the thousands (maybe millions) of descendants have that Indian blood in them.
I strongly suspect my father (who died when I was 1) is more than 1/32nd Indian, which is all I have confirmed. He looks like he just landed on a ship from Sicily with his bronze skin and jet black hair. I know his family tree is mostly Scottish, English, and Welsh so there's got to be some more Indian/ Melungeon in there some where! (He has a comparable complexion to my aunt's husband who is nearly a full blooded Cherokee)
Goins is a common Melguneon surname in Eastern TN, Western VA, and Eastern KY. Other common last names are Collins, Moore, Mullins, etc. Geography is another factor. Due to discrimination most Melguneons who couldn't pass as White grouped together in several areas, most notably around Pound, VA and Sneedville TN. Multiple generations of my dad's family lived very close to Pound VA.
My mother is 3/4 of German & Alsatian catholic descent, and inherits an olive complexion from her mother (half German/Alsatian through her own mother, whose own swarthiness must go back to Roman times or possibly even a strain of Gypsy (Romani.) My maternal grandmother's father, whose family had many run-ins from the law and migrated between the states of Ohio and Kentucky (wherever work could be found I guess, or perhaps something else) had a father (my GG grandfather) of untraceable parentage who was born in Mount Sterling KY in the 1840's that looks melungeon in the photo I have of him, or so I theorized back in the 1990's. Only thing is, his last name was "Berkely," not one of the surnames listed. He may just have some indigenous blood. I found his wife did have some Welsh though.
Melungeons inherently are of European, African, and Native American descent. Most Native Americans (particularly in the East) have European ancestry. Many actually have more European than Native ancestry so that does not make the Native/white mix a distinct group. The culture formed by the tri-racial population in the backdrop of an overwhelmingly white Appalachia makes the Melungeons distinct.
In Virginia, the Mattaponi and Chickahominy tribes are largely tri-racial. But because they identify as Native American and aren't attempting to pass as white their heritage isn't really debated. But in the South, to be of any discernable African heritage was a permanent consignment to slavery or inferior, segregated Jim Crow social status (see: Susie Phipps (http://aad.english.ucsb.edu/docs/Omi-Winant.html - broken link)). In many places in the coastal and piedmont South, Native Americans refused education rather than attended colored schools and obtain the social stigma of "black". When Virginia forced racial designations on its citizenry in 1910, black and white were the only two options.
But true Melungeons are unique because even mild African and Native traits were highly visible in the almost exclusively white Appalachia, notably after the black populations were run out of the small towns and rural areas of Appalachia and clustered in Charleston, Roanoke, Lexington, Pittsburgh, etc. After the intense racialization of the 20th century, I'm curious as to whether Melungeons continue to identify themselves as a distinct group or identify as being "white" if they are able to.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
11,974 posts, read 25,476,450 times
Reputation: 12187
^ The "Italians" in Southern Italy are dark because they mixed with the Arab located across the Mediterranean! The people on the Italian/ Swiss border are as White as vanilla ice cream.
To Steelers10: NO most "Melungeons" don't self identify, they strive very hard to be European Americans. One of my aunts married a man with "Black Dutch" (and Welsh, etc) ancestry. His sister about went bizerk when looking at census data that said their grandmother was "Black Dutch". She totally stopped working on the family tree in disgust!
The reality is despite our nation's history of "one drop" laws and scorn at the
mestizo" Mexicans, many "White" Americans have Indian, Arab, or even African ancestry. This is especially true here in Kentucky. It is less true for post Civil War immigrants, but if they marry a "CeltIndiAnglo" (Celtic + Indian + Anglo) American their children will have that "mestizo" blood too!
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