Collins cousins, If you have any COLLINS ancestors in or around Pulaski county, AR between 1900 and 1910, PLEASE post to me - I need your help, and will gladly watch out for yours! Thanks!! Carol Carol Carwile-Head cch@netdoor.com
Sorry for the delayed response. I have an 'Immigrant-in-common' with Joe Cornwell but there may be some other connections of interest. I can also supply some ancestry on several of the listed spouses and am VERY interested in any ancestral data anyone can share! DESCENDANT REPORT: 1. Henry COLLINS Birth Date: 1606 Birth Place: ENG Death Date: 20 Feb 1687 Death Place: Lynn, Essex Co, MA Notes: Birth year and place, spouse's given name, children, death date and place per:Collins, Capt George Knapp..."Descendants of John Collins of Charlestown, RI...",Author (1901),BYU Lib.,(f)CS43.G46X G5030, (file #0449). Sailed from London to MA on the ship, "Abigail" 30 Jun 1635 with wife, four children and five servants. They settled on Essex Street in Lynn, MA. He was a Starchmaker. Ship list showing family, ages & his occupation per: Tepper, Michael, "New World Immigrants", Genealogical Publishing Co, Baltimore (1979), SLC FHL, CD#9 Pt170, (file #0479). Spouse: Ann Birth Date: 1605 Birth Place: ENG Death Date: About 1690 Death Place: Lynn, MA Spouse Notes: Birth year and place, spouse, children, death year and place per: Collins, Capt George Knapp..."Descendants of John Collins of Charlestown, RI...", Author (1901),BYU Lib.,(f)CS43.G46X G5030, (file #0449). Children: Henry John Margery Joseph 1.1 Henry COLLINS Jr Birth Date: 1630 Birth Place: ENG Notes: Parentage, birth year and place per: Ibid 1.2 John COLLINS Birth Date: 1632 Birth Place: ENG Death Date: 1679 Death Place: At Sea, (with son John) Notes: LDS Ancestral File ID Numbers: 9N8Z-1N & P17H-1Q Parentage, birth year and place, spouse, children, death year and place per: Ibid Spouse: Abigail JOHNSON Birth Date: 1644 Birth Place: Lynn, Essex, MA Spouse Notes: LDS Ancestral File . ID Numbers: K1F2-TK & P17H-2W Parentage, spouse, children per: Ibid Marriage Date: About 1656 Marriage Place: Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts Children: Mary John Samuel Abigail John (2nd) Joseph Elizabeth Benjamin Mary (2nd) Daniel Nathaniel Hannah Sarah Lois Alice William "John" 1.2.1 Mary COLLINS Birth Date: 26 Nov 1656 Birth Place: Lynn, Essex Co, MA Death Date: 27 Feb 1657 Death Place: Lynn, Essex Co, MA Notes: Parentage, birth date and place, death date and place per:Ibid 1.2.2 John COLLINS Birth Date: 17 Dec 1657 Birth Place: Lynn, Essex Co, MA Death Date: 27 Dec 1657 Death Place: Lynn, Essex Co, MA Notes: Parentage, birth date and place, death date and place per:Ibid 1.2.3 Samuel COLLINS Birth Date: 19 May 1659 Birth Place: Lynn, Essex Co, MA Notes: Parentage, birth date and place, spouses given name, some children per: Ibid 1.2.4 Abigail COLLINS Birth Date: 23 Mar 1661 Birth Place: Lynn, Essex Co, MA Notes: Parentage, birth date and place per: Ibid 1.2.5 John (2nd) COLLINS Birth Date: 10 Sep 1662 Birth Place: Lynn, Essex Co, MA Death Date: 1679 Death Place: At Sea Notes: Parentage, birth date and place, death date and place per:Ibid 1.2.6 Joseph COLLINS Birth Date: 6 Jun 1664 Birth Place: Lynn, Essex Co, MA Notes: Parentage, birth date and place per: Ibid 1.2.7 Elizabeth COLLINS Birth Date: 8 Apr 1666 Birth Place: Lynn, Essex Co, MA Notes: Parentage, birth date and place per: Ibid 1.2.8 Benjamin COLLINS Birth Date: 19 Sep 1667 Birth Place: Lynn, Essex Co, MA Notes: Parentage, birth date and place per:Ibid 1.2.9 Mary (2nd) COLLINS Birth Date: 20 Feb 1670 Birth Place: Lynn, Essex Co, MA Notes: Parentage, birth date and place per:Ibid 1.2.10 Daniel COLLINS Birth Date: 3 Mar 1671 Birth Place: Lynn, Essex Co, MA Notes: Parentage, birth date and place, spouse, death date and place per: Ibid 1.2.11 Nathaniel COLLINS Birth Date: 1 Apr 1672 Birth Place: Lynn, Essex Co, MA Notes: Parentage, birth date and place per:Ibid 1.2.12 Hannah COLLINS Birth Date: 26 Apr 1674 Birth Place: Lynn, Essex Co, MA Notes: Parentage, birth date and place per:Ibid 1.2.13 Sarah COLLINS Birth Date: 28 Dec 1675 Birth Place: Lynn, Essex Co, MA Notes: Parentage, birth date and place, death date per: Ibid 1.2.14 Lois COLLINS Birth Date: 19 May 1677 Birth Place: Lynn, Essex Co, MA Notes: Parentage, birth date and place per:Ibid 1.2.15 Alice COLLINS Birth Date: 30 Apr 1678 Birth Place: Lynn, Essex Co, MA Notes: Parentage, birth date and place per:Ibid 1.2.16 William "John" COLLINS Birth Date: 28 Jun 1679 Birth Place: Lynn, Essex Co, MA Death Date: 20 May 1775 Death Place: Charleston, Washington Co, RI Notes: LDS Ancestral File . ZKQK-9B Parentage, birth date and place, spouse, children, death date and place per: Ibid His Mother renamed him John after his father, John, and brother, John, died in a shipwreck at sea the same year he was born. Spouse: Susanna DAGGETT Birth Date: 1685 Birth Place: Saco, ME Death Date: 14 Jan 1753 Death Place: Charleston, Washington Co, RI Spouse Notes: LDS Ancestral File . ZKQK-BH Parentage, birth year & place, spouse, marriage date & place per: Doggett, Samuel Bradlee,"A History of the Doggett-Daggett Family", Gateway Press, Baltimore (1973),SLC FHL,929.273 D677d, (file #0448). Parentage, birth year and place, spouse, children, death date and place per: Collins, Capt George Knapp..."Descendants of John Collins of Charlestown, RI...",Author (1901),BYU Lib.,(f)CS43.G46X G5030, (file #0449). Marriage Date: 13 Jan 1703/1704 Marriage Place: Lynn, Essex Co, MA Children: Rebecca Hezekiah Sarah Jedediah Lydia John Ebenezer Benjamin Samuel Abigail 1.2.16.1 Rebecca COLLINS Birth Date: About 1707 Birth Place: <Lynn, Essex Co, Ma> Notes: LDS Ancestral File . 15JV-34X 1.2.16.2 Hezekiah COLLINS Birth Date: 18 Oct 1707 Birth Place: Westerly, RI Death Date: 10 Oct 1775 Death Place: Hopkinton, RI Notes: LDS Ancestral File . 10X8-3SH Spouse: Catherine Hosena GIFFORD Spouse Notes: LDS Ancestral File . 10X8-3TP Marriage Date: 6 Nov 1735 Marriage Place: Westerly, RI 1.2.16.3 Sarah COLLINS Birth Date: 18 Jun 1709 Birth Place: <Westerly, RI> Notes: LDS Ancestral File . 15JV-355 1.2.16.4 Jedediah COLLINS Birth Date: 5 Nov 1711 Birth Place: <Westerly, RI> Notes: LDS Ancestral File . 15JV-36C 1.2.16.5 Lydia COLLINS Birth Date: 1714 Birth Place: Westerly, RI Death Date: 20 Nov 1809 Death Place: Waterford, Conn Notes: LDS Ancestral File . ZKQK-CN Spouse: William GORTON Spouse Notes: LDS Ancestral File . ZKQL-13 Marriage Date: 1736 1.2.16.6 John COLLINS Birth Date: 21 Mar 1716 Birth Place: Charlestown, RI Death Date: 1 Oct 1778 Death Place: Stonington, CT Notes: LDS Ancestral File . 11C2-TP5 Children's birth dates, spouse's given name per: Arnold, James N., "Vital Record of Rhode Island 1650-1850", Vol 5, General Assembly, Providence (1984), SLC FHL, 974.5 V2a V5, (file #0473). Spouse: Mehitable BOWEN Birth Date: 22 Aug 1725 Birth Place: Rehoboth, Bristol, MA Spouse Notes: LDS Ancestral File .15JV-549 Parents, birth date & place, per: Chaffee, William H.,"The Chaffee Genealogy ...",Grafton Press, NY (1909),SLC FHL,1015848 It 2, (file #0441). Name spelled Mehitabel. BUT, this source says she married Caleb CARR 28 Mar 1755. ??? Parentage, birth date and place, marriage date, spouse (John COLLINS), children, death date and place per: Collins, Capt George Knapp..."Descendants of John Collins of Charlestown, RI...",Author (1901),BYU Lib.,(f)CS43.G46X G5030, (file #0449). [I chose to accept the Capt George Collins version as he was recording his own lineage andgives much more detail and history.] Birth date recorded with parents'names per: "Vital Records of Rehoboth - 1642-1895", SLC FHL, 974.485/RI V2a Pt2, (file #0453). Marriage Date: 15 Mar 1744 Children: John Susanna Amos Benjamin Samuel Sarah Abigail Stephen Ruth 1.2.16.6.1 John COLLINS Birth Date: 2 Apr 1745 Birth Place: Charlestown, RI Notes: Parentage, birth date and place, spouses per:Collins, Capt George Knapp ..."Descendants of John Collins of Charlestown, RI...",Author (1901), BYU Lib.,(f)CS43.G46X G5030, (file #0449). 1.2.16.6.2 Susanna COLLINS Birth Date: 5 Feb 1747 Birth Place: Charlestown, RI Notes: Parentage, birth date and place per:Ibid 1.2.16.6.3 Amos COLLINS Birth Date: 16 Jul 1749 Birth Place: Charlestown, RI Notes: Parentage, birth date and place, spouse per:Collins, Capt George Knapp ..."Descendants of John Collins of Charlestown, RI...",Author (1901), BYU Lib.,(f)CS43.G46X G5030, (file #0449). 1.2.16.6.4 Benjamin COLLINS Birth Date: 16 Sep 1751 Birth Place: Charlestown, RI Death Date: 3 Apr 1840 Death Place: Lincoln Township, Morrow Co., OH Burial Place: Lincoln Township, Morrow Co., OH Notes: Occupation: New York State Militia, 1779-1783. Moved to Conn. then to Junius, New York, then to Saratoga, New York before enlisting; later to Ohio. See also AF#KFBH-KH-6, b 10 AUG 1751, Salisbury, Essex, MA. Is this same Benjamin?? Parentage, birth date and place per: Collins, Capt George Knapp, "Descendants of John Collins of Charlestown, RI...",Author (1901), BYU Lib., (f)CS43.G46X G5030, (file #0449). Parentage & birth date and place per: Arnold, James N., "Vital Record of Rhode Island 1650-1850", Vol 5, General Assembly, Providence (1984), SLC FHL, 974.5 V2a V5, (file #0473). Spouse: Elizabeth FOSTER Death Place: Delaware Co., OH Burial Place: Woodbury Cem., Delaware Co., OH Spouse Notes: According to Harold Berresford Hubbell, Jr & D.S. Hubbell, "History & Genealogy of the Hubbell Family", 3rd Ed, The Hubbell Family Historical Soc, 1980, SLC FH Lib # 929.273 H861hh; Mother of this family was Thankful ____? Children: Elizabeth 1.2.16.6.4.1 Elizabeth COLLINS Birth Place: NY Death Date: 1854 Spouse: Ephriam HUBBELL Birth Date: About 1770/1772 Birth Place: CT Spouse Notes: See "History of Hubbell Family", Walter Hubbell, 1915, p 231. Marriage Date: 1794 Marriage Place: CT Divorced: Children: Anna Shadrach Asa Hannah Elizabeth Manassah COLLINS Ada Mehitabel (Hetty) Ephriam 1.2.16.6.4.1.1 Anna HUBBELL Birth Date: 1795 Birth Place: CT Death Date: 1874 Notes: Married Edmund Breck,1815, Cardington, Ohio. 1.2.16.6.4.1.2 Shadrach HUBBELL Birth Date: Oct 1797 Birth Place: Washington, NY Notes: Married Rebecca Randolph. 1.2.16.6.4.1.3 Asa HUBBELL Birth Date: 1799 Death Date: Sep 1820 1.2.16.6.4.1.4 Hannah HUBBELL Birth Date: 1801 Death Date: 1836 Notes: Married James McConica, 24 JAN 1821. 1.2.16.6.4.1.5 Elizabeth HUBBELL Birth Date: 31 Dec 1803 Birth Place: Seneca Co., NY Death Date: 13 Jan 1899 Death Place: Kinbrae, MN Notes: Sister, Anna Hubbell, married Edmund Buck, Cardington, Morrow Co., Ohio. Family came to Western Reserve, Ohio. Much data from family sources and research done by Elizabeth Shellabarger ( Additional details of ancestry from: Harold Berresford Hubbell, Jr & D.S. Hubbell, "History & Genealogy of the Hubbell Family", 3rd Ed, The Hubbell Family Historical Soc, 1980, SLC FH Lib # 929.273 H861hh. Spouse: Appleton (PVT-1812) SNELL Birth Date: 19 Feb 1796 Birth Place: ME? Death Date: 10 May 1864 Death Place: MA Spouse Notes: In Blackhawk War. Pvt. in Co. I, Marine Militia, War of 1812. Marriage Date: 11 Jan 1821 Marriage Place: Delaware Co., OH Children: Elizabeth Mary E Irene Julette Anna Buck William Appleton Lydia E. Isaiah 1.2.16.6.4.1.6 Manassah COLLINS HUBBELL Birth Date: 1806 Birth Place: Seneca, NY Death Date: 28 Dec 1884 Notes: Married Philena Breck, 20 NOV 1827. 1.2.16.6.4.1.7 Ada HUBBELL Birth Date: 1808 Notes: Married Eli Johnson JUN 1822. 1.2.16.6.4.1.8 Mehitabel (Hetty) HUBBELL Birth Date: 1811 Death Date: 1854 Notes: Married Joseph Moshier. 1.2.16.6.4.1.9 Ephriam HUBBELL Birth Date: 1813 Notes: Married (1) Sarah Ann Howard (2) Rachel Cloud 1.2.16.6.5 Samuel COLLINS Birth Date: 6 Dec 1756 Birth Place: Charlestown, RI Notes: Parentage, birth date and place, death date and place per:Ibid 1.2.16.6.6 Sarah COLLINS Birth Date: 6 Dec 1756 Birth Place: Charlestown, RI Notes: Parentage, birth date and place, moved to Brookfield with brother Stephen per: Collins, Capt George Knapp..."Descendants of John Collins of Charlestown, RI...",Author (1901),BYU Lib.,(f)CS43.G46X G5030, (file #0449). 1.2.16.6.7 Abigail COLLINS Birth Date: 6 Apr 1760 Birth Place: Stonington, CT Notes: Parentage, birth date and place per:Ibid 1.2.16.6.8 Stephen COLLINS Birth Date: 6 Feb 1763 Birth Place: Stonington, CT Notes: Parentage, birth date and place per:Ibid 1.2.16.6.9 Ruth COLLINS Birth Date: 20 Jul 1765 Birth Place: Stonington, CT Notes: Parentage, birth date and place per:Ibid 1.2.16.7 Ebenezer COLLINS Birth Date: 1718 Birth Place: Salisbury, Essex, MA Notes: LDS Ancestral File . 15JV-38R Spouse: Sarah FLINT Spouse Notes: LDS Ancestral File . 1636-MGQ 1.2.16.8 Benjamin COLLINS Birth Date: About 1720 Birth Place: <Salisbury, Essex, Ma> Notes: LDS Ancestral File . KF9P-NQ-6 Spouse: Mehitable Worcester Children: Samuel 1.2.16.8.1 Samuel COLLINS Birth Date: 12 Nov 1730 Birth Place: Salisbury, Essex, MA 1.2.16.9 Samuel COLLINS Birth Date: About 1722 Birth Place: <Salisbury, Essex, Ma> Notes: LDS Ancestral File .15JV-3B6 1.2.16.10 Abigail COLLINS Birth Date: About 1724 Birth Place: <Salisbury, Essex, Ma> Notes: LDS Ancestral File .15JV-3CD 1.3 Margery COLLINS Birth Date: 1633 Birth Place: ENG Notes: Parentage, birth year and place per:Ibid Came to America with family. 1.4 Joseph COLLINS Birth Date: 1635 Birth Place: aboard ship or, Lynn, MA Notes: Parentage, birth year and place per:Ibid Index COLLINS, Abigail 1.2.16.10 COLLINS, Abigail 1.2.16.6.7 COLLINS, Abigail 1.2.4 COLLINS, Alice 1.2.15 COLLINS, Amos 1.2.16.6.3 COLLINS, Benjamin 1.2.16.6.4 COLLINS, Benjamin 1.2.16.8 COLLINS, Benjamin 1.2.8 COLLINS, Daniel 1.2.10 COLLINS, Ebenezer 1.2.16.7 COLLINS, Elizabeth 1.2.16.6.4.1 COLLINS, Elizabeth 1.2.7 COLLINS, Hannah 1.2.12 COLLINS, Henry 1. COLLINS, Henry Jr 1.1 COLLINS, Hezekiah 1.2.16.2 COLLINS, Jedediah 1.2.16.4 COLLINS, John 1.2 COLLINS, John 1.2.16.6 COLLINS, John 1.2.16.6.1 COLLINS, John 1.2.2 COLLINS, John (2nd) 1.2.5 COLLINS, Joseph 1.2.6 COLLINS, Joseph 1.4 COLLINS, Lois 1.2.14 COLLINS, Lydia 1.2.16.5 COLLINS, Margery 1.3 COLLINS, Mary 1.2.1 COLLINS, Mary (2nd) 1.2.9 COLLINS, Nathaniel 1.2.11 COLLINS, Rebecca 1.2.16.1 COLLINS, Ruth 1.2.16.6.9 COLLINS, Samuel 1.2.16.6.5 COLLINS, Samuel 1.2.16.8.1 COLLINS, Samuel 1.2.16.9 COLLINS, Samuel 1.2.3 COLLINS, Sarah 1.2.13 COLLINS, Sarah 1.2.16.3 COLLINS, Sarah 1.2.16.6.6 COLLINS, Stephen 1.2.16.6.8 COLLINS, Susanna 1.2.16.6.2 COLLINS, William "John" 1.2.16 HUBBELL, Ada 1.2.16.6.4.1.7 HUBBELL, Anna 1.2.16.6.4.1.1 HUBBELL, Asa 1.2.16.6.4.1.3 HUBBELL, Elizabeth 1.2.16.6.4.1.5 HUBBELL, Ephriam 1.2.16.6.4.1.9 HUBBELL, Hannah 1.2.16.6.4.1.4 HUBBELL, Manassah COLLINS 1.2.16.6.4.1.6 HUBBELL, Mehitabel (Hetty) 1.2.16.6.4.1.8 HUBBELL, Shadrach 1.2.16.6.4.1.2
My computer was soen from Tuesday until Saturday. They promised it would be fixed in one day. They lied. If you sent something important, please let me know. Thanks, Frances Peoples
Fyi - saw this on the soc.genealogy.surnames.usa COLLINS; NJ,USA; c.1810 Looking for ancestors of Richard Collins who married Betsy???. her DOB was 7/27/1811. His father's name may have been ZebulonBetsy died 5/3/1890. They lived in Lacey Township,Ocean County NJ. This at one time was part of Monmouth County. Janice Sherwood-Jsher0001@bowlingpin.com
fyi COLLINS Frederick Henry; LND,ENG; b. 1852 I am looking for the parents of Frederick Henry Collins, born in London, Middlesex, England in about 1852. In the 1881 census he was at High Street, Rochester St. Margaret's, Kent. His wife Louisa Ella Caroline Power was born in about 1852 in the USA. I am also looking for her parents and the date and place of her marriage. I have the following children listed but there are more: Henry Stanley 1875 Frederick W 1876 Alice Mabel 1877 Tristam Sidney 1879 Stuart C 1881 Muriel Olive 1885 Herbert Graham 1887 Most of the family emigrated to South Africa between 1895 and 1900. I would appreciate any help offered. Robin Griffiths Tel/Fax: +27 (0)31 5731729 38 Longwoods Drive email: griffrob@mweb.co.za Glenhills Durban North 4051 South Africa
Hi, I'm new to the list. I'm searching for info on the parents of Susan Jane Collins who married Elijah Hargis in either Webster or Ozark CO. in the late 1890's or early 1900's. Their first child was born in 1902. Particularly interested in any Indian heritage on this side of the family. Linda (InjunCutie@aol.com)
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Daniel COLLINS d. 1919, Hopkinton ,Ma. son Thomas d. 1939, granson Daniel J. b. 1892 d. 1960. Worcester, Ma. other names are: McCollum, Leonard.
I am looking for information on Watson Collins and his wife Mary. He was living in Texas from abt 1850 until his death. Watson was born about 1813 in Tennessee and was living in Coffee Co., Tennessee in 1840
VA Collins researchers: Thomas Collins wrote his Will in Spots, 1748/49 (Book A - page 480). Thomas was the son of John Collins of K & Q Co. VA who had already deceased by this date. Thomas paid debts to his brother John Collins Jr. and his son, Edmund. There was also a Joseph Collins deceased by 1748 living in this part of VA with sons, William of Essex and George of K & Q. Please tell me if you are researching any of these early Collins family in this area of VA. Jeffrey L. Martin martin@fairind.com http://www.angelfire.com/tx/lineage/index.html
I am looking for information on my grandfather, Benjamin Kenneth Collins who lived in the Staunton, VA area and married Myrtle Day. They had a daughter, Treva Collins (my mother), who was born in Staunton. Kenneth died abt. 1917-1920; however, I don't know where.... (Calvin) Collins Pippin
Hello Everyone, Does anyone have any information on John & Mariah Collins who were listed on the 1880 Perry Co. Ky census as follows; John Collins 34 Mariah 46 Archelos 14 Hiram 13 George W. 11 Ellender 8 Elisha 6 Anything will be appreciated Jim jjackson@comteck.com
Hi all, I see that the Melungeon article was in the Dayton Daily News. I assume that is Dayton, Ohio. It also appeared in The Virginian-Pilot in Hampton Roads Virginia, which is Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Hampton and Newport News. Wondering if it was in most other papers of the area states. Betty.
Here is the article I spoke of.. Thanks to Nancy who sent it to me already typed. Cindy Melungeons Exist in Appalachians .c The Associated Press By TED ANTHONY NASH HOME PLACE, Va. (AP) - He always believed them. No reason not to. Kennedy was his name, and of course Scotch-Irish was his background - a self-reliant lineage straight back to the cool hills of western Europe, people who took to Appalachia's ridges with vigor and verve. Intrepid mountaineers. But this illness, this thing that threatened to consume his body and hijack his control - well, it just didn't fit. Not at all. An odd malady common in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern people? How did it invade him, of all people? No time to worry about it, though. Other things were more pressing: The unbearable agony in his bones. The lungs that couldn't grab enough air. The grotesquely swollen legs. The panic. The wife and young son. Explanations be damned. He resigned himself to those months of injections and treatment and pain. He thought he might die. Then he got better, and curiosity begat obsession. Middle Eastern, Mediterranean - did that have some connection to the unexplained olive skin, swarthy features and bright blue eyes that his family, and others up on Coeburn and Stone mountains, had exhibited for generations? To the fact that his brother, improbably, was a dead ringer for Saddam Hussein? Maybe, he mused, it was part of a bigger story. He began asking questions. About his parents' parents' parents. About those shy, raggedy folks with shining eyes who'd come out of the woods now and then. About an odd word he'd always heard. About history. About race. About community. The questions brought him here, to a mountainside graveyard filled with souls who spent their lives ashamed of who they were. Brent Kennedy, whose own eyes shine, wanted - needed - answers. It was the beginning of his new calling - and of something far more. One word. One lousy word. An obscure word. A powerful word, uttered over the centuries in confusion, derision and, most recently, pride. Melungeon. One word. And behind it, a tapestry of truth and possibility, of people wanting to be what they're not and not wanting to be what they are. Of understanding your life by owning a chunk of your past. Basic things. Complicated things. For 300 years, racial, social and cultural stigmas made second-class citizens of anyone in this region who was branded with that one word. Scattered in pockets through the mountains, they sat at the bottom of the white trash pile - discriminated against, denounced, denied voting rights, branded ``colored'' by the government in the days when that was a fighting word. But why? What was - what is - a Melungeon? The short answer: Nobody's quite sure. This much is known about the people called Melungeons (rhymes with dungeons): Today many are concentrated in southwestern Virginia, eastern Kentucky and eastern Tennessee. They have been derided for where they live (the hills), how they live (often poorly), how they are named (Mullins, Collins, Goins, Roberson, etc.). And then there's this. Unseemly, politically incorrect even, but here it is: Though they fit our nation's modern definition of white, many with Melungeon ancestry just plain look different from the majority of white folks around here. Long, regal noses, dusky faces, jet-black hair, shining blue eyes. One glimpse can evoke foreign lands, strange tongues. Were they originally Spanish? There has long been talk - some of it bolstered by fact, some rampant speculation - that survivors of Santa Elena, a Spanish colony on the South Carolina coast in the 1500s, forged inland and settled in the hills. Were they Turkish or North African? Both the Turkish ``melun can'' and the Arabic ``malun jinn'' mean ``outcast'' or ``accursed soul.'' Were Turkish slaves from Spanish ships abandoned on the coast to work their way to Appalachia? Or were they Portuguese? Early Melungeons, discovered by Scotch-Irish settlers in the mid-18th century, reportedly spoke broken Elizabethan English and described themselves simply as ``Portyghee.'' The prevailing academic theory offers an equally slapdash, though less romantic, origin. It suggests Melungeons are descended from ``tri-racial isolates,'' a mixture of whites, blacks and American Indians who historians say interbred along Appalachia's ridges during the 18th century. The tantalizing speculations go on, culled from old documents and stories passed down: Spaniards living in a mining community in the southern Alleghenies in 1654. Hints of Catholicism, Judaism, even Islam. Refugees from Sir Francis Drake's ship. Moors and the Spanish Inquisition. American Indian words that inexplicably mirror Turkic words. So many clues. So little incontrovertible evidence. Pieces, interlocking, but no puzzle picture yet. Today, myth and fact are often inseparable. Abraham Lincoln, it's suggested, was a Melungeon through his mother, Nancy Hanks. And Elvis Presley - look at those dark poor-boy features. Classic Melungeon, some like to speculate. In Wise County, along the cloud-shrouded ridges of Stone and Coeburn mountains in southwestern Virginia, such notions have always been whispered or left unsaid. After all, in the pre-civil rights era, you didn't want to be related to Melungeons, to the ``Black Nashes'' or ``Black Ira'' or ``Spotted Dave.'' You didn't want to be pushed around in school by townies; just living on the mountain was stigma enough without being tagged a Melungeon. And you certainly didn't want a surname that caught W.A. Plecker's attention. Two generations ago, the Virginia state official compiled a list of common names that he deemed Melungeon (like Mullins, or Collins), then instructed local officials to sniff out these ``mixed families'' and prevent them from claiming American Indian ancestry as an ``aid to intermarriage into the white race.'' You didn't even want to poke into your own background; who knew what might turn up? Connie Clark, who teaches in the Wise schools and counts herself as a Melungeon, remembers in eighth grade being assigned to trace her family history - but to stop with her grandparents. ``I said, `What if we can go back farther?''' she recalls. ``And they said, `No - some people might not like what they find.''' Now here's the odd part: Today, though there remains passionately angry resistance, more and more people who believe they are Melungeon are going back farther. But now they like what they find. ``Want to feel my bump?'' Brent Kennedy asks. It is on the back of his head, and it is, he proposes, classically Central Asian - proof, along with a ridge behind his upper teeth, that such genes reside within his 47-year-old body, that he's not Scotch-Irish. A stretch? Even Kennedy acknowledges that possibility. But it speaks directly to what he's spent the 1990s trying to do: create, uncover, prove - use whatever verb you wish - similarities between people. Find shared history, common ground. Kennedy's ailments - sarcoidosis and suspected familial Mediterranean fever - halted his life. He gave up a big-time Atlanta PR job and moved back to Wise, his hometown, to become a college administrator. Like many who fall gravely ill, he shuffled priorities. What emerged from his crucible of pain and curiosity was a deep, abiding desire to learn why his family would never discuss being Melungeon, why his mother's people were called the ``Black Nashes,'' why the M-word still made many of his contemporaries bristle. So he went onto Stone Mountain and poked. He went onto Coeburn Mountain and pried. He alienated family members with questions; some even destroyed photos to prevent him from getting them. Burn in hell, one cousin told him. He found kindred spirits like Darlene Wilson, a gregarious doctoral student in history and the main Melungeon voice on the World Wide Web. Like Chester DePratter, an archaeologist excavating the Santa Elena ruins who - first tentatively, then enthusiastically - became part of the Melungeon investigation. Like Scott Collins, a Sneedville, Tenn., court official who has spent 25 years walking Newman's Ridge in eastern Tennessee and researching his Melungeon ancestry. Kennedy kept at it. He networked. He wrote letters; he got letters back - emotional letters, thank-you letters, hate letters, death threats. He helped form a committee (as college administrators do) composed of historians, anthropologists, geneticists, regular folks. A Spanish researcher, a Portuguese researcher, a Turkish researcher. ``Brent is running the whole gamut - from oral history to `real' history and into the realm of science,'' DePratter says. ``I do find myself having to caution him from time to time, but if he had been totally out there on the fringe, I never would have gotten involved.'' Then Kennedy wrote The Book. ``The Melungeons: The Resurrection of a Proud People'' resonated in all corners of Melungeondom. It left people on the two mountains aghast; Melungeon simply wasn't a word they discussed. In academia, Kennedy was either welcomed as a provocative kindred spirit or dismissed as a loose cannon who made conclusions, then sought facts. ``It was not written as history,'' Kennedy insists. ``The book is a manifesto.'' Not good enough for some. David Henige, an oral history expert at the University of Wisconsin, dismantled Kennedy's book in a recent critique. A believer in the ``tri-racial isolate'' theory, Henige attributes the Melungeon movement to people feeling inadequate and creating a ``mass attitude.'' ``It's an attempt - an unsuccessful one - to create history. Instead, it's created a myth,'' Henige says. ``This says something about human nature: It's nice to believe. That's what keeps religion going, isn't it?'' he says. ``This is like religion - faith with no proof.'' Proof or not, the faith is accelerating. This is what it has caused: The mayor of Cesme, Turkey, and his entourage have visited Wise County, endorsed the curiosity and promised help in exploring links between Melungeons and the possible Turkish ``melun can'' of so long ago. Even the Turkish World Research Foundation has gotten involved. This is what it has caused: Last year, a meeting of Melungeons called ``First Union'' was expected to draw 200, maybe 300 people. Nearly 1,000 showed up, jamming hotels. Second Union is set for next month. This, arguably, is what it has caused: A backlash against racial purity arguments, a grass-roots movement in a nation where almost all of the ``natives'' aren't natives. ``History has been sacrificed for much worse,'' says Rodger Lyle Brown, who wrote about southern nativist movements in his book, ``Ghost Dancing on the Cracker Circuit.'' ``It's as if they're saying, `This is what's inside of me, and what's inside me is all things,''' Brown says. ``It's as if the Melungeons contain the world.'' And this is what it has caused: Curiosity, anger, understanding. Friendships among people who never knew of each other. Families reunited; other families outraged at the temerity of unearthing something they worked so hard to bury. Neighbors talking to neighbors. Neighbors ignoring neighbors. Things that happen in a community. ``We are here! We are here! We are here! We are here!'' the microscopic residents of Whoville in Dr. Seuss' ``Horton Hears a Who,'' yelling in unison to persuade the regular-sized universe that their world exists upon a dust speck. Brent Kennedy's great-grandmother was a strong woman, a woman who could deal. To the day she died in October 1915, Louisa Hall Nash was known on Coeburn Mountain as two things - hospitable and tough. The smattering of houses called Nash Home Place is named for her people. She was, her descendants say, a Melungeon. Today her great-grandson comes to her grave for contemplation - as he has since he was four, when his mother first brought him to the monument-dappled hillside. ``Even then,'' he recalls, ``there was a sadness.'' Now, though Kennedy's shoes crunch through the same graveyard's grass, the ground he treads is different. Those who preceded him may have felt they were islands in an ocean of disdain, but now tens have become hundreds have become thousands - Sextons, Gipsons, Collinses, Robersons, Kennedys, random people who have heard of what's happening. People who want to belong. Carolyn Adkins, a young mother from Stone Mountain still hesitant about her Melungeon background, is getting involved, with her 13-year-old daughter Amanda, in Second Union. ``To all you people who ever put me down - I'm not as low as you thought I was,'' she says. And Connie Clark is teaching a new generation about the Melungeons. She looks at her pale hands and vows her own little push for progress. ``When that census comes around the next time,'' she says, ``I'm not going to put down `white.' I'll put down `other'.'' Kennedy wants to be buried here, though not just yet. He can imagine nothing more fitting than to come to an end alongside the people he is starting to understand. His people. He's glad he got sick, thankful his wife let him spend their life's savings on an obsession. History. Race. Community. A nascent extended family in which belief, not genetics, gets you through the front door. Yes, like a religion. And below it all, the pernicious questions that faith always raises: How do you tell a story without all the facts? And, without all the facts, should you ignore the story? Kennedy didn't. Wilson didn't. Collins didn't. And today, in the mountains of southwestern Virginia, eastern Tennessee and eastern Kentucky, almost everyone who wants to be a Melungeon can find a reason, and the paucity of hard facts makes it almost impossible to exclude anyone. The pegs whittle themselves to fit the hole. And why not? You could say this lesson - what Darlene Wilson calls the ``incredible mosaic'' - is a fitting development for an America mixing like never before. What Brent Kennedy envisions is a new kind of ethnicity - one based not upon race or color or background but upon shared experience and history. Or, his critics would say, upon shoddy methodology and wishful thinking. ``I don't care who we are. I just believe that we need to KNOW who we are,'' Kennedy says. ``However they did it, they got here. And their genes are here,'' he says. ``So when someone says to me, `Without doubt you're Scotch-Irish,' and I'm sitting here with all these physical traits and all these clues and this illness - well, don't tell me that. Somehow the genes are here.'' Maybe the blurriness isn't a shortcoming; perhaps it's exactly the point. Something unusual happened here long ago, but the truth may be eternally elusive. History may have washed it away and, impishly, left behind only the clues for a vast genetic-anthropological Easter egg hunt. It may be that questions, not answers, are what matter most. And still there are these people. Call them what you will, they exist - abundant pockets of dark features and shining eyes and sad lineages and unanswered questions. And even if they lack a common past, they are forging a common present. A new race? Perhaps, perhaps not. A new history? Hard to say; many more facts are needed. But a new community? You'd be hard-pressed to say otherwise. Because, conclude what you will about their origins, today some of them are shouting together. And the shouts are being heard. The Melungeons, whatever, whoever they may be, are here. They are loudly, passionately, indisputably, irreversibly here. AP-NY-06-06-98 1154EDT Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press. --------- End forwarded message ---------- _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
Hi all. There was an interesting article on genealogy , the Collins family and Melungeons in our Sunday paper. It was quiet a large article and very interesting. It talked of Mr Kennedy's works, etc. Just wondering if anyone is interested in what it said. I guess I could type it in small parts and send it to the list. Any other suggestions?? Cindy Parish Steeley ____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
Hi all. There was an interesting article on genealogy , the Collins family and Melungeons in our Sunday paper. It was quiet a large article and very interesting. It talked of Mr Kennedy's works, etc. Just wondering if anyone is interested in what it said. I guess I could type it in small parts and send it to the list. Any other suggestions?? Cindy Parish Steeley _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
LINKS TO IMPORTANT WEB-SITES - here are some hot-links to great webpages which either have important info and/or lists of ships or passenger lists! Check out our previous Online Digests and/or searchable database of messages. You will find many of your questions have already been answered and also links to MANY sites containing passenger lists/lists of ships and other important emigration information. TheShipsList Searchable Archives Database http://www.chignecto.net/TheShipsList TheShipsList Digest's On-Line at: http://www.cimorelli.com/ShipsList/digest Tony Cimorelli's Searchable Database of Ship Arrivals (Contains the complete Morton Allan Directory of Ship Arrivals) http://www.cimorelli.com/vbclient/Shipmenu.htm Lou Alfano's Database of Ship Description's and Histories http://www.fortunecity.com/littleitaly/amalfi/13/ships.htm Solem and Swiggum Database of Norwegian Ships http://digidesk.jbi.hioslo.no/~emigrant/index.htm Cyndi's List - Over 26,000 Genealogy links in over 70 categories! http://www.CyndisList.com National Archives and Records Administration - Genealogy Section http://www.nara.gov/genealogy/
If anyone would like a marriage lookup, I'll be happy to do it, should I have info for that particular county. Please specify a particular surname ( My eyes are starting to cross looking at these files <VBG>), and the county in which I would find them. Please, Please, Please!!! Put LOOKUP in the subject section of the mail. My delete button has been going crazy these last few days, and I missed a few emails. If you do not hear from me within the next few days, please resend the email. I will reply as to whether I have the information or not, so if you don't hear from me, I missed your email. Have a great week everyone, Debbie
COLLINS, Maggie Lillian marr. BARRY, Richard M on 21-APR-1892 COLLINS, Martha L O marr. JOHNSON, Samuel B on 16-NOV-1876 COLLINS, Martha Serena marr. BEAL, Robt A on 14-JAN-1988 COLLINS, Mary marr. CHASE, Wm on 16-OCT-1882 COLLINS, Mary marr. PRESLEY, Wm on 16-MAY-1870 COLLINS, Mary marr. SCOTT, Joshua on 31-DEC-1888 COLLINS, Mary C marr. ARMSTRONG, Alfred L on 01-JAN-1895 COLLINS, Mattie marr. BRADLEY, Nick on 27-NOV-1867 COLLINS, Mattie marr. QUAID, Wm D on 19-OCT-1895 COLLINS, Myrtle marr. DAVIS, Calvin Elmore on 11-AUG-1895 COLLINS, Nancy marr. HANSARD, William A on 14-APR-1895 COLLINS, Nimrod marr. BREWER, Almeda B on 13-NOV-1892 COLLINS, Pinkney marr. BIGGS, Annie on 19-JAN-1888 COLLINS, Pinkney marr. HOUSTON, Annie on 22-FEB-1874 COLLINS, Rachel C marr. CLAPP, Solomon on 01-DEC-1895 COLLINS, Rebecca E marr. BRAY, Joshua on 01-JUL-1876 COLLINS, Rhoda marr. TAYLOR, Joseph on 05-NOV-1870 COLLINS, Sallie marr. LIVINGSTON, Dock M on 23-MAY-1900 COLLINS, Sarah marr. BLAIN, Martin on 23-DEC-1866 COLLINS, Sarah marr. TROTT, James on 05-SEP-1885 COLLINS, Sarah A marr. DAVIS, Daniel E on 16-OCT-1892 COLLINS, Susan marr. SMITH, John on 05-NOV-1888 COLLINS, Susan E marr. MCMILLAN, Hugh on 27-JUL-1882 COLLINS, Susannah marr. BROWN, George H on 22-FEB-1852 COLLINS, Thomas L marr. SUTTLES, Mary on 03-MAY-1868 COLLINS, Thos marr. WELCH, Sarah on 12-AUG-1854 COLLINS, Urdley marr. CHEATHAM, Sarah on 28-JAN-1897 COLLINS, Vine marr. CANNON, Walter on 06-JAN-1883 COLLINS, Wm marr. CLIFTON, Martha E on 11-MAY-1894 COLLINS, Wm marr. COLLINS, Bettie on 07-FEB-1899 COLLINS, Wm marr. EVANS, Mary M on 02-JUL-1871 COLLINS, Wm marr. TURBYVILLE, Armonah on 03-JUL-1894 COLLINS, Zion marr. ALLEN, Jane on 08-SEP-1867
COLLINS, Annie marr. PICKLE, W Marion on 24-JAN-1895 COLLINS, Bettie marr. COLLINS, Wm on 07-FEB-1899 COLLINS, Charles marr. LAWSON, Callie on 21-NOV-1891 COLLINS, Charles A marr. HOWELL, Margaret E on 25-JUN-1896 COLLINS, D A marr. GAMBLE, Rutha on 11-JAN-1867 COLLINS, D B marr. COBB, Sarah A on 20-AUG-1868 COLLINS, D H marr. JONES, Eva on 01-SEP-1886 COLLINS, Daisy D marr. NICHOLS, Eugene B on 23-DEC-1886 COLLINS, Daniel marr. MCCLAIN, Mary on 30-JAN-1877 COLLINS, Daniel marr. MCCARTY, Mary on 15-APR-1863 COLLINS, Daniel H marr. WISE, Clara on 02-FEB-1895 COLLINS, Edward J marr. STANSBERRY, Mary E on 22-NOV-1866 COLLINS, Eugene D marr. STILES, Oma M on 02-SEP-1894 COLLINS, Geo A marr. GUNTER, Christina U on 20-JUN-1889 COLLINS, Geo E marr. CUPP, Mamie on 12-JUN-1894 COLLINS, Geo J marr. SNYDER, Gertrude on 13-JUL-1899 COLLINS, Geo W marr. TAYLOR, Mary I on 09-MAR-1884 COLLINS, Hannah marr. BLYTHE, Richard on 11-MAY-1895 COLLINS, J T marr. BEAN, Julia on 03-JUL-1884 COLLINS, James marr. RODGERS, Love on 22-AUG-1888 COLLINS, James B marr. ROBERTS, Elizabeth on 19-AUG-1856 COLLINS, James M marr. MCCOY, Jennie on 10-OCT-1883 COLLINS, Jane marr. HEATH, John on 18-SEP-1845 COLLINS, Jennie marr. NEEDHAM, Andrew J on 22-MAR-1894 COLLINS, Jerre Troy marr. ALFORD, Henry C on 24-APR-1900 COLLINS, John marr. CHAPMAN, Minerva on 16-FEB-1830 COLLINS, John marr. CHEATHAM, Mary on 28-SEP-1882 COLLINS, John marr. CANNON, Laura on 13-JUL-1882 COLLINS, John marr. CARR, Rebecca on 02-JAN-1849 COLLINS, John marr. EARNEST, Emaline on 04-MAR-1865 COLLINS, John marr. NEEDHAM, Mary on 10-FEB-1853 COLLINS, John marr. NANCE, Stella on 02-AUG-1899 COLLINS, Julia marr. HUCKBY, John E on 20-OCT-1898 COLLINS, Katie marr. RODDY, James Patrick on 12-MAY-1897 COLLINS, Laura marr. REED, Jackson on 12-JUL-1883 COLLINS, Leones marr. ROBERTS, Wm on 05-JUL-1857 COLLINS, Leta Orion marr. BENSKIN, Sherman on 04-FEB-1900 COLLINS, Lizzie marr. COMPTON, Sylvester on 30-JUL-1893 COLLINS, Lizzie marr. WELLS, George on 04-AUG-1896 COLLINS, Lucinda marr. MORRIS, Joseph on 08-MAY-1898 COLLINS, Lula marr. ADCOCK, Oliver P on 09-FEB-1890