According to Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia: - a term which originallyreferred to ANYTHING of GERMAN derivation, thus High Dutch signified theHigh German language, and Low Dutch the Low German.In modern usage, however, the term Dutch may be CORRECTLY applied ONLY tothe peoples and the language of the Netherlands. The phrase "PennsylvaniaDutch" referring to the speech and origin of the inhabitants of certainsections of Pennsylvania, dates from the time when DUTCH SIGNIFIED GERMAN.The War of Spanish Succession, 1704-1714 fought by Austria, England, theNetherlands and Prussia - against France and Spain, arose over disputesover the succession to the throne of Spain on the death of Charles II ofSpain.Spanish soldiers married Dutch (Holland) girls, and their children, whosecoloring was olive, with black hair were called "Black Dutch". TheirHolland neighbors were fair skinned and blond. This explanation seems tohave come down in several of your families who claim "Black Dutch" descent.Another reported that the WILHITES who were imported to VA by Gov.SPOTTSWOOD was part of the Germana Colony of Iron workers were "BlackDutch." They came from Alsace-Lorraine, an area of contention betweenFrance and Germany. They had black hair, "china blue to purplish blueeyes", fair skin, and tall. "The Black Forest" was mentioned as theirhome.No doubt some of the German-speaking immigrants to the colonies WEREdescendants of some of the darker races.How we may have warped the meaning of "Black Dutch" becomes apparent inboth a newspaper article and a letter. At a time when it was notfashionable to have Indian blook, here is what might happen:"It used to be that if you had Indian blood in you and someone asked youwhat you were, you'd say 'Black dutch' but now more and more of our peopleare coming out," said Morning Star, wife of Chief Neal McCormick, chief ofthe Eastern Creek Indian Nation.Another writer, descendant of a Creek Chief, wrote "the term Black Dutch isused to refer to one that has Indian Blood, and most particularly withCREEK INDIAN BLOOD. Although there were a few German/Swiss in the CreekNation, they were in the minority. The term actually does not refer orhave any connection to this nationality. The Creeks preferred the Scotch,English or Irish in that order as far as marriage was concerned. There isno explanation as to why they preferred the Scotch." So you see the termused to distinguish and describe progeny of Hollander-Spanish marriages,was later the disquise used by Indian white descendants to cover their redheritage.We must hope that our "enlightened age" will see a renewed value placed onheritage, be it from red-white-or black.Originally printed in FAMILY PUZZLERS - Mary Bondurant Warren, Editor July22, 1976, No. 457. >In a message dated 03/04/1999 3:37:50 PM Eastern Standard Time, >Bfgriffith@aol.com writes: > ><< always heard that they BLACK DUTCH that is why they were so black. My >mother was very dark skinned. Her name was BERTHA BOWLING married my father >EMORY SKAGGS i think in GREENUP >> > >Betty, have you tried the Melungeon List? I think they will have some people >who can help you with your Black Dutch questions. I haven't been on the list >in a long time but I'm sure they could help. Subscribe to >Melungeon-L-request@rootsweb.com > >Sherry Campbell > > >==== KYGREENU Mailing List ==== >Help Instructions at: http://www.zoomnet.net/~chipmunk/SurnamesMail.html >or contact Betty at: chipmunk@zoomnet.net >Archives: http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?surname=KYGreenu >Your gracious donations to RootsWeb makes this all possible!! >Rootsweb: http://www.rootsweb.com/ >