REPRINT of an old POST. (REPLY TO THE LIST, NOT ME) IN the very southwest corner of the Old Dominion state of Virginia is a county named Tazewell. It was settled about 1799 mainly by small farmers who objected to the high taxes and domination of the large landowners of the eastern portion of the state.[and a lot of Germans from PA] These were willing to forego some of the advantages of the closely settled portion of the state for the freedom and independence they longed for themselves and their children. [and cheap land] They were truly pioneers possessed of the same spirit which built our nation. It is in this section that our Steele tribe had its beginning. Samuel Sylvester Steele (Son of Captain Robert Steele and Julia Ann Cecil Steele) Emily Jane Morton (Daughter of Robert Morton and Jane McCuire Morton) Married, August 10, 1870. There was a small settlement here called Steelesburg and a post office of the same name because my grandfather gave the land for it. There was also a church-Steeles Chapel, possibly named for the same reason. My grandfather Steele, as I remember, had a very comfortable home, a front porch and a long one running the side of the house which held saddles and bridles. A "parlor" [I would love to have someone write on the PARLOR of SW VA ]with an organ which my Aunt Rose, the youngest of the family, played. This organ was a mark much to my amazement. The sermons must have been too much for her. She seemed to have been the money-maker of the family, for she spun and wove both linen and woolen cloth and sold it. The woolens she dyed with something she gathered from the woods in beautiful reds and blues. We have some pieces yet in the family. She also made maple sugar and sold it. She was said to be able to drive a shrewd bargain. There is a story about her thrift which had come down in the family.

My father came from HARLAN COUNTY, KY. His birth name was Pearl Edward BOGGS. My grandfather came from WISE COUNTY VA. His name was JUDGE FINLAY BOGGS. He was not a judge, that was his name. His wife's name was LUELLA BOGGS. Her maiden name was WITT. My g-grandfather's name was Levi. His wife's name was laura PARSONS. There seem to be a number of Levi BOGGS documented, My Levi died in the 1950's. We have the stories handed down about being CHEROKEE and BLACK DUTCH. I am not certain if we are descended from James BOGGS of Ireland/Scotland which seems to be a prevelent belief of Many BOGGS of these areas. There are also documented cherokee name BOGGS documented in sources such as CHEROKEE BLOOD... etc. There is also a documented story of a John BOGGS with a native name given of TAUCHULUNA. If anyone can be of help it would be gratly appreciated, as this all seems to get confusing at times, which I believe we can all relate to.. relate to...that wasn't meant to be a pun. thanks. Ineffably, EDWARD BOGGS

Dear Cousins! Can anyone help out here? I need to find the family of my great grandfather - Walter Blevins, b. 1880, d. 1936. His parents were Miles Blevins and Josie Horne; Walter Blevins married [1] to Gracie Lemons, b.1885, d.1918 and [2] to Mary McClellan, b. 1894, d. about 1967. Other children of Miles Blevins and Josie Horne were: Ira Blevins (male) - m. Bertha Brickey Kallie Blevins - m. Homer Maples [had lived in Banner, VA area] Effie Blevins - m. ______ Dishman Ruby Blevins - m. Arvil Rose Lula Blevins - m. Arthur Prophet Merty (spelling??) Blevins - m. _______ Galloway - lived in Elizabethton, TN. IF any of this sounds familiar, please respond to me at Micromanxx@AOL.com or Microman@LRBCG.com Thank you!!! Diana Boggs Mullens searching for Boggs - Mullens - Mullins - Lawson - Craft - Young - Comer - Blevins - Lemons - Lyons

Emory & Henry College is located in Emory, VA east of Abingdon in Wash. Co. JEB Stuart is a well known graduate. -sysop ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date sent: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 10:05:29 -0500 To: "Edgar A. Howard" <ehoward@conknet.com> From: "Claudine B.Daniel" <cdaniel@ehc.edu> Subject: Re: History of E & H Emory & Henry College was founded in 1836 by the Holston Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the people of the upper Tennessee Valley. It began as a manual labor college, hence its rural setting. Its name is derived from Bishop John Emory, an eminent churchman of the era, and Patrick Henry. The names were chosen to represent the guiding principles upon which the college was founded: Christian leadership and distinctive statesmanship. The first school session began in April, 1938 with sixty students and the Reverend Charles Collins as college president. The college has continued in operation (no longer a manual labor institution) since that time with the exception of a brief time during the Civil War when classes were temporarily suspended, although the faculty remained on duty. The administration building was used as a Confederate hospital. Women were admitted in 1899 and in 1918 Emory & Henry merged with Martha Washington College, a Methodist-affiliated, all-female school in Abingdon. During World War II the college contracted to host a Navy V-12 program on campus. Today Emory & Henry is a 4-year college with liberal arts emphasis with 850-950 students. Distinguished alumni include: John Good, 1850, Virginia General Assembly, Confederate Congress, U. S. Congress. J. E. B. Stuart, attended E & H 1848-1850. General in the Confederate Army. Edward C. Huffaker, 1880, assistant in aerodymanics at the Smithsonian Institution, 1894-1897; conducted experiments with the Wright Brothers at Kill Devil Hill. Robert E. L. Humphreys, 1889, in research and development with Standard Oil Co., he developed the thermal method of cracking petroleum hydrocarbons to produce gasoline. from Stevenson, George J., INCREASE IN EXCELLENCE: A HISTORY OF EMORY & HENRY COLLEGE 1836-1963. This is very sketchy. I'd be glad to mail you something more substantial if you need more information. Claudine Daniel

Looking for descendants of Wm and Delilah Ring Keith especially through their son James Powell Keith and his several wives. I have pictures of James' daughter Virginia Keith Vicars Vicars Doyle and granddaughter Priscilla Keith Dingus Parsons that I can email to anyone interested. Martha Short has completed some nice work on this branch of the Keiths, the address of her Keith site is http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pointe/7430/

Seeking information on the family below. Not certain that all listed are children. A big thank you to Dorcas Hobbs for her help with the Garrett Family. Deborah Thompson Clarkston Descendants of James Thompson 1 James Thompson b: Bet. 1785 - 1790 in NC d: July 29, 1868 in Lee Co,VA . +Agnes Jane b: Bet. 1790 - 1795 in NC d: August 15, 1868 in Lee Co VA .... 2 Elizabeth Thompson ........ +Larkin King .... 2 Emily? Thompson ........ +James Poteet .... 2 Lucy? Thompson ........ +John Garrett .... 2 Cynthnia? Thompson b: 1800 ........ +Joseph or Jacob Poteet .... 2 Henry Thompson b: Bet. 1810 - 1811 in NC d: Bef. March 25, 1884 in VA .... 2 Elias Thompson b: 1818 in VA ........ +Polly .... 2 Mary Thompson b: 1820 ........ +Andrew J. Smith b: 1815 .... 2 Nancy Thompson b: 1820 ........ +Unknown Burke .... 2 Sarah Elizabeth Thompson b: May 05, 1818 d: August 03, 1898 in Owsley Co KY ........ +George Washington Garrett b: 1820 .... 2 Cornelia Thompson b: 1826 ........ +Francis Garrett b: 1826 d: 1889 .... 2 Minerva Thompson b: 1826 ........ +Corda Pendergrass b: 1820 .... 2 Oney Thompson b: 1826 ........ +Blackstone Williams b: 1817 .... 2 Daniel Thompson b: Abt. 1829 in Wythe Co,VA? ........ +Emaline b: Bet. 1829 - 1833 in Wythe Co,VA m: Abt. 1847 Wythe Co? .... 2 Udocia Thompson b: 1830 in VA ........ +John Moore .... 2 Martha "Patsy" Thompson b: 1833 d: 1878 ........ +Joseph Williams b: March 22, 1825 in Harlan Co KY d: June 20, 1904 .... 2 Emily Thompson b: 1835 d: May 06, 1879 ........ +Dulaney Haynes b: 1828 in Wythe Co VA .... 2 Eliza Thompson b: 1845 .... 2 Mattie Thompson b: March 14, 1850 d: January 01, 1935 in (Haynes-Thompson Cemetery; Rt 641 Jonesville, Lee Co VA) .... 2 Bill Thompson

Hello everyone, I have just learned I have many Roark anscesters buried in Azen Cemetery, in Washington Co. VA. Is there anyone who could could send me the address and phone number for the cemetery? I have a few other Roark-Barbary-Badger family memebrs I can't seem to find, and wonder if they are buried there, aswell. Thanks in advance, Kathy ROARK/BADGER/BARBERY/HIGHLEY/EPPERSON SOULE/JONES/SOUTH/MANN/LEWIS

My maternal grandfather RICE THOMAS was born 4 Nov. 1883. His marriage certificate says he was born in LAURAL County, KY. He married my grandmother DELLA MAE JOHNSON (daughter of MASON LAFAYETTE JOHNSON, commonly called Lafayette) on 29 June, 1905, in Laurel County. His father was LAFAYETTE THOMAS and his mother was ELIZABETH ISAACS. Lafayette died at the age of 38 and Elizabeth died at the age of 62. Rice had 5 brothers and 1 sister. LINA THOMAS (A.K.A. Big Lina) was born in 1876 and married WARREN HOUSTON in 1898 (see the MT ECHO below). The brothers were BLUFORD, ANDERSON, LEE, SAM, and BILL. Lina Houston lived in East Bernstadt and was a widow by the 1910 census of Laural County. Word is Warren went to the store one day and was never seen again. Rice and Della along with Lafayette Johnson and other Johnsons moved to SW Virginia to work the Coal Mines. Rice and Della settled in Dante, VA. I would like to hear from anyone having previous contact with Lina or her brothers. Fred Thomas South Goose Creek, SC At 12:10 AM 1/18/1999 EST, you wrote: >=============================================== >Reprinted with permission of the Laurel County Historical Society >=============================================== >May 11, 1898 >WANTS TO KNOW >Fairmont, Ill., May 7, 1898-To my relatives in Kentucky or elsewhere knowing >my birthday and year of birth: I was left with Jessie J. Lewis and Nancy >Lewis, near the mouth of Wallins creek, Harlan county, Ky., some ten years >back. They have treated me kindly. I can read and write, have been through >my primary arithmatic, considerable advanced in grammer, history, geography, >physicology, etc. Any one knowing the date of my birth will confer a great >favor on me by furnishing the information throught the columns of the Echo or >by letter. >ELIZABETH LEWIS > >LOCAL ITEMS > >A marriage license was issued Monday for Mr. Warren Huston and Miss Lina >Thomas, both of Altamont, to be united in the holy bonds of matrimony. > >Married, on Monday evening, at the residence of Mr. Campbell, Mr. John Thomas, >of Lexington, and Miss Susie Hammock, of this place, Judge Stanberry >officiating. This is the first marriage the Judge has solemnized since he has >been in office. Congratulations to all three. > >On the train from Barbourville, which passed here at 10:23 Wednesday morning, >were about seventy five volunteers on their way to Lexington to be mustered >into service in defense of the Untied States against the Spanish antagonists. >Jim Wrenn, John Lovelace, Willis Pearl, Theo. Greggary and Jim Huff, all >London boys, joined the company there. > >W.F. Baker, the partner of J.W. Goff in the liquor business in Pittsburg, who >fled to Rockcastle county about two months ago, was arrested last week on a >warrant issued to the sheriff of that county by Judge Stanberry, and brought >to London and placed in jail. There are about one hundred cases against him. >Liquor men are getting scarce in this county. > >Marida Bowman, son of ex sheriff I.A. Bowman, of Jackson county, died last >Thursday week of typhoid fever, after an illness of several weeks. Marida was >a good, straight forward young man and had many friends who will be sad to >learn of his death. He was the eighth one in the family of Mr. Bowman to have >this dreaded disease, all the others having recovered. We extend our >sincerest sympathy to the bereaved family. > >Died-On Monday May 9, 1898 at her home near Mt. Pleasant, Mrs. Phenette >Mardis, the wife of Mr. Lee Mardis, a highly respected citizen of this >community. Her death was very sudden caused by failure of the heart. She was >a member of the Baptist Church at Mt. Pleasant and a devoted christian. Her >remains were interred at Old Mt. Carmel, Monday evening. > > >==== KYLAUREL Mailing List ==== > To subscribe or unsubscribe to this list send an email to: > KYLAUREL-L-request@rootsweb.com >In the MESSAGE type the one word .... SUBSCRIBE (or UNSUBSCRIBE) >

Only a small group of people living in Tenn. have petitioned the state to recognize the Melungeons as an Indian tribe. Personally, while I believe that most Melungeons have some Indian in their ancestry, I don't believe that they can be described as a tribe. I doubt very seriously that the state of TN will allow this. MONEY, if nothing else will keep them from it, since anyone enrolled as a member of an acknowledged Indian tribe is elgible for benefits. All Melungeons are NOT applying for tribeship. (smile) Nancy S

should have had my name as author of it. Nancy Sparks Morrison

I am trying to find information on the following ancestors. Please add or correct. Starting with my grandparents. (The following lived in Buchanan and Russell County) Minnie HESS d/ of John HESS and Mary HESS born in 1906 married around 1925 to + Benjamin BLANKENSHIP s/of Jerry BLANKENSHIP and Caldonia HESS born 1906 in Buchanan County The 1920 Russell County census in the New Garden district lists the following household #102 Hess John head age 40 Mary wife age 41 Janie dau age 18 Mintie dau age 14 Lola dau age 11 Nancy dau age 6 The 1910 Buchanan lists the household as the following #117 Hess John head 29 Mary wife 30 Katherine da 5 Linnie dau 3 Viola dau 1 1/12 Nancy mother 65 widow (As far as I know Mary’s mother’s name was Nancy) Silas brother in law 19 Also in the Buchanan census living next door in #116 Hess William Head 50 Jane wife 48 William son 21 Hulda dau 18 Elizabeth dau 14 (I am assuming that this William and Jane are the parents of John based also on the following: 1900 Buchanan census #117 Hess William head 40 Jane J. wife 38 John C son 19 Nervy J. dau 18 Lilburn son 16 James H. son 14 William son 11 Huldy dau 9 Susie dau 7 Levi son 5 Elizabeth C dau 3 Brad son 2/12 >From the Russell County marriage book vol 2 January 20, 1878 William L. Hess age 18 son of Levi and Susan Hess of Russell County married Jane Lockhart age 17 daughter of John A. and Hulda Lockhart of Russell County. I have not had the opportunity to look at the 1880 Russell County census film yet but in the 1870 census there the following # 191 Hess Levi 38 Susan 38 James 15 George 14 William 11 Evan 8 Martha 6 John 3 Infant 1 Is there anyone out there that knows anymore about this line?? Patty

There are shareware programs that convert Ged2HTML - try searching for this string from within your browser. Once the files are in HTML format, you can read them using your internet browser, even when they are located on your harddrive or CD drive. Once you can convert your GEDCOM files to an HTML set of files (hopefully on your harddrive), you could then write the fileset to a CDW device. A CDW device in a CD drive that has both read and write capabilities. These type drives cost as much as $1000 a couple of years ago but are now quite reasonable. They even have a 're-writeable' CD (CDRW)drive and disk system that would also serve as a good 'BackUp' system total cost should be around 300 - 400. A 'write once-read many' CD drive (CDW) would cost around 200. Of course you could always pay someone else to do this and probably save if it was a one shot deal. But remember, family trees have a history of growing; you may want to do this again and again. My advice - do it yourself. -----Original Message----- From: PMannon690@aol.com <PMannon690@aol.com> To: SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com <SW_VA-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Saturday, January 16, 1999 22:52 Subject: Gedcom CDs: > Do any of you know of a place where you can export your family tree Ged Com >and have it put on a CD for you? > > Thanks, Paul > > >==== SW_VA Mailing List ==== >#6 HELP is available from the sysop/owner anytime at: > ehoward@conknet.com or swvaroot@swva.net >

I don't want to get into a deep Melungeon decussion but from what I heard about there DNA there would have to have been women in America also. If it were only men there genes would have been diluted by 50% with the first intermarriage with American Indians. Also, it is my understanding that from the DNA they were Berbers from North Africa. From my limited study of Ancient and Middle Ages European wars I don't see how there could anything near a pure race or unique set of DNA. There was too much trading for 1000+ years and I don't mean just pottery.<g> There were soldiers marching everywhere and where there are armies there are campriders and well, you know how that goes. Most of what we call a race or nationality is little more than common culture and language. Just my opinion. -eddie

According to an AP news item Jan.16, 1999 the group of people who call themselves Melungeons will ask the state of Tennessee to declare them American Indians. This request if based on their bloodline....one theory of their origin is that they are descendents of Turkish, North African or Portuguese laborers who were brought to America more than 300 years ago and escaped or were abandonded and interbred with American Indians. This news item mentions clandestine stories of Melungeon burials and dark skinned men who minted silver coins in the mountains of Ky., Tn. and S.W. Va...none of which have been proven... My comments: If these people were descendents of Turkish, African or Portuguese of 300 years ago, how did they learn to speak any kind of English? How did they happen to come to this area in the Appalachian Mountains and leave no trace of their ancestory along the east coast where the English were living at that time? And to be found as late as 1700-1750 by explorers and long hunters.. The story that they minted silver coins matches my theory that were descendents of a party of prospectors who became lost from Hernando DeSotos' army of explorers and prospectors in 1541 and makes more sense than the theory about the excaped laborers because I understand there are records to prove DeSoto passed through the mountains of N.C. into Tenn and spent the winter there..G. Lee Hearl

Hi All, Just found this great web site today for SW VA. area research. Has County Business Directories, marr. records, etc. Use the pinpoint search engine. http://www.tiac.net/users/mkatzman/jct/johnmain.html Happy hunting, Nancy

Do any of you know of a place where you can export your family tree Ged Com and have it put on a CD for you? Thanks, Paul

Some of these Spanish people stayed on purpose. Coming inward from Santa Elena, now Parris Island, SC, there were 5 forts going thru GA, SC.NC clear into TN. The leader of this group was a man now called Juan Pardo, who was a Portuguese working under the Spanish. Each of the forts was manned by abt 30 men/some women and NA women and their children. What is little known is, that there were many 'UNKNOWN to us' people who were in VA before the English. Some of them were Turks, Armenians, North Africans of various hues, and some others. New research is coming from Spain and Turkey to confirm this. There was also an explorer who was the first man to transverse what is now the US of A from somewhere around LA to the Pacific coast and he was a black man. Can't remember his name at present. Many Melungeons believe that at least some of these folks are in their backgrounds. The English did NOT find us first. Here is an interesting site, confirming that many peoples who were not supposed to be here were here: <A HREF="http://www2.privatei.com/~bartjean/mainpage.htm">"In Plain Sight" </A> Be prepared to stay awhile. On the bottom of the first page there are connections to some Melungeon sites. I have posted information on the Melungeons here previously. If you want some GENERAL information on this group of people, then e-mail me privately and I will send it to you via e-mail and FREE. Here are a list of names that are common among the group of people called Melungeons and who were mainly located prior to the 1800s in NC, VA, KY, TN, WV. After the 1800s they spread everywhere. Common Melungeon Surname List North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia ADAMS ADKINS ALLEN ALLMOND ASHWORTH * BARKER BARNES BASS BECKLER BELCHER BEDGOOD BELL BENNETT BERRY BEVERLY BIGGS BOLEN BOLLING BOLTON BOONE BOWLIN BOWLING BOWMAN BRADBY BRANHAM BRAVBOY BRIGER/BRIDGER BROGAN BROOKS BROWN BUNCH BULLION BURTON BUTLER BUTTERS BUXTON BYRD * CAMPBELL CARRICO CARTER CASTEEL CAUDILL CHAPMAN CHAVIS CLARK CLOUD COAL COFFEY COLE COLEMAN COLES COLLEY COLLIER COLLINS COLLINSWORTH COLYER COOPER CORMAN COUNTS COX COXE CRIEL CROSTON CROW CUMBA CUMBO CUMBOW CURRY CUSTALOW * DALTON DARE DAVIS DENHAM DENNIS DIAL DOOLEY DORTON DOYLE DRIGGERS DULA DYE DYESS * ELY EPPS EVANS * FIELDS FREEMAN FRENCH * GALLAGHER GANN GARLAND GIBSON GIPSON GOINS GOINGS GORVENS GOWAN GOWEN GRAHAM GREEN(E) GWINN * HALL HAMMON(D) HARMON HARRIS HARVIE HARVEY HAWKES HENDRICKS HENDRIX HILL HILLMAN HOGGE HOLMES HOPKINS HOWE HYATT * JACKSON JAMES JOHNSON JONES * KEITH(E) KENNEDY KISER * LANGSTON LASIE LAWSON LOCKLEAR LOPES LOWRY LUCAS * MADDOX MAGGARD MAJOR MALE MALONE(Y) MARSH MARTIN MAYLE MINARD MINER MINOR MIZER MOORE MORLEY MOSELY MOZINGO MULLINS * NASH NELSON NEWMAN NICCANS NICHOLS NOEL NORRIS * ORR OSBORN OSBORNE OXENDINE * PAGE PAINE PATTERSON PERKINS PERRY PHELPS PHIPPS PRINDER POLLY POWELL POWERS PRITCHARD PRUITT * RAMEY RASNICK REAVES REVELS REEVES RICE RICHARDSON RIDDLE RIVERS ROBERSON ROBERTSON ROBINSON RUSSELL * SAMMONS SAMPSON SAWYER SCOTT SEXTON SHAVIS SHEPHARD SHEPHERD SHORT SHORTT SIZEMORE SMILING SMITH STALLARD STANLEY STEEL STEVENS STEWART STROTHER SWEATT SWETT SWINDALL * TALLY TACKETT TAYLOR THOMPSON TIPTON TOLLIVER TUPPANCE TURNER * VANOVER VICARS VICCARS VICKERS * WARE WATTS WEAVER WHITE WHITED WILKINS WILLIAMS WILLIAMSON WILLIS WILSON WISBY WISE WOOD WRIGHT WYATT WYNN

January 08, 1999 The opinions in this post are strictly my own, but have been based upon my reading and research of various materials noted herein. You may SHARE my work with anyone, but it is not to be sold or used for profit in any way, without my permission. Because there is so much information here, you may want to print out this material for future reference. Are you familiar with the term Melungeon? If you answer, “Who or what are Melungeons,” you are like most people. If you have been researching your family in the Cumberland Plateau of Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Tennessee, during the early migration years, you may be able to find them through a connection to this group of people who are only now being researched with unbiased eyes. The Melungeons are a people of apparent Mediterranean descent who may have settled in the Appalachian wilderness as early or possibly earlier than 1567. (The Melungeons: The Resurrection of a Proud People; N. Brent Kennedy, Mercer University Press, Macon, GA, USA, 1997; introduction, p. xiii) The Mediterrean includes areas of North Africa, southern Europe and Central Asia. According to Dr. Kennedy, the Melungeons were “a people who almost certainly intermarried with Powhatans, Pamunkeys, Creeks, Catawbas, Yuchis, and Cherokees to form what some have called, perhaps a bit FANCIFULLY, ‘a new race’.” Dr. Kennedy does not believe that we can call the Melungeons a ‘race.’. No dictionary definition of race fits with what we know of the Melungeons and recently, The American Anthropological Association, declared that ‘race,’ was an inaccurate, artificial way of defining a people and was no longer of any value. Certain surnames are associated with this highly interesting group of people. I am including a copy of those names. Be aware, however, that many people bearing these surnames, even if they come from the Appalachian area, are NOT connected to the Melungeons. The surnames are to be used as an INDICATOR of POSSIBLE Melungeon ancestry. Also, note that many Melungeon women ‘out-married,’ carrying the heritage with them, but not the names. Not having one of these names DOES NOT mean that the family was not of Melungeon descent. Finding out about the Melungeons and my possible connection to them is the MOST fascinating thing I have EVER run into in my 20 years of genealogical research. The ‘so-called,’ Melungeons were ‘discovered’ in the Appalachian Mountains in 1654 by English explorers and were described as being ‘dark-skinned, reddish- brown complexioned people supposed to be of Moorish descent, who were neither Indian nor Negro, but had fine European features, and claimed to be Portuguese.” (Louise Davis, “The Mystery of the Melungeons.” Nashville Tennessean, 22 September, 1963, 16.) In April of 1673, James Needham, an Englishman and Gabriel Arthur, possibly an indentured servant came with approximately eight Indians, as explorers to the Tennessee Valley. There, Needham described finding “hairy people .... (who) have a bell which is six foot over which they ring morning and evening and at that time a great number of people congregrate togather and talkes” in a language not English nor any Indian dialect that the accompanying Indians knew. And yet these people seemingly looked European. Needham described them as “hairy, white people which have long beards and whiskers and weares clothing.” This bell seems to me to speak of a Latin influence among these people. Other,later explorers, found people who lived in log cabins with peculiar arched windows. Dr.Kennedy says that by the late 1700’s they were practicing the Christian religion. These people claimed that they were descended from a group of Portugese who had been shipwrecked or abandoned on the Atlantic coast. (Byron Stinson, “The Melungeons,”American History Illustrated, November, 1973:41) The term they used was ‘Portyghee.’In other documents, some of these peoples were also described as having red hair and others with VERY distinctive blue or blue/green eyes. This description leads me to believe that these people were not Native American Indians. Altogether they must have been a striking looking people. Most Americans have been taught in school about the Lost Colony and Jamestown in 1607, Plymouth in 1620, with a few Spaniards and a smattering of Viking thrown in for good measure. Where did these people come from? First of all, as the mixed- ancestry descendents of native Americans as well as other ethnic identities, many Melungeons will find this question to be offensive-- many of their true ancestors were ALREADY here, prior to contact with European and African in-migrants, the Official Voice of the Second Union Planning Committee says. But recent research is giving an interesting answer to that question. Again, from the Official Voice of the Second Union Planning Committee comes the answer to this question. They “are a sizable mixed- ethnic population spread throughout the southeastern United States and into southern Ohio and Indiana. While the term ‘Melungeon’ is most commonly applied to those group members living in eastern Kentucky, southwestern Virginia, eastern Tennessee, and southern West Virginia, related mixed-ancestry populations also include the Carmel Indians of southern Ohio, the Brown People of Kentucky, the Guineas of West Virginia, the We-Sorts of Maryland, the Nanticoke-Moors of Delaware, the Cubans and Portuguese of North Carolina, the Turks and Brass Ankles of South Carolina, and the Creoles and Redbones of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.” >From the same source we find that “new evidence or rather old evidences re- examined without prejudice, show a significant Spanish and Portuguese presence in sixteenth-century America, including the large South Carolina coastal colony of Santa Elena, as well as five outlying forts in what is now present day South Carolina, North Carolina, north Georgia, and east Tennessee. Additionally many of the Spanish and Portuguese newcomers were so-called ‘Conversos,’ - that is, ethnic Jewish and Moorish people who had converted to Catholicism prior to or during the Spanish Inquisition. Evidence is also strong (see the work of English historian David Beers Quinn) that in 1586 Sir Francis Drake deposited several hundred Turkish and Moorish sailors, liberated from the Spanish, in present-day Central America, on the coast of North Carolina at Roanoke Island. No trace was found of these people when later English vessels dropped anchor for re-supplying.” If you believe the Bering Strait migration of the Native American Indians and you consider that most sixteenth century Turkish sailors were of central Asian heritage, thus making them literal cousins to the Native Americans they would have encountered, you will see that they would have had little trouble fitting in. There is more evidence of Karachi, and Kavkaz Turkish, and Armenian, textile workers, artisans and servants who were brought in by both the English and Spanish into sixteenth century Virginia and other areas.This seems to lend support to previous claims of Melungeons to be of Turkish origin. These people survived by blending into the surrounding groups of peoples. Over time, they were put in to one of four permissable, inflexible and artificial racial categories: White (northern European), black (African), Indian, or mulatto, a mix of any of the first three. By the time that the first U.S. census was conducted, there had been 200 years of admixture and cultural fusing. This ensured that the story would remain hidden and buried, and that no amount of the census research could ever tell the story accurately. Traditional genealogy can not be used to find these people. There are are no written records, no censuses, no marriage or death notices. Dr. Kennedy’s interest in the Melungeons began with an illness that took him to the emergency room in Atlanta, Georgia where he was diagnosed with erythema nodosum sarcoidosis. In researching his own illness, Dr. Kennedy found that it is a disease of primarily Middle Eastern and Mediterrean peoples, although it is not unknown among the Irish and Scandanavians. He later discovered it was equally common among the Portuguese immigrants of New England, and both southeastern Blacks and Caucasians of seemingly unrelated backgrounds. He was told that he would just have to wait to see if he lived or died. How could a southerner, of Appalachian roots, have a Mediterrean disease? It was this question that Dr. Kennedy set out to answer, by tracing his family background, and in the process he ‘rediscovered his heritage.’ His book, mentioned earlier, is not about historical research, but his family’s genealogy and theoretical problem solving. There are some physiological characteristics which are called ethnic markers, that seem to be passed on through the lines of some Melungeon descendants. There is a bump on the back of the HEAD of SOME descendants, that is located at mid-line, just ABOVE the juncture with the neck. It is about the size and shape of half a golf ball or smaller. If you cannot find the bump, check to see if you, like some descendants, including myself, have a ridge, located at the base of the head where it joins the neck, rather than the Anatolian bump. This ridge is an enlargement of the base of the skull, which is called a Central Asian Cranial Ridge. My ridge is quite noticeable. It is larger than anyone else’s that I have felt,except my father’s. I can lay one finger under it and the ridge is as deep as my finger is thick. Other ridges are smaller. To find a ridge, place your hand at the base of your neck where it joins your shoulders, and on the center line of your spine. Run your fingers straight up your neck toward your head. If you have a ridge, it will stop your fingers from going on up and across your head. ONLY people who live/d in the Anatolian region of Turkey or Central Asia also have this “bump/ridge.” See the following diagram for the site of both the ridge and bump. Back of Head ears ( ___x___ ) ears x marks the bump’s location \valley / the ridge is the line __ shown \ / neck / \____shoulders There is also a ridge on the back of the first four teeth - two front teeth and the ones on either side (upper and lower) of some descendants. If you place your fingernail at the gum line and gently draw (up or down) you can feel it and it makes a slight clicking sound. The back of the teeth also curve outward rather than straight as the descendants of anglo-saxon parentage do. Teeth like these are called Asian Shovel Teeth. Many Indian descendants also have this type of teeth. The back of the first four teeth of Northern European descendants are straight and flat. An example of northern European teeth would be similar to this diagram: \l Shovel teeth look like this diagram. Back of teeth )/ front of teeth, straight. SOME Melungeon descendants have what is called an Asian eyefold. This is rather difficult to describe. At the inner corner of the eye, the upper lid attaches slightly lower than the lower lid. That is to say that, it overlaps the bottom lid. If you place your finger just under the inner corner of the eye and gently pull down, a wrinkle will form which makes the fold more visible. Some people call these eyes, “sleepy eyes, dreamy eyes,bedroom eyes.” Many Indian descendants also have these kinds of eyes. Some families may have members with fairly dark skin who suffer with vitiligo, a loss of pigmentation, leaving the skin blotched with white patches. Some descendants have had six fingers or toes. There is a family of people in Turkey whose surname translated into English is “Six Fingered Ones.” If your family has an Indian Grandmother(father) ‘myth’ which you have been unable to prove, an adoption story that is unprovable, or an orphan myth, and they have been hard to trace and they lived in NC, TN, KY, VA, WV areas in the early migration years or if they seem to have moved back and forth in these areas and if they share any of the mentioned surnames and characteristics, you MAY find a connection here. Some descendants do not show the physical characteristics and of course, there are many people with the surnames who are not connected to this group. Now, if I have piqued your interest, here is a URL for the Melungeon Homepage, designed and hosted by Darlene Wilson, that I have found which has a lot of information on the Melungeons. There is also a guestbook/forum on this list where you can place your queries and read those of others: http://pluto.clinch.edu/appalachia/melungeon/

glh@naxs.com (G. Lee Hearl) wrote:About 1749-50 when the first explorers and surveyors traveled to Kentucky they encountered these "dark skinned people" in the present Lee County, VA.. Think about it....G. Lee Hearl Abingdon, VA. DEAR LIST..THERE IS A LIST DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OF THESE ANCESTORS, SURNAMES OF THEM, PHYSICAL TRAITS, RELATED DISEASES, "OTHER" NAMES FOR THEM SUCH AS,BLACK DUTCH, BLACK IRISH ETC. THERE IS A NEWSLETTER DEVOTED TO THIS AND AN ANNUAL MEETING NEAR CLINCH VALLEY COLLEGE, BOOKS WRITTEN ONT HE SUBJECT...THE TERM MOST OFTEN USED FOR THIS GROUP OF UNIQUELY BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE IS MELUNGEON. MANY OF US FROM SW VA DID NOT REALIZE THAT WE WERE DESCENDED FROM HIS GROUP AS SOME ARE FAIR SKINNED AS WELL AS DARK...IT IS A VERY INTERESTING DISCOVERY FOR MOST..YOU MAY JOIN THE LIST FOR MORE INFORMATION....AT Melungeon-L-request@rootsweb.com, TYPE SUBSCRIBE IN THE BODY OF THE MESSAGE...below is an excerpt from a list message: The following is taken from Life Magazine, June 26, 1970 Special Report: The mystery of Newman's Ridge When the cold season comes, the wind bites and howls along Newman's Ridge in east Tennessee, nudging the snow across silent, ancient graveyards and against sturdy cabins fashioned from monstrous hand hewn poplar logs. Only the wind knows the origin of the dark-complexioned and handsome people who settled on the ridge, some say hundreds of years before Columbus found the New World, and the wind will not tell. And so the swarms of historians, anthropologists, researchers and writers come here hoping to unravel the mystery, only to leave frustrated. The ridge people are called Melungeons. One is Claude Collins, 35, a director of libraries for the Hancock County school board. Claude frequently walks the lonely paths atop Newman's Ridge where he was born. On such a stroll, he turned to me and demanded: "Look at me. Do I look any different to you? Where do you think my people came from?" The questions are old ones in east Tennessee and probably will never be answered. They are asked by all the Melungeons. Miss Martha Collins, who is president of Sneedville's only bank; Corinne Bowlin, a college student; Monroe Collins, a dirt farmer. One can only repeat the legend. The. handsome Melungeons, with their dark eyes and finely chiseled features, whether they live on the ridge or have moved to the foot of it in the county seat town of Sneedville, speak fondly of their years upon the lonely, misty height. Graying, neat and vibrant at 74, Miss Collins relaxes in her leather chair at the bank and recalls the frustrations of the local law enforcement officials who tried vainly for years to arrest the ridge's whisky saleswoman, Aunt Mahala Mullins, All attempts to bring Aunt Mahala to justice failed because she weighed in excess of 400 pounds and could not pass through her cabin door. "Everyone was very fond of Aunt Mahala," Miss Collins said. "When she died they took away a part of a wall, wrapped her in quilts and gently rolled her down the hill to be buried." The Melungeons have always insisted that they are Portuguese, and their legend insists that they are descendants of those skilled seamen who sailed out of the western Mediterranean under Phoenician aegis to the New World, perhaps 2,000 years before Columbus. Many scholars, notably Dr, Cyrus Gordon, Brandeis University's noted Mediterranean researcher, do not lightly dismiss the Melungeon legend. There is much evidence of pre-Columbian transatlantic contacts. White gods with black beards came from the east and introduced the arts of metallurgy, irrigation, weaving, counting and writing throughout Central and South America. The Aztecs called the god Quetzalcoatle to the Mayas he was Kukulcan, to tile Incas Viracocha. Indians in Georgia observed a harvest festival strikingly like the Biblical Feast of tabernacles. In east Tennessee. the fair-haired, fair-skined Anglo-Saxon pioneers and hunters looked upon the dark people who lived on Newman's Ridge with distrust. The Melungeons do not have the copper skin, black eyes or beardless faces of the Cherokee, nor do they have the features of the Negro. After talking with them and watching them one can only reaffirm the historic and somehow unsatisfactory appraisal: Melungeons look "Mediterranean. "0nly the Melungeons. of all the people in the remote rocky foIds of Appalachia, have forgotten their own history. Elsewhere in the mountains, you are told proudly, My grandmother walked in from Carolina," or "my kin was hunters from Virginny. Not so with the Melungeons. Seventy-two year-old Ellis Stewart has lived all his life on the ridge. He scratches the stubble on his chin and answers, "I guess the folks up here been here just 'bout forever. Some's gone now, Where they came from I'll never know. But someday they'll come back up here like squirrels." It is a brave prophecy. Many of the Melungeons, like mountain people elsewhere, are today fleeing the poverty of the hills and seeking jobs in the cities to the north. Others, like Claude Collins and Miss Martha Collins, have become successful in the limited economy of Sneedville. Corinne Bowlin---quiet, darkhaired and now a student at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, is a puzzled child of the legend. "I've been fascinated by the Melungeon legend all my life." she said. "Bowlin, you know, is a Melungeon name." She speaks wearily of the researchers --some scientific and some just curious, who come to Hancock County to poke through the tiny graveyards and prowl the abandoned houses on the ridge. "They come in and take skull measurements and blood samples and make skin pigmentation studies and they never get any answers," Miss Bowlin said. One man who has sought the answers is Henry R. Price, an attorney and a meticulous historian who lives in nearby Rogersville, Tenn. Price has traced the Melungeon immigration back through the lush valleys of southern Virginia and North Carolina, the valleys which were to become the eastern reaches of the Wilderness Road, the route of Daniel Boone and the great migration to the West. But the trail ends at the sea. Earliest records, Price found, referred to people along the valley trails who were called, "other free persons of color." They bore the Melungeon names which appear on Newman's Ridge: Collins, Mullins, Brogan, Goins, Gibson, Bowlin. They were free of the restrictive legislation aimed at slaves and former slaves during the 1700s and 1800s. Furthermore, the Melungeons of that period were voting, paying taxes, acquiring land, making wills, owning slaves, securing marriage licenses and suing. They mere successful farmers, whisky makers and traders, and even produced their own gold coins. Miss Collins recalls that her grandfather once bought a farm on the ridge and produced $700 in gold from his pocket to pay for it. Historians have said that the word "Melungeon" may be derived from the AfroPortuguese melungo, meaning "shipmate." And that Melungeon names, Brogan, Goins, Collins MulIins, now so English-sounding, may be traced back to the Portuguese Braganza, Magoens, Colinso and Mollen. (A few names arc shared by many families). Claude Collins was walking slowly along the ridge, his eyes on the now abandoned house where he was born and where he spent his boyhood. It was a good life up here. We worked hard and our fields were clean." Walking along with him, hearing that familiar twang of the mountain man coming from that improbably swarthy face, I found myself going over, in my mind, the legendary course that brought that face, those dark eyes. that coal-black hair from some mediterranean shore to this ridge. To the east, a few hundred miles beyond the misty horizon that is North Carolina, lies Cape Hatteras, graveyard of ships. I pictured a great ship, such as the Phoenician's used, long before Rome was built, to explore the African coast and what is now Britain. It was easy to imagine one of those vessels, westborne on the trade winds, dashed onto Hatteras' rocks, its timbers, hewn from cedars o' Lebanon that grew near Sidon and Tvre, shattered. It was a century and a half before Christ, when the avenging Romans had destroycd the Phoenicians' metropolis of Carthage and were threatening their colonies on the lberian peninsula. I saw survivors of the ruptured ship, men and women. struggle ashore and head west across the flat piedmont, into the green valleys of the Great Smokies and finally southwest up the beautiful valley of the Clinch River to this lonely ridge. I even pictured their commander, a compact man with dark eyes and blackbeard. pointing to it and saying, "This will he our home." "When somebody was burned out we'd have an all-day working," Collins was saying." Peopl would come in and build a new home in a day." "Yes," I said. "It does sound like a good life." I almost called him admiral. by John Fetterman Mr. Fetterman is a journalist and author specializing in Appalachia.

My Theory: During the year of 1541 about 500 Spanish soldiers, prospectors, and explorers wintered in Tenn.. They were under command of Hernando DeSoto. This great body of men spent four years traveling from Florida to the mountains of N.C. and Tenn , to Illinois and back down the Mississippi River to the coast.. Many of these explorers had little or no experience in finding their way through wild forests and mountains and one would expect that some of them might get lost from the main group..Afterall, they were searching for gold, silver and other precious minerals which means that small parties would be sent out to explore the mountains and streams for miles along the main route they traveled.. I theorize that some of the scouts or prospectors became lost or simply to desert from the army and settled in the mountains..They very likely would have intermarried with local Indians.. About 1749-50 when the first explorers and surveyors traveled to Kentucky they encountered these "dark skinned people" in the present Lee County, VA.. Think about it....G. Lee Hearl Abingdon, VA.