I've read that the Black Irish go way back into Ireland. Occasionally, an Irish child is born who has dark eyes, hair, and skin color and is slightly darker than general Irish; thus, they're called Black Irish. I don't know about Black Dutch. Melungeons are believed to have developed in this country, pre-colonization, by a group of Portuguese shipwrecked sailors and others, off the coast of the Carolinas. The Indians in the area accepted them, intermarried with them, and those offspring were darker in color. Their descendants spread throughout Appalachia. Like Sue said, there are many web sites about them. To find one - 'Google' *Melungeon *in the search box, click go, and take your pick of the sites that will come up. The same process could be done with Black Dutch, etc. Wanda On Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 5:52 AM, Suanne Hill <suannehill@yahoo.com> wrote: > >From my reading, the Black Irish and Black Dutch and Melungeon were a mix > of Portugese sailors who for whatever reason lived in the hills and Indian > and other settlers. They have particular physical attributes and there are > many interesting websites about them. > Sue > > > For God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power and of love > and of sobermindedness. > 2Timothy 1:7 > > --------------------------------- > Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! > Search. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > THOMAS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message > -- For Freedom's Sake - Love God, Love America

I've always understood my father to have been a typical 'Black Irishman'--he was fair-skinned, but had black hair and green eyes. His maternal grandmother was an Irish Catholic immigrant from Derry County named Sarah O'Neill. I'd heard that the black hair seen in Ireland was a souvenir of shipwrecked Spanish sailors. I've also heard that that story is a bunch of malarkey. Maybe DNA research will solve that question. Kathleen On Mar 16, 2008, at 11:41 AM, Wanda Flesher wrote: > I've read that the Black Irish go way back into Ireland. > Occasionally, an > Irish child is born who has dark eyes, hair, and skin color and is > slightly > darker than general Irish; thus, they're called Black Irish. I > don't know > about Black Dutch. > > Melungeons are believed to have developed in this country, pre- > colonization, > by a group of Portuguese shipwrecked sailors and others, off the > coast of > the Carolinas. The Indians in the area accepted them, intermarried > with > them, and those offspring were darker in color. Their descendants > spread > throughout Appalachia. Like Sue said, there are many web sites > about > them. To find one - 'Google' *Melungeon *in the search box, > click go, and > take your pick of the sites that will come up. The same process > could be > done with Black Dutch, etc. > Wanda > >