Mulatto's: During the 18th and 19th centuries, having Indian blood could affect you in different ways. If it were tribes like the Cherokee or Creek Nations, and federal removal treaties were signed, you could be uprooted and moved out. Being intermarried and living out of the nation might save you and help you remain where you were living. The Powhatan tribes, Lumbee, and Catawba were not threatened in this way. But there was always a fear that you could be, and you tried to keep a low profile. State lines were a no-man's land and this was a safe place to live. Isolated areas, swamps, river bottoms, and mountains were also good places to hide. State racial laws could be harder to deal with. Indians in their own states were often listed as mulatoes on public records and even had to be listed as free people of color on their county lists. They were not black and often owned slaves themselves. In Amherst County, Virginia in the 19th century, prosperous Indians owning large amounts of land, paying taxes, being legally married, and leaving wills, were still listed as free blacks. They were not aware that this was being done to them. Some clerks of court could be kind and not do this. Others did so. When an Indian married a European, a kind clerk would not list the last name of the Indian. He was trying to be good to them and help them to marry. Dr. Plecker, the head of the Virginia Office of Vital Statistics from the 1920's to the 1940's tried to clerically do away with all Indians in the state. He said that except on the two state reserations (Pamunkey and Mattaponi), there were no Indians left in the state of Virginia. He told the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington that they should not count Indians listed on the federal census in Virginia. These people were to be listed as white or black. He prepared lists of Indian family names for each county in Virginia and told the clerks of court to give no one's race as Indian in the records. Many of the clerks would not cooperate and also continued to issue marriage bonds to Indians and Whites. Some of these lists still survive. Thus if you had Indian ancestry, it was wise to maintain a low profile, to marry your white neighbors, and to call yourself Portugese, Black Irish, or Black Dutch. If you admitted to being Indian, you were Cherokee or a descendant of Pocahuntas. Her family and bloodline (The Bollins, Randolplhs,etc) had married well and were Virginia Bluebloods. GOINS The question about the Goins or Goings family is a good one. They are listed as mulatos in many of the early county records. This does not mean that they were black. They were non-whites. Many were very prosperous and owned land and water mills in Patrick County. They belonged to the local churches and married whites. Pat Elder writes in the book, MELUNGEONS, that the names, Goings, Sizemore, Hart, and Riddle are always of Indian ancestry. She traces the names back to the 18th century. The sirname, Goings, is found among Indians in South Carolina, the Lumbee Indians, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and the Melungeons. There are Goingstown Indians in South Carolina and Rockingham County, North Carolina. The Goings family lived in Patrick and Surry Counties. DNA/Melungeons On the question of DNA, a lot can be learned from your blood, salava, and hair samples concerning your genealogy. Your ancestors are not completely dead, they live in you. You carry their genes. Informations can be gathered on your mother's family and if you are a male, also on your father's family. The percentages of your racial makeup can easily be listed now. New tests are also being developed. Bret Kennedy (author of book on the Melungeons) and his family have just had more extensive DNA work done. I was shocked at the data that was revealed. All of this was new to me. His mother and aunt had almost 1/4 Indian ancestry. This was more expensive, but is well worth it. Gene samples have been collected all over the world. Your genes can be matched to other peoples and places. Once you know where some of your bloodlines came from, you can narrow your genealogy search to those areas. __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail Mobile Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Check email on your mobile phone. http://mobile.yahoo.com/learn/mail