Melungeons: Many mixed race branches of Whittingtons have blood connections to certain branches of Finley, Hall, Goyne, Stamper, Sweat, Cornish, Dial, Johnson and several other well-known mixed race families going back before the Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock. From 1609 to 1700 Africans brought to America were treated equally as white European indentured servants. They served their contracts, bought land in Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania and these Africans themselves owned white and black, male and female indentured servants, sometimes married European and native women, and they themselves often owned slaves. By the time life-long slavery was introduced in America in the 18th century many of the descendants of these original 17th century African Americans were already spread abroad from New York to Louisiana. They make up the vast majority of those labeled "free coloureds" by the U.S. Government. There is a Cornelius Whittington on the Cherokee Rolls as a free coloured. Indians could be classed as free coloured. Sometimes families who were obviously white but known to be from mixed race backgrounds, had a double census taken of them by the government: one listed them as "free coloured" and another as "white" just to be sure. The Whittingtons, Finleys, Cornishes, Sweats, etc who are related as mixed blood, were never slaves. Some are fully black. Some are mostly Indian. Some of them are mostly white with about 5% black and 3% red blood descended from black and mixed race freed men, former indentured servants of the American colonies before 1700 back to the very beginning of the first permanent American colony in Jamestown, Virginia. Many books have been written on them and the final chapter has not yet been closed. Tim Hashaw