I am not sure how the Melungeons are determining that they are Turkish, Spanish, and Portuguese. Most Williams' originate from Wales or the adjacent areas of England where the island's aboriginal inhabitants sought refuge from invading Germanic tribes. So most Williams' have the same R1b "recent ancestry" of the majority of Spaniards and Portuguese. And a look at the Y-chromosome haplogroup distribution in Turkey shows a significant number of Turks are also R1b as well (perhaps descendents of Galicia, who came there as mercenaries in ancient times). In Britain the Welsh are generally considered of darker complexion than most other areas (partially from lesser Viking or Germanic influence), although there are plenty of fair Welsh as well. In Ireland, the darker complexion is sometimes seen, black or dark hair--"black Irish"). Catherine Zeta Jones is of Welsh-Irish descent and is a good representive of the dark beauty of the ancient inhabitants of Wales, Britain and Ireland. That's not denying the claim that Melungeons are likely descendants of Spanish, American Indian or African descent. For instance, my ggg granduncle, Maj. Tilman Dixon (Dickson), the uncle-in-law of my ggg grandfather John Williams, Jr., was tasked in 1782 by the State of North Carolina to investigate the area now known as Tennessee for "bounty lands for it's soldiers along the Cumberland River". In addition to Dixon, elected were Lt. Col. Selby Harney, Maj. John Nelson, Capt. Alexander Brevard and Dr. Thomas Bull. Bull was "included in the party, not only for his medical skills but because he could speak Spanish fluently and much of the land to be surveyed was along the borders of land where Spanish-speaking people resided.". Tillman Dixon, by the way married Maria Don Carlos, and their first child was Americus Vespucius Dixon. So yes, there was Spanish settlers in Tennessee. But genetics are complicated since persons of aboriginal Briton-Hibernian origins may have similiar genetics of recent prehistory. If one has not gone deeper than the 12-marker test, that is the only way to seriously explore relations in the last few hundred years. I highly recommend 37 markers to everyone, if they have not gone that far. Hope this helps and does not confuse anyone more. --Scott Williams, Maj. Tilman Dixon, Patriot, Soldier, Explorer, and Pioneer http://www.stlouistimeportal.com/dixon/tilman2.html Early Descendants of John Williams, "The Wealthy Welshman" of Hanover County, Virginia. Born 1679, Llangollen, Wales. http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/williams/ Lt. Col. Henry Dixon, NC Continental Line, Killed in Action, 1782 http://www.stlouistimeportal.com/dixon/ >Message: 1 >Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2008 09:34:58 -0500 >From: "Boe Williams" <ccshoes@bellsouth.net> >Subject: Re: [WILLIAMS-DNA] Williams Melugeons >To: "ShowMeMule@earthlink.net" <showmemule@earthlink.net>, > <williams-dna@rootsweb.com> >Message-ID: <001f01c89017$bbca1610$1200a8c0@boe> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > >The Union did some very heavy and successful recruiting in Northeast >Arkansas.. > >The Williams surname is found among the Melungeons, the Black Water Creeks >form Northwest Florida, the Brass Ancles from the Edisto River area of SC >and the Lumbees from Robeson Co. NC and adjacent area. All of these people >seem to be related and seem to be tri-racial. DNA shows them with Turkish, >Shepardic Jew, Portugese, Spanish, American Indian, African and Northern >European ancestry and most anyone else who may have been shipwrecked off of >the Outer Banks. One theory is that the Lumbees ( Croatans) are also >descended from Raleigh's Lost Colony. > >Boe Williams > >North Georgeia, Tenn, NC, ( Southern Appalachia) did have a lot of European >and Amrican Indian mixture. There was also some Creek- Whites from Barbour >and Henry Co Al who remained behind when the Creeks were moved west.