Hancock County
"STORY OF MELUNGEONS SHOWS EARLY DIVERSITY IN UPPER SOUTH
In the mid-1970's, when I developed an interest in the people called Melungeons, the only two books I could find on the subject were Jean Patterson Bible's 'Melungeons Yesterday and Today,' and Bonnie Ball's 'The Melungeons.' Today there are several available and you can type the name of the once-mysterious ethnic group into your computer browser and get thousands of references.
John Sevier, Tennessee's first governor, was told by the Cherokees that they had long referred to Melungeons as 'as blue-eyed Indians.' The term 'Melungeon' was probably given to them by French explorers, the first Europeans who ran into them, long before the Scotch-Irish arrived. Wherever it came from, it was a term of contempt, equivalent tp 'mongrel.'
They were spread throughout the Southern Appalachians under various names - Brass Ankles, Carmelites, Lumbee Indians and Redbones - but they were concentrated in what is now Hancock County, Tenn. They were mostly dark, Mediterranean-looking people, but blue, gray and green eyes often turned up among them. They would sometimes say they were 'Portygee,' when asked their country of origin.
When genetic testing became available, it was proven that many had come from Mediterranean stock - which likely included Moors, Berbers and even Serphadic Jews - who had probably fled religious or ethnic persecution and arrived by way of Portugal. But for 150 years, the so-called experts said such a heritage was not possible because people with Portuguese and other Mediterranean names had not been found on the passenger lists of European immigrants.
It didn't occur to the experts that a people who had already fled one place because of ethnic persecution might have used English-s"
Discover your ancestors at Ancestry.com!
In the mid-1970's, when I developed an interest in the people called Melungeons, the only two books I could find on the subject were Jean Patterson Bible's 'Melungeons Yesterday and Today,' and Bonnie Ball's 'The Melungeons.' Today there are several available and you can type the name of the once-mysterious ethnic group into your computer browser and get thousands of references.
John Sevier, Tennessee's first governor, was told by the Cherokees that they had long referred to Melungeons as 'as blue-eyed Indians.' The term 'Melungeon' was probably given to them by French explorers, the first Europeans who ran into them, long before the Scotch-Irish arrived. Wherever it came from, it was a term of contempt, equivalent tp 'mongrel.'
They were spread throughout the Southern Appalachians under various names - Brass Ankles, Carmelites, Lumbee Indians and Redbones - but they were concentrated in what is now Hancock County, Tenn. They were mostly dark, Mediterranean-looking people, but blue, gray and green eyes often turned up among them. They would sometimes say they were 'Portygee,' when asked their country of origin.
When genetic testing became available, it was proven that many had come from Mediterranean stock - which likely included Moors, Berbers and even Serphadic Jews - who had probably fled religious or ethnic persecution and arrived by way of Portugal. But for 150 years, the so-called experts said such a heritage was not possible because people with Portuguese and other Mediterranean names had not been found on the passenger lists of European immigrants.
It didn't occur to the experts that a people who had already fled one place because of ethnic persecution might have used English-s"
Discover your ancestors at Ancestry.com!
posted by Helen Campbell @ 2:41 PM
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