The "Turks" of Sumter County, SC are descendants of American Indians"
"The 'Turks' of Sumter County, SC are descendants of American Indians'
By Steven Pony Hill
The information I have gathered on the so-called 'Turks' is due to an attempt to locate the original ancestors of my Indian community here in northwest Florida. Isham Scott, Absalom Scott, Joseph Scott, Moses Manning, John 'Capt. Jack' Ayers, and Henry Stephens moved down here in 1828 from Sumter, SC.
The only 'oral tradition' that exists in my family is that we originated from Indians. No one ever mentions our white ancestors (although it's obvious that we are far from full-bloods). I descend from the Isham Scott family and the James Moses family who lived in Sumter from 1810 to about 1820, after moving down from Halifax NC and then moving on to Florida. The Moses family lived about 10 households down from the Benenhaleys in Providence, Sumter.
As far as the 'Yusef Ben Ali' reference, I can find no documentation of this earlier than Brewton Berry (1960's). I believe it originated with him, and even he said 'Joseph Benenhaly...possibly Yusef Ben Ali' as he tried to make a case for possible Arab ancestry to justify the Turk label. If his name had actually been 'Yusef Ben Ali' I believe it would have appeared as such on some, if not all, of the documentation (census, court, land etc.). Brewton Berry also misrepresented that the 1790 petition of 'Sundry Free Moors' came from the Turks (which it did not...I have also seen this falsehood recounted in other books, and on the net as truth) and Berry mentioned the old 1820's case involving a voting dispute and referred to him as 'Joseph Benenhaley'. I'm sure if those old records had mentioned Joseph claiming his name was originally 'Yusef' and he was Arabic, that B"
By Steven Pony Hill
The information I have gathered on the so-called 'Turks' is due to an attempt to locate the original ancestors of my Indian community here in northwest Florida. Isham Scott, Absalom Scott, Joseph Scott, Moses Manning, John 'Capt. Jack' Ayers, and Henry Stephens moved down here in 1828 from Sumter, SC.
The only 'oral tradition' that exists in my family is that we originated from Indians. No one ever mentions our white ancestors (although it's obvious that we are far from full-bloods). I descend from the Isham Scott family and the James Moses family who lived in Sumter from 1810 to about 1820, after moving down from Halifax NC and then moving on to Florida. The Moses family lived about 10 households down from the Benenhaleys in Providence, Sumter.
As far as the 'Yusef Ben Ali' reference, I can find no documentation of this earlier than Brewton Berry (1960's). I believe it originated with him, and even he said 'Joseph Benenhaly...possibly Yusef Ben Ali' as he tried to make a case for possible Arab ancestry to justify the Turk label. If his name had actually been 'Yusef Ben Ali' I believe it would have appeared as such on some, if not all, of the documentation (census, court, land etc.). Brewton Berry also misrepresented that the 1790 petition of 'Sundry Free Moors' came from the Turks (which it did not...I have also seen this falsehood recounted in other books, and on the net as truth) and Berry mentioned the old 1820's case involving a voting dispute and referred to him as 'Joseph Benenhaley'. I'm sure if those old records had mentioned Joseph claiming his name was originally 'Yusef' and he was Arabic, that B"
posted by Helen Campbell @ 3:22 PM
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