Melungeons, A Multiethnic Population

Roberta J. Estes, Jack H. Goins, Penny Ferguson, Janet Lewis Crain

Abstract

Melungeon is a term applied historically to a group of persons, probably multiethnic, found primarily in Hawkins and Hancock Counties, Tennessee, and in adjoining southern Lee County, Virginia. In this article we define the Melungeon population study group, then review the evidence from historical sources and DNA testing--Y-chromosome, mitochondrial DNA, and autosomal DNA--to gain insight into the origin of this mysterious group.

Address for correspondence: Roberta Estes, [email protected]

Received: July 2011; accepted Dec 2011

Introduction

The Melungeons were a group of individuals found primarily in Hawkins and Hancock Counties of Tennessee and in the far southern portion of Lee County, Virginia which borders Hawkins and Hancock counties in Tennessee. At one time isolated geographically on and near Newman's Ridge and socially due to their dark countenance, they were known to their neighbors as Melungeons, a term applied as an epithet or in a pejorative manner.

As the stigma of a mixed racial heritage dimmed in the late 20th century and was replaced by a sense of pride, interest in the genealogy and history of the Melungeon people was born. With the advent of the internet and popular press, the story of these people has become larger than life, with their ancestors being attributed to a myriad of exotic sources: Sir Walter Raleigh's Lost Colony, Ottoman Turks, The Lost Tribes of Israel, Jews, Gypsies, descendants of Prince Madoc of Wales, Indians, escaped slaves, Portuguese, Sir Francis Drake's rescued Caribbean Indians and Moorish slaves, Juan Pardo's expedition, De Soto's expedition, abandoned pirates and Black Dutch, among others. Melungeon families themselves claimed to be Indian, white and Portuguese.

Furthermore, as having Melungeon heritage became desirable and exotic, the range of where these people were reportedly found has expanded to include nearly every state south of New England and east of the Mississippi, and in the words of Dr. Virginia DeMarce,^[1] Melungeon history has been erroneously expanded to provide "an exotic ancestry...that sweeps in virtually every olive, ruddy and brown-tinged ethnicity known or alleged to have appeared anywhere in the pre-Civil War Southeastern United States."^[2]

Formation of Melungeon DNA Project

The Core Melungeon DNA Project was formed at Family Tree DNA in July of 2005[3] with the goal of testing the Y-line and mitochondrial DNA of families identified as Melungeon. The first step was to define which families were Melungeon and were eligible to be included.

The popular press has extended the definition of Melungeon dramatically. The project administrators researched various records to determine where the label of Melungeon was actually applied, and to whom. They found the word first recorded in 1810 and used for the next 100 years or so, primarily in Hawkins and Hancock Counties in Tennessee, and slightly into neighboring counties where the Melungeon family community reached over county and state boundaries into Claiborne County, Tennessee, and Lee, Scott and Russell Counties in Virginia. The project was subsequently broken into Y-line and mitochondrial DNA projects, and in 2010, a Melungeon Family project was added with the advent of the Family Finder product.

First Records of Melungeon

The first recorded instance of any word resembling Melungeon is found surrounding an 1810 event in Arkansas. In 1972, Baxter County, Arkansas published a Centennial edition of its history. In it they describe a Tennessean, Jacob Mooney, along with Jacob Wolf, reportedly of Hawkins County, Tn.,[4] who made numerous incursions into Arkansas for the purpose of trading livestock, etc. The following passage describes Mooney's first trek to Baxter County in 1810.

"The four men who had come with Mooney were men of Mystery, referred to by oldtimers who knew of them as "Lungeons." They were neither Negro or Indian and in later years Jacob Mooney was ostracized for living with these "foreigners"...by the time he moved to Arkansas for good, his former slaves and the "lungeon" men had died and most of their families had moved west with the Indians."[5]

The next written record of Melungeons is found in Russell County, Virginia in the Stony Creek[6] church minutes in 1813[7] when a reference was made to “harboring them Melungins.”[8] From that point forward in time, we access historical documents to determine which families were originally considered to be Melungeon.

As early as 1848, the outside world heard of the Melungeons and became interested when Littell's Living Age[9] published an article referring to the Melungeons in which it was claimed that:

"A great many years ago, these mountains were settled by a society of Portuguese adventurers, men and women - who came from the long-shore parts of Virginia. These intermixed with the Indians and subsequently their descendants (after the advances of the whites into this part of the state) with the negros and the whites, thus forming the present race of Melungens."

With this article, cultural interest in the group of people known as Melungeons began, and various articles and publications followed, some of which contained information that related to their heritage.

Table 1: Melungeon Heritage Table

Year	Source	Melungeon References Provided
1810	History of Baxter County Arkansas[10]	First reference to Melungeons in written records indicating they were from Hawkins County, Tn.
1813	Stony Creek Church Minutes (1801-1814), Russell Co., Va.	First local reference to Melungeons - reference to "harboring them Melungins."
1848	Littell's Living Age	"Society of Portuguese adventurers...who came from the long-shore parts of Virginia...intermixed with the Indians and subsequently their descendants...with the negroes and the whites"
1886	Goodspeed's History of Tennessee[11]	Says Newman's Ridge "has since been occupied mainly by a people presenting a peculiar admixture of white and Indian blood."
1888 1889 1890 1907 1915	Hamilton McMillan[12]	Lumbee as descendants of Lost Colony, Lumbee "formerly called themselves Melungeans", Lumbee "branch of the Melungeans", Lumbee "call themselves Malungeans", says Melungeon designation preceded first tribal name
1889	Dr. Swan Burnett[13]	"Proudly call themselves Portuguese."
1889	Atlanta Constitution letter from Laurence Johnson[14]	"Claim to be Portuguese - original site on the Pedee River in NC and SC...crew consisting mostly of Moors with sprinkling of Arabs and negroes turned ashore free...found wives among Indians, negroes and cast off white women...free people of color of Pedee region."
1890	1890 census paperwork[15]	"Melungeons in Hawkins County claim to be Cherokees of mixed blood (white, Indian and negro)...Collins and Gibson reported as Indian, Mullins white, Denham Portuguese, Goins negro...enumerated as of the races which they most resembled."
1890 1891	Articles by Will Allen Dromgoole,[16] Nashville Reporter	"Claim to be Cherokee and Portuguese", some claim a drop of African blood, Collins and Gibson claimed Cherokee ancestors, "stole names of Collins and Gibson from white settlers in Virginia where they had lived previous to North Carolina", white (Mullins), Portuguese pirate (Denham) and African (Goins).
1897	"A Visit to the Melungeons" by C.F. Humble[17]	"We know that Mullens and Moores received their names from white husbands and fathers, and we do no violence to the probabilities by assuming that the prevalent names, Collins, Gibson, Williams, Goans, Bell came in the same way."
1903 1914	Lewis Jarvis, Hancock County Tn., attorney and historian[18]	"Called Melungeon by the local white people...not here when first hunting parties came...had land grants where they formerly lived...were the friendly Indians who came with the whites as they moved west" to the New River and Fort Blackmore...married among the whites. Names Collins, Gibson, Bolin, Bunch, Goodman, Moore, Williams, Sullivan and "others not remembered" as Indian.
1907	Hodges Book of American Indians north of Mexico by James Mooney[19]	"A mixture of white, Indian and Negro...the Redbones of SC and the Croatans [now Lumbee] of North Carolina seem to be the same mixture" and "Croatoan, Redbones, Delaware Moors and Melungeons are of similar origin" and "name Melungeon is probably from melange-mixed or Portuguese."

In 1903, Lewis Jarvis,[20] a local attorney who lived and worked with the Melungeon families and was ultimately responsible for identifying many of the families by name, wrote the following: [21]

"Much has been said and written about the inhabitants of Newmans Ridge and Blackwater in Hancock County, Tennessee. They have been derisively dubbed, with the name "Melungeon" by the local white people who lived here with them. It’s not a traditional name or a tribe of Indians. Some have said these people were here when this country was first explored by the white people and others that they are a lost tribe of Indians and have no date of their existence here. All of this is erroneous and cannot be sustained. They had land grants in places where they formerly lived. These people not any of them were here when the first white hunting party came from Virginia and North Carolina in the year 1761.”

In his 1903 article,[22] Jarvis identifies the Melungeons as Vardy Collins, Shepard Gibson, Benjamin Collins, Solomon Collins, Paul Bunch and the Goodman Chiefs and says:

"They settled here in 1804, possibly about the year 1795", obtained land grants and "were the friendly Indians who came with the whites as they moved west. They came from Cumberland County and New River, Va., stopping at various points west of the Blue Ridge. Some of them stopped on Stony Creek, Scott County, Virginia, where Stony Creek runs into Clinch River. The white immigrants with the friendly Indians erected a fort on the bank of a river and called it Fort Blackmore[23] and here yet many of these friendly Indians live in the mountains of Stony Creek, but they have married among the whites until the race has almost become extinct. A few of the half bloods may be found - none darker - but they still retain the name of Collins and Gibson, &c. From here they came to Newman's Ridge and Blackwater and many of them are here yet; but the amalgamations of the whites and Indians has about washed the red tawny from their appearance, the white faces predominating, so now you can scarcely find one of the original Indians; a few half-bloods and quarter-bloods balance white or past the third generation."

Jarvis later names James Collins, John Bolin, Mike Bolin and "others not remembered" who "went to the War of 1812" whom he says "were quite full blooded Indians." He ends by saying that:

"They all came here simultaneously with the whites from the State of Virginia, between the years 1795 and 1812 and about that there is no mistake except in the dates these Indians came here from Stony Creek."

Jarvis stated that the purpose of his article had been to address the myth that the Melungeons were a lost tribe of Indians having no date of their existence and that they were found when the first hunting party came into the area in 1761, which he asserts unequivocally was incorrect.

In 1914, in a letter to Mrs. John Trotwood Moore,[24] Jarvis writes:

“These people were friendly to the Cherokees who came west with the white immigration from New River and Cumberland, Virginia, about the year 1790. The name Melungeon was given them on account of their color. I personally knew Vardy Collins, Solomon D. Collins, Shepard Gibson, Paul Bunch and Benjamin Bunch and many of the Goodmans, Moores, Williams and Sullivans, all of the very first settlers and noted men of these friendly Indians. In the Civil War most of the Melungeons went into the Union army and made good soldiers. Their Indian blood has about run out. They are growing white. They have been misrepresented by many writers. In former writings I have given their stations and stops on their way as they emigrated to this country with white people, one of which places was at the mouth of Stony Creek on Clinch River in Scott County, Virginia, where they built a fort and called it Ft. Blackmore after Col. Blackmore who was with them. When Daniel Boone was here hunting 1763-1767, these Melungeons were not here."

Nearly all of the 1800 and early 1900 era contacts with the Melungeons record their heritage as either Indian or Portuguese, mixed variously with whites and negroes. Saundra Keyes Ivey[25] sums up the situation in her dissertation: "The Melungeons carefully preserved the "Legend of their history." This "Legend"...included an original descent from Portuguese adventurers and later intermarriage with Indians, negroes and whites."

Why Portuguese?

If the Melungeons were not Portuguese, why would they have said that they were? The answer to this question may be at least partially found in the 1834 Tennessee constitutional amendment, which went into effect in 1835, and meant significant changes for those citizens designated as "free persons of color."

“Every free white man of the age of twenty-one years, being a citizen of the United States, and a citizen of the county wherein he may offer his vote, six months next preceding the day of election, shall be entitled to vote for members of the general Assembly, and other civil officers, for the county or district in which he resides: provided, that no person shall be disqualified from voting in any election on account of color, who is now by the laws of this State, a competent witness in a court of Justice against a white man. All free men of color, shall be exempt from military duty in time of peace, and also from paying a free poll tax.”[26]

What this doesn't say in so many words is that negroes, Indians and mulattoes, in other words, free persons of color, and slaves, were forbidden from testifying in a court of law against a white person, voting and other civil rights afforded to white people.

In addition to the 1834 Tennessee legislation, the Indian Removal Act[27] signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on March 26, 1830 provided for the removal of the "5 Civilized Tribes" from their lands east of the Mississippi to lands west of the Mississippi. Viewed by historians as an act of cultural genocide, the first tribes were removed in 1831 and the last, the Cherokee were removed in the dead of winter in 1838, resulting in the deaths of about 4000 Cherokee, or about 20% of the tribe,[28] known as the "Trail of Tears." Some feel this number has been drastically understated. Regardless, beginning in 1830, Indian is not a label one wanted attached to their family, and at that point, almost anything else was preferable.

Given that these families were from Virginia and North Carolina before they settled in Tennessee, this would not have been their first brush with discriminatory laws.

In October 1705 in Virginia, the following act was passed:

"Be it enacted and declared, and it is hereby enacted and declared, That the child of an Indian and the child, grand child, or great grand child, of a negro shall be deemed, accounted, held and taken to be a mulatto."

This was followed by:

"That all male persons, of the age of sixteen years, and upwards, and all negro, mulatto, and Indian women, of the age of sixteen years, and upwards, not being free, shall be, and are hereby declared to be tithable, or chargeable."

This certainly might be reason to seek residence elsewhere, perhaps in North or South Carolina.

In Virginia in 1691, 1705 and 1753 and in North Carolina in 1715 and again in 1741, intermarriage was banned between whites and negroes, mulattoes or Indians, which obviously had the effect of encouraging intermarriage between blacks and Indians. Another ban specifically against white-Indian intermarriage was found in Tennessee in 1821, where most states only banned black/white marriages.[29] Dr. Ariela Gross contends that the "vanishing Indian" was a result in this timeframe of the reclassification to mulatto and negro and follows several examples forward through time. The 1705 Virginia statue that declared that a Mulatto is "a child of an Indian" as well as "the child, grandchild, or great-grandchild of a negro" was not modified until 1785 when a "colored person" was defined as all persons with "one fourth-or more negro blood" and only those with "no negro blood" were allowed to be classified as Indians.

Portuguese was considered white, although Portuguese were expected to look "dark", having Moorish blood. Portuguese was claimed in other locations as well, possibly also to mask either Indian or negro heritage.[30] DeMarce suggests that an obvious explanation is the perpetual wish for non-African ancestry, which had led to a plethora of myths.[31] While Caucasians of Mediterranean descent were rare in British North America, they were counted as white and were, if willing to be naturalized and become Protestant, not subject to the legal disabilities imposed upon free mulattoes and Indians.

The Portuguese claim was not restricted to Hawkins/Hancock County families. Lewis Goans moved to Hawkins County in 1855 from Rockingham County, NC, the same area where the Melungeon family of Zephaniah Goins lived prior to moving to Hawkins County in 1811. On December 11, 1895, Lewis died and his obituary provides the following information:[32]

"Lewis Goans, an aged and well known citizen of our county, died at the residence of Harris Bell on Cave Ridge near town Tuesday night after an illness of about 6 weeks, Aged 84 years.  Until his last illness Mr. Goans had never been sick but 2 days in his life, and was an exceptionally well preserved man.  He was Very Dark complected and claimed to be of Portuguese stock."

Harrison Goins, who wrote "Indian" as his racial classification on his WWI draft card, was the grandfather of Jack Goins[33] and son of Hezekiah Goins. Harrison claimed to be one quarter Indian and never discussed Portuguese. Harrison's sister never discussed Indians and told stories about her Portuguese Goins ancestors.[34] Hezekiah's mother was a Minor, and the Minors and Goins, including Hezekiah, claimed Portuguese ancestry on the 1880 census. Hezekiah was the great-grandson of Zephaniah Goins who moved from Rockingham County, NC in 1811 to Hawkins County.

Ethnicity Challenges

Melungeons voted, owned land and otherwise functioned as white people in Hawkins and Hancock Counties in Tennessee. However, their ethnicity was challenged.

Ariela Gross documents a claim to Portuguese heritage when in 1855 in Carter County, Jacob Perkins, "an East Tennessean of a Melungeon family", attempted to win damages from John White for the accusation that he had "negro blood."[35] In this case, many depositions were given regarding the family heritage and whether they were Portuguese, negro or mulatto. If they were Portuguese, they would be treated as white, and if they were negro or mulatto, they would lose the rights of whites. While the outcome of this lawsuit does not exist, the lawyers extensive notes do, and in a note from Jacob Perkins to his lawyer, he shares his perspective as to what is so damaging about the accusation of "negro blood":

"1st the words imply that we are liable to be indicted = liable to be whipped = liable to be fined; They bastardize our children; They disqualify us from serving on a jury - from being a witness - from merchandizing; 2. These words worse than theft or murder; 3. They are slander upon the plaintiff and his ancestors who are dead."[36]

In addition to the various articles that provide various and sometimes conflicting ethnic and historical roots for Melungeon families, several lawsuits occurred that contested the ethnicity of both Melungeon and Lumbee families with similar surnames.

Table 2: Contested Ethnicity

Year	Case or Event	Information
1833	General Assembly of Tennessee Petition[37]	Petition by sons of William Nickens (Wilson Co., Tn.) petitioning the Assembly stating that their parents were from Portugal and had settled in the US "many years since" and that "their colour is rather of the mixed blood by appearance." They asked to have the same rights as other citizens of the state.
1845 - 1848	Hawkins County, Tn. Voting Rights Cases[38]	The state challenged the right to vote of several individuals who were alleged to be free persons of color and therefore not white and eligible to vote. Nine men, eight of which were Melungeon were prosecuted. They were Vardy Collins, Zachariah Miner, Solomon Collins, Ezekiel Collins, Levi Collins, Andrew Collins, Wiatt Collin, Lewis Minor. All were found not guilty except Vardy who paid a fine and the suit was dropped.
1851	Wilson Co., Tn.[39]	Letter from R. M. Ewing in 1890 stating that in 1851 when he attended law school there were a group of people living in Wilson County called Melungeon and claimed to be of Portuguese descent. Includes surnames of Richardson, Nickens and Collins.
1852	Bloomer vs Minor, Hawkins Co., Tn.[40]	Bloomer accused Minor of abducting his niece for the purpose of marrying her. Bloomer states in court that Minor's are free persons of color and the niece is white, precluding the marriage. Found in favor of Minor.
1853	Goins vs Mayes, Claiborne Co., Tn.[41]	Mayes objects to marriage of his brother to a Goins female, stating Goins were negroes and mulattoes. Goins initially won, but the verdict was overturned by the Tennessee State Supreme Court stating that it was common knowledge in the community that the Goins were of mixed blood.
1855	Perkins vs White, Carter Co., Tn.[42]	Jacob Perkins accused John White, of "an East Tennessee Melungeon family" of having Negro blood. Various depositions claimed Portuguese, negro and mulatto.
1857	Perkins vs White, Johnson Co., Tn.[43]	Joshua Perkins took John R. White to court because White was heard to say the Perkins were negro and should be taken to court for having white wives. Perkins stated that his grandfather was Portuguese, but lost the case.
1872	Testimony before Congress by Giles Leitch, Jr., attorney[44]	Attorney who had defended militia members who killed several Lumbee in Robeson Co., NC stated that the Lumbee were "a mixture of Spanish, Portuguese and Indian without much negro blood at all", "Mulattoes."
1874	Shepherd Case (Jack vs Foust), Hamilton Co., Tn.	Inheritance of woman challenged due to her race. Bolton family alternatively defined as negro, Malungeon, mixed-blood, Portuguese, Spanish/German and descendants of ancient Phoenicians who settled in Portugal. Includes description of migration path from SC to Hawkins Co., Tn. Mentions families Bolton, Goins, Shumake, Perkins, Morning, Menley, Breedlove and others.
1884	Randolph Co., NC Court Minutes[45]	Flora McDonald, 88 and Catharine McBryde, 83 "are acquainted with Daniel Goins, his father, grandfather and great-grandfather, (John Harmon) who was a native of Portugal and was always called a Portugan and was the color of the natives of that place...that he, his sons and grandson always exercised the right of and passed as white men in every respect."
1915	Goins vs Robeson County (NC) Board of Education	Suit filed by the Goins family claiming they are Indian and not negro, seeking admission to Indian school.

The Shepherd Case

This case is known as the Shepherd Case[46] because the honorable Judge Lewis Shepherd, when he was an attorney before becoming a judge, defended Martha Simmerman, a young woman accused of having negro blood, and he wrote about this famous case in his memoirs in 1915. For many years, his memoirs were the only known record of this case, but since, the actual case records have been found in the Tennessee State archives under the case name Jack vs Foust. This case identifies several Melungeon families with surnames not otherwise identified as being Melungeon in the Hawkins/Hancock County core region. A watershed case in many respects, it provides information about Melungeon families in locations other than Hawkins and Hancock Counties in Tennessee, and provides invaluable historical breadcrumbs.

In this case, the inheritance of a young woman, Martha Simmerman (granddaughter of Solomon Bolton), was dependent on the racial classification of her Melungeon Bolton family.[47] The court determined that the family was not of mixed African blood, the allegation, which would have caused her to lose her inheritance per the laws of Tennessee at the time. Testimony in the case indicated that the family was alternately defined as Spanish/German or Portuguese, descendants of ancient Pheonicians who, after Carthage fell to the Romans, immigrated across the straits to Gibraltar and settled in Portugal.

A tax collector in Spartanburg District[48] in South Carolina where Solomon Bolton had lived testified that he too had investigated the "blood" of Bolton to determine whether to levy the "free negro" tax on Solomon Bolton and had decided not to, whereas he did levy it on another person who claimed to be Portuguese.[49]

Other witnesses testified that Bolton, Perkins and other people of the same community called themselves "Portuguese" or "Spaniards" but were considered "free negro."[50]

About half way through the trial, A.B. Beeson was the first witness to refer specifically to the Melungeons. When asked about Solomon Bolton's identity, he answered, "He was called a Malungeon" and referred to "His general association with the Malungeons - his own people. I never saw him associate with whites except when he had business." When asked to name the same families of this "race or character", Beeson named several including Perkins and the Goinses.[51] When asked what he understood a Melungeon to be, he replied "I think it is a term applied to mixed blood people."[52]

Lewis Shepherd details in his memoirs the argument he made to win over the court for Martha Simmerman, persuading the chancellor that her father's marriage was valid and that Jemima Bolton, Solomon's daughter, was legally white. Shepherd explained that:

"These people belonged to a peculiar race, which settled in East Tennessee at an early day ... known as 'Melungeons.' ... It was proven by the tradition amongst these people that they were descendants of the ancient Carthagenians; they were Phoenicians, who after Carthage was conquered by the Romans, and became a Roman province, emigrated across the Straits of Gibraltar, and settled in Portugal.... About the time of our revolutionary war,[53] a considerable body of these people crossed the Atlantic, and settled on the coast of South Carolina near North Carolina."

He went on to explain that when South Carolinians "began to suspect that they were mulattoes or free negroes, and denied them the privileges usually accorded to white people," the Melungeons left South Carolina and wandered into Tennessee.[54]

According to Shepherd, writing in 1915:

"Our Southern high-bred people will never tolerate on equal terms any person who is even remotely tainted with negro blood, but they do not make the same objection to other brown or dark-skinned people, like the Spanish, the Cubans, the Italians, etc."

This case included testimony about a migration path from South Carolina to Hawkins County, Tn., then on to Hamilton County, Tn.

William McGill,[55] Justice of the Peace 1834-1850, in Hamilton County, testified for the plaintiff and stated: "We generally called them Malungeons when we talk about the Goins and them, the Goins who were mixed blooded."

Witnesses who testified in the 1874 Chattanooga trial named those who originally lived in Hawkins County. Judge Lewis Shepherd in his memoirs listed the families mentioned in this case:

"The Goins, Shumake, Boltons, Perkins, Mornings, Menleys, Breedlove & others. They came from South Carolina, across the mountains to now Hancock County, Tennessee, and spread out from there."

Written records may not exist that show that all of these families named by Lewis Shepherd were in Hancock County,[56] but there is no reason for Judge Shepherd to have lied about this. Shepherd had first hand information from representing these people.

Subsequent research revealed a 1794 South Carolina petition from individuals who fell under the “Act for Imposing a Pole Tax on All Free Negroes, Mustees and Mulatoes”[57]. This petition includes the name of Martha Simmerman's ancestor in question, Solomon Bolton, as well as his father, Spencer Bolton. Interestingly enough, this list also includes the surnames of Gibson and Collins, known Melungeon family names, and others including Oxendine which is exclusively a Lumbee surname.

The Shepherd Trial Goins Family

Further research tracks the Goins family referenced in the Shepherd trial from Sumter County, SC to Moore County, NC in 1820 where they are found living beside 3 Riddle families. The Goins family (by various spellings) in Sumter County, SC and in Cumberland and Moore Counties in NC are always classified as either mulatto or black. They are found associated with the various families mentioned in the testimony from the 1874 lawsuit[58] as well as the 1915 Robeson County Trial[59]; Epps, Jackson, Gibbs, Chavis, Oxendine and Smiling.[60]

In his testimony at the 1915 trial, Hamilton McMillan stated:

"The Croatan tribe lives principaly in Robeson County, North Carolina, though there is quite a number of them settled in counties adjoining in North and South Carolina. In Sumter County, South Carolina, there is a branch of the tribe, and also in east Tennessee. In Macon county, North Carolina, there is another branch, settled there long ago. Those living in east Tennessee are called "Melungeons", a name also retained by them here, which is corruption of 'Melange', a name given them by early settlers (French), which means mixed.''

In 1915, the Cherokee Indians of Robeson County, now the Lumbee, sought to exclude other children from their Normal School because they had "negro blood" or because they were not Lumbee. The Goins children were members a sub-group of the Lumbee known as the "Smilings" who had come from South Carolina. In a long trial, Willie Goins testified that he brought his family from Sumter County, SC and that they "belong to the Indian race of people if any to my knowledge." A group of ministers was sent to SC to investigate the racial heritage of the Goins family, and in SC it was explained that "we are sometimes called "Red-bones", some call us "Croatans." Rev. Locklear gave his opinion that "on the mother's side plaintiffs are Indians and on the father's they are malungeans."[61]

This information provides a connecting link between the Melungeon families of Tennessee and the Lumbee families. In the late 1800s documentation indicates that the Lumbee also referenced themselves as both Portuguese and Melungeon.

It was culturally and financially important for a family to be or become white as soon as they could. Whiteness, or in essence, absence of negro or other nonwhite blood was determined in two different ways in court of law, and both were used, often in combination, as documented by several trials. Physical attributes were evaluated, such as flatfootedness, a trait associated with negroes, versus a high arch, associated with European heritage, kinky versus curly or straight hair, and a flat, broad nose versus a more European beak-type nose. Of course, in the case of mixed, or alleged mixed heritage, these traits were not always definitive, so past activities and prior acceptance as white was also taken into consideration. Did the person or family in question (and their parents and grandparents) attend white churches or negro congregations, were they taxed as white or as free persons of color, did they eat with the white folks or the black folks at gatherings? Did they muster in the militia, vote, serve on a jury or testify in court against whites, activities reserved exclusively for whites? If they had past acceptance or their ancestors did as "white", it was unlikely they would be found to be otherwise.[62]

In 1902, James Mooney addressed the issue of Portuguese oral history:

"All along the southern coast there are scattered here and there bands of curious people whose appearance, color, and hair seem to indicate a cross or mixture of the Indian, the white, and the Negro. Such, for example, are the Pamunkeys of Virginia, the Croatan Indians of the Carolinas, the Malungeons of Tennessee, and numerous other peoples who in the days of slavery were regarded as free Negroes and were frequently hunted down and enslaved. Since the war they have tried hard by act of legislature and otherwise to establish their Indian ancestry. Wherever these people are found, there always will be the traveler or investigator passing through their region, who will encounter their tradition of Portuguese descent, and in view of their ignorance, will wonder how these people ever came to know of the nation of Portugal.”[63]

Racial Identification

There are a few terms used repeatedly in historical documents when referring to individuals on the early tax lists and census records. Many of the terms had different meanings at that time in history. Additionally, it’s important to look at the entire record for context.

For example, if there are only three options, white, black and mulatto, one would never find an Indian listed. On the other hand, on tax lists, if one is listed as an Indian, even if the surname in question today is not proven Native by DNA testing, there is no reason to believe that the family in question did not have Native heritage. There was simply no advantage prior to 1887 when land became available[64] to claiming any heritage except white.

Mulatto today is taken to mean mixed black and white, but historically, it meant not 100% negro and not 100% white, therefore discernibly admixed, and it could have been mixed black/white, Indian/white, black/Indian or a combination of all three.

Mixed meant the same thing, basically, not black and not white.

Negro typically meant black and not appearing or known to be admixed. If you looked admixed, you were called mulatto or mixed or sometimes mustee/mestee if the admixture was known to be Indian.

Mustee is a term no longer widely in use, and when it is used today typically means something akin to “half-breed.” The historical usage of the word typically meant mixed with Indian blood. The mixture could have been Indian/white, Indian/Spanish in Mexico or the Southwest or could possibly also mean Indian/black. Again, the context of usage would be important but any individual so referenced in historical documents could be suspected of having Native heritage that was admixed at that point in time.

White was white. One could not be white if one had any minority ancestry “to the third or fourth generation inclusive” depending on when and where the record was created.[65] At one point, after the Civil War, this law was extended to include even “one drop” of non-white ancestry, most notoriously with Virginia's Racial Integrity Act of 1924 wherein race was defined by the "one drop rule", classifying anyone with any non-white ancestry as negro.[66]

How individuals were defined varied widely. Often how they were identified had more to do with the person doing the identification than the heritage of the individual. It’s not uncommon to find someone defined as mulatto in one location, white in the next, mixed in the next, mulatto again, then white. Census takers generally looked at people and decided, or knew their family and history and wrote what they thought to be true. Census classifications for individuals who never moved can vary from census to census.

Given the social, economic and civic discrimination of historical times, it goes without saying that “white” was the race that provided educational opportunity, removed repression, assured civil equality such as the right to vote and fostered financial success. It was advantageous to become “white” if at all possible, and quickly.

Families tended to live in nuclear groups. They suffered discrimination and repression equally throughout the group. Survival often depended on having the assistance of your “kinship group.” In other words, people established clans. When it came time to consider moving further west for land, opportunity or just a fresh start, they didn’t migrate alone. They went in groups with their children, parents, brothers, cousins and in-laws. In some cases, none stayed behind. More often, some did. It’s important to look at family groupings when we track family migration. Finding the same surnames and individuals in the new location that match those of the old imply a kinship group. Migration paths are key to understanding the Melungeons.

Melungeon Migration Patterns

Jack Goins’ research has shown that the ancestors of many Melungeon families are found in early Hanover and Louisa County, Virginia, circa 1720, on the Pamunkey River, the area shown on Figure 1.[67]

Beginning about 1747, these families migrated to the Flat River area of Granville County, North Carolina. This area became Orange County In 1752. Some families from Louisa and Hanover County migrated about the same time to Lunenburg County, Virginia areas that later became Halifax, Pittsylvania, Henry and Patrick Counties in Virginia.

Locations of the homes of Melungeon families are shown in Figure 2 created by Jack Goins. This area in present-day Person County, NC, located near the border with Halifax County, Virginia, is the area that is the home of the Haliwa Saponi Tribe.[68]

Beginning about 1767 some from these groups migrated to the New River, primarily the area that is today Ashe and Allegheny (formed from Wilkes) Counties, North Carolina and Grayson County, Virginia. Locations of Melungeon families are shown in Figure 3[69] on the border of these three counties.

The next leg of their journey finds them in early Lee and Russell Counties in Virginia and Hawkins County in Tennessee between 1792 and 1800. By the mid 1800s we find them in Hawkins, Hancock and Eastern Claiborne County in Tennessee and in Lee and Scott Counties in Virginia. In Figure 4 the Fort Blackmore group is shown in present-day Scott[70] County, Virginia and the Hancock County group is shown north of Sneedville near the Virginia border.[71]

Other family members had moved on to other locations and states, in particular Kentucky and western counties of Tennessee, but other than in Hamilton, Wilson and Carter Counties, Tn., we find no record of those individuals being referenced as Melungeon in their new locations.

Melungeon families found in the various migration locations are shown in the following table:

Table 3: Melungeon Co-Location Migration Table

Surname	Jamestown era - Early Virginia	Hanover & Louisa, Va. Area	Lunenburg & Halifax Va. Area	Granville & Orange, NC - Flat River	Montgomery & Grayson, Va., Wilkes & Ashe, NC - New River	Russell, Va. Area	Hawkins Hancock, Tn. Area
Bell					X		X
Bolin			X	X	X	X	X
Bunch	X	X	X	X	X		X
Collins		X		X	X	X	X
Denham	X	X	X			X	X
Gibson	X	X		X	X	X	X
Goins	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Goodman		X	X	X			X
Minor		X	X	X	X	X	X
Moore	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Mullins			X				X
Nichols				X	X		X
Riddle			X	X	X		X
Sizemore	X		X	X	X		X
Williams		X		X	X		X

Core Melungeon Families

In order for a surname to be included in the Melungeon DNA projects, at least one historical record must exist stating that this family was considered to be Melungeon during the 1800s and early 1900s in Hawkins and Hancock Counties of Tennessee or adjacent areas. Supporting records were also incorporated.

The list of Core Melungeon families was taken from multiple historical sources, including the 1830 census,[72] Lewis Jarvis’ records,[73] court records,[74] tax lists,[75] Plecker’s lists,[76] Droomgoole’s articles,[77] the Shepherd Case,[78] the 1880 census,[79] the 1890 census report,[80] voting records,[81] Eastern Cherokee Indian[82] Applications, Rev. William Humble's correspondence[83], William Grohse's[84] records as well as other resources.

Every family included is specifically referred to or identified as a Melungeon in one or more of these records.

Table 4: Melungeon Family Identification Table

Surname	Census[85]	Jarvis[86]	Court	Tax Lists	Plecker[87]	Articles	1890 Census	Grohse	Other
Bell	1840 1850, 1870, 1880			Wilkes Co. NC fpc		Humble[88]			Inter-marriage & location[89]
Bolin, Bowling, Bolling, Bolton	1830 1860 1870	Full blood	1743 Orange Co., VA[90], 1874 Shepherd case		Yes				Stony Creek minutes, [91] Blackwater church minutes,[92] New River[93]
Breedlove			1874 Shepherd case
Bunch		Yes		1755 Orange Co., NC[94]	Yes				New River
Collins	1830 1870 1880	Full blood	1743 Orange Co., Va., 1745 Louisa Co., Va.[95], 1846 voting trial	1755 Orange Co., NC	Yes	Humble, Dromgoole[96]	Yes[97]	Yes	1773 Fincastle Co., Va. living on Indian land
Denham	1840 1860 1870 1880					Dromgoole	Yes[98]
Gibson	1830 1860 1870	Yes	1745 Louisa Co., Va.[99],	1755 Orange Co., NC	Yes	Humble, Dromgoole[100]	Yes[101]		Blackwater church minutes
Goins	1830 1840 1870 1880[102]	Yes	1846 voting trial, 1853 slander suit,[103] 1874 Shepherd case		yes	Humble, Dromgoole	Yes[104]		Blackwater church minutes[105]
Goodman	1830 1870	Yes			Yes			Yes
Minor	1830 1840[106] 1860 1870 1880[107]		1846 voting trial, 1852 suit[108]		Yes	Dromgoole		Yes	1854 Marriage Record, Cherokee Indian Application,[109] Blackwater church minutes
Moore	1830 1840 1870	Yes			Yes	Humble
Menley			1874 Shepherd case
Morning			1874 Shepherd case
Mullins	1830 1870				Yes	Humble, Dromgoole	Yes[110]
Nichols	1830				Yes			Yes
Perkins			1855 case, [111] 1857[112] biracial marriage case,[113] 1874 Shepherd case,
Shumake			1874 Shepherd case
Sullivan		Yes
Trent	1870							Yes[114]
Williams	1830 1870	Yes				Humble			1789 Wilkes Co. NC Bastardry Bonds[115]
Sizemore[116]
Riddle[117]				1767 Pittsylvania Co., Va.[118]

Census Returns

In 1846, the easternmost portion of Claiborne County, Tn. and the westernmost portion of Hawkins County, Tn. were taken to form Hancock County. Newman's Ridge, the primary home of the Melungeons was then mostly within Hancock County, but the northern end of Newman's Ridge and Blackwater Creek were in Lee County Virginia. Little War Creek and War Gap extended into Hawkins County, and Clinch Mountain extended into Claiborne. The primary Melungeon family groups were within Hancock County, Hawkins and Claiborne Counties in Tennessee and Lee County in Virginia.

In Figure 5, Jack Goins plotted the various locations of the Melungeon families in 1848.

This census table below is provided to show the changing census classification of family groups over time within the same geographic area. Census reporting was inconsistent. The 1830/1840 racial shift is particularly interesting, especially in light of the 1834 Tennessee Constitutional amendment removing civil rights from any individual not entirely white and the 1830 Indian Removal Act brutally implemented throughout the 1830s.

Many of those who are identified as free persons of color (fpc) in the Hawkins County 1830 census were also identified as Melungeon, but, being identified as fpc in the Hawkins County 1830 census alone does not identify a family as Melungeon.

In 1830 and 1840, the census county recorded in the table below was Hawkins County. In 1850 and later, the county is Hancock unless stated otherwise.

Melungeon surnames of Hawkins/Hancock County Tn. or Melungeon ancestral families with DNA participation are noted in red. Melungeon surnames outside of the Hancock/Hawkins area are italicized. Melungeon ancestral families, meaning those not found designated as Melungeon in the Hawkins/Hancock area, but proven to be ancestral to the Melungeon families are designated by *.

Table 5: Melungeon Census Ethnicity

Name	1830	1840	1850[119]	1860	1870	1880[120]	Hap
Bell	Fpc & White(1)		Mulatto	Mulatto (1), White (2)	Mulatto (3), White (1)	Black (2), Mulatto (4)	R1b
Bolton[121]			White (2)	White (1)	White (3)	White (2)
Bowling, Bolin, Bowlin	Fpc (3)m White (2)	White (7)	White (7)	White (5), Mulatto (1)	White (4), Mulatto (1), Mulatto& White (1)	White (2)	R1b
Breedlove	White (1)
Bunch	White (6)	White (5)	White (2)	White (2)	White (4)	White (2)	E1b1a
Collins	Fpc (17), White (6)	White (24)	White (33)	White (29)	White (26), Mulatto (11), White& Mulatto (9)	White (63), Black (1)	E1b1a R1b R1a
Denham		Fpc (1), White (2)	White (4)	Mulatto (1), Mulatto& White (3)	Mulatto& Black (1) Mulatto& White(1) White(1)	White (1), Black (1)	I1
Gibson, Gipson	Fpc (10), White (2)	White (18)	White (10)	White (35), Mulatto& White (1)	White (9), Mulatto (12), Mulatto& White (2)	White (25)	R1b E1b1a
Goins	Fpc (4), White (3)	White (1), Fpc (1)	White (5)	White (5)	Mulatto (3), White (5)	White (12), Mulatto (1), P/W (3)	E1b1a A
Goodman	Fpc (1)	White (8)	White (3)	White(2)	White (3), Mulatto& White (1)	White (7)	R1b
Minor	Fpc (2)	Fpc & White (3)	White (3)	White (3), Mulatto& White (1)	Mulatto (2), White (2), Mulatto& White(5)	White (2), Mulatto (2), P/W (7)	E1b1a
Moore	Fpc (2), White (16)	Fpc (1), White (18)	White (4)	White (4)	White (4), Mulatto& White (1)	White (6)	R1b
Menley
Morning
Mullins	Fpc (2), White (1)	White (10)	White (8)	White (6)	Mulatto (1), White (9)	White (13)	R1b
Nichols*	Fpc (1), White (2)	White (2)	White (1)	White (1)	White (4), Black (1)	White (5)	R1b E1b1a
Perkins		White (1)
Riddle*							R1b
Sizemore*	White (5)	White (5)	White (5)	White (9)	White (10)	White (3)	Q1a3
Shumake
Sullivan	White (4)	White (5)	White (7)	White (3)	White (1)
Trent	White (11)	White (17)	White (13)	White (22)	White (26), Mulatto& White (1)	White (46)	R1b
Williams	Fpc (1), White (18)	White (20)	White (8)	White (8)	White (10), Mulatto& White (1)	White(23)	R1b

Melungeon DNA Projects

The criteria for joining the Core (Y-line) or mitochondrial DNA projects is that the participant must be paternally descended from an individual within the core group of surnames from the relevant counties, or their direct ancestors. Participants that wish to join must request membership from the administrators and provide their relevant genealogy.

Expected Genetic Results Based on Historical Records

In the table below, we identify what genetic results we would expect to obtain based upon the cultural, family oral history and historical (deeds, census, tax, court) records. This list only includes the Hawkins/Hancock Melungeon and ancestral families, not the families identified in the Shepherd case that are not found in Hawkins/Hancock Counties. It should be noted that Rev. Humble tended to identify all families as white and Plecker interpreted all admixture to be of negro origin.

Table 6: Melungeon Family Expected Ethnicity

Surname or Group	European	African	Native	FPC/Mixed	Portuguese
Bell	Humble, 1830, 1850, 1870 census	1880 census		1840, 1850, 1870, 1880 census
Bolin	1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census, 1874 Case	1874 Case, Plecker	Jarvis says full blood,^[122] 1743 Orange Co, VA record, oral history	1830, 1860, 1870 census, 1874 Case	1874 Case
Bunch	1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census	Plecker	Jarvis	1755 Orange Co. NC tax list
Collins Surname	Humble, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census	1830 census, Plecker	1890 Census, Dromgoole, Jarvis says full blood^[123]	1830, 1870, 1880 census, 1846 voting trial, 1745 Louisa Co, Va. concealed tithables, 1755 Orange Co NC tax list	Dromgoole
Denham	1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census	1870, 1880		1840, 1860, 1870 census	1890 Census, Dromgoole, Grohse
Gibson Surname	1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 Humble	Plecker	1890 Census, Dromgoole, Jarvis	1830, 1860, 1870 census, 1755 Orange Co., NC tax list
Goins Surname	1830,1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census Humble, 1874 Case	1890 Census, Dromgoole, 1874 Case, 1853 Suit, Plecker, 1854 Marriage Record		1830, 1840, 1870, 1880 census 1874 Case 1846 Voting Rights case	1874 Case 1880 census
Goodman	1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census	Plecker	Jarvis, Indian on wife's line	1830, 1870 census
Minor	1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census	1854 Marriage Record, Plecker	Cherokee Indian application	1830, 1840, 1860, 1870, 1880 census, 1852 Suit, 1846 Voting trial	1880 census
Moore	1830, 1840, 1650, 1860, 1870, 1880 Humble	Plecker	Jarvis	1830, 1840, 1870 census
Mullins	1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census 1890 Census, Dromgoole, Humble	Plecker		1830, 1870 census
Nichols	1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census	1870 census		1830 census
Perkins	1840 census			1855 case, 1857 Biracial marriage
Riddle			1767 Pittsylvania Co., Va. tax list
Sizemore	1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census		Family oral "Old Ed" was an Indian
Sullivan	1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870 census		Jarvis
Trent	1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census			1870 census
Williams	1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census Humble		Jarvis	1830, 1870 census

Haplogroups

The Melungeon paternal families were both of European and African origin. To date, only one of the Melungeon ancestral families, Sizemore, has been found with a Native American haplogroup.[124] The Riddle family has been documented in historical records to be of Native ancestry, but the paternal line proves to be European. All mitochondrial DNA lines tested to date are European, haplogroup H.

Of the Core Melungeon names and their ancestral families, we find them grouped as follows:

Table 7: Melungeon Surname Haplogroups

Surname	Haplogroups	Earliest Records
Bell	R1b1b2[125]	Lee Co., Va., Hawkins Co., Tn.
Bolin	R1b1b2[126]	Brunswick Co., Va., Granville Co., NC, Lunenburg Co., Va.
Bunch	E1b1a	Lancaster Co., Va., Hanover/Louisa Co., Va.
Collins	R1a1, R1b1a7a, R1b1b2, E1b1b8a	Louisa Co., Va.
Denham	I1	Charles City Co., Va., Louisa Co., Va.
Gibson	R1b1b2, E1b1a	Charles City Co., Va., Louisa Co., Va.
Goins	E1b1a (2 groups), A	York Co., Va., Louisa Co., Va.
Goodman	R1b1b2[127]	Louisa Co., Va.
Minor	E1b1a	Louisa Co., Va.
Moore	R1b1b2	Louisa Co., Va.[128]
Mullins	R1b1b2	Lunenburg Co., Va. - may not be relevant, otherwise, Lee Co., Va.
Nichols	R1b1b2, E1b1a[129]	Rockingham Co., Virginia
Riddle	R1b1b2	Granville and Orange Co., NC
Sizemore	Q1a3a	Jamestown, Charles City Co, Lunenburg Co., Va.
Williams	R1b1b2[130]	Louisa Co., Virginia

Of the 15 surnames and the 22 haplogroups, 1 is Native American, 8 are African and 12 are European.

Outparenting Events

During the analysis, several outparenting events were discovered. Typically known as nonparental events (NPE), these are also known as undocumented adoptions. Prior to the 1900s, adoptions were informal events when one family took the child of another family to raise when necessary. In some cases, when infidelity is involved, the father may not realize that he is raising another man's child, but in many cases, the reason is much less sinister such as a child taking a step-father's name, a family taking an orphan to raise, or an illegitimate birth where the child takes the mother's surname. All of these events result in the DNA of the surname not matching the expected genetic line.

The Melungeon project had a significant number of these results, and with only three exceptions, the matching surname was within the Melungeon family group. The exceptions are neighboring surnames.

The outparenting events were as follows:

Table 8: Melungeon Outparenting Events

Surname	Matches	Surname
Bunch	Matches	Williams
Collins	Matches	Bunch
Gibson	Matches	Donathan
Gibson	Matches	Goodman
Goodman	Matches	Manis
Goings	Matches	Collins
Collins	Matches	Gibson
Cook	Matches	Collins
Collins	Matches	Mullins
Bolin	Matches	Gibson
Bolin	Matches	Sizemore
Bolin	Matches	Williams
Minor	Matches	Fisher

Donathan is not a Melungeon surname, but was involved with the Louisa County, Va. family group. They were also prosecuted in 1745 along with the Melungeon group of families in Louisa County, for concealed tithables, inferring that they too were a part of the mixed racial community.

Cook and Manis are Hawkins/Hancock County surnames.

One of the cultural aspects that Dromgoole found remarkable was that the Melungeons were "defiant (or worse, ignorant) of the very first principles of morality."

In another article, Dromgoole states again that "they are exceedingly immoral" and references Melungeon women with white or black husbands and some with "three separate races represented in their children, showing thereby the gross immorality that is practiced among them."

Dromgoole also shared with us a very interesting piece of trivia about two Melungeon families.

"So old Jim Mullins took up with (having no set form of marriage service) a Melungeon woman, a Collins, by whom he had a large family of children. Sometime after he exchanged wives with one Wyatt Collins, and proceeded to cultivate a second family. Wyatt Collins also had a large family by his first wife, and equally fortunate with the one whom he traded her for."[131]

While viewing this behavior through the filter of post-Victorian morality, it seemed quite remarkable, but when viewed through the filter of matrilineal social customs practiced by the tribes inhabiting Virginia and North Carolina in the 1600s and 1700s, it's not unusual at all.[132]

Theda Perdue discusses this phenomena when telling of a trader who had fallen in love with a Native lady.

"They were married in the Indian manner, that is, without Christian rites. Native people in the Southeast normally wed with little ceremony, made no long-term commitments, and parted easily if either spouse became dissatisfied."

Perdue discusses the white perception that when an English man married a Native female, which was the typical scenario, that the female moved into his house and functioned as an English wife, but that was not the case. She goes on to tell of the trader who did not expect his goods to be confiscated and doled out to his wife's relatives after marriage, in accordance with the Native understanding of ownership and maternal culture. One either adapted, or left, and those who remained quickly adapted to living "in the Indian manner."[133]

African cultures in the Americas also tended to be maternal, and certainly, slavery in colonial America limited and sometimes removed any opportunity for the female slave to select a partner at will. Her choices were restricted to available males on or near her plantation, some of which were possibly enslaved Indians, or other African or mixed race males in the general vicinity. In other situations, the female slave had no choice in the matter whatsoever. While legal marriages certainly did not exist for slaves, they too had marriage rituals, although were often separated from family by subsequent sales. White males were certainly known to father children with African females, although it was without the benefit of marriage and resulting children were born into slavery.

This high number and wide distribution of outparenting events involving almost every core Melungeon surname may suggest remnants of matrilineal culture.

Autosomal DNA Testing

While Y-line testing gives a direct view into the ancestral source of the Y-chromosome, hence the paternal (surname) line, and mitochondrial into the ancestral source of the maternal line, autosomal DNA testing functions differently.

Autosomal testing tests the DNA inherited from all of one's ancestors. Each individual inherits half of their DNA from their mother and half from their father. Grandparents each contribute about 25% to each grandchild, but not the same 25%. Which DNA gets passed to each child in each generation is a function of how the DNA is combined, and each child inherits differently from each parent. Reaching back in time, each person carries approximately the following amounts of DNA from their ancestors:

Table 9: Autosomal Inheritance Percentages

Gen	# of Ancestors	Birth Year	Ancestor	Approximate % of Ancestor's DNA Carried
1	2	1925	Parents	50
2	4	1900	Grandparents	25
3	8	1875	Great-Grandparents	12.5
4	16	1850	Great-Great-Grandparents	6.25
5	32	1825	Great-Great-Great-Grandparents	3.125
6	64	1800	Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandparents	1.56
7	128	1775	Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandparents	Less than 1%

Ancestors double in each generation, so you carry a little more than 1%, on average, of the DNA contributed by each of your 64 great-great-great-great-grandparents.

Using 25 years as a genealogical generation, the 4th great-grandfather of someone born in 1950 would have been born about 1800 and may have lived until close to 1900.

If your ancestor in generation 6 was Native American and was not admixed, you would carry about 1% of their DNA. In each generation, you stand a 50% chance of losing your Native ancestor's DNA at any particular allele location as each child inherits half of their DNA from each parent.

Therefore, today, you stand about a 1% chance of retaining the DNA of that particular ancestor at any specific location.

D9S919

A paper was published in 2007[134] that indicated that about 30% of the Native Americans tested carry a specific value range for autosomal marker D9S919.[135] These values are not known to occur in other populations. This is the only marker value currently known to occur exclusively in the Native American population making this particular marker extremely useful in determining whether an individual carries Native American admixture.

A value of 9-10 confirms that the individual has a Native ancestor someplace in their family tree. A value of anything else does not disprove Native admixture, only that this individual today does not carry Native ancestry at that specific allelic location. Several participants (11) in the Melungeon Y-line(8) and Family(3) projects have taken the D9S919 test, and none of the participants' values were 9 or 10. This information neither confirms nor eliminates Native Ancestry from their heritage.

Values of the eleven participants were as follows:

Table 10: D9S919 Values 1

Value	16	17	18
# of Participants Exhibiting that Value	9	6	7

The Patriarchs

For each of the Hawkins/Hancock families, a patriarch or patriarchs have been identified by using historical and genealogical research methodologies. Through the Melungeon-Core DNA project, it has been possible in many cases to obtain multiple participants who descend from the surname progenitors, allowing us to confirm the genetic patterns of the patriarch for each family.

Patriarchs are identified variously; by the 1830 census (including their racial designation), except Denham which is from 1840; Jarvis, indicated by *; or 1802 Stony Creek Church Minutes (1801-1814) which are indicated by #.

Table 11: Melungeon Patriarch Table

	Family Name	Patriarch(s)	Progenitors	Y-Line DNA	Comments
1	Bell	Thomas - fpc		Possibly R1b1b2[136]	Proximity, not proven genealogy connection
2	Bolin, Bowling, Bolling, Bolen[137]	James*			James on 1801 Lee Co Tax list as white
3		Mitchell - white
4		Levi - white
5		John - fpc
6		Michael - fpc			On 1808 Lee Co Tax list
7		David		R1b1b2	Married in 1804 in Grainger County to Polly Rayl(e)[138]
8	Bunch[139]	Benjamin - white	Lambert is son of Benjamin, Paul and Jesse are probably sons of Benjamin, Green (Greenberry) possible brother to Benjamin	E1b1a	E1b1a - 3 Melungeon kits match 14 additional Bunch surname project kits who descend from John Bunch b 1630, probably New Kent Co., Va.
9		Samuel not present in 1830		R1b1b2	Suspect NPE - matches 2 Williams
10	Collins[140]	George - white
11		James - white
12		James - white
13		Martin - white	s/o Samuel	Samuel also has sons Vardy (R1a1) b1760 and Valentine (E1b1a8a[141]) b1764, both in Wilkes County, NC, whose haplogroups do not match	From Louisa Co., Va. - see line 29
14		Tandy - white
15		William - white
16		Benjamin - fpc
17		Benjamin - fpc		E1b1a7a, 4 participants, son Levi R1b1b2	Benjamin b 1750, wife Nancy
18		Andrew - fpc	s/o Benjamin
19		Edmund - fpc	s/o Benjamin	Son Levi's line R1b1b2	2 participants, Suspect NPE - match Gibsons
20		Millenton - fpc	s/o Benjamin
21		Vardy - fpc		R1a1, 7 participants,	Vardy is supposed to be the son of Samuel, as are Martin and Valentine
22		Simeon - fpc	s/o Vardy
23		Harvey - fpc
23		James - fpc
24		James - fpc
25		John - fpc
26		Martin - fpc	s/o James	R1a1
27		Solomon - fpc			Wife Jencie Jane Goins, daughter of Joseph Goins and Millie Loven
28		Wiatt - fpc
29		Valentine not present in 1830		E1b1a8a, Suspect NPE pre-Hawkins County, matches with Bunches
30		Collins		R1b1b2	Matches Mullins
31	Denham	Washington - white
32		John - white
33		David - fpc		I1	From Louisa Co., Va.
34	Gibson[142]	Rubin#	s/o Thomas
35		Thomas#	s/o Thomas
36		Charles - fpc	s/o Thomas
37		Henry#
38		Thomas - fpc	Bryson's father Thomas	E1b1a	Matches Donathan
39		Sheppard (Buck) - fpc		R1b1b2 Main Group, 15 participants	From Louisa Co., Va., married a Denham
40		Andrew - fpc	Possible son or brother of Shephard
41		Esau - fpc
42		Sherod - fpc
43
44		Jordan - fpc	s/o George or Gilbert		George from Louisa Co., Va.
45		Jordan - fpc	s/o George or Gilbert		George from Louisa Co., Va.
46		Jonathan - fpc
47		Jesse - fpc
48		Freelin - mulatto[143]	Probably s/o Zachariah	R1b1b2 Group 1 - only participant	Suspect NPE matches Goodman and Manis
49	Goins[144]	Zachariah, not present 1830, Isaiah 1840		E1b1a Group 1, 4 participants	Zachariah b in Halifax Co., Va. 1770
50		Crispor - white
51		John - white
52		William - white
53		Fountain - fpc	s/o Zephaniah
54		John - fpc
55		George - fpc		E1b1a Group One	Matches Collins
56		Harden - fpc
57		Thomas - white - Claiborne Co.		E1b1a Group Two
58		George Washington Goins b 1835	s/o Alexander s/o Elijah s/o Joseph s/o Joseph bastard son of Agnes Going[145]	A
59	Goodman[146]	Edmund - fpc		May be R1b1b2	See Freelin Gibson[147]
60	Minor	Zachariah - fpc	s/o Hezekiah	E1b1a	Hezekiah m Elizabeth Goins in Henry Co., Va. in 1795
61		John - fpc	s/o Hezekiah	E1b1a	Hezekiah m Elizabeth Goins in Henry Co., Va. in 1795
62	Moore[148]	James[149] - fpc		R1b1b2a1b	James s/o Charles
63		James - fpc
64	Mullins[150]	James - fpc	"Irish Jim"	R1b1b2, 1 participant plus 2 matches in Mullins project
65		Samuel - fpc
66	Sullivan	Ezekiel - white
67		John - white
68		John - white
69		Thomas - white
70	Trent[151]	Benjamin - white
71		Alexander - white
72		Alexander - white
73		George - white
74		Henry - white
75		James - white
76		Jesse - white
77		Samuel - white
78		William - white
79		Zachariah - white
80		Abner b 1826 Hawkins		R1b1b2 group One and Two participants, both from Abner
81		Joseph b 1807 Hawkins		R1b1b2 group Two	Matches very large group of Trents out of NC and VA in 1700s
82		William died Claiborne Co. 1801		R1b1b2 group Three	Matches group out of Amherst Co., Va.
83		John Calvin b 1840 Hawkins Co.		R1b1b2 group Four, only participant
84	Williams[152]	Timothy - fpc	s/o Charles	May be R1b1b2 see Samuel Bunch	Does not match Williams Group 5 or Group 8
85		Aaron - white
86		Alexander - white
87		Charles - white
88		David - white
89		Edward - white		R1b1b2	Group 5 from Williams surname project
90		George - white
91		James - white
92		James - white
93		John - white
94		John - white
95		John - white
96		Moses - white
97		Robert - white
98		Silas - white
99		William - white
100		Luke - 1799 marriage in Hawkins		R1b1b2	Group 8 from Williams surname project
101	Sizemore[153]	George - white	s/o Ned	Q1a3[154]
102		Owen - white	s/o Ned
103		Owen - white	Prob s/o Owen
104		Anderson - white
105		William - white	s/o Edward s/o Ned	Q1a3
106	Riddle	William - left before 1830		R1b1b2
107	Nichols[155]	William - fpc		R1b1b2 or E1b1a	Line tested out of Rockingham Co., NC - genealogy connection not proven
108		William - fpc
109	Mosley[156]	Jacob - white
110		Jonathan - white
111		Henry - fpc
112		William - fpc

The Melungeon Families

For each of the Melungeon families, several sections of information are provided.

Initially, family history and summarized genealogical information are provided. When the surname is genetically broken into different ancestral lines, this information is provided individually for each group.

An ethnicity section is provided to discuss relevant DNA findings for the family group.

A Haplotree Match Location Table is provided to provide insight into deep ancestry. This tool is provided by Family Tree DNA and provides information about the origins of other individuals who have been SNP tested and who match the participants haplogroup exactly. This information is given as "exact, one step and two step" matches to STR markers and us useful in understanding the genesis of the ancestral line being tested.

A second table, Ancestral Matches, provides participant identified location information from matching Family Tree DNA clients’ kits combined with an academic data base (although these are not necessarily SNP tested) and is meant to give participants another view into their ancestral homeland. The columns in this table provide the location by the number of mismatches in the allele values, up to a maximum of 7 mismatches at 67 markers, which is the maximum distance considered by Family Tree DNA to be a genealogical match.

In some cases, a discussion is included regarding the relevance of test results.

Line numbers from the Patriarch Table (above) are shown below in parenthesis (1).

Bell

William H. Bell, son of John Bell and Mary Claiborne of Augusta County, Virginia, according to family researchers, is found in what would become Hawkins County between the time he was married to Rebecca Gibbons in 1782 in Sullivan County and the birth of his final child born in Hawkins County in 1792 before his next child was born in Knox County in 1794.

In the 1830 Hawkins County census, a Thomas Bell (1), a free person of color was found, over the age of 55, plus a free colored family between the age of 24-35 with one male and one female child under 10 and a white family between 20-29 with two female children, one under 5 and one 10-15, plus a female slave age 10-23.

A Bell testee's ancestor, Archibald Randolph Turk Bell is later found in Scott County, Virginia, born to a William Bell in Hawkins County in 1826. A William Bell is shown in Lee County in 1830, so William may have moved to Lee County before 1830, or he could be living with Thomas, the white family with the male under age 10.

Bell Ethnicity

If William Bell of Scott County, Virginia is related to Thomas Bell of Hawkins County, the haplogroup is R1b1b2, European. Archibald Bell does match the descendants of John Bell of Augusta County. This identification needs to be treated as inconclusive until a genealogically confirmed Bell can be found and tested. Haplotree and Ancestral Match tables have been omitted for this family due to the inconclusive nature of the genealogical connection. If the genealogy is correct, this haplogroup suggests that the individuals who were designated "of color" did not obtain that designation from the paternal Y-line.

Bolin

The Bolin family is found in close proximity to the other Melungeon families. We find this genetic line in Brunswick County, Virginia in 1739, in Lunenburg County in 1749 and in Halifax County in 1759. In 1760, William Bolin is found in Orange County, NC adjacent to a Gibson. Classified in the Bolling DNA project as Group 5, this entire group descends from a James Bolling who was delivered to Kent County, Virginia in 1700 and died in 1729. His descendant, David was born about 1774 in Virginia, married in 1804 in Grainger County to Polly Rail (Rayl, Rayle). James Bolin is found in 1801 on the Lee County tax list. This descendant family carries the oral tradition of Native ancestry.

Bolin Ethnicity

The Bolin DNA is haplogroup R1b1b2, Western Modal Atlantic Haplotype (WAMH). Unfortunately their markers are extremely common, rendering their Haplogroup Matches and Ancestral Matches relatively useless. The most common matches in both categories were English.

Another individual in the Melungeon Family project matches this gentleman as well, and both men match a non-native Sizemore line, a Gibson and a Williams.

This haplogroup designation indicates that if the Bolin oral history is correct and they carry Native ancestry, it was not derived from the paternal Y-line.

Bunch

The oldest progenitor of the Bunch family grouping is attributed to a John Bunch who was born about 1630 and arrived in Lancaster Co., Va. about 1650. He owned land on the Pamunkey River by 1670 and had 2 sons, John and Paul Bunch. He is the progenitor of the Bunch family in both Claiborne and Hawkins/Hancock Counties in Tennessee.

Henry Bunch is found in Chowan and Bertie County, NC in the 1727 suggesting a southern migration out of Virginia. Embrey Bunch of Bertie County wrote his will in 1780, proven in 1789, leaving assets to his son Micajah. Bertie County is the home of the Tuscarora "Indian Woods" settlement, popular with traders, and a location where many people of mixed race are found. This Bunch family, "of color" is known to have intermarried with the Bass family of Nansemond Indian heritage.[157]

In 1720, Paul Bunch is found in South Carolina with Gideon Gibson, both men of color, married to white wives, who were reported to have been free men in Virginia.[158] Gideon Gibson's descendants match the Gibson primarily Melungeon line.

The Bunch family can be tracked with the other Melungeon families as early as 1745 in Louisa County, Virginia when Samuel Collins, Thomas Collins, William Collins, Samuel Bunch, George Gibson and Thomas Gibson (among others) were summoned to appear in court for concealing tithables, probably their mixed race wives.

The Bunch family and the Goins are also allied when in 1759 Joseph Going, the illegitimate child of Agnes Going is bound to James Bunch in Louisa County, Virginia.

From Louisa County, we track Micajah Bunch with other Melungeon families through Granville (1750) and Orange (1755) Counties in North Carolina, Fincastle (1774) in Virginia, Wilkes (1779) in North Carolina, Lee (1792, 1793, 1795, 1796, 1797) County in Virginia,[159] and then on to Cumberland County, Kentucky.

Micager (generally short for Micajah) Bunch is living in Lee County, Virginia as early as 1792 and was still on the tax list in 1797 with other Melungeon families such as Zachariah Goins, Jesse Bowlin and several other Bunch men. Benjamin (8), found in the 1830 Hawkins County census, is possibly a son of David Bunch and matches the DNA of 14 other descendants of John Bunch born in 1730.

Bunch Ethnicity

Except for one Bunch participant, all Bunchs match and are haplogroup E1b1a. Haplogroup E1b1a is of sub-Saharan African origin.

The Bunch family is consistently white in the census, but the concealed tithables case in Louisa County certainly infers that Samuel Bunch is either himself admixed, or his wife is. White wives are not taxed, wives "of color" are subject to tax. The concealed tithables are likely the result of the men's declaration that their wives are not "of color." Samuel himself is never recorded as a person of color, but his wife is believed to be Mary Moore, daughter of John and Anne Moore, also of Louisa County, a family whose children are noted as free persons of color. The fact that Samuel is married to a woman "of color" is suggestive that he may be mixed as well.

The 1720 Virginia/South Carolina record also documents that Paul Bunch was "of color", but was free, as was his father and that Paul was married to a white wife. In 1727, Henry Bunch in Chowan County was also recorded as being "of color".

This Bunch line also matches a descendant of Valentine Collins.

The one Bunch participant who does not match this group is haplogroup R1b and matches a Williams.

The E1b1a haplogroup supports the historical records that indicate Bunch male family members were "of color."

Bunch Haplotree Matches

SNP tested haplogroup matches from Family Tree DNA and academic data bases.

1 Step	2 Steps
MDKO[160] Ireland	Ghana (Nzema)
	Nigeria
	MDKO Canada
	Ghana (Fante)
	MDKO England

Bunch Ancestral Matches by Mutation

Locations provided by participant matches at 67 markers.

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	UK	Ireland	England				England
		Scotland

Collins

There are 4 separate genetic Collins groups. Dromgoole indicated that Vardy was the first Collins, but "while all were not blood descendants of old Vardy they had all fallen under his banner and appropriated his name." In another story, while discussing Vardy Collins and Buck Gibson she references the cunning of "their Cherokee ancestor." She further states that their surnames were stolen from the white settlers in Virginia.[161] Lastly, she says that "The original Collins people were Indian, there is no doubt about that."

The first Collins is found with the other Melungeon families in 1745 in Louisa County where the Collins, Bunch and Gibson families were prosecuted for concealing tithables.

Valentine Collins Group - E1b1a8a

Valentine (29) and Vardy (Vardeman) Collins were believed to be brothers, both sons of Samuel Collins born in Louisa County, Virginia where in 1745 Samuel was summoned to court for concealing tithables. In 1771, Samuel is found on the tax list in Botetourt County, Virginia along with a John Vardeman. He is later found along with the other Melungeon families in Botetourt, Fincastle and Montgomery Counties in Virginia and finally, Wilkes County in North Carolina.

This group consists of five individuals (13, 29), one of whom is a Bunch found in 1775 in Bertie County, NC. A total of 3 matches are to Bunch men. This certainly implies that these Bunch and Collins families had a common origin, possibly in Louisa County, Virginia where both families are originally found. It's also possible that an undocumented adoption occurred later, in Hawkins or Hancock County. Additional sons' lines of Valentine would need to be tested to determine where the Bunch match occurred. At least one additional son of Samuel needs to be tested to see which haplogroup is ancestral.

Valentine Collins Group Ethnicity

This haplogroup, E1b1a8a is of sub-Saharan African origin. The concealed tithables incident in 1745 in Louisa County involving Samuel Collins, believe to be the father of Valentine, suggests that the Collins, or their wives, were people of color. The haplogroup E1b1a8a designation supports the historical records suggesting that Collins males were "of color."

Valentine Collins Group Haplotree Matches

SNP tested haplogroup matches from Family Tree DNA and academic data bases.

Exact	1 Step	2 Steps
MDKO England	Ireland	Ghana (Nzema)
		Kenya
		Kenya (Kikuyu)
		Nigeria
		MDKO Canada
		Ghana (Fante)

Valentine Collins Group Ancestral Matches by Mutation

Locations provided by participant matches at 67 markers.

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
			UK	MDKO Ireland	England		England
				Scotland

Vardy Collins Group - R1a1

Vardy (21) has long been believed to be the brother of Valentine Collins. He could have been a half brother, but based on the DNA evidence, these two lines do not share a common paternal ancestor.

Vardy Collins is first found in the 1790 census for Wilkes County, NC as white, but in 1800 in Ashe County he is a free person of color as he is in 1830 in Hawkins County. This group consists of eight Collins (21, 26).

Vardy Collins Group Ethnicity

Haplogroup R1a1 is European, often Slavic or Germanic. This haplogroup would indicate that Collins family members from this line who were designated "of color" did not derive that designation from the paternal Y-line.

Vardy Collins Group Haplotree Matches

SNP tested haplogroup matches from Family Tree DNA and academic data bases.

Exact	1 Step	2 Steps
France	Czech Republic	Belarus
		England
		Lithuania
		Germany
		Norway
		Scotland
		UK

Vardy Collins Group Ancestral Matches by Mutation

Locations provided at 67 markers by participant matches.

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	US						Norway

Benjamin Collins Group - E1b1a7a

Benjamin Collins (17) is first found in Wilkes County, NC in 1787 along with the other Collins males. He is then found in the same counties as the other Melungeon families culminating with Hawkins County where in the 1830 census he is listed as a free person of color. There are 5 individuals in this group, plus a match to a Goins and a Cook from Hancock County.

Benjamin Collins E1b1a7a Group Ethnicity

Haplogroup E1b1a7a is of sub-Saharan African origin. The records of Benjamin as a "person of color" indicate he was not entirely of European origin. Haplogroup E1b1a7a supports those records.

Benjamin Collins E1b1ba7a Group Haplotree Matches

SNP tested haplogroup matches from Family Tree DNA and academic data bases.

2 Step	3 Steps
Ghana (Ewe)	Ghana (Nzema)
	Nigeria (Yoruba)
	MDKO Mexico
	Ghana (Ahanta)

Benjamin Collins E1b1ba7a Ancestral Matches by Mutation

Locations provided at 67 markers by participant matches.

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
				Germany

Levi Collins Group - R1b1b2

This group of two individuals (19) match several Gibsons, is found only in Hancock County and was originally thought to descend from Benjamin Collins (17). This group is believed to represent an undocumented adoption or other outparenting event.

Levi Collins Group Ethnicity

While deep clade testing has not been done on this participant, some of the Gibson matches have tested to R1b1b2ab5 (L21) known to be Celtic. This haplogroup suggests that members of this group who may be designated as "of color" did not obtain that designation from the paternal Y-line.

See Gibson for Haplotree Matches and Ancestral Matches.

Collins Mullins Match

This individual (30) is also believed to represent an out-parenting event as they match the Mullins family.

Collins Mullins Ethnicity

Haplogroup R1b1b2 is of European origin. See Mullins for Haplotree Matches and Ancestral Matches.

Denham

The Denham family originates in Louisa County, Virginia along with the majority of the Melungeon core families.

The progenitor of the Denham family is David Denham (33), born in 1754 in Louisa County, Virginia, possibly the son of an earlier David Denham. The Denham connection with Melungeon family names reaches further back to 1627 in Charles City County, Virginia when Hannah Dennum is an heir, relationship unstated, but may be a daughter, in Gibby Gibson's will. In 1765 in Halifax County, Virginia, a Phillip Dunnum is prosecuted for concealing tithables, a behavior common among Melungeon ancestors. In 1778 David Denham enlists in the Revolutionary War in Guilford County, NC near other Melungeon families. In 1783 he was discharged in Washington County, NC and by 1791 David is purchasing land in Washington County, which later became east Tennessee, from Joseph Goodman, selling it in 1809 to Charles Denham and marrying in Claiborne County, Tn. in 1811. By 1830 he is found in the Claiborne County, Tn., census, listed as a free person of color.

Ethnicity

The Denham haplogroup is I1, European.

The Denham family is consistently described as Portuguese, or of Portuguese origin. They are alternatively counted in the census as white, mulatto and black.

Will Allen Dromgoole says:

"The Portuguese branch was for a long time a riddle, the existance of it being stoutly denied. It has at last however, been traced to one "Denham", a Portuguese who married a Collins woman. Denham, it is supposed, came from one of the Spanish settlements lying further to the south. He settled on Mulberry Creek and married a sister of Old Sol Collins. There is another story about Denham. It is said that the first Denham came as did the first Collins from North Carolina, and that he (or his ancestors) had been left upon the Carolina coast by some Portuguese pirate vessell plying along the shore."

Surname matches at Family Tree DNA were Nelson, Tally, Douglas and Bennett, none of which resemble Spanish or Portuguese surnames.

YSearch[162] provides no matches closer than 4 mutations at 34 markers, tested at Relative Genetics,[163] to the Hogg family.

Sorenson[164] provided no close matches and no Denhams with a pedigree chart that should precipitate a match.

Ancestry.com[165] produced no close matches and no matches to Denham or similar surnames. Ancestry's closest match was estimated to be about 16 generations ago, with the closest matches ranging from 16-24 generations to the most common recent ancestor. Of those 17 surnames, all were English/Germanic. None were Spanish/Portuguese except for Rodriguez which was estimated to be related 23 generations in the past or approximately between 575 and 690 years ago, allowing for a generation of 25-30 years, or about the year 1300.

The testee is 5 generations from David Denham who was born in 1754 in Louisa County and 6 generations from David's suspected father, also David who would have been born before 1734.

Portuguese ancestry should produce a significant number of matches to Spanish/Portuguese surnames. Matches found are English/Germanic names.

There is no genetic evidence to support Portuguese ethnicity through the Denham direct paternal line.

Denham Haplotree Matches

SNP tested haplogroup matches from Family Tree DNA and academic data bases.

1 Step	2 Steps
Germany (2)	England (10)
	France (1)
	Germany (1)
	Ireland (2)
	Netherlands (1)
	Poland (1)
	Scotland (2)
	Sweden (1)
	Switzerland (1)
	UK (5)
	Wales (5)

Denham Ancestral Matches by Mutation

Locations provided at 12 and 67 markers by participant matches.

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Germany (3)						Denmark
	Wales						England

Gibson

The Gibson family is first found in 1627 in Charles City County where Gibby Gibson leaves a will wherein Hannah Dennum is an heir. In 1728 Gilbert Gibson was granted land in Hanover County, Va., a part that later would become Louisa County where he died in 1748 leaving sons Gideon, Jordan and George.

All three sons would be found in South Carolina near the Sandy Bluffs, a well known Indian trader area where numerous Indian families lived. A Gideon Gibson was there as early as 1730, Jordan and George as late as 1773. In 1720, Gideon Gibson and Paul Bunch, reported to have been free men in Virginia are now found in South Carolina  identified as men of color, married to white wives.

Both Jordan and George would return to North Carolina and migrate with the other Melungeon families through Grayson County, Virginia and Wilkes County, NC, George eventually settling in Todd County, Kentucky where he applied for a Revolutionary War pension application. Jordan (44,45) settled in Hawkins County, Tennessee where in 1830 he was listed as a free person of color.

Will Allen Dromgoole while discussing Vardy Collins and Buck Gibson references the cunning of "their Cherokee ancestor." She further states that their surnames were stolen from the white settlers in Virginia.[166]

There is one primary group of Gibson participants (39), all of whose genealogy connects to this Louisa County group. However, there are three other genetic Gibson groups.

Primary Gibson Group

This group of fifteen individuals (39) all connect either genealogically or genetically to the Louisa County, Virginia Gibson family. This group is also represented by the South Carolina Pee Dee River area family.

Primary Gibson Group Ethnicity

This group is haplogroup R1b1b2ab5 (L21) known to be Celtic. This haplogroup suggests that the Gibsons from this line who are documented to be "of color" do not carry that designation as a result of the paternal Y-line.

Gibson Primary Group Haplotree Matches

SNP tested haplogroup matches from Family Tree DNA and academic data bases.

1 Step	2 Steps
Czech Republic (1)	Denmark (1)
England (8)	England (19)
Ireland (10)	Finland (2)
Scotland (4)	France (3)
UK (2)	Germany (5)
Wales (1)	Ghana (Ga Adangme)
	Ireland (32)
	Norway (1)
	Portugal (Azores)
	Spain (3)
	Sweden (3)
	UK (21)
	Wales (12)

Gibson Primary Group Ancestral Matches by Mutation

Locations provided at 67 markers by participant matches.

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
UK				Scotland		Scotland

Gibson E1b1a Group

This group is represented by two individuals who descend through Bryson Gibson (38), born between 1782-1785 in Virginia. He married Fannie Green in 1828 in Claiborne County. According to Cherokee applications he was the son of Thomas and Franky Gibson. He is living in Lee County, Virginia in 1820 and Mulberry Gap, Claiborne Co., Tennessee in 1830 listed as a free person of color. He is found in early court records of Hawkins Co., Tenn. in 1828 in the lawsuit Charles Gibson vs. Bryson Gibson. He was in Floyd County, Ky. in 1850 and in Morgan County, Kentucky by 1860 where he died.

Bryson is likely the brother of Henry Gibson who died in Morgan County 1857, also a son of Thomas Gibson, possibly the same Thomas that is found with Henry Gibson in the Stony Creek Church records.

These Gibsons also match a Donathan. William Donathan is another individual that with the Gibson, Bunch and Collins families was indicted in June of 1745 in Louisa County, Va., for concealing tithables. Given this match, it is suggestive that Thomas Gibson may well be descended from a Donathan male from Louisa County, Virginia. The Donathan family did not settle in the Hawkins County area, so this ancestry would predate the Hawkins County settlement.

Gibson E1b1a Ethnicity

This group is haplogroup E1b1a of sub-Saharan African origin. The census and concealed tithables records in Louisa County suggest that members of this genetic line were "of color" which is supported by the haplogroup designation.

Gibson E1b1a Haplotree Matches

SNP tested haplogroup matches from Family Tree DNA and academic data bases.

1 Step	2 Steps
Ivory Coast (Krou)	Congo (Pygmy-Mbuti)
Ghana (Asante)	Gambia (Fula)
Sierre Leone	Ghana (Asante) (2)
Sierre Leone (Fulani)	Ghana (Nzema) (2)
	Ghana (Ga)
	Ghana
	Guinea-Bissau (Conakry)
	Senegal
	Wales

Gibson E1b1a Ancestral Matches by Mutation

Locations provided at 12 markers by participant matches.

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Ivory Coast
Germany
Ghana (Asante)
Ghana (Nzema)
Sierre Leone
Sierre Leone (Fulami)

This individual had no matches at either Sorenson or Ancestry.

Freelin Gibson Group

This group is from Hancock County and the descendants track their ancestry back to Freelin Gibson (48) who is probably the son of Zachariah and Lavina Gibson in the 1860 census who are listed as white.

Freelin Gibson Group Ethnicity

The haplogroup is R1b1b2, European. This participant also matches a Goodman, another Melungeon surname.

Correspondence with the Goodman project administrator reveals that this Goodman individual also matches no other Goodmans. Both the Gibson and the Goodman match a significant number of Maness/Manis participants, a name found in Hawkins County. Until another Goodman descendant can be found and tested, this match should be considered inconclusive.

At Sorenson, this individual has no matches to Gibson or Goodman and no close matches to any other surname

Unfortunately their marker values are extremely common, rendering their Haplogroup Matches and Ancestral Matches relatively useless. The most common matches in both categories were from Ireland, Scotland and the UK, with Ireland being the most prevalent.

Gibson Group 4

The fourth group is comprised of one individual who does not match any other individuals. They too are haplogroup R1b1b2.

At Sorenson, they do not match any Gibsons or other Melungeon surnames. At Ancestry, this individual matches 1 Collins exactly at 16 markers, 2 Collins men with 2 mutations of 25 markers tested, 1 Collins man with 1 mutation at 21 markers, and one Collins man with 2 mutations at 21 markers.

It is believed that this is a result of an undocumented adoption or other outparenting event.

Goins

Goins or similar names are found in early colonial records. John Gowen, "Gowen the Indian" was born about 1615 and by 1640, described as a "negro", had been freed by William Evans in York County, Virginia. He had a son by an African woman named Margaret Cornish about 1635 and in 1641 he purchased the son, Michael's (Mihill) freedom. Mihill had a son William born of a negro Prossa who patented land in James City County in 1668.[167]

On August 6, 1635. Thomas Going, age 18, was transported to Virginia.[168] On August 7, 1657, another Thomas Gowen was transported from London[169] and in 1671, a third Thomas Going was transported to Maryland.[170]

Another early Goins record is that of Agnes Going of Louisa County, Virginia who in 1754 had a bastard child, Joseph, bound to James Bunch. Agnes had other children as well, all bound out by the church wardens in 1770, but their names aren't mentioned.[171] We also don't know who the father was and if the father's were the same. In 1775, Dudley Miner marries Anne Goine, daughter of Agnes Goine.[172]

In 1735, a John Goins is found in Hanover County, Virginia.

There were several potentially different Goins genetic lines in colonial Virginia.

In the Melungeon project there are three primary Goins groups, two of which are haplogroup E1b1a, but don't match each other. The third is haplogroup A. All three haplogroups are of sub-Saharan African origin. There is one participant with no additional Goins matches, but who matches the Collins E1b1a7 group.

Will Allen Dromgoole (1891) in her articles reported that:

"The Goins family may be easily recognized by their kinky hair, flat nose and foot, thick lips, and a complexion totally unlike the Collins and Mullins tribes. They posses many Negro traits, too, which are wanting to the other tribes."[173]

John Goins Group

In 1735 John Going is first found in the Hanover County records leasing land. John had sons John, David and Shadrack. His father was also John and he had brothers William, James and Thomas. John's daughter Elizabeth married Hezekiah Minor who migrated to Lee County, Virginia and joined the church at Blackwater. John's son Zephaniah lived in Henry, Patrick and then Lee County, Virginia, and finally settled in Hawkins County, Tennessee. In 1800, Zephaniah's brother, Zachariah (49) was listed in Lee County as a free man of color.

John Goins Group Ethnicity

This haplogroup is E1b1a, probably E1b1a8a,[174] of sub-Saharan African origin.

John Goins Group Haplotree Matches

SNP tested haplogroup matches from Family Tree DNA and academic data bases.

1 Step	2 Steps
MDKO Puerto Rico	Angola (Mukongo)
MDKO Mexico	Benin
	Cameroon (Bakaka)
	Central African Republic (Biaka)
	Gambia
	Ghana
	Niger (Songhai)
	Nigeria
	Uganda (Baganda)
	Zimbabwe (Shona)
	Zambia (Lozi)
	Ghana (Ga)
	Ghana (Fanti Akyem)

John Goins Group Ancestral Matches by Mutation

Locations provided at 12 and 67 markers by participant matches.

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
England	Bahamas						UK
Germany	Cameroon
Netherlands	Ginlnd
Scotland	Haiti
UK	Spain
	Trinidad
	UK

John Goins Group Discussion

This group is particularly important, because one of the participants within this group has matches to two other individuals within the Goins DNA project (2011) that are historically relevant.

Match One: This participant descends from Shadrack Goins, son of John Goins found in Hanover County in 1735 confirming the genealogy that indicates Shadrack was the son of John. The 1874 Shepherd case contains testimony by William McGill regarding the Goins family from South Carolina.[175] Subsequent research by Jack Goins shows that the family being referenced in the Shepherd trial descends from Shadrack Goins.

This match is particularly important because it shows that the designation Melungeon, the term used to identify this group of South Carolina people, seems to predate the Melungeon community in Hawkins County, being used in reference to Solomon Bolton who is living in the Spartanburg District of South Carolina prior to 1800.

The group of individuals who are referenced in this testimony in 1874 and the judges memoirs written in 1915[176] include the Goins family. A 1794 petition in South Carolina to relieve the poll tax on free negroes, mulattoes and mustees does not include Goins, but does include Solomon Bolton, the man whose ethnicity is in question in the 1874 lawsuit, in addition to both Gibson and Collins signatures.[177] Therefore, we know that the Gibson, Collins, Bolton, and Goins families were in this area, together, at this time and viewed as the same group of people.

Furthermore, the 1794 petition contains the surname of Oxendine, which is stereotypically Lumbee. Oxendine is found as early as 1759 in Bladen County, NC and is listed on various documents as a free person of color prior to 1800.[178]

Match Two: This individual is descended from the Lumbee Goins family. This particular line descends from one James Goins born in North Carolina in 1797 and found in Moore County as early as 1824. It is uncertain who James parents are but in the 1820 and 1830 census, both Edward and Levi are candidates. We know he is not the son of William Goins who obtained a land grant in Moore County in 1764 whose paternal ancestor is known to be John Harmon who had an illegitimate child with Elizabeth Goins, although both William Goins and later Levi obtained land on Pocket Creek[179] and lived within the Indian community. The haplogroup of the Harmon/Goins line is R1b1b2.

A second line of Goins also descends from the Cumberland County group. This particular line of Goins among the Lumbee, according to testimony in 1915, are descended from a sub-group of the Lumbee known as the "Smilings" who had come from South Carolina. Willie Goins testified that he brought his family from Sumter County, SC and that they "belong to the Indian race of people if any to my knowledge." A group of ministers was sent to SC to investigate the racial heritage of the Goins family, and in SC it was explained that "we are sometimes called "Red-bones", some call us "Croatans." Rev. Locklear gave his opinion that "on the mother's side plaintiffs are Indians and on the father's they are malungeans."[180] Testimony was also provided that this family had previously come from Cumberland County, NC. Another witness indicated that they were not Indian, but of Negro blood. However, Frederick Goan, the grandfather of William Goins, the father of the plaintiffs deposed in the trial is listed on the 1770 Bladen County[181] tax list along with many founding Lumbee families[182] and in 1810 in Rockingham County, NC[183] with proven Melungeon Goins families.

Moore County, North Carolina and the Pocket Creek area where the Goins were settled borders Cumberland County, NC, with the Goins family living in both. The area also borders Robeson County where the Lumbee are traditionally centered. Levi Goins had settled in Moore County, on Pocket Creek, before 1800 and in his Revolution War pension application he stated that he enlisted in Fairfield County, SC, removing to Moore County shortly after the close of the War. The Moore County family connects to Fairfield County, SC pre-1800, then a part of Camden District, where Gibsons are found in connection with the Goins family. A David Gowen died there with property in Moore County about 1775. A David Goins is the son of John Goins found in Hanover County in 1735 and a brother to Shadrack Goins.

These genetic matches and records combined suggest that the "Smilings", or at least the Goins family within the Smiling group of the Lumbee, is descended from or shares an ancestor with the group of individuals in Louisa County, Virginia. The Louisa County Gibson group has SC matches from this area as well. While the SC tax lists and many of the SC records are contemporaneous with the Louisa County group records, this shows that the Louisa County ancestral group dispersed in multiple directions. In at least four of these locations, the South Carolina locations, Robeson Co., NC and Hawkins County, Tn. the Melungeon description is found as well.

The genetic matches between the Hawkins County Melungeon John Goins line, the Lumbee Goins, the Cumberland County, NC Smiling Goins, the Sumter County, SC Smiling Goins and the Spartanburg District, SC Shephard Case Goins prove these groups share a common ancestor, possibly John Goins found in Hanover County in 1735 and eliminates the Goins/Harmon Y-line.

Thomas Goin Group

Thomas Goin (57) was born about 1750 in Virginia and enlisted in the Revolutionary War in Greensville County, Virginia in 1781. He married Jemima Sinnes about 1777, probably in North Carolina. By 1784 he was in Washington County, NC and was a constable, which indicates he was not considered anything other than white. He was on the Grainger County tax list in 1799, a portion of which became Claiborne in 1801 where he was on the census in 1830 and died in 1838. His wife's father, Benjamin is listed on the list of Cherokee Indians East of the Mississippi in 1835.

Thomas Goin Group Ethnicity

This group of four participants is haplogroup E1b1a, probably E1b1a7a.[184] These participants have 11 matches to other Goins, Goen, and Goynes testees[185]. Historical records are not indicative of non-European heritage, although his marriage to a woman whose family is historically documented to be Native is suggestive.

Thomas Goin Group Haplotree Matches

SNP tested haplogroup matches from Family Tree DNA and academic data bases.

1 Step	2 Steps
Nigeria (Igbo)	Cameroon (Bamileke)
Nigeria	MDKO England
	Nigeria (Igbo)
	Cameroon (Ngoumba)
	Cameroon (Bakaka)
	Ghana
	Kenya (Luo)
	Zimbabwe (Shona)

Thomas Goin Group Ancestral Matches by Mutation

Locations provided at 37 markers by participant matches. Participants did not test above 37 markers.

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
England				Nigeria
Ireland

Joseph Goins Group

Joseph Goins was born in 1773 and married Millie Loven. One researcher indicates that his father was also named Joseph who fought in the Revolutionary War[186] and that he had a brother Elijah. Elijah Goins (58) is found in Lee County, Virginia and indicates his place of birth is Albemarle County, Virginia. Virginia DeMarce believes that this Joseph, born in 1773, is the son of Joseph, son of Agnes Goins who was bound to James Bunch in 1754 in Louisa County, Virginia.

Joseph Goins Group Ethnicity

This group of two individuals is haplogroup A, of sub-Saharan African origin. Both participants only tested to 12 markers. Census records for Joseph Goins children enumerate them as "free colored." These records support an African haplogroup.

Joseph Goins Group Haplotree Matches

SNP tested haplogroup matches from Family Tree DNA and academic data bases.

2 Step	3 Steps
	Sierre Leone (Limba)
	Gambia (Manduka)
	Senegal (Niokolo Mandenkalu)

Joseph Goins Group Ancestral Matches by Mutation

Locations provided at 12 markers by participant matches. There were no matches.

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7

Goins Group 4

This individual matches two Collins and is a close match to the Benjamin Collins group. This group is E1b1a7, of sub-Saharan African origin. This group is believed to represent an undocumented adoption or other outparenting event. The participant was believed to have descended from George Goins (55) and Frankie "Lively" Bunch. The child from which he descends was born before their marriage which occurred in 1839.

Goodman

Benjamin Lewis Goodman is found in Louisa County selling land in 1754 when he removed with his wife Maria Williams to Lunenburg County, Virginia, then to Granville County, NC and then to Laurens Co. SC. Bartlett Goodman, father unknown, was a purchaser at the estate of Gilbert Gibson in 1763 in Louisa County and shortly thereafter married his daughter, Tabitha Gibson. Gilbert's son, Jordan Gibson sold a Louisa County plantation known as "Goodman's Hill" in 1776. Charles Goodman is found in 1746 in Louisa County, then in 1771 in Franklin Co., NC, and in 1787 in Henry County, Va. In 1784, Sally Goodman, thought to be the daughter of Joel Goodman, married John Moore in Rockingham County, NC.

In 1799 a Sherod Goodman who lived on the northwest side of Clinch Mountain in Hawkins County signed a petition. Edmond Goodman (59) is on the 1830 Hawkins County census as a free person of color. Some researchers attribute Edmund, Obediah and Sherrod to father Joseph Goodman and his wife, a Cherokee/Shawnee woman. Edmund Goodman's son, Will, reportedly signed an affidavit stating that his father was "half Cherokee."

The Goodman, Moore and Denham families seem to have been allied and were all found in Louisa County. The Moores and Goodman's were both in Rockingham County before migrating to Hawkins County.

Goodman Ethnicity

This group is haplogroup R1b1b2, European. This haplogroup does not support Native or African ancestry on the paternal Y-line.

The Obediah Goodman descendant who tested does not match any known Goodman lines, but does match the Freelin Gibson descendant who also doesn't match any other Gibson lines. Instead, both match a group of Maness/Manis participants. Manis is a known Hawkins County name. Until an additional Goodman male from a different Obediah line can be found and tested, this should be considered inconclusive.

The R1b1b2 haplogroup matches, without a subclade breakdown are too numerous to list, but Ireland, England and Scotland are the most prevalent. Ancestral matches are the same, with Ireland being a slightly higher frequency than England and Scotland.

Minor

John Minor is first found in Hanover County in 1735 signing a lease. Joseph is found in Lunenburg County in 1751, and Garrett is prosecuted in Louisa County in 1770 for not listing his land for taxation. The Minor family left Louisa, migrated through Lunenburg County, Virginia, Rockingham and Wilkes Counties in NC, Lee County in Virginia and finally settled in Hawkins County, Tennessee. Hezekiah Minor (60, 61) married Elizabeth Going in Henry County in 1795, was found in Rockingham County, NC in 1810, Lee County, Virginia in 1820 and in 1825 was a chain carrier in a survey for James Hurd in Hawkins County, Tennessee. Hezekiah was a member of Blackwater Church and had sons John who married Susan "Sukie" Goins, Zachariah who married Aggy Sizemore and Lewis who married Sarah Fields.  Zachariah Minor told his children they were Portuguese and Indian.

Minor Ethnicity

The haplogroup is E1b1a, of sub-Saharan African origin. This haplogroup does not support either a Native or European (Portuguese) origin on the paternal Y-line.

This group of four participants also matches a single Fisher and a single Williams, both Hawkins County surnames.

Minor Haplotree Matches

SNP tested haplogroup matches from Family Tree DNA and academic data bases.

Exact	1 Step
Benin (Goun)	Benin (Sahoue)
Vietnam	Kenya
Kenya (Luhya)	Tugo (Ewe)
	MDKO Canada

Minor Ancestral Matches by Mutation

Locations provided at 12 markers by participant matches. There were no matches at 25, 37 or 67 markers.

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Barbados	Barbados
Benin (Goun)	Benin (Shaoue)
Kenya (Luhya)	Benin
Puerto Rico	Columbia
Vietnam	England
	Ghana (Ewe)
	Guyana
	Kenya
	South Africa
	Togo (R-Ewe)

Moore[187]

We first find John Moore being disowned in Louisa County, Virginia by the Camp Creek Quaker Meeting in 1744, and rejoining, with his family, in 1748. His daughter from later documents is determined to have married Samuel Bunch whose family also joined he Camp Creek Meeting the same day that John Moore rejoined in 1748. John died between 1783 and 1787 and his wife, Anne, died in 1792 bequeathing items to her great-granddaughter, Theodosia Bunch. In 1745, in Louisa County, Samuel Bunch was prosecuted for concealing tithables, probably his racially mixed wife, Mary Moore.

Charles, the son of John Moore, is first found in 1756 in Orange County, Virginia as a chain carrier. In 1771 he signed a petition to repeal tithes on mulatto wives. In 1776 he was certified as eligible to vote in Orange County, NC. In 1795, probably as a second marriage, he married Elizabeth Goins in Henry County, Va.

In 1830 Charles Moore is listed in Rockingham County, NC as an aged free person of color. This area, known as Goinstown, was home to Charles Moore, Thomas Gibson, George Gibson, Jesse Goins, Randolph Riddle, Micajah Bunch, Joel Gibson, Hezekiah Minor, Joseph Goodman and others, most of whom were listed on the tax lists as mulatto. Charles, believed to be the father of both James and John Moore, is found living next to George and Charles Gibson.

By 1802, Joel Moore, the oldest son of John Moore moved to Russell County with James Moore where they are found on the 1802 tax list living in close proximity to the Gibson family and in 1803 joined the Stony Creek Baptist Church with other Melungeon families. James Moore (62) and Charles Gibson moved to Hawkins County while Joel Moore married Juda Gibson about 1807.

Moore Ethnicity

This group of three individuals is haplogroup R1b1b2a1b, European, believed to be Celtic. Historical records indicate that this Moore family was "of color", but the haplogroup indicates that the paternal Y-line was not the source.

Moore Haplotree Matches

SNP tested haplogroup matches from Family Tree DNA and academic data bases.

1 Step	2 Steps
UK	England (3)
	France
	Germany (2)
	Scotland (2)
	UK
	Wales (2)

Moore Ancestral Matches by Mutation

Locations provided at 12 markers by participant matches. There were no 25, 37 or 67 marker matches.

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Denmark
	England (12)
	France (3)
	Germany (3)
	Ireland (4)
	Italy
	Netherlands
	Poland
	Portugal
	Scotland (2)
	Spain (3)
	Switzerland (4)
	UK (4)
	Wales

Mullins

The only Mullins found in close proximity to other Melungeon families prior to the Hawkins County area is a Valentine Mullins on the 1749 Lunenburg County, Virginia tax list. Between 1806 and 1812 we find a James and an Isaac Mullins on the Lee County, Virginia tax list. The relationship between Isaac and James, if any, is not known. James (64) was known as "Irish Jim" or "Harelip Jim" and, according to the father's birth location in the census records of his children, he was born in England about 1780.

Dromgoole also reported:

"Old Jim Mullins" to be "an Englishman, a trader, it is supposed, with Indians. He stumbled upon the Ridge settlement, fell in with the Ridgemanites, and never left them. This is said to be the first white blood..."[188]

James Mullins (64) is listed in the 1830 census as a free person of color, a highly unusual description for an Englishman. He died before 1837. In the 1840 census, a Flower Mullins is listed, age 77, and a veteran. Any relationship to James Mullins is unknown. Flower Mullins' pension application in 1832 says that he was born in Guilford County, NC, enlisted from there and that he had lived in Hawkins County for 30 years. Flower also signed a deposition for a William Mullins wife Sarah's widow application, whose lawyer said in 1854 that William's father had lived on the old farm in "Burk County", NC which he had recently visited.

Mullins Ethnicity

The DNA participant descends from James "Irish Jim" Mullins who is haplogroup R1b1b2, European. There are three additional matches to other Mullins in the Mullins project, two of which also descend from "Irish Jim", and one who provided no genealogy information. There is also one match to a Collins, who doesn't match any of the other Collins in the Melungeon or the Collins projects. This haplogroup does support Droomgoole's "Englishman" description, but does not support the "of color" census designation. If "Irish Jim" was "of color", the paternal Y-line was not the genesis.

Mullins Haplotree Matches

SNP tested haplogroup matches from Family Tree DNA and academic data bases. Unfortunately, without further SNP testing, the haplogroup matches beyond exact matches at 12 markers are too numerous to list and so widespread they are meaningless, including multiple subclades.

1 Step	2 Steps
Italy	Too numerous to list
Czeck Republic
Ireland
UK

Mullins Ancestral Matches by Mutation

Locations provided at 12 markers by participant matches. Participant did not test above 12 markers.

0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Czeck Republic
England (4)
Germany
Ireland
Italy
Mexico
Portugal
Switzerland
Spain
Scotland
UK (4)
Wales

Riddle

The Riddle family, while not named in Hawkins County as a Melungeon family, was ancestral to the Melungeons and as such, is relevant to the study of the Melungeons.

Moses Riddle is first found in Granville County, NC in 1750 on a tax list. In 1755 in Orange County, NC he and his wife, Mary, are both listed as mulatto. In 1767 in Pittsylvania County, Va. Moses is listed on the tax list with the notation "Indian" along with his son William. The Riddles are then found in Montgomery, Botetourt and Fincastle Counties in Virginia, and Wilkes County in North Carolina. In 1778 William is prosecuted in Montgomery County, Va. for concealing tithables. In 1780, still in Montgomery County, he is convicted of Inimical Acts and of participating in Tory activities. Finally, in 1781, in Wilkes County William is hung as a traitor. He had at least one son, believed to be the William (106) later found in Hawkins County. Some records indicate two sons were hung with him, and his wife, Happy Rogers Riddle was pregnant with a child as she watched his execution. In 1782, the orphans of William were bound out.

In 1799, Happy Riddle, the daughter of William Riddle and Happy Rogers, married Henry Fisher who would settle in Hawkins County and whose granddaughter Sarah Hurd would marry Hezekiah Goins.

Riddle Ethnicity

The Riddle haplogroup is R1b1b2, European. Based on this haplogroup designation, the paternal line of Moses Riddle was not Native or African. There are two Riddle participants who descend from Moses Riddle. The R1b1b2 haplogroup and ancestral matches, without a subclade breakdown are too numerous to list.

Sizemore[189]

The Sizemore family, while not specified as a Melungeon family in Hawkins family was ancestral to the Melungeons, and as such, is relevant to the study of the Melungeon families.

Edward "Old Ned" (101, 105) is probably the son of one of the first four Sizemores who appear in the land records of Lunenburg County, Virginia in 1741, William, Mary, Ephraim or Henry.

Edward "Old Ned" Sizemore is first found in Lunenburg County, Virginia in 1746 applying for a land grant in what is today Halifax County. He is active in Lunenburg County until 1749 when he disappears from the records. In 1764 he petitions for land in Georgia on the Ogechee river where he states that he has been in Georgia, from South Carolina, for 8 months. In 1774 in Tryon County NC "William Gilbert comes into court and releases and acquits Edward Sizemore of the above sum recovered against George Sizemore." In 1777 Edward signs an oath of allegiance in Botetourt County, Virginia and in 1780, he may well have been the "Tory Sizemore" hung in Wilkes County by Col. Benjamin Cleveland, based up on the fact that Edward was the only Sizemore in Col. Cleveland's district on the 1774 tax list. South Carolina loyalist records include payments to Edward, Owen and George Sizemore in 1781[190] where they may have fled after their father's hanging. Eventually, they did return to Wilkes County where Owen bought land and sold it to his brother George before moving to Hawkins County, Tennessee in 1799-1800.

In 1753, in Orange County, NC, Ephraim Sizemore is referred to as mulatto in the following court record:

"Mary Torrington Petitions this Court praying that an orphan female Child Called Sarah Torrington taken from her in a forcible manner by a certain Ephraim Sisemore a Mullatto be bound to Miles Parker." [191]

Edward who died in Hawkins County by 1810 and Owen who died in Hawkins County between 1836 and 1839 are believed to be the sons of Edward "Old Ned" Sizemore. George who died in Hawkins County in 1859 is thought to be the son of Edward who died in Hawkins by 1810. George's wife was Lydia Sizemore, his first cousin, daughter of Owen Sizemore.

George and Lydia Sizemore's daughter, Aggy Sizemore married Zachariah Minor

Sizemore Ethnicity

The haplogroup for this Sizemore group is haplogroup Q1a3a,[192] Native American. Historical records suggest that the Sizemore family was considered mulatto, a designation which at that time meant "not fully white" and could refer to Native or African admixture.

Sullivan

Jarvis is the only source who identified Sullivan (66) as Melungeon. The Sullivan family is consistently listed as white. They may have married into the Melungeon lines. They do not appear to be ancestral to the Melungeon Core families. There are no Sullivan members represented in the project.

Trent

Grohse is the only source that identified the Trent family as Melungeon, and he mentioned only one individual. The Trent family in Hancock/Hawkins was extensive judging from the census entries. There are no members in the Melungeon project, but the Trent surname project shows four different haplotypes descending from various Hawkins/Hancock County Trent family (80, 81, 82, 83) members. All are haplogroup R1b1b2, European. The Trent family does not appear to be ancestral to any Melungeon Core families.

Williams

In 1754 in Louisa County, Virginia, Benjamin Lewis Goodman and his wife Maria Williams sell and remove to Lunenburg County, Virginia, then to Granville County, NC and finally to Laurens Co., SC. In Wilkes County in 1789, on the same date, October 17, two Williams women declared that a Gibson and a Collins had fathered illegitimate children with them.

"Lela Williams declared on oath that Verdie Collins is the father of her child and likewise Mary Williams declared on oath that Jordan Gibson is the father of her child."

The Williams family from Hawkins/Hancock does not have any participants in the Melungeon project currently, but the Williams project shows that there are two different groups of individuals who have tested and have ancestors from the area. They are in William project Groups 5 (89) and 8 (100). Checking the project for individuals from Wilkes County that have also tested, Group 5 is found in both locations.

The progenitor of Group 5 is Edward Williams, born about 1680 in Hampshire County, Virginia and who died about 1761, wife Mary. They had a son Phillip William born in about 1725 and he had two sons, Phillip William Jr. and Edward, both born around 1750 and found in Wilkes County.

This Williams family is haplogroup R1b1b2, European. Additional candidates need to be tested to confirm the various lines. Results should be considered tentative.

Melungeon Mitochondrial DNA

Mitochondrial DNA testing in the Melungeon projects has been less popular than Y-line testing. To date, all of the descendants tested fall into haplogroup H, a clearly European haplogroup.

• Mahala Collins – wife of John Mullins (R1b), daughter of Solomon Collins and Gincie Goins

• Jemina Simmes (Sinnes) – wife of Thomas Goins (E1b1a) born in VA about 1750, Jemima’s parents are unknown

• Aggy Sizemore – wife of Zachariah Minor (E1b1a), Aggy’s parents are George Sizemore (Q1a3a) and Lydia Sizemore

• Rachel Reed – wife of Allen Collins (R1a1)

• Elizabeth Collins – wife of Martin Collins, daughter of Edmund (R1b1b2) Collins, mother unknown

• Margaret "Peggy" Gibson - wife of Vardy Collins (R1a1), sister of Sheperd Gibson, thought to be the daughter of Andrew Gibson (R1b1b2)

Previous DNA Evaluations

Three previous studies have been undertaken to evaluate the genetics of the Melungeon families.

Pollitzer Analysis

The first published attempt at genetic analysis of the Melungeon group was by William S. Polittzer, an anthropologist from the University of North Carolina in his paper "The Physical Anthropology and Genetics of Marginal People of the Southeastern United States" published in 1972. This paper compared various populations against a control group of English representing white people, the Gullah Negroes, descendants of slaves near Charleston, SC, representing negroes, and the western Cherokees representing pure Indians.

Pollitzer's goal was to measure 21 different genetic variables including blood type, RH factor and abnormal hemoglobins. These various traits are found in varying degrees within the baseline populations, thereby allowing Polittzer to draw conclusions about racial similarity by comparing the incidence of these various factors in hybrid groups to the baseline, presumed, "pure" groups.

Pollitzer discusses the Melungeons physical traits observed in the 182 individuals involved with the study, he states that there were 52 different surnames, with one occurring 28 times, 8 occurring 3 to 8 times and 32 occurring only once each.

Many of these individuals were obviously "married in", as the original Melungeon group of names only consists of between 14 and 17 Hawkins/Hancock County surnames.

Of the people in his study, Pollitzer observed that most of their features fell within the Caucasoid range; of hair form and color, 120 were straight, 55 were wavy-curly, 7 were kinky, 85 were brown, 65 were black, 20 were blonde and 12 were gray or white. He reported that the gene frequencies for blood factors suggest a people who are about 90% white, 10% Indian and had relatively little negro in their origins.

Subsequent studies have shown that 47% of Indian families who believe themselves to be full blooded or no less that 75% Native with no paternal European blood, find themselves carrying European or African Y-line DNA.[193] The Cherokee are known to be particularly admixed due to their early trading culture with Europeans and the universally accepted social practices of both "country wives" for European traders and the Native cultural practice of providing a sleeping partner for visiting traders. In 1819, the Cherokee restricted traders to only one Cherokee wife.[194] Bernard Romans remarked that "before the English traders came among them, there were scarcely any half breed, but now they abound among the younger sort."

In 1809, US Agent Return J. Meigs counted 341 intermarried among the Cherokee Nation; Cherokees numbers 12,395. The removal roll of 1835 reported 211 intermarried whites, "mixed bloods" counted for slightly less than 23% of the population. Chickasaw and Choctaw had a comparable percentage.

According to Meigs, one third of the whites in the Cherokee Nation in 1819 were white women. These women had been captured as children, were adopted into Cherokee clans, and as far as the Cherokee and the women were concerned, they were full Cherokee, not white. Their children were not mixed, but Cherokee, regardless of their father's ethnicity. Paternal ethnicity played no role in the identification of children.

Issues represented by Pollitzer's analysis include the fact that the Cherokee control group, according to historical records, was already significantly admixed prior to their removal to Indian Territory in the 1830s, which would have the effect of skewing the data, that the study group were self-identified Melungeons with an unknown quantity of ancestral Melungeon heritage, and without further information as to the genealogy of the participants, we have no way to verify or evaluate the admixture ratios.

Kennedy Project

Brent Kennedy in 2000 at a meeting of individuals interested in Melungeon history invited attendees to participate in a Melungeon genetic study. He enlisted the help of Kevin Jones, a biologist at the University of Virginia's Campus at Wise, Virginia.

Genetic samples were provided by volunteers by having a hair plucked from their head with the bare hands of other volunteers, the hair subsequently deposited in a plastic bag. No genealogy information was collected, nor was any Melungeon heritage confirmed. Furthermore, no definition of what constituted a Melungeon was offered nor guidelines for participation set forth.[195]

Kennedy's own self-identification as a Melungeon required that a number of new surnames be added to the list of documented Melungeon surnames. Part of DeMarce's criticism of Kennedy's research methodology was that he erroneously expanded the Melungeon families and thereby Melungeon history to provide "an exotic ancestry...that sweeps in virtually every olive, ruddy and brown-tinged ethnicity known or alleged to have appeared anywhere in the pre-Civil War Southeastern United States." Given that Kennedy's extensive list of Melungeon families allowed many individuals with Appalachian heritage to claim Melungeon heritage, his book was well received, although historically and genealogically fatally flawed.[196] Many of these newly identified Melungeons attended the annual meetings known as "Unions."

In 2003, at a subsequent Union gathering, Kevin Jones provided the results in a presentation, covered by Discover magazine writer Kathleen McGowan. He evaluated 120 mitochondrial DNA samples and about 30 Y chromosomal samples, and his conclusion was that the Melungeons, based on the previously collected hair samples, were "mostly Eurasian" with "a little bit black and a little bit American Indian." His sample data base, from University College London at that time only contained 4500 comparison samples. Some samples had no matches. Jones concluded that he could not confirm the Portuguese or Turkish ancestry that Kennedy[197] purports to be the genesis of the Melungeon people.

The surnames of participants were never released, the results were not provided to participants and no haplogroup information was ever offered. Kevin Jones never published the results either academically or privately.

Yates Profile of Melungeons

In 2010, Donald Yates self-published a paper entitled "Toward a Genetic Profile of Melungeons in Southern Appalachia" on his website.[198] The paper was not subject to academic scrutiny or peer review. For analysis, Yates used a tool based on OmniPop which uses as input the 21 CODIS autosomal markers.

The original OmniPop tool was designed by Brian Burritt of the San Diego Police Department as a tool created to differentiate between people, specifically to determine their primary race, not to compare them for similarities. He created the OmniPop spreadsheet from 225 police and forensic articles that had been published and referenced Codis marker information about people from specific populations.[199] How these populations were identified, how the individuals were identified as members of that particular population, and by who are all questions that remain unanswered and probably vary depending on the article and situation in question. Furthermore, a normalized distribution of the world populations is not represented in OmniPop.

The output of the database, population matches, is dependent solely on the distribution of the populations input and which of the 21 marker values are selected to be utilized in the analysis.

Burritt’s commentary regarding genealogists using OmniPop for genealogical ethnicity comparisons is that they were using a tool not created for this purpose and were over-analyzing the results.[200]

Yates uses the OmniPop derived tool to evaluate and report on the results of "40 self-identified Melungeon descendants" and reports on "the probabilistic predictive results of Melungeon ethnicity."

Yates states that, "Of the participants, 21 were born in eastern Tennessee or adjacent states. The birth location of about 20% were unknown. Nine came from a single extended family. There were 11 siblings and 11 parent-child pairings. Many not closely related were distantly connected. Surnames were consistent with a list published by Kennedy and included Adams, Barnett, Caldwell, Carter, Collins, Cooper, Douglas, Elliott, Goode, Goodman, Goins, Hall, Jones, Kennedy, Mize, Ramey, Sparks, Starnes and Stewart." Of these surnames, only Goins, Goodman and Collins are included in the Core Melungeon grouping and of those in Yates study, it is unknown if they have a genealogical connection to the Hawkins/Hancock County families. Genealogical and/or relationship information was not provided.

Yates reports that his population group showed notable levels of Jewish, both Ashkenazi and Sephardic, Middle Eastern, Native American, African and Iberian ancestry. In summary, Yates concludes that the Melungeons are not primarily drawn from ancestries in northwest Europe but represent an amalgam of Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, North African, African and Native American ethnic groups. He further states that the Melungeon founders were probably neither British nor Christian and that the "Arab and Turkish-descended Melungeons probably shared Muslim traditions" in addition to "Sephardic and Ashkenazic" religious practices.

When compared to other autosomal analysis tools and when compared with a known genealogical pedigree chart of the testee, OmniPop has proven deficient as a reliable measure of ethnicity.[201]

In the paper, Revealing American Indian and Minority Heritage Using Y-line, Mitochondrial, Autosomal and X-Chromosomal Testing Data Combined with Pedigree Analysis, the author analyses various ways to interpret CODIS marker results using OmniPop and provides a comparison of OmniPop's reliability for an individual whose ethnicity is known and proven using a pedigree analysis methodology. For an individual with 23% proven German heritage, 22% proven British Isles heritage and 14% proven Dutch heritage, OmniPop reported Caucasian as the most common element, followed by Poland, Belgium, Mexico, Spain, Michigan Native American, Indian, Serbian and Norwegian. No British Isles results were listed, as British Isles locations are not contained in the OmniPop reference data base, nor did results include Germany or the Netherlands. This discrepancy is problematic and certainly raises questions as to the reliability of OmniPop based results. It is interesting to note that OmniPop, when applied as intended by Brian Burritt, to identify primary race, as opposed to identifying minority admixture, was correct. Most individuals can readily identify their primary race without using OmniPop, but in a police environment, it would be a very valuable tool.

It would certainly be easy to inadvertently skew the resulting matches to be heavily in favor of a specific population if articles dealing with reference samples of that particular population were included disproportionately in the reference data base.

The high level of interrelatedness within the test population of Yates study raises other concerns as well as the variety of family surnames included. Yates used Kennedy's expanded surname list.

Also of concern are the participants' "self-identification" as Melungeon. As the administrators of the Melungeon-Core (Y-line), mtDNA and Family DNA projects, we receive daily e-mails from people who have found Melungeon information on the internet and have "self-identified" as a member of that population based on a wide spectrum of erroneous information. Self-identification may be a criteria for consideration, but it is not a selection criteria for inclusion.

Genetic and Historical Analysis of the Melungeon DNA Project Results

Analysis of the results presented in this paper fall into several categories: Portuguese ancestry, African ancestry, Native American ancestry, Lumbee connections, Middle Eastern ancestry, Jewish ancestry and Gypsy ancestry. Each category will be analyzed individually to determine what evidence exists for descent from these various groups.

The table below summarizes all of the evidence from historical, family and genetic sources for each category discussed.

Table 12: Genetic and Historical Findings by Category

Surname or Group	European	African	Native	FPC/Mixed	Portuguese	Jewish	Middle Eastern	Gypsy
Bell	Haplogroup R1b, Humble, 1830, 1850, 1870 census	1880 census		1840, 1850, 1870, 1880 census
Bolin	Haplogroup R1b, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census, 1874 Case	1874 Case, Plecker	Jarvis says full blood[202], 1743 Orange Co, VA record, oral history	1830, 1860, 1870 census, 1874 Case	1874 Case
Bunch	1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census	Haplogroup E1b1a, Plecker, 1720 SC court record	Jarvis	1755 Orange Co. NC tax list
Collins Surname	Haplogroups R1b, R1a Humble, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census	Haplogroup E1b1a, 1830 census, Plecker	1890 Census, Dromgoole, Jarvis says full blood[203]	1830, 1870, 1880 census, 1846 voting trial, 1745 Louisa Co, Va. concealed tithables, 1755 Orange Co NC tax list	Dromgoole
Valentine Collins Grp		Haplogroup E1b1a
Benjamin Collins Grp		Haplogroup E1b1a		1830 census
Levi Collins Group	Haplogroup R1b matches Gibson
Vardy Collins Grp	Haplogroup R1a1			1800, 1830 census
Denham	Haplogroup I1 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census	1870, 1880		1830, 1840, 1860, 1870 census, 1765 concealed tithables	1890 Census, Dromgoole, Grohse
Gibson Surname	Haplogroup R1b 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 Humble	Haplogroup E1b1a Plecker, 1720 SC court record	1890 Census, Dromgoole, Jarvis	1830, 1860, 1870 census, 1755 Orange Co., NC tax list, 1745 concealed tithables
Gibson Primary Grp[204]	Haplogroup R1b
Gibson E1b1a		Haplogroup E1b1a
Freelin Gibson Grp	Haplogroup R1b matches Goodman
Gibson Group 4	Haplogroup R1b matches Collins
Goins Surname	1830,1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census Humble, 1874 Case	Haplogroup E1b1a, A 1890 Census, Dromgoole, 1874 Case, 1853 Suit, Plecker, 1854 Marriage Record, 1915 Robeson case	1915 Robeson case	1800, 1830, 1840, 1870, 1880 census 1874 Case 1846 Voting Rights case	1874 Case 1880 census
John Goins Group[205]		Haplogroup E1b1a
Thomas Goin Group		Haplogroup E1b1a (doesn't match John Group)
Joseph Goins		Haplogroup A
Goins Group 4		Haplogroup E1b1a7 matches Collins
Goodman	Haplogroup R1b, matches Gibson, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census	Plecker	Jarvis, Indian on wife's line, oral history	1830, 1870 census
Minor	1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census	Haplogroup E1b1a 1854 Marriage Record, Plecker	Cherokee Indian application	1830, 1840, 1860, 1870, 1880 census, 1852 Suit, 1846 Voting trial	1880 census
Moore	Haplogroup R1b 1830, 1840, 1650, 1860, 1870, 1880 Humble	Plecker	Jarvis	1830, 1840, 1870 census
Mullins	Haplogroup R1b 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census 1890 Census, Dromgoole, Humble	Plecker		1830, 1870 census
Nichols	Haplogroup R1b, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census	Haplogroup E1b1a, 1870 census		1830 census
Perkins	1840 census			1855 case, 1857 Biracial marriage 1874 case
Riddle	Haplogroup R1b		1767 Pittsylvania Co., Va. tax list	1778 concealed tithables
Sizemore	1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census		Haplogroup Q1a3a, Family oral "Old Ed" was an Indian	1753 Orange Co court record
Sullivan	1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870 census		Jarvis
Trent	Haplogroup R1b, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census			1870 census
Williams	Haplogroup R1b 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 census Humble		Jarvis	1830, 1870 census

Were the Melungeons Portuguese?

Some of the Melungeon families indicated on the 1880 census that they were Portuguese. Many carry an oral history that they carry Portuguese heritage. Another version of oral history indicates that the Portuguese ancestry may have come from a shipwreck or from pirates.

One possible documented source of Portuguese ancestry may be from Juan Pardo’s men who were abandoned at various forts in present day North Carolina, one perhaps as far north and west as Morgantown, North Carolina.[206] Some of Pardo's men may have been Portuguese. These men, if they survived, would have had to have assimilated into the Native population and have taken Native wives, as there were no European women available in 1566. However, the core Melungeon family group is not originally found in western North Carolina, but in eastern Virginia.

Denham was the surname associated with Portuguese ancestry. Denham is haplogroup I1, Anglo-Saxon, and shows no surname matching pattern that would indicate Spanish or Portuguese ancestry. No other Melungeon surname shows evidence of southern Mediterranean ancestry or Spanish/Portuguese matches.

Furthermore, the majority of the Melungeon core families, including Denham, were found together or in close proximity in the Louisa County, Va., or Louisa's parent county, Hanover's records in the mid 1700s. Those not present in Louisa, with the exception of Mullins, joined the group in either Lunenburg, Orange or Granville Counties in the mid to late 1700s. There are no claims of Portuguese heritage in Louisa County in the group that remained.

Dromgoole may have explained the Portuguese ancestral claim in the following commentary.

"The Malungeons repudiate the idea of Negro blood, yet some of the shiftless stragglers among them have married among the Goins people. They evade slights, snubs, censure, and the law, by claiming to have married Portuguese, there really being a Portuguese branch among the tribes."[207]

Apparently the Melungeons themselves had a difficult time remembering where their Portuguese ancestry arose. Dromgoole says that:

"The Portuguese branch was for a long time a riddle, the existance of it being stoutly denied. It has at last, however, been traced to one "Denham," a Portuguese who married a Collins woman."

If the Melungeons carried Portuguese ancestry, it is not from any of the Y chromosomal lines that have been tested. Denham does not appear to be Portuguese. There is oral history to support the Portuguese claim, but no historical documents or genetic evidence have been discovered to prove Portuguese heritage for any of these families.

Portuguese Family Inheritance

Given the repeated claims of Portuguese heritage, an analysis was undertaken of the genealogy of the families who in 1880 instructed the census taker to write Portuguese as their race. It was later overstricken with a very dark W for white.

Only portions of two Hancock County census pages contain families with the Portuguese designation, and not all individuals on those pages had that designation. A portion of one page is shown in Figure 6. Just the race column is shown in Figure 7.

All adults in the "Portuguese" households are listed in the table below which shows that some of the families were descended from the Sizemore family who is proven to be genetically Native, some from the Riddle family who were annotated on the 1767 tax list to be "Indian", some from the Goins and Minor families with African haplogroups, but none of these people descend from the Denham family who was specifically identified as being Portuguese.

Table 13: 1880 "Portuguese" Census Family Heritage

	1880 - Portuguese Family	Sizemore	Riddle	Denham	African	Other
1	Lyons, Samuel Jr., age 20					[208]
2	Lyons, Mary, wife, age 18	Yes[209]			Minor
3	Vickers, James, age 25					[210]
4	Vickers, Alsey, wife, age 23	Yes[211]			Minor
5	Miner, Aggy age 75, mother in-law	Yes[212]
6	Miner, James, age 34	Yes[213]			Minor
7	Miner, Elizabeth wife, age 34		Yes[214]
8	Goins, Mary, age 20, married daughter		Yes[215]
8	Goins, Ephraim age 21, son-in-law	Yes[216]			Goins, Minor
10	Miner, Claiborn, age 40	Yes[217]			Minor
11	Miner, Happy, wife, age 44		Yes[218]
12	Minor, Zach age 32	Yes[219]			Minor
13	Miner, Sarah wife					[220]
14	Miner, Alfred, age 52	Yes[221]			Minor
15	Miner, Clarisa, (Chaney), wife					[222]
16	Goins, Kiah, (Hezekiah), age 22	Yes[223]			Goins, Minor
17	Goins, Sarah Ann, wife		Yes[224]
18	Goins, Hezekiah, age 30				Goins[225]
19	Goins, Rebecca, wife					[226]
20	Goins, Zachariah, age 45				Goins[227]
21	Goins, Elizabeth, wife, age 47	Yes[228]			Minor
22	Anderson, Sarah, age 52	Yes[229]			Minor	[230]

Of the above 22 adults, 5 are spouses not known to have Melungeon heritage. Of the 17 who have proven Melungeon heritage, meaning those who did not "marry in", we find the following genealogical distribution pattern:

Table 14: Portuguese Family Ancestry Distribution

	Sizemore Native	Riddle Native	Denham	Minor African	Goins African
Family Distribution	11	4	0	10	2

Twelve families are descended from the Goins and Minor families (both or individually) who have African haplogroups and of those, 2 individuals are descended from both families.

The Goins family descendants all descend from the John Goins Group and the Minor families all descend from Zachariah Minor.

Ten families descend from both the Sizemore Native group and an African haplogroup family.

The commonality between these families is not a descendancy from Denham, but a descendancy from either a Native ancestral family, an African ancestral family, or both.

Were the Melungeons African?

The DNA evidence alone suggests a strong African component in the Melungeon heritage. This evidence is corroborated by a multitude of historical documents for many families. Of these families with African Y-line haplogroups, all of them are found in Louisa County, Virginia before the migration south and west began. Hanover County was the parent of Louisa County and many families are found there as well, associated with other Melungeon Core families beginning in the 1600s.

The first Melungeon surname is that of Thomas Gibson found in Virginia in 1608 at Jamestown. He was joined by both Gibson and Dennum by 1627.

In 1619, the first Africans, 20 men and 3 women, were imported to Jamestown, not as slaves, but as indentured servants. At this time, slavery did not exist in Virginia.[231]

In the 1630s in Virginia, there are indications in surviving wills, inventories, deeds and other documents that in some instances it was considered "customary practice to hold some Negroes in a form of life service." It should be noted that by examining these documents it was also found that some blacks were able to maintain their status of being indentured servants, thus, eventually gaining their freedom.

In 1640, a runaway indentured servant, John Punch, becomes the first slave for life.[232]

By 1649, there were still only 300 black laborers in Virginia.[233]

Sometime between 1640 and 1662, slavery became law. In 1662, a Virginia act states:

“Whereas some doubts have arisen whether children got by any Englishmen upon a Negro shall be slave or Free, Be it therefore enacted and declared by this present Grand assembly, that all children born in this country shall be held bond or free only according to the condition of the mother."

In 1667, another Virginia act states:

“Whereas some doubts have arisen whether children that are slaves by birth....should by virtue of their baptism be made free, it is enacted that baptism does not alter the condition to the person as to his bondage or freedom.”[234]

During this period of time it was considered improper for a Christian to hold another Christian as a slave.[235]

The question has been raised as to whether the African ancestors of the various Melungeon lines were imported from African into the colonies or if perhaps the African progenitor of those lines could have been a citizen of the British Isles for generations prior to immigrating into the colonies. This question implies that when they immigrated, they no longer looked African and functioned as any other white Englishman would, unaware of their African heritage.

In a 2007 study addressing African DNA in the United Kingdom,[236] it was noted that Hadrian's Wall was defended 1800 years ago by "a division of Moors", but that the first West African slaves were not imported into Britain until 1555, and then not many initially. In 1601 Britain attempted to expel all of them, but by the end of the 18th century, there were an estimated 10,000 black people in Britain, mostly concentrated in cities such as London. Today, 8% of Britain's population is an ethnic minority, many having immigrated from the Caribbean and African, beginning in the mid 20th century. This study found only one incidence of sub-Saharan African haplogroup A in ancestral Britains, and then only in one particular family line.

Another study[237] found haplogroup E1b1b clustered in areas surrounding Hadrian's Wall. Further analysis provided data that indicated that these individuals were Balkan and part of the Roman forces. Haplogroup E1b1b is from North African, not sub-Saharan African and would be expected to be found at some level in any European population, in higher frequencies in those with significant contact in the Mediterranean basin. Haplogroup E1b1a is generally not found in North African, and is found ancestrally only in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The central focus of the Portuguese slave trading until 1642, and thereafter by the English and Dutch, was Ginneau-Bisseau, originally called Portuguese Guinea, on the African coastline shown on the 1729 map below as Negroland in Figure 8. Slaving was most prevalent there and in Guinea, along the coastlines.

Of the eight African Melungeon lines, all have Haplotree Matches along the slave and gold coasts, shown on the map of Figure 8.[238]

Some Melungeon Core project members have Ancestral Matches, which are derived from participant input, in locations such as Mexico and Puerto Rico, which would be expected based on the slave trade. Others have matches in Ireland, Scotland and England. While Haplotree Matches are derived from academic and research databases, Ancestral Matches are derived from the information entered into the Family Tree DNA system by participants based on their understanding of what should go into the "Paternal Country of Origin" field. Some people don't understand that this should be the oldest ancestor by their surname. Some people enter the oldest ancestor on their father's side, not necessarily the ancestor with their surname. Others enter information that has been passed down by oral history, or an origin they surmise based on the type of surname, such as McDonald, which might be assumed to originate in Scotland. However, without proven genealogy information, this information and any resulting conclusions may not be correct. Unfortunately, misunderstandings about what information is being requested and poorly researched information make the Ancestral Matches much less reliable and useful than Haplotree Matches, although sometimes useful patterns can still be detected, especially if the information is reflective of the Haplotree Matches.

While England was very active in the slave trade, few slaves were imported into England proper, who themselves, had a surplus of labor and were exporting individuals as indentured servants to relieve overcrowding.

The ancestors of the Melungeons are proven to have been in the colonies at an early date, prior to 1750, some prior to 1650, and not enslaved at that time.[239] Slaves were first imported into England in 1551, so if they or their descendants were imported from the British Isles to early Virginia in the early 1600s, they would have still have resembled Africans phenotypically, only one or two generations at most removed from Africa.[240]

Most likely, the locations outside of Africa entered by individuals (Ancestral Origins) which are their ancestor's oldest known location, as opposed to academic and laboratory matches (Haplotree Matches), are red herrings. To date, individuals who have entered this information have been unable to provide any documentation or proof of genealogy in the British Isles.

Of the Melungeon families with African haplogroups, we find 54 unique Haplotree Matches, clustered as follows:

Table 15: Melungeon Slave and Gold Coast Haplotree Matches

Location	Number of Matches
Ghana	16
Nigeria	7
Ivory Coast	1
Benin	3
Sierra Leone	3
Congo	1
Gambia	3
Guinea-Bisseau	1
Senegal	2
Angola	1
Cameroon	4
Tugo	1
Total	43

Table 16: Melungeon Landlocked African Haplotree Matches

Location	Number of Matches
Niger	1
Central African Republic	1
Uganda	1
Zimbabwe	2
Zambia	1
Total	6

Table 17: Melungeon East African Coastal Haplotree Matches

Location	Number of Matches
Kenya	5

While there is plenty of evidence supporting African heritage both genetically and through historical records where the various families were referenced as "of color" in some fashion, there is absolutely no evidence that any of the Melungeon ancestors were enslaved.

If the Melungeon ancestors with African haplogroups were never enslaved, and we know they were not in the 1750s and some were free as early as the 1650s, it is certainly possible that they were imported between 1619 and 1642 as indentured servants with Christian names due to the Portuguese custom of baptizing slaves before their departure from Africa. In 1642, the Portuguese abandoned the slave trade to the English and the Dutch and slaves no longer arrived having been baptized, eliminating any possible claim to freedom based on Christianity. This early connection with the Portuguese may also be the genesis of the Portuguese heritage claims. Portugal colonized portions of the west African coastline in conjunction with the slave trade.[241]

By the early to mid-1700s, an enclave of ancestors of these Melungeon families is found living together in Hanover and Louisa Counties. Tax lists and other records show that this group of families was either consistently or intermittently listed as nonwhite - meaning that they were people of color, admixed with either Native or African or both. However, the only genetically Native surname, Sizemore, was not present in Louisa County. Neither was Riddle, proven in historical records to be Native.

Paul Heinegg has spent the last two decades searching the state archives of Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland and Delaware for all records pertaining to people of color, both African and Native, before 1820. Heinegg's work reveals that most free African American families that originated in colonial Virginia and Maryland descended from white servant women who had children by slaves or free Africans, and many descended from slaves who were freed before the 1723 Virginia law requiring legislative approval for manumissions. Heinegg has found that very few families that were free during the colonial period descended from white slave owners who had children by their slaves, perhaps as few as one percent.[242]

When Africans were imported into Virginia, they joined the same household with indentured servants - lived in the same quarters, often working side by side. They ate, slept and had children together.

In 1691, a Virginia law required that illegitimate, mixed-race children of white women were to be bound out for 30 years. Agnes Going in 1754 and 1770 in Louisa County may be an example of this practice, although there was no record indicating that her children were illegitimate. There was also no record indicating they were "orphans" of a male Going, the typical court record entry when a man died and his children were subsequently bound out.

According to Heinegg (2004), over 200 African American families in Virginia descended from white women, often the common law wives of slaves having numerous children. Forty-six families descended from freed slaves, twenty-nine from Indians and sixteen from white men who had children by free African American women. It's likely that the majority of the remaining families also descended from white women since they first appear in court records in the mid 1700s when slaves could not be freed without legislative approval and there is no record of legislative approval for their emancipation.

Heinegg (2004) mentions that most of the North Carolina free people of color came from these Virginia families, and many, by the mid-1700s were quite well-to-do including Henry Bunch of Bertie County. He states that many of the lighter-skinned descendants of these families formed their own distinct communities and can be found together in various records.

Heinegg (2004) goes on to say that most free African American families who have been free from the colonial period claim Indian ancestry.

The scenario described by Heinegg certainly is plausible given the various pieces of information we have about the Melungeon families: that they were admixed very early, that they were free, that some were "of color" and had white wives, that there is no oral history or documentation of slavery, they claim Native heritage and that they were landholding citizens found living together in Louisa County.

Oral history, historical records and genetic data support African heritage for multiple Melungeon families. Of the 15 core Melungeon surnames, 6 carry African heritage. Of the 22 haplogroups identified within those surnames, 8 are African. The Goins family carries three different African haplogroups/haplotypes.

Do the Melungeons have Native American ancestry?

Of the 15 primary Melungeon core surnames or their ancestral surnames, only one, Sizemore, has genetic Native ancestry on the paternal Y-line. There is no genetic Native heritage on the maternal, mitochondrial lines. One family, Riddle, has documented Native heritage in historical records, but does not carry that heritage through the Y-line.

How do we resolve the pervasive oral history of Native heritage with the overwhelming African and European haplogroups?

The social customs most dramatically affecting the eastern Indian populations of Virginia and North Carolina were the Native customs of hospitality which included providing a male traveler (there were few if any female travelers in the back country) with a bedmate for the night, trader marriages, Indian slavery practices and adoptions.[243]

Today, traditional Native cultural hospitality would be viewed through the filter of Christian morality, but the various Indian tribes had their own versions of religion and morality, and chastity or monogamy under these circumstances was not part of that equation. Having multiple partners made a young woman more desirable, not less-so in the native cultural tradition of the time.[244]

Generally, traders were white Europeans, but often they were accompanied by slaves. Some traders were mulatto or mixed Native.

Another possibility is the Indian practice of adopting both captives and slaves into the tribe. In 1819, one third of the whites in the Cherokee tribe were reported to be white women captured as children and by 1835 when the removal roles were assembled by special census, 211 whites were noted as "married in", but a full 23% of the tribe was listed as admixed. Tribes located further east and coastal facing would have been exposed to traders earlier and become admixed earlier as well.[245]

This might have been the genesis of the Louisa County group, although Louisa County is not a known trader area nor is it near Fort Christanna in Brunswick (current Greensville) County, Virginia which was established in 1714 as a trading center and home for the Indian population. Fort Christanna is not far from the Lunenburg/Halifax Co., Va. or the Flat River areas.

The Riddles and Sizemores, known to be Native, were not present among the families in Louisa County. They later joined the migrating family group in Lunenburg County and the Flatt River area in North Carolina on the border between Virginia and North Carolina. The Bolins appear to have joined the migration in this area as well.

None of the Louisa County, Virginia families produced Native haplogroups and 6 of the 9 families found in Louisa County have at least one family line with African ancestry. Furthermore, we know that these families were indeed mixed by the time they were found in Louisa County, designated as mulatto or free persons of color. In some cases, we know the wives were mixed as well, inferred from the concealing tithes court records. We also know that in many cases, these men owned land, so they certainly weren't impoverished nor on the bottom rungs on the economic ladder. The best sources we have to determine their racial heritage and social standing are inferred records, such as tax lists, jury or militia duty and land ownership. In the case of Gibson, Bunch and Denham, records reach back into early colonial Virginia, Gibson and Denham being found together in a record in 1621 in Charles City County.

In many Melungeon families, the African haplogroup supports the mixed racial records. Native haplogroups would as well, but outside of Sizemore, there are no Native haplogroups. In the case of thirteen family lines noted as "people of color", but with European Y-line haplogroups, the haplogroup does not explain or support the historical records documenting mixed racial heritage. In these cases, the admixture, whether Native, Indian or both, must come from other genealogical lines.

In only one case, Riddle, is there historical documentation of Native ancestry.

Do the Melungeons descend from Raleigh’s Lost Colony of 1587 or the Lumbee?

The search to determine whether the Lost Colonists, 117 English people stranded on Roanoke Island in 1587, survived is ongoing through the Lost Colony DNA projects combined with ongoing historical and archaeological research.[246] If the colonists survived, they would have assimilated with the local Indian tribes.[247] The Lumbee carry an oral heritage that they descend from the Lost Colonists.

The Melungeons and the Lumbee do share some common surnames. Both the Collins and Goins surnames are widespread in tri-racial isolate groups, including the Lumbee. Other common Melungeon/Lumbee surnames are Bell, Moore and Williams.

The Lumbee DNA project has no Bells or Williams who have joined. The Melungeon Moore family is not in the Lumbee project, nor matches anyone who is. The Melungeon Thomas Goins participant is a member of the Lumbee project, but has provided no information to support the Lumbee association.

Given the known migration patterns of some of the Melungeon families to North and South Carolina, in particular, the Bertie County (NC) Tuscarora area (Gibson and Bunch) and the Pee Dee River area (Gibson, Collins, Bunch, Sizemore, Goins and Bolton) where other known Natives were living, it certainly would not be surprising to discover that some of the Lumbee and the Melungeon families share a common heritage. It's particularly intriguing because the Lumbee also have an oral history of identifying themselves as Melungeons, but in their case, it did not seem to be applied by outsiders, but by the Lumbee themselves. McMillan's records in the 1880s tell us that the older Lumbee considered themselves Melungeon. The 1874 Shepherd trial expands the area where this occurred to South Carolina adjacent the Lumbee area in North Carolina. Ironically, the one family proven native genetically, Sizemore, is not found among the Lumbee surnames, nor do they have genetic matches to anyone in the Lumbee project.

The Goins surname and genetic matches between the John Goins Group and individuals from both the Hamilton County, Tennessee group involved in the 1874 Shepherd trial from South Carolina pre-1800 and the Lumbee Goins family confirm that all three groups share a common Goins ancestor. Given the migration patterns and known history of these individuals and groups, it appears that Louisa or her parent County, Hanover, is their common home and that John Goins found on a 1735 tax list in Hanover County is the probable ancestor of all three groups.

Were the Melungeons Middle Eastern?

A widespread myth involving Melungeon heritage is that the Melungeons were of Middle Eastern origin, specifically from Turkey. All Europeans who migrated from Africa came through the Middle East on their way to their final destination, so yes at some point in time, all Europeans were from the Middle East, including the families who would become Melungeons that carry Europeans haplogroups. The question becomes, when did they leave the Middle East? The European haplogroups that are identified as such all were found in Europe 10,000 years ago or before.

Some haplogroups are found more predominantly in Middle East and Southwestern Asia, as you can see from Figure 9 courtesy of Dr. Doug McDonald, those haplogroups, such as Y chromosome J and G are not absent from Europe, just less prevalent there. They have been in Europe for thousands of years, and finding a haplogroup with a higher Middle Eastern frequency does not mean that the descendants of this line are recently from the Middle East. For example, haplogroup E1b1b is predominantly found in North Africa and the Mediterranean, known colloquially as the Berber haplogroup, but all of the core Melungeon haplogroup E families are from haplogroup E1b1a, which is sub-Saharan African. Haplogroup E in sub-Saharan Africa is noted as ExE1b1b, meaning all haplogroup E subgroups except E1b1b.

Figure 10[248] shows the migration path of the European Y-line haplogroups out of African and subsequently through the Middle East.[249]

Relative to the Melungeons, we know that many of their ancestral lines have been in America since at least the mid-1600s, both European and African, based on the records discovered to date. Obviously the Native line was already here. This equates to about 360 years, or just short of 15 generations. At 15 generations, an individual living today would carry only three thousands of 1% (00.003052%) of the DNA of an ancestor who was “pure” anything 15 generations ago. So even if one ancestor was indeed Mediterranean 15 generations ago, unless they continuously intermarried within a pure Mediterranean population, the amount would drop by 50% with each generation to the miniscule amount that would be found in today’s current generation. With today’s technology, this is simply untraceable in autosomal DNA[250].

There is no evidence from oral history, historical records, genealogy or DNA that the ancestors of the Melungeons were Middle Eastern.

Were the Melungeons Jewish?

According to Dr. Doron Behar, both the Jewish male and female lines can be identified by founder lineages.[251] These lines are both distinctive in that their haplogroups are not absent within Europe, but are generally not found outside of the Jewish population in Europe. They are found outside of the Jewish populations in the Middle East or Mediterranean basin, and certainly in higher frequencies. On the Family Tree DNA personal pages, the haplogroup matches and ancestral origins clearly shows Jewish heritage noted as either Ashkenazi or Sephardic. Individuals who carry this genetic signature aren't necessarily Jewish. They may simply share their genetic heritage with those who would become or became Jews.

None of the Melungeon haplogroups or haplotypes are among the Jewish founding lines, nor do the individuals who descend from the Melungeon population have a single Ashkenazi or Sephardic match.

There is no evidence of Jewish heritage in the oral history, historical documentation, genealogy or DNA of the Melungeon families.

Were the Melungeons Gypsies?

The Roma population carries a higher frequency of certain haplogroups that are most closely associated with Central Asia, their original home. More than 70% of the males descend from just three lines in haplogroup R1a.[252] Haplogroup M is found among approximately 25% of the female population. There is no evidence of Roma heritage among the Melungeons in either oral history, historical documents, genealogy or DNA. Two Roma individuals are shown in Figure 11.

Summary

Many sources exist where the Melungeons identify themselves variously as Indians and Portuguese. Only one family, the Goins, are identified orally as having negro heritage. Given the physically dark appearance of the Melungeons, they have unquestionable heritage other than European.[253]

Every Melungeon core family is indentified in multiple records as being "of color".

DNA evidence identifies several lines conclusively as having African roots, specifically, Bunch, Collins, Goins (3 separate lines), Minor and possibly Nichols. Gibson has one line who has tested and shows haplogroup E1b1a, but they also match another Louisa County affiliated family, Donathan.

Of these families, the Collins family has four different haplogroups within the same family group, a situation not unexpected based on the commentary by Will Allen Dromgoole wherein she states that of the Collins that while "they all were not blood descendants of Old Vardy they had all fallen under his banner and appropriated his name."

The Collins and Gibson founding lines, meaning Vardy Collins and Shephard "Buck" Gibson were said to be Cherokee and stole the names of white men in Virginia. Their DNA indicates that if they were Native, it was not via their paternal line.

Dromgoole reportedly stayed with Calloway Collins who stated that his grand-father was a Cherokee Chief. His Collins grandfather was Benjamin Collins who lived on Newman's Ridge and did not remove in 1835. There are no known Cherokee who lived on Newman's Ridge. The Cherokee Nation was significantly further south prior to removal in 1835, as shown in Figure 12.[254]

The Mullins line was reputed to be Irish and is confirmed genetically to be European. However, "Irish Jim", the progenitor is listed as a "free person of color", a very unusual classification for an immigrant from the British Isles. Droomgoole states that the Mullins will "fight for their Indian blood." No Indian heritage is evident in historical records or DNA.

The Denham line was said to be Portuguese and oral history indicates that the line originated "further south" or possibly from a shipwreck, yet the Revolutionary War pension application of David Denham says he was born in Louisa County, Virginia. The Denham line may connect with the Gibsons as early as 1627 in Charles City County. The Denham DNA is European and the Denham descendant who DNA tested has no Spanish or Portuguese matches. Denham is not Portuguese on the paternal Y-line.

A significant amount of oral history regarding Portuguese heritage exists, but no historical, genealogical or genetic evidence has been discovered to corroborate the oral history. Some historical information refutes the oral history.

Claims of Portuguese ancestry are a pattern that stretches beyond the Melungeon families and is found explaining a "dark countenance" across the eastern half of the US, providing a European answer to the question of why.

One possible source of the pervasive Portuguese oral history is that the Portuguese were heavily involved prior to 1642 in the early importation of African indentured servants, some of whom would eventually become free and some of whom would become slaves.

On the 1880 census, several Melungeon families claimed Portuguese as their race. An analysis of the families so claiming reveals that none of them were descended from the Denham line. Some, but not all were descended from the Sizemore and Riddle Native families. Of the 22 adults listed initially as Portuguese, more than half, 12 are descended from either the Goins or Minor families with African haplogroups, 11 are descended from the Sizemore family, 4 from the Riddle family, 4 are not descended from any of the above and 3 are unknown.

Ironically, the Sizemore family is not identified as Melungeon in Hancock/Hawkins Counties, but is ancestral to many Melungeon families and settled there are well. The Sizemore family is proven genetically to be Native, haplogroup Q1a3a. Furthermore, there are two Native Sizemore lines, although only one is known to be ancestral to the Melungeon families. A European Sizemore line also exists, and the Bolins match the European Sizemore lines, suggesting that these families may have had a common genesis or that these Sizemores may in fact be Bolins. Both families are found in early Virginia along the North Carolina border.

A link has been found through the Goins family to the Lumbee. The "Smiling" Goins family was not thought to be an original Lumbee family,[255] but subsequent research has shown that even though the group in 1915 was thought to be an "outside" group, the ancestors of this group were found in 1770 with other founding Lumbee families. The Moore and Cumberland County Pocket Creek Goins groups have always claimed kinship with the Lumbee. Other links to the Lumbee have not yet been found. The Lumbee Tribe[256] has been reticent to support DNA testing and common surnames between the Lumbee and the Melungeon Core group have not all been tested.

The Riddle family who is also ancestral to the Melungeon families is genetically European, haplogroup R1b1b2, but is documented historically to be Indian from a 1767 tax list where they are noted as such. Furthermore, they are found in other "Indian Communities" such as Pocket Creek in Moore County, NC, tied to the Goins family. In 1820 several Riddle families are found beside a Goins family whose first name is illegible. In 1830 in Moore County, William Riddle is found beside both Levy and Edward Goins, believed to be the Goins family of the Lumbee.

Edward Goins is later found in Sumter County, SC, a progenitor of one the Smiling Indian families in Sumter County, SC, also known as Red Bones. This Goins family moved from Sumter County and settled in Robeson County, NC in 1907. The progenitor of this line, Frederick Goen, is found with the Lumbee much earlier, on the 1770 Bladen County tax list. Testimony regarding this family in 1915 states that the father's line is Melungeon.

The Goins family is found in multiple locations in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, several of which are involved with legal proceedings relative to their race. There are three genetic Melungeon Goins family lines, two E1b1a and one haplogroup A, all three being of sub-Saharan African origin.

In Hawkins/Hancock County, Tennessee, Sumter County, SC, and Spartanburg District (Georgetown County), SC[257] these Goins families are referred to as Melungeon. Genetically, they share a common ancestor, probably John Goins found in Hanover County in 1735.

The Sumter County, SC Goins family is found in Bladen in 1770 with other Indian (Lumbee) families. The Moore County group is found as early as 1824 and probably as early as 1799. The Hawkins County Goins family is in Rockingham County, NC before 1811 and in Louisa County, Virginia as early as the 1750s. The Goins family mentioned in the Shephard Case, the Moore County Goins, and the John Goins group of Hawkins/Hancock County are close genetic matches.

Furthermore the primary Gibson group and the Gibson family on the Pee Dee River match as well. The 1720 legal record indicating that the grandfather of Gideon Gibson in SC had been a free man of color in Virginia pushes the date of this family back pre-1650. Gideon Gibson and Paul Bunch had moved together from Virginia to South Carolina, with white wives.

Many of these families, the Goins, Gibsons, Bunchs and Collins families are found in close proximity to each other, in clusters, in locations where they were considered to be "mixed race", mulatto, free persons of color, Portuguese, Melungeon or Indian.

Given this cumulative information, it appears that Louisa County in the 1750s or perhaps an earlier common location in Virginia was the genesis of many of these mixed race families. Of the families found in Louisa County in mid 1700s, none are of Native origin. Of the families found together in Louisa County; Bunch, Collins, Denham, Gibson, Goins, Goodman, Minor, Moore and Williams, all except Moore, Goodman, Williams and Denham have at least one African Y-line. Collins and Gibson have European lines as well. The descriptors of Melungeon and/or Portuguese have never been documented in Louisa County, although that area may well have been the genesis of the term Melungeon since it is found in several of the areas where Louisa County families later settled.

Turning to autosomal genetic testing, no Native heritage was found using marker D9S919, although this finding does not disprove Native heritage.

It is possible in some cases that haplogroup E1b1ba could be found in rare instances in Europe through historical invasions such as the Roman Legions. However, given the Louisa County cluster, it's unlikely that a large cluster of haplogroup E1b1a of European origin would be coincidentally found together in the colonies. It's much more likely that this cluster is a result of people with a common bond living in close proximity and intermarrying. Furthermore, if haplogroup E were to be found in Europe, it's much more likely to be E1b1b,[258] the Berber haplogroup, not E1b1a. No Melungeon families are found with haplogroup E1b1b or subclades.

Marriage partners in colonial Virginia were legally restricted beginning in 1691 with the passage of a law that forbid the English intermarriage with Indians, mulattoes and negroes.[259] Prior to that, interracial marriages and encounters outside of marriage occurred regularly. This restriction, along with increasingly severe penalties in the event that the intermarriage did occur was repeated in various laws in 1705, 1753 and 1792 in Virginia[260] and in 1715 and 1741 in North Carolina,[261] in essence requiring anyone who was other than white to intermarry within their own group or groups of racially similar individuals, meaning others "of color." Legal marriages between whites and other races would have had to predate 1691, although illegitimacy certainly knew no boundaries. In marriages occurring after 1691 in Virginia, in couples where one individual was "other than white,"[262] both partners could be presumed to have at least some recognizable non-European heritage.

Given the proven Native ancestral families to the Melungeons combined with cultural styles that are perhaps suggestive of a maternal culture, Native or African, via illegitimacy, one would expect to find Native or African mitochondrial DNA. However, all mitochondrial DNA to date has been European. This was not expected given the very high levels of consanguity and intermarriage within this group from at least the mid 1700s through the mid-1900s. However, Heinegg's analysis of mixed race families in early Virginia and his discovery that the predominant pattern of African or mixed men fathering children with white indentured female partners may explain these findings.

No evidence, historical, oral, genealogical or genetic has been found to support a Turkish, Middle Eastern, Jewish or Gypsy heritage.

Unraveling Endogamy

Given the endogamous nature of the Melungeons, as DNA project administrators we encourage individuals to complete a personal DNA pedigree chart. It is only by finding individuals to represent the various lines in their own pedigree charts that one can determine the historical ethnic genesis of the Melungeon families.

A perfect example is the Collins family. Historical records tell us that both Vardy and Valentine Collins, who were believed to be brothers, sons of Samuel, were "of color" in the 1800 Ashe County, NC census. Valentine moved from Hawkins County, Tn. to Floyd County, Kentucky between 1812 and 1820 where he was found on the 1820 census as "free colored," but in 1830 and 1840 he was white. In 1830 in Hawkins County, Vardy was listed as a free person of color. In 1846, Vardy was prosecuted for illegal voting "on account of color", paid the fine, and the case was dropped.

Based on available family and historical records, we would expect both Vardy and Valentine's haplogroup and haplotype to be the same, but Valentine's descendants carry haplogroup E1b1a, African, which would not be unexpected based on the historical records. Vardy's descendants carry haplogroup R1a1, European, which is not suggested by the historical records. In order to determine where these two men obtained their heritage "of color," we must test further, particularly Vardy's descendants. No sisters of Vardy and Valentine are known, nor is his mother's identity, so mitochondrial DNA testing is not a possibility. Testing descendants of another brother of Valentine and Vardy would be ideal.

The Melungeons were an endogamous population. Marriages outside of the community seldom occurred prior to 1900. In order to reconstruct the Melungeon population, we encourage people to build a personal DNA pedigree chart which aids in identifying lines that have not yet been DNA tested, particularly mitochondrial. By way of example, we have prepared a DNA pedigree chart for Jack Goins, showing his Melungeon ancestral heritage, and this is shown in Figure 13.

Jack's Native heritage descends from Happy Riddle, George Sizemore and Aggy Sizemore through her father George, all descendants of Indians. These ancestors may have already been significantly admixed, as Jack's father and grandfather, shown above, do not physically appear to be heavily "mixed". Hezekiah Goins listed himself as Portuguese on the 1880 census as did Aggy Sizemore Minor.

Jack's African heritage descends from Zephaniah Goins whose mother was a Minor and Hezekiah Minor and his wife who was a Goins. Jack's European heritage, aside from most of his mother's line, descends from Aggy Sizemore through her maternal line and probably Arminta Lindsey.

It is the Y-line and mitochondrial DNA of various individuals' genealogical lines that will complete the story of the Melungeons. The Melungeon Core (Yline), mtDNA and Family (autosomal) projects are ongoing.

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[1] Dr. Virginia Easley DeMarce is the past president of the National Genealogy Society, former college professor, now retired from the US Bureau of Indian Affairs.

[2] DeMarce (1996) - Review Essay by Dr. Virginia Easley DeMarce of The Melungeons: A Resurrection of a Proud People, An Untold Story of Ethnic Cleaning in America by Brent N. Kennedy with Robyn Vaughan Kennedy, Mercer University Press, 1994, review published in the National Genealogy Society Quarterly, Vol. 84, No. 2, June 1996, p 137 republished online at http://historical-melungeons.blogspot.com/2011/01/1996-demarce-review-essay-melungeons.html

[3] Project was formed at Family Tree DNA by Jack Goins, Penny Ferguson, and Janet Crain, www.familytreedna.com/public/coremelungeon

[4] Carlson (2000) footnote 579

[5] Messick (1972) p 6-7

[6] Stony Creek Church is located in current Scott County, Virginia, about 40 miles east of Blackwater Church in Hancock County, the original church of the Melungeon Community. Some individuals were members of both churches. Stony Creek and Blackwater, in 1802-1803 according to the church minutes.

[7] Stony Creek Chrch Minutes (1801-1814): Transcribed in 1966 by Emory L. Hamilton, then again in 1982 by Garnell Marshall and subsequently privately published. In both transcriptions, the word is transcribed as "Melungins."

[8] A list of church members before 1819 is provided by Addington (1992) and is available at http://books.google.com/books?id=n2pWQWkA1cUC&pg=RA1-PA264&lpg=RA1-PA264&dq=stoney+creek+church+scott+county+virginia&source=bl&ots=JIGylzYnPK&sig=3pI7LNbF1uj9I-fsfvJ3L9oNokw&hl=en&ei=XER8SuSZIJLcNcGtuPQC&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5#v=onepage&q=&f=false

[9] Author unknown (1848)

[10] Messick (1972)

[11] Goodspeed, (1886): While not mentioning the Melungeons by name, does reference the Newman's Ridge population;  "A settlement was also made at an early date at Mulberry Gap, where a little village sprang up. Newmans' Ridge, which runs through the county to the north of Sneedville, and parallel with Clinch River, is said to have taken its name from one of the first settlers upon it. It has since been occupied mainly by a people presenting a peculiar admixture of white and Indian blood."

[12] McMillan (1907) p 41

[13] Burnett (1889) Vol. 11, p 347-349

[14] Johnson (1889): For the full text of Johnson's reply letter, see http://jgoins.com/sallee_rover.htm, the original article has never been located.

[15] Governmental census site (2011) http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1890a_v10-28.pdf

[16] Will Allen Dromgoole, (1890) (1891) a female reporter widely criticized for her less than flattering descriptions of the Melungeons and their lifestyle, visited and stayed with a Melungeon family on Newman's Ridge and reported on her adventures in the Nashville Reporter and other newspapers beginning in August, 1890. A series of 4 articles in total were printed.

[17] Goins (2009) p 84-85: Quoting Home Mission Monthly, Women’s Board, Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., "A Visit to the Melungeons" by C.H. Humble

[18] Jarvis (1903)

[19] Hodges (1907) Vol II, page 52, under the Negro and Indian heading.

[20] Lewis Jarvis was a respected local attorney in Hancock County. He knew and lived among the Melungeon families on Newman's Ridge. His mother was a Collins. Without his historical notes, much of the Melungeon history would have been lost.

[21] Jarvis (1903)

[22] Jarvis (1903)

[23] Fort Blackmore was located in Russell County, Virginia when built before 1774, now in Scott County, Va. One of the earliest Forts in the area. http://www.webworxinc.com/scott/history.html

[24] John Trotwood Moore was the Tennessee State Librarian and Archivist. His wife, Mary worked with him as a team. Upon his death in 1929, she became the State Librarian and Archivist until her retirement in 1949.

[25] Ivey, Saundra Keyes. “Oral, Printed, and Popular Culture Traditions Related to the Melungeons of Hancock County, Tennessee.” Ph.D. dissertation. Indiana University at Bloomington, 1976.

[26] Tennessee Constitution (1834) Article 4, Section 1

[27] www.civics-online.org (2011) Transcription of the Indian Removal Act at http://www.civics-online.org/library/formatted/texts/indian_act.html

[28] Cherokee Tribe Official website (2011)

[29] Gross (2007) p 475-477

[30] Kegley (2003) p 99: In September 1851 in Montgomery County, Virginia, Court Order Book 32, p 123, Wyatt Brandon was charged with being a free person of color and appeared in court and produced satisfactory evidence that he is a white person of Portuguese descent. In September 1861, Thomas, John, Thomas Jr., George and Henry Brandon produced to the court a certificate from Mecklenburg (no state given) court that said they were free persons of mixed blood, and leave was "granted to them to reside in this county and the court certify they are not negroes."

[31] DeMarce (1993) p 36

[32] Distant Crossroads (2002), Volume 19, #3

[33] Co-author of this paper.

[34] Goins (2004)

[35] Gross (2007)

[36] Gross (2007) Perkins vs White, unmarked page notes

[37] Tennessee State Archives (1831)

[38] Hawkins County voting records (1845-1848)

[39] Wilson County Tennessee combines a "Melungeon Town", the Goins, Collins and Gibson families and a court case dealing with Portuguese heritage. Dixon Merritt (1913), one of the authors of Tennessee and Tennesseans, states that a colony of Melungeons was imported to Wilson County about 1830 to work in a lumber mill. "In neighboring Wilson County, historian, R. D. Lawlor, writes that late in the nineteenth century a lumberman in Vine, a small village in the county, needed help in cutting some timber so he contacted people in Hancock County asking for labor. About forty Melungeon families came to Wilson County at the time to assist in the timber cutting and stayed until about 1870, when several returned to Hancock County." The 1830 Wilson County census included as free persons of color: James and Permelia Nickens, John Brown, George and Elisha Collins, Gideon Goins and Jacob and Hezekiah Archy.  Shadrack Goins and members of the Gibson family are listed as white.

[40] Goins (2009) 142-147: In what was known as the Bloomer and Minor Feud, an assault charge was filed against James Bloomer by John Minor brother of Wilson Minor. James Bloomer accused Wilson Minor of abducting his niece, Jane, daughter of Joseph Bloomer, for the purpose of marrying her. Wilson sent his brother John to Rogersville for a marriage license. Bloomer took the license away from John Minor by force. Bloomer presented an argument in court that John Minor was the brother of Wilson and they are "free persons of color and prohibited by the state statue from intermarrying with whites, and the young lady abducted was white." Bloomer’s argument was rejected by the court, and the jury ruled in favor of Minor. Claiborne County, Tn., Marriage License issued 11 Dec 1852 to W. Minor for his entermarriage with J. Blumer. Bk. 3, page 23

[41] Goins vs Mayes, Claiborne County, Tn. Circuit Court (1858)., slander, filed in 1853, Elijah Goins' daughter, Mary Ann "Polly" Goins married William H. "Billy" Mayes, May 23, 1853 in Claiborne Co., Tn. Sterling Mayes, brother to the groom, took exception to the marriage, and one week later was telling everyone that his brother had married a mulatto and that the whole Goin family were mulattos and negroes. Goins filed a slander suit which was found in his favor in 1858. Mayes appealed to the Tennessee Supreme court which subsequently overturned the verdict on the grounds that "it had long been common knowledge in the community that the Goin family was of mixed blood and that he was not seeking the forfeiture of the civil rights of Elijah Goin."

[42] Gross (2007) Perkins vs White, unmarked page notes

[43] Goins (2009), page 96 and 118, footnote 51, T.A.R. Nelson notes, McClung Historical Collection, Knoxville, Tennessee.

[44] Gross (2007) pages 498-499

[45] DeMarce (1993) p 36

[46] Specific information about this case including depositions can be found at http://jgoins.com/Hamilton_case.htm.

[47] Depositions in the case describing Bolton's race are extracted at this link - http://jgoins.com/notes_shepherd_trial_2.htm

[48] Now Spartanburg County, on the North Carolina border adjoining Rutherford County, NC

[49] Tennessee State Archives (1874) Jack vs Foust, deposition of Rev. D. D. Scruggs, p 315, 318

[50] Tennessee State Archives (1874) Deposition of Wm. L. Dugger, 307

[51] Gross (2007)

[52] Tennessee State Archives (1874) Testimony of A.B. Beeson, April 7, 1875, page 174 transcribed at http://jgoins.com/notes_shepherd_trial_2.htm

[53] This record was written in 1915. The Revolutionary War took place 135 years earlier, and some 95 years before the 1874 before the Shepherd trial.

[54] Shepherd (1915) 87-88

[55]Goins (2009) page 127, footnote 62: Genealogy letter from a descendant of Laborn Goins dated 1999 provides the following information: "Laburn Goins, married to Ella Duncan, was the son of Shadrack, born in 1730 and died in Patrick County, Virginia. Laborn Goins moved to Hamilton County about 1825 and he is on the 1830 census of Hamilton County, David Smith Goins, who was Laborn Goins brother, also moved to Hamilton County in 1832. Two of Laborn Goins’ children married into the McGill family of Hamilton County’s Justice of the Peace. Preston Goins married Mary Betsey McGill and Carter Goins married Cynthia McGill." Jack Goins, descended from the Hawkins County Goins family genetically matches this Goins family.

[56] Goins and Bolton derivatives are both found in Hawkins County.

[57] South Carolina Colonial Records (1794) Petition of Free People of Colour at http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/taxation.htm

[58] Tennessee State Archives (1874)

[59] North Carolina Supreme Court (1915)

[60] Estes (2011), also Sider (2003) p 74-80

[61] North Carolina Supreme Court (1915) Goins vs Trustees Indian Training School, NC Supreme Court, Fall Term 1915, #296, Robeson County Trial record 8-11

[62] Gross (2007) Vol. 25, No 3, pages 480-495,

[63] Mooney (1902) Early Portuguese Settlements, Washington Post, 1902.

[64] Dawes Act (1887) www.ourdocuments.gov

[65] Gross (2007)

[66] Wikipedia (2011) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_Integrity_Act

[67]Goins (2009): Map shows the territory where the Pamunkey Indian Reservation was located, courtesy of Dr, James Nickens.

[68] Wikipedia (2011): Formerly the Indians of Person County, a tri-racial isolate group that includes the surname Collins in common with the Melungeons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saponi

[69] Map and locations of Melungeon families courtesy of Jack Goins.

[70] Formed in 1814 from Washington, Lee and Russell Counties in Virginia.

[71] Maps and locations of Melungeon families courtesy of Jack Goins.

[72] Ancestry.com (2011): Families later identified as Melungeon are typically noted as “other than white.” Taken from images of original records at Ancestry.com.

[73] Lewis Jarvis, local attorney, born in 1829, knew these families personally. His parents were Daniel Jarvis and Mary Collins and they lived at the base of Newman's Ridge.

[74] Various records include but are not limited to the 1840s cases of voting fraud (people of color not allowed to vote) and others questioning “mixed race” marriages.

[75] Goins (2011): Various tax lists in different locations where ancestors of Melungeons and Melungeons were noted variously as Indian, mulatto, free people of color and sometimes white.

[76] Wikipedia (2011): Walter Plecker (1861–1947) was a physician and public health advocate who served as first registrar of Virginia's Bureau of Vital Statistics, from 1912 to 1946. In the 1940s Plecker created a list of surnames, by county, in Virginia of those who he considered “not white” who were attempting to intermarry with whites, attend white schools, record their race as white on birth, marriage and death certificates and other actions he considered inappropriate and were prohibited for nonwhites. http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/encounter/projects/monacans/Contemporary_Monacans/letter.html and http://www.learnnc.org/lp/media/uploads/2007/10/plecker_letter.jpg and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Ashby_Plecker

[77] Will Allen Dromgoole (female) (1860-1934) was a reporter who visited several Melungeon families and stayed for a few days. She later wrote a series of articles that portrayed the Melungeons in an unfavorable and derogatory light, but she did list a number of Melungeon families.

[78] Tennessee State Archives (1874) The case Jack vs Foust, known as the Shepherd Case was an 1874 court case where the inheritance of a young woman was dependent on a racial classification of her Melungeon family. Judge Lewis Shepherd, then an attorney, won the case by convincing the jury that the Melungeons were Portuguese. He published his memoirs in 1915, naming the Melungeon families involved. Later, the original case documents were found in the Tennessee State Archives, Nashville, Tn. and can be seen at http://jgoins.com/Hamilton_case.htm,

[79] Ancestry.com (2011): The 1880 census lists many of these families as Portuguese. For example the Hancock County census, District 4, page 278, ED 90, page 8, page 278, ED 90, page 10 show Goins and Minor families’ racial designation overwritten from Portuguese to “W”, indicating white.

[80] Governmental census site (2011):The 1890 census, although lost, was transmitted with a series of letters from the census enumerators and contained reports about the Indians in every state. Carroll D. Wright included information about the Melungeons in the 1890 census in a letter to the Hon. Hoke Smith., Secretary of the Interior. More information can be found here http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1890a_v10-28.pdf.

[81] Hawkins County voting records (1845-1848): Various cases between 1845 and 1848 tried several individuals for illegal voting. Nonwhites were not allowed to vote. The most infamous case was a Supreme Court case in 1846. All cases except one involved Melungeon families.

^[82] NARA M685 (2011) Eastern Cherokee Applications (ECAs) 1906-1910

[83] Humble (1897)

[84] Grohse (1987) William P. "Bill" Grohse, a Hancock County Historian, was the first to research these families. He published a newsletter in 1980s called “Echoes from Vardy.” In a letter to Ruth Johnson, copy provided to Jack Goins, dated 7/26/1987, he states that "true Melungeons are descendants of Vardy Collins, Solomon Collins, Benjamin Collins, Levi Collins, Jordon Gibson, Shepard Gibson, William Goodman, Edmund Goodman, Jesse Goodman, William Nichols, Zachariah Minor, John Minor, and their families, also include James and John Mullins."

[85] Listing the census year in this category indicates that the surname is found listed as a 'free person of color", mulatto or black.

[86] Grohse (1903), Jarvis (1903): Lewis Jarvis noted the families as indicated (by “Jarvis”) above, and then added, “and others not remembered.” Jarvis was born in 1829 in Scott County, Virginia, his mother being a Collins. He knew these people personally and was speaking from his personal knowledge. Grohse quoted Jarvis's 1903 work. http://historical-melungeons.blogspot.com/p/lewis-jarvis-article.html

[87] Wikipedia (2011): Walter Plecker (1861–1947) was a physician and public health advocate who served as first registrar of Virginia's Bureau of Vital Statistics, from 1912 to 1946. Plecker believed that the state's Native Americans had been "mongrelized" with its African American population and helped implement "The Racial Integrity Act," which recognized only two races, "white" and "colored" thus eliminating Virginia's Indians with the stroke of a pen. Inclusion here indicated that the surname was found on Plecker's list of those "with one drop of negro blood" for Lee and Smyth Counties of Virginia, designated as "mostly Tennessee Melungeons."

[88] Humble (1897): “We know that the Mullens and Moores received their names from white husbands and fathers, and we do no violence to the probabilities by assuming that the prevalent names, Collins, Gibson, Williams, Goans, Bell, came in the same way. “

[89] Ancestry.com (2011): Extensive intermarriage with Melungeon families and lived among them on Newmans Ridge, Blackwater/Vardy and Snake Hollow according to the 1860-1930 Hancock County, Tn. census records.

[90] Orange County, Virginia Order Book 3 (1741-1743) pages 309-32, "Alexander Machartoon, John Bowling, Manincassa, Capt Tom, Isaac, Harry, Blind Tom, Foolish Jack, Charles Griffin, John Collins, Little Jack, Indians being brought before the court for stealing hogs. Ordered that their guns be taken away from them till they are ready to depart of this county, they having declared their intentions to depart this colony within a week."

[91] Stony Creek Church minutes (1801-1814

[92] Minutes of Blackwater Baptist Church (2009): Saturday October 2, 1833

[93] Found on the New River in Orange County, Va. and NC with other Melungeon families

[94] Families with this designation were listed as mulatto on this tax list

[95] Concealed tithables

[96] Droomgoole (1890-1891) identifies the Collins and Gibson families as Cherokee and Portuguese who stole their surnames from white settlers in Virginia. She also identified Vardy Collins and Shep Gibson as "head and source" of the Melungeons.

[97] Governmental census site (2011): On the 1890 census report, Collins was identified as one of the original Melungeons who was an Indian.

[98] Governmental census site (2011): On the 1890 census report, Denham was identified as one of the original Melungeons, a Portuguese who was put ashore by a pirate ship for being troublesome or insubordinate.

[99] Concealed tithables

[100] Droomgoole (1890-1891) Droomgoole identifies the Collins and Gibson families as Cherokee and Portuguese who stole their surnames from white settlers in Virginia. She also identified Vardy Collins and Shep Gibson as "head and source" of the Melungeons.

[101] Governmental census site (2011): On the 1890 census report, Gibson was identified as one of the original Melungeons who was an Indian.

[102] Ancestry.com (2011): The 1880 census for the Goins family includes instances of being listed as Portuguese with an overstrike and "W' for white being overwritten.

[103] Goins vs Mayes, Claiborne County, Tn. Circuit Court (1858), slander, filed in 1853, Elijah Goin's daughter, Mary Ann "Polly" Goin married William H. "Billy" Mayes, May 23, 1853 in Claiborne Co., Tn. Sterling Mayes, brother to the groom, took exception to the marriage, and one week later was telling everyone that his brother had married a mulatto and that the whole Goin family were mulattos and negroes. Goins filed a slander suit which was found in his favor in 1858. Mayes appealed to the Tennessee Supreme court which subsequently overturned the verdict on the grounds that " it had long been common knowledge in the community that the Goin family was of mixed blood and that he was not seeking the forfeiture of the civil rights of Elijah Goin."

[104] Governmental census site (2011): On the 1890 census report, Goins was identified as one of the original Melungeons who was "of negro blood."

[105] Minutes of Blackwater Baptist Church (2009): Zephaniah Goins death recorded in 1836 in the Minutes of the Blackwater Baptist Church

[106] Aldridge (1990): Wanda Aldridge a descendant of Zachariah Minor, in a letter to Jack Goins in 1990 stated that she was a librarian at the Dyer Library in the 1960's and she ordered the first microfilms from Hawkins County for the Dyer, Arkansas Library.  Zachariah Minor was enumerated "free colored" on the 1840 census and she said on the second page was written and erased but could read a "portugeeindian" as one word. The 1840 census on Ancestry does not show this, nor does the microfilm in the Hawkins County archives. However, it is known that original census records were manually copied locally and submitted, so it is unknown whether the microfilmed copies at Ancestry and the Hawkins archives are the same copy as Wanda originally viewed. Jack asked her why she didn't copy that and she said we didn't have a way to do that, so she just wrote it down. Referenced in Goins (2009).

[107] Ancestry.com (2011): The 1880 census for the Minor family includes instances of being listed as Portuguese with an overstrike and "W' for white being overwritten.

[108] Goins (2009) Bloomer vs Minor Fued

[109] Goins (2011) NARA M685 (2011) ECA 38272, Aug, 26, 1907 - Application of Simpson P. Minor, born 1855 to Gulford Minor and Polly Goins, father's parents Zach Minor and Agga Sizemore, mother's parents Zar (Isaiah) Goins and Minta Goins, all children of grandparents listed. Jack Goins, Hawkins County archivist, states that the only Hawkins County marriage record where both people are listed as colored is the Jan. 8, 1854 marriage of Guilford Minor and Polly Goins: ECA 39341, Aug. 26, 1907 - Russell Minor and his sister, Vina Amyx Minor both file applications, parents Clabe Minor and Happy Fisher, father's parents Zack Minor and Aggy Minor, mother's parents William Fisher and Rachel Fisher. Note: grandparents mother’s side William Fisher and Rachel Fisher; William Fisher was son of Henry and Happy Riddle Fisher. Happy Riddle, daughter of the Tory William Riddle (Hung 1781 in Wilkesboro NC by Benjamin Cleveland) William believed to be the son of Moses and Mary Riddle. Listed as mulatto in 1755 Orange Co NC tax list. In 1767 in Pittsylvania Co, Va. he is listed as an Indian on the tax list, along with a William. Source Jack Goins, Hawkins County, Tn., archivist.

[110] Governmental census site (2011): On the 1890 census report, Mullins was identified as one of the original Melungeons who was a white trader.

[111] Gross (2007): Perkins vs White, Carter Co., Tn. - Jacob Perkins accused John White, of "an East Tennessee Melungeon family" of having Negro blood. Various depositions claimed Portuguese, negro or mulatto.

[112] Goins (2009) page 96 and 118, footnote 51, T.A.R Nelson notes, McClung Historical Collection, Knoxville, Tennessee.

[113] Gross (2007): Perkins vs White, Johnson Co., Tn. - Joshua Perkins took John R. White to court because White was heard to say the Perkins were negro and should be taken to court for having white wives. Perkins stated that his grandfather was Portuguese.

[114] MHS Yahoo Board post (Aug 7, 2009): Bill Grohse referred to Jim Trent as a Melungeon. After the Civil War, Jim had an illegitimate child, Missy, with Sarah "Sally" Trent Bunch, a widow, whom he never married. There may be some question as to whether Grohse was referring to Jim Trent or the widow Sarah "Sally" Trent as Melungeon.

[115] Wilkes Co., NC Bastardry Bonds (1789): Wilkes County File C.R 104.102 Wilkes County, North Carolina Bastardy Bonds, Folder 2, in Wilkes County Genealogical Society, Vol. 11, No. 4, p. 20 , On October 17,1789, two women who had both born children make oaths - Lela Williams declared on oath that Verdie Collins is the father of her child and likewise Mary Williams declared on oath that Jordan Gibson is the father of her child.

[116] The Sizemore family is not designated as a Melungeon family in Hawkins or Hancock County, Tn. although they did live there. However, they are proven ancestors to some of the Melungeon families. For this reason they have been included in the Melungeon DNA projects.

[117] The Riddle family is not designated as a Melungeon family in Hawkins or Hancock County, Tn., but they are proven ancestors to some of the Melungeon families. For this reason they have been included in the Melungeon DNA projects.

[118] In 1767 in Pittsylvania Co, Va. Moses Riddle is listed as an Indian on the tax list, along with William, probably his son.

[119] In 1850 and later, heads of household only listed, plus their parents if living in the same household.

[120] Ancestry.com (2011): In 1880 some families had a designation as Port or Portygee which was later darkly overstruck with a large dark W indicating white. These families all lived in close proximity or adjacent, but in some cases, not all members of a household had that designation. Also, some families not listed as Melungeon have this designation, but all of those families (Vickers, Herd/Hurd, Lyons and Anderson) were known descendants of Melungeon families.

[121] Estes (2010): This Joseph Bolton family has been researched and moved to Hancock County from Giles/Botetourt County in Virginia, descendants of Henry Bolton, alleged to have been born in England. This family does not appear to have any Melungeon connections to the Hancock County group nor to Solomon Bolton from SC referenced in the Shepherd Case. It is not known if the Bolton DNA from the above families matches that of the Solomon Bolton line of South Carolina. A DNA match (Bolton (2011)) does exist to a Bolton family from Orange and Edgecombe Counties in NC, but no connection to Solomon Bolton or his father, Spencer, has been established.

[122] Jarvis (1903) John and Mike Bolin full blood per Jarvis

[123] Jarvis (1903) James Collins full blood per Jarvis

[124] The Sizemore family is ancestral to some of the identified Melungeon lines. For example George Sizemore’s daughter Aggy married Zachariah Minor whose family was identified as Melungeon. The Sizemore family themselves were never identified as Melungeon, but their ancestry was a contributor to some of those families that were identified as such.

[125] Preliminary, need additional participants to confirm.

[126] Preliminary, need additional participants to confirm.

[127] Need additional participants to confirm. Goodman matches a Gibson and both match no other Goodmans or Gibsons but match the Maness/Manis family.

[128] Moore is also found early in the Jamestown era in Charles City County and York County, but Moore is an exceedingly common surname

[129] Preliminary, need genealogically proven participants to confirm.

[130] Two separate DNA groups. Need additional participants to clarify.

[131] Dromgoole (1891)

[132] Perdue (2003) Pages 1-2

[133] Perdue (2003) Pages 1-2

[134] Schroeder (2007) p 218–223.

[135] Phillips (2008) and Schroeder (2009)

[136] In March of 2011, Family Tree DNA reclassified haplogroup R1b1b2 as R1b1a2. This paper was written prior to the change and the earlier designation for SNP M269, R1b1b2, has been retained for consistency. At this point in time, consensus in the genetic community regarding the proper name of this SNP has not been reached. Other labs and ISOGG continue to refer to this haplogroup as R1b1b2.

[137] Bolling DNA Project (2011): Results partly from the Bolling surname project

[138] Two Bolin/Bowling participants have tested and are from two different families in the right place and the right time, and they do match each other. However, neither has a proven genealogical connection to the patriarchs listed other than David. Until another testing candidate can be found from a proven Melungeon line, results should be treated as preliminary.

[139] Bunch surname project (2011) at http://www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/bunch/

[140] Collins surname project (2011) at http://www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/collins/

[141] Valentine's descendants also match a Bunch who is found in Bertie Co., NC in 1775, implying that this line may be common before both lines left Louisa County.

[142] Gibson surname project (2011) at http://www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/gibson/

[143] Ancestry.com (2011) 1870 Hancock County census

[144] Goins DNA Project (2011)

[145] Letter from Virginia Easley DeMarce (1996) to Jack Goins and Goins (2009) page 36

[146] Goodman DNA project (2011)

[147] This Goodman matches a descendant of Freelin Gibson, but Freelin doesn't match any Gibson group. This Goodman/Gibson pair also matches several Maness/Manis families, also found in Hawkins/Hancock Counties in Tennessee and Wilkes County, in NC.

[148] Moore Worldwide DNA project (2011) at www.familytreedna.com/public/mooreworldwide and personal communication with Jill Florence Lackey and Jim Hall.

[149] The white Moore families of the 1830/1840 census have either moved away or are not in Hancock County in 1850. The two James Moores are located in the Melungeon community.

[150] Mullins DNA project (2011) www.familytreedna.com/public/Mullins

[151] Trent DNA project (2011) www.familytreedna.com/public/Trent

[152] Williams surname project (2011) http://williams.genealogy.fm/TNG_DNA/index.php

[153] Sizemore DNA project (2011) at http://www.sizemorednaproject.com/

[154] Estes (2010) Recent discoveries in haplogroup Q have causes a restructuring of the haplogroup Q tree. However, the Sizemores have been confirmed to be Native American. For more information see the article "New Native American Haplogroup” by Roberta Estes (2010) at http://www.dnaexplain.com/Publications/PDFs/NativeAmericanHaplogroup.pdf

[155] Nichols surname project (2011) at http://www.brian-hamman.com/ResultsForNicholsSurnameProject.htm

[156] Mosley surname project (2011) at http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Mosley%20DNA%20Surname%20Group%20Project%20Website/default.aspx?section=yresults

[157] Johnson (2008) p 63-67

[158] Heinegg (1994) p 272: The Paul Bunch and Gedion Gibson families migrated to South Carolina in the 1720s, it caused a disturbance in Craven County. Governor Robert Johnson of South Carolina summoned Gibson and Bunch to explain their presence in the area, and after meeting them reported: “I have had them before me in council and upon examination find that they are not negroes nor slaves but free people, that the father of them here is named Gideon Gibson and his father was also free. I have been informed by a person who lived in Virginia that this Gibson has lived there for several years in good repute and by his papers that he has produced before me that his transactions there have been very regular. That he has for several years paid taxes for two tracks of land and has 7 negroes of his own. That he is a carpenter by trade and is come hither for the support of his family. I have in consideration of his wife being a white woman and several white women capable of working and being servicable in the country permitted him to settle in this country.”

[159] Ferguson (2007): The location in Lee County where Micajah lived was near present day Kyles Ford on the Clinch River, an area disputed between Virginia and Tennessee until after 1800. The Bunch Timeline by Penny Ferguson at http://www.bunchcousins.com/pennytimeline.htm

[160] MDKO, most distant known ancestor, is a designation that reflects either a presumed ancestral location or a location given that is questionable based on the haplogroup. For example, African haplogroups are not indigenous to England, so a participant providing England as a location for an ancestor with haplogroup E1b1a would be listed as MDKO by Family Tree DNA.

[161] Dromgoole (1891)

[162] www.ysearch.org (2011)

[163] Relative Genetics was sold to Ancestry.com. The markers may not have been converted to Ysearch format correctly.

[164] Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (2011) www.smgf.org

[165] www.ancestry.com (2011) under the DNA tab

[166] Dromgoole (1891)

[167] Duvall, Lindsay O. (1978)

[168] Tepper (1977)

[169] Coldham (1988)

[170] Skordas (1968) Liber 16, Folio 135

[171] Black Laws of Virginia by June Purcell Guild (1996), Introduction p 3: In 1705, indentured women servants who had illegitimate children by a negro or mulatto were liable for a fine and the children of such a union were to be bound out as servants until they reached the age of 21. In 1765, the legislature passed a law decreeing that illegitimate children of women servants and negroes or free Christian white women by negroes were to be bound out. Boys were to serve until they reached the age of 21 and girls until they were 18.

[172] Goins (2009) p 36

[173] Dromgoole referred to the Melungeon families as tribes.

[174] Based on SNP testing of individuals this group matches.

[175] Specific information about this case including depositions can be found at http://jgoins.com/Hamilton_case.htm.

Depositions in the case describing Bolton's race are extracted at this link - http://jgoins.com/notes_shepherd_trial_2.htm

[176] Personal Memoirs, Lewis Shepherd, March 1, 1915, p 82-90.

[177] Surnames on the petition include Cumboe, Linager, Mitchell, Price, Evins, Turner, Hulin, Swett, Shewmake, Colder, Oxendine, Gibson, McCloud, Collins, and Bolton.

[178] Implosion, the Secret History of the Origins of the Lumbee Indians by Morris Britt, unpublished manuscript

[179] Pocket Creek traverses both Moore and Cumberland County in North Carolina

[180] North Carolina Supreme Court (1915): Note that Locklear is a primary Lumbee surname.

[181] Robeson County, NC was formed from Bladen in 1797.

[182] Byrd (2000): Molatoes: Isaac, Jno., Eliza & Hannah Hayes, John Combow, John Johnston & wife, Titus Overton & wife, John Bullard & Gutridge Lockelier, Benja. Lamb, Simon Cox, Gilbert Cox & James Percey, Cannon Cumbo, James Carter Senr. & Junr. & Isaac Carter, Frederick Goan & wife, John Waldon, Adam Ivey, John Phillips, Isaac & Needham Lamb, Arthur Lamb, Wm Wilkins, Charles Oxendine, Elisha Sweeting, Sarah & James Sweet, Daniel Wharton & wife, David Braveboy, Peter Causey & son David, Joseph Clark, Ishmael Cheeves, James Doyel & Wife, Thos. Groom, John Hammons, Richd. Jones & wife, Solomon James, Solomon Johnston & wife, Solomon Johnston Junr. & wife, Major Locklier, James Lowry & Wm Jones, Jacob Lockleer, John Lockleer & wife & son Wm

[183] Ancestry.com (2011) 1810 census

[184] Based on matches to participants who have undergone further SNP testing.

[185] Goins DNA Project (2011)

[186] Footnote.com (2011): A Joseph Goine applied for a pension for disability in Madison County, Kentucky in 1818, age given as 58 in 1818 and 63 in 1821, so born between 1758-1760, probably too young to be the father of Joseph is he indeed was born in 1773. Joseph Goine's mother Annester provided a deposition confirming his service. His location of enlistment is given as both Fredericksburg and Bedford [County], Virginia.

[187] Jim Hall and Jill Florence Lackey have contributed the majority of the Moore genealogical research and data. For additional information, see http://www.other-free.com/blogspot/?page_id=31 (2011).

[188] The Melungeon Tree and It's Four Branches by Will Allen Dromgoole, The Arena, V3, may 1891, pages 749-751

[189] Much of the Sizemore research has been contributed by Joy King.

[190] Perdue (2003): States that many loyalists in the south took refuge with the Indians who generally maintained neutrality or sided with Britain. After the war ended, many loyalists stayed. p 4; Before the American Revolution, most of the non-Indians living among Indians were traders. p 13

[191] Blevins (1998): Extracted primarily from "Ned Sizemore: The Legend and the Legacy" by Ron Blevins with credit to Joy King. Also, Sizemore DNA project (2011), Joy King administrator, Goins (2005), Personal communications with Joy King (2011).

[192] Estes (2010): Recent discoveries in haplogroup Q have causes a restructuring of the haplogroup Q tree. However, the Sizemores have been confirmed to be Native American.

[193] Bolnick (2006)

[194] Estes (2009)

[195] Interviews with attendees and participants. For an article and description of the process written by Jack Goins who was present and participated, Goins (2003) http://sites.google.com/site/thutchison10/submittedarticles

[196] DeMarce (1996)

[197] Kennedy (1994): The Melungeons: The Resurrection of a Proud People: An Untold Story of Ethnic Cleansing in America by Brent Kennedy and Robyn Vaughan Kennedy. See Virginia Easley DeMarce's review essay of this book published in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly where DeMarce (1993) criticizes Kennedy's research, methodologies and conclusions. http://historical-melungeons.blogspot.com/2011/01/1996-demarce-review-essay-melungeons.html

[198] Donald Yates company, DNA Consultants, sells the tests called "DNA Fingerprint" that provide the autosomal reports, based on a privately expanded version of the OmniPop spreadsheet which was used in the analysis of the individuals who participated in the study. www.dnaconsultants.com For a discussion of this type of test as compared to other autosomal tests, see Estes (2010)

[199] Version 200.1 of Omnipop uses 225 references. An earlier version, 150.5 used only 64.

[200] http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/GENEALOGY-DNA/2007-03/1173830117

[201]Estes (2010)

[202] John and Mike Bolin full blood per Jarvis

[203] James Collins full blood per Jarvis

[204] All Gibson Surname records also apply to the Gibson primary group

[205] All Goins Surname records also apply to the John Going Group.

[206] Joara Foundation (2011) http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~arch/ejf.php

[207] Droomgoole (1891)

[208] Son of Sam Lyons Sr, who was son of George Lyons

[209] Daughter of Harvey and Sarah Minor Anderson, Sarah is the daughter of Zack & Aggy Sizemore Minor

[210] Unknown, but most Vickers were white on census.

[211] Daughter of Zack & Aggy Sizemore Minor

[212] Widow of Zack Minor, daughter of George and Lydia Sizemore Sizemore

[213] Son of Zack & Aggy Sizemore Minor

[214] Son of Elijah and Sarah Winstead Hurd, Elijah Hurd is the son of James and Nancy Fisher Hurd, Nancy was daughter of Henry and Happy Riddle Fisher, daughter of Tory Capt William and Happy Rogers Riddle

[215] Daughter of Elizabeth Hurd Minor by a George Catron, married to Ephraim Goins

[216] Son of William & Susan Minor Goins, Susan daughter of Zachariah Minor and Aggy Sizemore

[217] Son of Zack & Aggy Sizemore Minor

[218] Daughter of William Fisher s /o Henry and Happy Riddle Fisher

[219] Son of Zack & Aggy Sizemore Minor

[220] Daughter of unknown Adkins

[221] Son of Zack & Aggy Sizemore Minor

[222] Daughter of of unknown Fields

[223] Son of William & Susan Minor Goins, Susan d/o Zachariah Minor and Aggy Sizemore Minor

[224]Daughter of Elijah and Sarah Winstead Hurd, Elijah Hurd son of James and Nancy Fisher Hurd, Nancy was daughter of Henry and Happy Riddle Fisher, daughter of Tory Capt William and Happy Rogers Riddle

[225] Son of Isaiah & Arminta Lindsey Goins, Isaiah sonof Zephaniah and Elizabeth Thompson Goins

[226] Daughter of Henry and Barbara Bledsoe

[227] Son of Isaiah & Arminta Lindsey Goins, Isaiah son of Zephaniah and Elizabeth Thompson Goins

[228] Daughter of Zach & Aggy Sizemore Minor

[229] Daughter of Zach & Aggy Sizemore Minor

[230] Widow of Harvey Anderson

[231] Guild (1996) Introduction p 1

[232] Historic Jamestown (2011) http://www.nps.gov/jame/historyculture/african-americans-at-jamestown.htm

[233] Mira (2001) p 342

[234] Hening, William Waller (1809) p 170, 260

[235] http://www.nps.gov/jame/historyculture/african-americans-at-jamestown.htm - Also in Black Laws of Virginia by Guild (1996), p 49, although somewhat late for this discussion, the following entry documents the genesis of the persistent oral history that Christians could not be held as slaves and that if baptized, slaves were to become free. 1705 Chapter XLIX, "It is enacted that all servants brought into this country without indenture, if Christian and above 19 years of age, shall serve but 5 years and if under 19 until they become 24 years of age and no longer, but all servants imported by land or sea, who were not Christians in their native country, except Turks and Moors and others, who can make proof of their being free in England or any other Christian country before they were shipped, shall be slaves, and as such be here bought and sold notwithstanding conversion to Christianity afterwards. No Negro, mulatto or Indian, although Christian, or Jew, Moor, Mohammedan or other infidel shall purchase any Christian servant except of their own complexion or such as are declared slaves by this act. In any negro or infidel shall notwithstanding purchase any Christian white servant, the said servant shall become free and if any person having such Christian servant shall intermarry with any such Negro, Indian, Jew or other infidel, every Christian white servant of such person so intermarrying shall become free. Baptism of slaves does not exempt them from bondage and all children shall be bond or free according to the condition of their mother." On page 56 this is also repeated in 1748 in Chapter XIV

[236] King (2007) 288-293

[237] Bird (2007)

[238] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Negroland_and_Guinea_with_the_European_Settlements,_1736.jpg

[239] Heinegg (1994) p 272: The Paul Bunch and Gedion Gibson families migrated to South Carolina in the 1720s, it caused a disturbance in Craven County. Governor Robert Johnson of South Carolina summoned Gibson and Bunch to explain their presence in the area, and after meeting them reported: “I have had them before me in council and upon examination find that they are not negroes nor slaves but free people, that the father of them here is named Gideon Gibson and his father was also free."

[240] Wikipedia (2011) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Britain_and_Ireland

[241] Wikipedia (2011) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Empire

[242] Heinegg (2004)

[243] Perdue (2003) p 1, 2, 8, 14, 22, 30, 31, 35, 39, 93, 94

[244] Lawson (1709) p 29

[245] Estes (2009)

[246] Lost Colony Research Group (2006-2011) at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~molcgdrg/index.htm

[247] Estes (2009)

[248] Map provided courtesy of Family Tree DNA.

[249] Haplogroup E3a is an older designation for current haplogroup E1b1a and E3b for E1b1b.

[250] Unless population specific alleles such as D9S919 exist and the testee carries the population specific value.

[251] Behar (2008), Behar (2010) p 238-242, Behar (2003) p 354-365

[252] Kalaydjieva (2001) and Gresham (2001)

[253] Photo of two “unidentified Melungeon boys” taken about 1934, used with special permission from the Doris Ulmann Foundation and Berea College, Berea, KY. Young men identified as the descendants of Thomas Gibson (row 38 in Patriarch's Table) by Johnnie Rhea, 2011.

[254] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_of_Tears

[255] Morris Britt (2009) points out that there is a Richard Gowen in Robeson County between 1787-1793 interacting with Lumbee families. Furthermore, he indicates that DeMarce (1993) p 29 has tracked the Goins family from New Kent County, Virginia and James City with the Sweat and Cumbo families (both with Native connections) to the Robeson County NC area and the Cheraw District in SC. The "Smiling" Goins (Estes (2011)) family is found with the Sweat family in 1770 in Bladen County and beside and near the Sweat family in the census between 1850 and 1900 in Sumter County, SC.

[256] The Lumbee DNA project (2011) is not endorsed by the Lumbee Tribe.

[257] Ancestry.com (2011): Both Solomon and his father Spencer Bolton who signed the 1794 petition for relief of the mulatto poll tax are listed on the Georgetown County, SC 1790 census as free people of color.

[258] Bird (2007)

[259] Guild (1996) p 24, Virginia 1691 Act VI, "And for the prevention of that abominable mixture and spurious issue which hereafter may increase as well by Negroes, mulattoes and Indians intermarrying with English, or other white women, it is enacted that for the time to come, that whatsoever English or other white man or woman, bond or free, shall intermarry with a Negro, mulatto or Indian man or woman, bond or free, he shall within three months be banished from this dominion forever.

[260] Guild (1996) p 25, 30

[261] Gross (2007) p 475-477

[262] Negro, Indian, mulatto, mixed, mestee