DNA study seeks origin of Appalachia's Melungeons

MSNBC ^ | 5-25-2012 | TRAVIS LOLLER

[Renfield]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — For years, varied and sometimes wild claims have been made about the origins of a group of dark-skinned Appalachian residents once known derisively as the Melungeons. Some speculated they were descended from Portuguese explorers, or perhaps from Turkish slaves or Gypsies.

Now a new DNA study in the Journal of Genetic Genealogy attempts to separate truth from oral tradition and wishful thinking. The study found the truth to be somewhat less exotic: Genetic evidence shows that the families historically called Melungeons are the offspring of sub-Saharan African men and white women of northern or central European origin.....

[Ditter]

I am a girl would they be the same? (Kinda foggy on this DNA stuff)

[spankalib]

I’m a bit foggy on it too. Still, it would be extremely interesting to me to see “whatever it is” you know?
One site sends you a kit, and results in a few weeks for @ a hundred bucks.
Sounds like it would be worth it!
(can’t vouch for the integrity of any of the places that do DNA research, though)

[PrairieLady2]

That’s what they SAY, but you know how it is with ‘experts’; most of what they think they know is borrowed rhetoric.

Nobody in my family has hair like mine. The color alone is something I’ve never been able to closely match even in human hair, hair pieces. Combine the color with the texture and thickness/thinness and it’s..well, unique within my family or so I thought until the day when my grand aunt pulled a braid out of a small box. It was my great-grandmother’s hair and it was exactly like mine in every way. I could pin that braid to my hair and you could not tell it wasn’t mine.

So, I can’t help but wonder, how else am I like her, physically? She died a few months before I was born so I never got to know her. I don’t look like her that I can see, but not all traits are visible.

Interesting article, for sure!

[Ditter]

Be careful what you ask for, my husband sent off his DNA and expected to get back where his origins were, instead he got back where his surname was in more recent centuries. He was so disgusted he threw the whole thing away so I can’t even tell you what outfit it was!

[yldstrk]

Your great grandfather sounds like a worthless piece of humanity. Hope he was miserable for the rest of his days.

[yldstrk]

my grandmother looked a lot like the woman in the picture and she was from around Keiv.

All this melange is why I say this race thing is completely bogus. It’s a heart that matters. Have you heard the pale skinned people that you would believe were black on the phone and when they show up they are white? And have you heard those on the phone you thought were European show up and they are dark? It’s all meaningless, you cannot tell anything about anybody by their color, their speech, it is by their fruits they are known as it says in the Bible.

[Ditter]

Very interesting family history you have there.

Mine is all the same on all sides as far as I can tell. All arrived on American soil very early, mid 1600’s,. All walked, rode a horse, drove a wagon and all arrived in Texas 1830/40’s. We all are still here, end of story.

I heard a really interesting family history recently. A large family decided to leave central Europe prior to 1900. Large group traveled to the nearest port to take a ship to America. They could not get on the same ship and because of language barrier, one group ended up in NYC, the other group ended up in South America. It was over 50 years before the 2 groups found each other.

[sarge83]

I have a friend who is of melungeon heritage, and she is
absolutely gorgeous. It would be interesting to know
where their distinctive traits come from.

[sarge83]

I have a friend who is of melungeon heritage, and she is
absolutely gorgeous. It would be interesting to know
where their distinctive traits come from.

[COBOL2Java]

My grandmother's father was a boat captain on the Erie canal. He married an Algonquin indian woman somewhere in Canada, we believe. She bore him two children, my grandmother was the oldest. After that, his wife died.

After her death, my great-grandfather marched the two kids over to an orphanage in Watervliet and dropped them off. He never came back for them.

My mother said she met him (her grandfather) once, and said he was not a very nice person.

[spankalib]

Well there ya go! Thanks for that Ditter.

I wonder if there might be any FReeper to have a recc. for the “right place to use” for this sort of thing...

[Ditter]

My grandfather was a handsome man. Tall and very slender, square jawed with dark hair that never turned gray even though he lived into his 90’s. His complexion was olive. Can’t remember what color his eyes were. He was a very distinctive looking person. He died about 1959.

[I still care]

That is SO interesting. Also, what about psychological or character traits? My family, generation after generation, is found in the military, strong people of faith, interested in politics, and real readers. I mean REAL readers. These traits will skip a generation and hop right back in, so you can’t say it is nurture.

[muir_redwoods]

I believe Elvis was of melungeon ancestry

[Verginius Rufus]

Technically you're right. I have no suspicions about my great-great-grandmothers, but I can't prove anything. I never even met any of them, although I inherited mitochondrial DNA from one of them.

I know the names of all 8, of which only 2 were born in the US. For one of them I have a photo and know a fair amount about her--she had 12 children (of whom only 4 were still alive when she died). My great-aunt was 15 when she died and told me a number of stories about her...very old-fashioned and very religious, married at 17, not likely to have gotten into much mischief.

[muir_redwoods]

No offense to your gg-grandmother (or mine) but most of us have something to hide and I think that’s always been true. One need only stumble once to add something to the family gene pool

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks Renfield and Perdogg. It's been quite some time since a topic about this, so I'm pinging it. ZOT! "MELUNGEONS" THE "10 LOST TRIBES OF ISRAEL" Melungeon descendants celebrate their mysterious heritage Searching for the truth - Mystery of the Melungeons takes a very interesting turn Scholars of Twang Track All the 'Y'Alls' in Texas To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[Verginius Rufus]

I'm sure you're right. That's one of the themes in Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men.

Each generation back you have twice as many ancestors (unless you had some who were marrying their second or third cousins)...sooner or later there is bound to be someone you'd rather no one knew about.

[afraidfortherepublic]

President William Henry Harrison

Grandson, President Benjamin Harrison

Greatgrandson Russell Harrison

These are NOT Melungeons, but look at how the nose is carried through 4 generations of the Harrison family.

[Safetgiver]

If they swabbed Lizzy Warren’s High cheekbones what would they find? Her DNA would show she is a dummy with the distinct proclivity to lie.