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"Black Dutch" and "Black Irish" refer to persons of Northern European ancestry (German/Dutch and Irish/Scots-Irish) who are darker of hair, eye color, and particularly complexion than is the norm in that region. Parts of Southern and Western Germany, as well as Austria, were provinces of the Roman Empire and as a result received settlers from the Mediterranean region. The British Isles were on Phoenician trade routes due to the tin trade and some of the original settlers of Ireland came from what is now Spain, according to tradition. The Romans ruled what is now England and Wales for almost four centuries.

In an American context, mixed race people passing for white would tell others that their darker coloring was due to a Black Dutch or Black Irish ancestry, rather than an African or American Indian grandparent.

As for the Melungeons, researchers have found genetic markers from the Middle East and the Mediterranean in some of them. Middle Eastern ancestry is not found among a surrounding population of British Isles, West African, and American Indian origin. It is probable that at least some of the stories relative to Turkish or Portuguese origin are true.

Those early Portuguese really must have gotten around. I used to work with a Philipino who graduated from a college which he said was founded by Portuguese before the Phillipines were officially discovered.

Also when the Dutch moved in to South Africa there was already a tribe of Cape Coloreds who were part Portuguese and part Hottentot.

"In an American context, mixed race people passing for white would tell others that their darker coloring was due to a Black Dutch or Black Irish ancestry, rather than an African or American Indian grandparent."

It kept them from being listed as "mulatto" or "colored" on the census, which could and often did lead to being run out of the county or having your land seized, in Ol' Virginny at least.

In an American context, mixed race people passing for white would tell others that their darker coloring was due to a Black Dutch or Black Irish ancestry, rather than an African or American Indian grandparent.

Sort of like the Coneheads explaining their appearance by telling people that they are from France.