MALENGINE, ill intent, deceit, guile. (From the word list of
Spencer’s Faerie Queene) Malengin [guile]. On his back he carried a net
“to catch fools.” Being attacked by Sir Artegal and his iron man, he
turned himself first into a fox, then to a bush, then to a bird, then to
a hedgehog, then to a snake; but Talus was a match for all his deceits,
and killed him. (Spenser: Faėrie Queene, v. 9.)
Having the advantage of living in and near the homeland of the
Melungeons has helped me considerably in my search for the true history
of the Melungeons and their kinfolks. I first became interested in the
Melungeons when told that some authors and historians listed two of my
Great Grandparents as Melungeon. My Grandfather Goins denied these
allegations and personally told me "My grandma Minor was about 3/4
Indian and Grandpa Goins was about ½”. This heritage has not been
established as a fact, but Grandpa believed it. His Grandma Susan
Minor’s mother was Aggy Sizemore and most of these families filed
Cherokee Indian Application beginning in 1905.
To me Melungeons are a tremendously interesting subject. No matter
what the final conclusion turns out to be, Melungeons are exclusively
American. The term Melungeon would hardly fit in any language except
(American) English. Melungeon Culture would hardly be appropriate
anyplace except Appalachia. Melungeons hardly matter to anyone except
Melungeons and perhaps a few sociologists. Could it be possible that
Melungeon and American mean the same thing? What does the word Melungeon
mean? The dictionary or encyclopedia does not even carry a definition
for the word. The word Melungeon means different things to different
people. To some it may mean a culture or sub-culture, to some it may
mean an ethnic group and to some it may mean a lifestyle. There are
names like Black Dutch, Black Irish and dozens of other terms which may
connected the word Melungeon. The word has connotations with Native
American, African American and with people from the Middle East. Perhaps
when incorporated, all of the above apply to Melungeons.
Manuel Mira was the guest speaker at the Library of Congress on April
3, 2002. Manuel Mira presented a lecture about Melungeons and his new
book, The Forgotten Portuguese: The Melungeons and Other Groups: The
Portuguese Making of America. Manuel Mira discussed the results of his
research about the existence of Portuguese settlers in North America
since the 15th century. The Mary Pickford Theater-auditorium was almost
full which certainly demonstrated a curiosity and desire to know more
about the Portuguese and the Melungeons as well as a success. The author
of the book Manuel Mira spoke about the need for more research on the
early American history and the participation of the various groups in
the making of this great country..
In addition to Native American (approximately 5% of the sample),
African (approximately 5%) and European (approximately 83% of the
sample, but representing Europeans from north to south), the study also
showed approximately 7% of the samples matching populations in Turkey,
Syria and northern India. In other words, the surviving genes from
Middle Eastern and East Indian ancestors are in equal proportion to
those of Native Americans and Africans. My gut feeling is that the
original, seventeenth-century percentages of all three groups (i.e.,
African, Native American, and Middle Eastern/East Indian) were higher
than what we're seeing today. Time, admixture, and out-movement of some
of our darker cousins into other minority groups have likely lowered the
genetic traces of their earlier presence. But enough of them were there
to still be traceable among the Melungeons of today. The long discounted
Mediterranean and Middle Eastern heritages are irrefutably there.
Recent DNA research has shown that the Melungeons are a people of
Mediterranean descent as well as a mix of Native American, black and
Eurasian. This includes all of northern Europe and as far east as
northern India and includes some 'exotic' DNA samples from both males
and females which indicate Turkiq ancestry as well as Syrian and
northern Indian ancestry. Not every sample showed this ancestry but the
descendants of those that do, then have the possibility of inheriting
one or more of several illnesses, which doctors in the United States
have considered to be rare. It is important that this change.
Because the health issues are so involved in the ancestry and the
genealogy, let me first address the fact that we are dealing here with a
Melungeon MOVEMENT. I have been at every UNION of the Melungeons since
the First one in Wise, VA. I saw the beginning of this movement and I
hope to continue to be a part of it as long as possible. I believe that
this is a Melungeon movement because of many things, including the
recent DNA research, but I heard these words for myself and I believe
them:
The Wicocomico Indian Nation of Northumberland County VA is
attempting to find descendants of three historic tribes of
Northumberland County, the Wicocomico Tribe, Cekacawon Tribe and the
Cuttatawomen Tribe. The Cekacawon and Wicocomico merged on or about
1652/55 at the direction the Northumberland Assembly. The Cuttatawomen
is believed to have merged about 1659. The three tribes were called
Wicocomico. They were relocated from the vicinity of the Little
Wicocomico River to South of the Great Wicocomico River, between
Dividing Creek and Indian Creek. (These tribes were formerly part of the
Powhatan Empire). We have documented the last Tribal Chief, King William
Taptico from his death to the present. After his death his wife changed
the name to Tapp. Another Great Man of the Wicocomico was
identified, John Vesey. (most of the Indians had taken on English names
by the late 1600s and earlier 1700s) The following is from the order
books of Northumberland County October 19, 1713.
My first trip to the Southern mountains was at age 6. My mother was
principal of the high school in Grant, Michigan. Two of her teachers
were from Appalachia: one from Owingsville, Kentucky, the other a
graduate of King College from Weaverville, North Carolina. Neither of
the young women had cars, so my mother and I drove them home to the
mountains and in the process fell in love with the hills. Ever after,
I could not go too long without a trip to the Smokies or a leisurely
ramble on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is no wonder that I finally came to
live in the mountains myself or that I have embraced the culture of the
region.I began learning about Melungeons through articles in the Bristol
Herald Courier and other regional publications. The longer I lived in
Upper East Tennessee, the more I read, coming quickly to novels by
writers like Lee Smith, Sharyn McCrumb, and Wilma Dykeman. So, my
connection to Melungeon people is not by blood, but instead is first a
reader's and later a writer's connection.
Over the years, I’ve appeared on nationally televised news programs
such as Jim Lehrer’s “NewsHour” and have written Op-Eds for both the San
Francisco Chronicle and New York Newsday. What excites me right now,
however, is being able to tell you why I decided to write and publish my
book.
A student of Vedic scriptures, I believe that individuals of mixed
racial backgrounds quickly begin searching for a higher spiritual truth,
something that allows them to make sense of the madness behind lumping
human beings into separate and distinct “racial” groupings.
In
my experience, people who consider themselves of “mixed-race” inevitably
question not only the wisdom of racial identification but also the very
scientific and biological foundation of “race” itself. To lend public
_expression to these heretofore private individual challenges to the
“racial” paradigm was one of the reasons I launched Interracial Voice in
September 1995. Furthermore, I believe that individuals of mixed racial
backgrounds quickly begin searching for a higher spiritual truth,
something that allows them to make sense of the madness behind lumping
human beings into separate and distinct “racial” groupings.
Suppose that you are sitting with a group of knowledgeable friends
doing a crossword puzzle together and you find the definition, "A
mysterious group of dark-skinned people of uncertain origins, inhabiting
the southern Appalachian mountains." There are ten horizontal spaces
waiting to be filled in with the answer. How many of your friends may be
able to come up with an answer to get all of these spaces filled in? Let
me guess. Ten years ago, those spaces would have had to be filled in
from other directions, to finally come up with the word "Melungeon."
These days, maybe one or two will know the word and save some time. I
hope that in the not too distant future, many people will know who and
what the Melungeons are, because it's a fascinating story and one of the
true mysteries, among an abundance of speculations, on what we may call
"pre-history. " I define "pre-history" as what REALLY happened before
the historians started publishing in order to avoid perishing. So what's
the problem? We've all studied American history and we know something
about the land of Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. Are the Melungeons
recent arrivals in the southern Appalachians? That question can be
answered with a definite "NO." The evidence is that persons called
"Melungeons" have been "hanging out" in the southeastern parts of the
United States, since well before the area was called the United States.
We're talking about more than 400 years!
