Not the End, Carolina Miranda    

by Helen Campbell

     Genealogy is one of the top hobbies in America. Learning one’s family history takes a lot of time researching history books, censuses and interviews with family relatives. The latter can infuriate some family members who wish to keep “skeletons” in the closet.  In the last decade, the world of genealogy study has turned to the scientific community to solve their sometimes puzzling ancestry problems. Now we have new genealogy terms to learn, words such as halogroup, chromosome, mitochondrial and molecular evolution. Many can say for sure that grandpa "John Doe" was an Indian, Italian, French, Egyptian, etc., thanks to modern technology. We no longer have to spend our valuable time looking for who, what, when and where grandpa "John Doe" once existed on earth. But beware this path may lead you astray from finding what you are truly seeking, the desire to know what country and who were the people that made you. DNA is a wonderful source in finding those missing links in your family tree.

     Carolina Miranda wrote an article in the August 28, 2006 edition of Time Magazine, entitled Diving in the Gene Pool: Think you know your roots? An Ancestral-DNA test unearthed a few of mine-and some big surprises too. She wrote about her experiences while trying to research her family history, by using genetic (DNA) testing. Miranda states that her father, or paternal line, came from Peru and that her mother or maternal line came from Chile. She said that her parents were raised in South America. This may not sound like much information but to anyone who does family research, can find answers in the paper trial that recorded their existence. To truly find your heritage, one must do more than scrape tissue from inside the cheek and sending the tissue sample off to do a DNA test to unlock your family legacy.

The Paper Trail

     Where in Peru did the Miranda family live, when they arrived in Peru. Were they Spanish settlers who crossed the ocean to settle lands for New Spain? Perhaps Carolina Miranda is a descendant of a prominent Spanish family. If the Miranda birthright came from a soul who became a captured voyager or was a passenger on a traveling vessel that became ship wrecked, she would find thousands of people with the same heritage.

     Missing written records to support the existence of an ancestor is known to be the biggest stumbling block in finding your family history. There are many reasons why an ancestor is elusive; some records have been destroyed by fires, floods or sometimes poor record keeping during certain time periods of American history. I suggest trying to find answers in foreign countries from whence they came. Don't leave any stone unturned; one clue can turn into an anthology of information.

     The seas were filled with many vessels going to and fro. Some of these voyagers and their passengers met with disasters from battles at sea, hurricanes, ships that was unstable and as a result sank to the bottom of the ancient waterways. Thanks to the advancement underwater excavations, archeology is beginning to reveal these long forgotten pieces of evidence of life on the seas during six-tenth century in the Americas.

     Underwater archaeology is making the past to come alive by new vessels equipped with technological advances that can go deeper than man can endure. The cargoes aboard submerged ships reveal a lot to scholars of all discipline. A good example, The Turkish Daily News published an article on February 8, 2007, reported that   “Cousteau’s chief diver supports underwater excavations in Turkey” I quote, “The director of INA, Tufan Turanlı, said, “With his financial and moral support, Duthuit enabled us to discover many of our cultural riches and gain an important place in the world of archaeology.”  

     I quote, “Recently he went to the city of Kushimoto in Japan to support the excavations carried out by INA to find the ruins of the Ottoman frigate Ertuğrul. He said he would give financial and moral support to the excavations that are expected to last nearly five years, and donated 1 million euros to the institute to reveal and conserve underwater riches off the coasts of Turkey.” Such explorations are happening all over the world. I am looking forward to seeing all that they discover.

     The Internet is proving to advance the process of finding your roots; so many people have web pages devoted to family genealogies. Now a day many companies are scanning old books and publishing them on the Internet. The Books about family history are more assessable to a greater audience, bringing forth a picture of life centuries ago. Genealogy companies have scanned books have been copied to CD format; the local libraries are now including them on the selves.  

Miranda Surname

       Carolina Miranda’s DNA test results in my opinion, left her bewildered, the test indicated that her DNA print is comparable to people living in Belorussia, South East Poland, Native American and Mozambique. She is a walking United Nation. I would love to see her old family photos; they are such a treasure to pass on to the next generation. Unfortunately, families tend to drift apart for various reasons and these old photos from the past end up in the attics of only one or two descendants. But here again the Internet can help to remedy this problem. Today we can scan the photos and send them around the world in a few minutes. People, get those dusty boxes of photos and send them to your cousins to enjoy. The next family reunion you go to ask about these photos of your great-grandparents, tell your cousins to share them with all, after all these are your ancestors too.        

     Did Carolina Miranda’s father's family own property in Peru? Maybe, he owned a plantation or did he do work on a plantation? Perhaps he was a conquistador who was on an expedition. These are the questions that DNA can not resolve. But, DNA can point you to the right direction into the intriguing world of kinship. After years of being a student of the art of genealogy, I've learned that mankind is one huge family and with DNA testing, science is beginning to prove this fact of life.

     The origin of the Miranda surname in itself tells such much about Carolina's origins. Dictionary of American Family Names reads the surname is Spanish, Portuguese, and Jewish (Sephardic): habitational name from any of numerous places in Spain and Portugal called Miranda. The derivation of the place name is uncertain; it may be of pre-Roman origin, or from Latin miranda ‘view’, ‘outlook’. This name is also found in western India, where it was taken by Portuguese colonists. Note that the surname can be found in India. The Melungeons have similar ancestry, Spain, Portugal and Turkey. There was a passenger with the name Juan Martin De Miranda, who went to Peru in 1579 (see voyagers to Peru). Perhaps this is a relative of Caroline Miranda? Maybe her Polish ancestor was carried off from their homeland. Maybe they were once a merchant who sold his merchandise in other countries. Even her given name is of Spanish origin, Carolina: Spanish: from the female personal name, feminine form of Carolus, or a habitational name from La Carolina in Jaén province. Hmmm, this is an interesting fact. 

     Almost everyone who has researched Melungeons, are aware that Middle Eastern DNA is showing up in the descendants of people from the southeast Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky ancestry. Many of these people thought they were pure Scots-Irish, many of the common surnames are of Scots-Irish origins. Strange but true, many Melungeons have the same physical features of the people of the Mediterranean regions.    

All Mixed Up

     According to the scientist, we do inherit so much from our forbearers, bones, hair, teeth, musical abilities, and even our facial expressions are inherited. I thought Carolina Miranda's graphic picture in the article was an excellent way to express her feelings across to the reader. The picture is a caricature of a woman, made into puzzle pieces, from the physical features and diverse human colors. Even the blouse of the woman is a mixture of different ethnic patterns from around the world. Carolina Miranda has concluded that the DNA testing left her to view herself the same and still checks the Latino box even though it is not perfect. What about the Native American DNA? The American Indian settlements that belonged to the Spanish were often raided by slave traders looking for easy prey to catch so they could be should as slaves on the auction block. Most of these unfortunate souls were the elderly and children, taken while the men where out working their farms. So, even the North American Indians were transported to all over the Americas during this era.   

Not the End Carolina Miranda

     Carolina Miranda, this isn’t the end of your family history research, I hope? Go back and ask that disappointed Aunt who has an oral tradition of Spanish nobility, she could be right. Thousands of thousands of Spanish families came to the Americas during the fifth-tenth and sixteenth centuries to colonize the lands. Thousands and Thousands of Native Americans were carried off to foreign lands for the purpose of slave labor or domestic duties.

     Anyone who has seen the cover of Robyn (Vaughan) Kennedy and Brent Kennedy's book, The Melungeons: The Resurrection of a Proud People : An Untold Story of Ethnic Cleansing in America , can see a similar concept, but the Kennedys used the actual photos of his diverse ancestors. Brent Kennedy discovered that some of his ancestors came from the region of Turkey and India. He even went there to visit Turkey. Ted Klein, another Melungeon, also went to Turkey to experience his family history. In his photos of the visit, Ted Klein blended right in with the other inhabitants of Turkey. His grandson, Mathew Klein has the physical features of the Arabs.

     I suggest that Carolina Miranda check out Family Tree DNA. This company has surname projects that connects your DNA with others with the same surname. For example, Miranda surname has twenty-two participants who have their genealogy traced to one particular ancestor. Since Miranda has already had her DNA tested, she can contact the project manager who may be able to find her family history. If there is no match, then Miranda can contribute her DNA along with what she knows about the  genealogy to the project, hopefully she will have a better idea of who her ancestors were. If she wants she can contact me, I will volunteer to do research for her and her family.

Human Nature

Man has been conquering other cultures; only God and his Angels know how many thousands of years ago these practices began. In ancient warfare it was a common practice for the conquerors to enslave the defeated chosen opponent.  Women were considered spoils of war that were carried off into foreign lands in ships of the victors. Men, those not killed by the sword, were made to do the arduous physical tasks, especially on the huge Spanish galleon ships that needed many oarsmen to travel to other continents to pillage and wage war. Spain retrieved untold amount of gold and silver from the Americas and this meant a lot of men doing hard physical labor. Noble Spaniards did not do laborious work.  

Over centuries of time, those who were captured and carried off to a strange land, after a few generations would eventually be assimilated into their captor's empire or kingdom, or if fortunate, returned home to their homeland. The latter rarely happened but many were given back for a King’s ransom.   

Sense of Being

I've chosen a few pages about how my ancestors who migrated from Shrewsbury, NJ to Harrison County, West Virginia in the eighth-tenth century, I hope to give the reader a glimpse back in time, over two hundred years ago. Stories help us to study the past and hopefully pass on what we to our children and their children, it gives them a self of being and belonging. We all have a common human need to be comfortable and accepted in a community.  

History of Harrison County, West Virginia by Henry Haymond Parsons, W. Va.: McClain Print. Co., 1973

Page 341

Salem.

 

     During the Indian troubles troops were frequently located at the present site of Salem to watch the trails leading from the Ohio River to the settlements on the West Fork River.

     A war trail led up Middle Island Creek and up Long Run, and was considered an important station to observe the movements of the Indians in their raids on the frontier.

 

Reminiscences of Salem in Pioneer Days by Isaac Fitz Randolph.

 

     The first settlement of what is now Salem, Harrison County, West Virginia, was made before there was peace with the Indians.

     A colony of about forty families came from Salem, New Jesrsey. These families consisted of Lippincotts, Maxsons, Babcocks, Plumers, Randolphs and Davises. William seemed to be a very common name among them, but it was always Billy, such for instance as Bottom Billy, Greenbrier Billey and Jarsey Billy of the old settlers. In the next generation there were Flint Billy, Buckeye Billy, Rockrun Billy and Little Billy. All of these I have seen and was personally acquainted with the most of them.

 

     The first thing these early settlers did was to build a block house for protection against the Indians. This was built on the high plat of ground between the turnpike and railroad, as they now are, East of the crossing toward Greenbrier. A town was laid out and called New Salem after the place from which they came. Each family built a cabin in the town around the block house, and took up a farm in the surrounding valleys, some of which were several miles away. The next thing they did was to clear a piece of land for a crop. They went in Companies to do their work. Some stood with guns in hand watching for Indians while others cleared the ground, planted and tended the crops.

 

     They built a two story log church, with a gallery and a high box pulpit. A chimney was built in the middle with a fire place on each side, and the men and women sat apart, one sex in each end of the house. Later the chimney was torn down and a stove put in. The church stood where the S. D. Baptist church now is. They at first had logs for seats, and when they went to church the men took their guns and some stood to guard the worshippers from the Indians.

     When the crops were raised they had no mills to grind the grains, but they made hand mills which answered for a time. My father’s hand mill was sold at the sale after his death in 1843. After several years Bottom Billy Davis built a horse mill down on what is now known as the Hornor farm. This mill was a great labor saving convenience.

 

     After peace was arranged with the Indians, my father, no longer needed as a spy, arranged to settle down to peaceful home life and built a two story hewed log house on the east bank of Jacob’s Run just south of the Alley that now leads to the Baptist church. When his house was built he married Mary, the daughter of Greenbrier Billy Davis, and took her to his new home. He lived there all the rest of his life and raised nine children, six sons and three daughters, of which I was the youngest and alone still live to tell the story. As the family grew large, another house was built back of the first. In this several of the children including myself, lived the first years of their married life. A little later I built the large log house in which Ralph Young lived until it burned three or four years ago.

 

     Wild game such as deer, bear, turkey etc., was very plenty in those early days. Bears were so numerous and so fond of pork, that hogs could not be raised. The bears would go into the pens and kill them. But the people retaliated and took bear meat in the place of pork.

     My father and two other neighbors, being good hunters and having good dogs, made it a practice for a number of years to kill each fall sixty bears, twenty to a family. When the game became scarce around Salem the hunters would camp out some distance from home. The hides of their game were dried, made into large rolls and carried on horse back over East mountains and there traded for salt, potmetal, tinware, etc.

 

     The people were healthy then living as they did on corn bread and bear meat, with rye coffee and sassafras and dittany tea.

     The old ladies were mainly their doctors using native herbs and other natural remedies. The orthodox remedy for the measles was what they called “sheepnanny tes,” which they said soon brought out the measles, and in a few days the patient was all right. The sick were not killed with ice and strong poisonous drugs as so many are nowadays by the M. D.’s of the school.

 

     Times have changed. My father never wore a shoe until he was twelve years old. He would slide on the ice barefooted, but now a baby two months old is out of fashion if seen bare feet.

 

     The young had but little education. My father felt this so keenly that after his first children were large enough to go to school and there was an opportunity to send them, he attended with them. He learned rapidly, became a good reader, wrote a plain neat hand and was good at figures.

 

     We made our own sugar. We had an arch with four kettles in which the sap-we called it sugar water-was boiled. I remember one year we tapped a part of the sugar trees Sixth day of the 7^th of March, and gathered the sugar water that day. The next day, being the Sabbath, we gathered no water until after sundown. I boiled the water until two o’clock in morning. This I did for two weeks every night except on Sabbath eve. In two weeks we made 525 pounds of sugar, some molasses and a barrel of beer. Some may not know how the beer was made. We would boil three barrels of sugar water into one. In one kettle we put sassafras, burdock root and spice brush; into another a gallon of scorched meat. All was then put in a barrel and a gallon of yeast put into it. In twenty-four hours we would have beer that was delicious and healthy, not like the tanglefoot beer that they have now, which sets men so crazy that they get into the lock up, or go home and beat their wives and children.

 

     People dress very different now from what they did when I was a little fellow. Then the men wore leather pants, a blue hunting shirt with a belt around the waist and a large cape on the shoulders, all nicely trimmed with fringe.

 

     The little boys and girls wore nothing in the week days in summer but a tow and lined shirt that came down a little below the knees. On the Sabbath the boys had a home made lined shirt, tow and lined pants, a calico jacket, a pair of moccasins and a coon skin cap. Then we were dressed for church. Things are different now. Then it took only eight yards of calico to make a lady’s dress, and it was easily made in one day at home without a sewing machine. Now it takes twelve to fourteen yards of goods, a dressmaker about a week and several dollars to pay for it.

     The forest are cleared away; the game and the Indians have disappeared. The old time friends have gone too. Few indeed remain to tell the story of ancient hardships, and these also will soon be silenced.

 

     Before I go I am glad to remind the present generation surrounded with all the comforts and advantages of modern life, of the obligations it is under to the sterling men and women of long ago.

 

     An Act chartering the town of New Salem, passed December 19, 1794 is as follows:

 

     Be it enacted by the General Assembly: That the lots and streets as already laid off on the lands of Samuel Fitz Randolph in the County of Harrison, shall be and hereby are established a town by the name of New Salem, and John Patterson, John Davis, Samuel Lippincott, James Davis, Zebulon Maxson, George Jackson, and John Haymond, Gentlemen, constitute and are appointed trustees thereof.

 

     Afterwards the town was regularly incorporated under the laws of the State, and on February 25, 1905, the Legislature passed an act entitled:

  

   “An act Act to amend and re-enact and reduce into one act the several acts, provisions, orders and decrees incorporating the town of Salem, in the County of Harrison and State of West Virginia, defining the powers thereof, and describing the limits of said town, and incorporating the town of Salem, in the County of Harrison and State of West Virginia, defining the powers thereof, and describing the limits of said town, and incorporating the city of Salem in said Harrison County.”

 

     The corporate limits of the town is described as covering about 800 acres and is divided into three wards. This charter is still in force (1909).     

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