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.....

[I still care]

I love stuff like that.

[catfish1957]

I am a girl would they be the same?

I teach genealogy classes, and warn students that just as with anything found in research, be prepared to be shocked or disgusted with what you find.

There are several companies doing dna testing, and the more reputable ones (i.e FTdna) can provide basically three important things.

1. ynda mapping which basically allows you to link with other relatives to a common male ancestor.

2. mdna (mitochrondrial) Which does similar the same on the female line.

3. And most important to many, your haplogroup which provides the general location of your line. Like in my case, I am R1b1c1, which basically with general certainty is a celtic line that lived in western Europe, and most likely in the British isles, and very common in Scottish and Irish people. (no big shock there). Once you know your Haplogroup, you can check the migration maps for details.

[catfish1957]

sooner or later there is bound to be someone you'd rather no one knew about.

I can give a 12-15 cases of where library patrons where I volunteer got downright angry with me when I helped them find facts about their ancestors that they weren't too proud of. My favorite was the names I was called by the lady where I disproved her DAR line.

I also will not help people find their biological parents anymore either.

[Lazamataz]

Holy crap! You sure know some stuff!

[P.O.E.]

Holy mackerel!

This was one of those stories that circulated around the campfire back in the 70’s. Rumor was that in Western PA was this group (I heard it pronounced “Melosians”) to whom was attributed all sorts of, shall we say, backwards/backwoods behaviors.

Always took it as one of those “scary tales” like the hook in the car door thing.

Funny how stories tend to morph and propagate, eh?

[EDINVA]

William Henry and Russell (at least) both have that cleft in their chin. The beard of Benj leaves his chin a ??? Maybe there’s a younger/beardless pic available?

[Hawthorn]

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

Family Tree DNA (www.familytreeDNA.com) is absolutely the best company in this field — excellent customer service; largest variety of tests; biggest customer database for seeking matches; and a large number of “surname projects” where volunteer administrators will usually give you free help.

Moreover, unlike some of the competition (e.g., Ancestry.com), FTDNA doesn’t over-promise. They are careful to warn you that — like Ditter’s husband — a lot of test participants will NOT find useful DNA matches, at least not at first.

Last but not least, nobody should expect DNA testing to be a “magic wand” for solving genealogical problems. It almost never gives “breakthrough” results unless combined with careful and old-fashioned research in the traditional sources like the census; deeds and other county archives; family Bibles and oral legends; and tombstone inscriptions.

[Hawthorn]

>> If they swabbed Lizzy Warren’s High cheekbones what would they find? <<

If one of her GGG-grandparents had 100% Cherokee blood, then a test of Libby’s autosomal DNA actually would stand a pretty good chance of picking up tiny a trace of Indian ancestry.

But:

By the time her GGG-grandparents lived, most of the Cherokee already had partial-European ancestry, thanks to the many English and Scottish traders who began “marrying” Indian women during the 1600’s and who continued to father mixed race children up through the early 1800’s.

Bottom line:

Even if Libby truly had N. A. ancestors (and maybe she did — just like me and almost everybody else with connections to 19th century Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas) the odds are AGAINST finding that ancestry in her DNA, because after about four or five generations, the “Indian DNA” becomes too diluted to be detected by today’s technology.

[TheOldLady]

It was, “Whey de waht wimmim at?”

[RightField]

My husband's lineage prior to the Civil War is almost impossible to trace, as he is African American. I am white and have been able to trace many of my lines back 10 and 12 generations. Interestingly, I found one line back in Virginia whose last name was the same as my husband's middle name. Of that family, one son and his family moved to Mississippi in the early 1800's, to the same county where Mr. RightField's family was during slavery days. Did one of my ancestors own some of my husband's ancestors? We have looked into it, but can't find anything at all after their move to Mississippi. He doesn't look much like a slave, does he?

I also have the classic case (in another family line) where two brothers fought against each other in the Civil War.

[married21]

I agree. I used to think you could grow up to be anything, if you decided to just train for it. But I know enough families with abilities that go through generations to modify that view a bit. Your odds are better that you will do something that’s in your family tree.

My family, on my Dad’s side is staunch Catholic, and the men tend to be in building jobs like carpentry or civil engineering, and they typically serve in the military.

So some family members found a store that sells images of family shields and crests on plaques and coffee mugs, etc., and looked up ours. It depicts an armored hand, holding three “Passion nails” (as in the nails on the Cross). Military and faith and construction. It was all right there together, generations ago.

[RightField]

Not clear from my previous post: The pic is of my husband’s great grandfather, not of my ancestor who moved to MS from VA.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Wouldn’t surprise me a bit. I grew up in a county where everyone in the phone book with my last name was a relative. My father went to a convention in Denver one time and noticed that the person who had signed the guest register ahead of him had the same name as his brother. He asked the clerk about the other guest. The clerk gestured across the lobby to a black man. Oooops! That was my family’s plantation background from VA (1607) and KY (1785) coming back to haunt us.

[catfish1957]

Ancestry entering into this arena is bad news. Even though I am a subscriber, I don't trust these guys one bit. I see you refer to the autosomal angle at ftdna which is relatively new. Have seen many with any successes yet? I have only gone ydna route trying to extend my surname, but I wonder how good the claim to link relatives to the "gg gp level".

It is interesting how some in the genealogical community are not embracing the trend toward dna research. In fact a distant cousin who wrote a genealogy of our common ancestor became outright disgusted when the Haplogroup of a desc. was established. This genealogical work of this individual was well done, and in fact quoted by NEHGS in one of their articles. When I emailed him, wanting his thoughts, he responded, "I don't beleive in this Haplogroup" bs. And this guy was a college professor no less. I was shocked.

And I agree with your comments about old fashioned research. I tell my students that rule No. 1 is never beleive anything you find on the internet without validity of primary and no less than secondary sources. Sloppy genealogoist, Ancestry, and the LDS with "ancestral file" have ruined the hobby. I have done my best work at cemeteries, court houses, libraries. In any case, Freepmail when you have a chance, we probably have a lot notes to compare.

[afraidfortherepublic]

I googled for as much time as I had (need to mow the law before the rain comes) but I was unable to find a pic of old Ben without a beard. Even as a young man he wore a full beard. One website noted that Benjamin Harrison was the last bearded president that the US has had. I thought that the harrisons all had a similar brow line. There are other pictures of William Henry harrison that show it better.

The reason I picked on the Harrisons to show family resemblances is that I once saw a program on TV narrated by one of their descendents. I think it was America’s Castles. Anyhow, there was a modern day descendent that was the spitting image of his ancestors narrating the program. They all seemed to share a very long nose. The pictures I posted don’t show it as much, but it was really remarkable in the TV show (they showed some old paintings on the house tour.)

[Ditter]

He was hoping to get #3 but got #1 instead. He doesn’t need to find anymore worthless cousins.

[saleman]

“Melungeons are the offspring of sub-Saharan African men and white women of northern or central European origin”

Obviously there’s a “sub-Saharan African man in the woodpile”

[EDINVA]

He kinda has that Bruce Willis look.

[catfish1957]

ftdna is the best bet. But don’t expect miracles either. I did ydna testing 5 years ago to try to extend my surmane further back than 1770. I have not had any plausible matches yet, and am wondering whether there were any unintended paternal events or adoptions 250 years ago. I may never know.

[spankalib]

Thank you! Very much appreciated!
spank