Who are the Melungeons from Appalachia?

#ancestry #findingyourroots #melungeon #dnatest #louisiana#creole #familyhistory #genealogy
Is Melungeon a race or ethnicity? Does it just mean "mulatto"? What last names do these families typically have? Let's dive in!
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Come join me on a new docu-series that explores identity, racial tensions in the South during the 20th century, and the unique experiences of those who historically called Louisiana home.
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[@nytn]

🟢Sign up for the e-mail list here! nytonashville.com/connect ▶Please follow me on X, twitter.com/ImFindingLola 🟢Send me a coffee!: ko-fi.com/nytn13#linkModal 🟢Support on Patreon: www.patreon.com/NYTN ▶Download the first section FREE of my "Be a Good ancestor" course here: nytonashville.com/shoplola/be-a-good-ancestor-course-digital-download-videos-bjks6 ▶Get the full course to save your family history here: nytonashville.com/shoplola/be-a-good-ancestor-course-digital-download-videos 🟢Grab your own Ancestry DNA test now*! : amzn.to/3UxGKJx

[@BongDonky]

The Black and White photo of Melungeon family around 7:50 mark in video, could easily be a Siciliano family. If I showed you my older family photos you would be shocked. lol! Melungeons could be a generic term for people with swarthy complexions? What are Melungeon genetic markers? Grazie per il video,Salutamu!

[@jameswest981]

Very interesting one good thing about being well mixed is that what ever group your standing around u can say we and your good lol🙌🏽

[@oildalecommando]

Another amazing video, Danielle! Again, thank you so much for the time, effort, care, and thoughtfulness you put into your channel. I can connect with every single episode. 99% of time, I watch over TV and can’t/don’t have the time to respond, yet there is so much I would love to share. I will definitely look into your Patreon as soon as I get the opportunity. It would be awesome to find the time to sit down every few weeks to share my common experiences. Life is hectic (in a good way) at the moment. My girl is in the middle of volleyball season and my boy is on a 10u 7v7 football team that has weekend tournaments from Sacramento and the Bay Area, all the way down to LA and San Diego for the next 12+ weeks. Btw… thank you for you kind comment from last post from a couple weeks back. As humans, we are all so unique yet so very similar. To me, it is something which should unite people. Finally, thank you for introducing your audience to other amazing individuals! I became an immediate fan of Ornice and now follow his channel after your interview with him! Much love!

[@kekistanipatriot1644]

Chavis is actually Portugese. They lived in Granville Co., NC. I am pretty sure the Goins (Goings) were also Portugese also. My hypothesis is from Goa.

[@fbennett6656]

I didn't realize Chavez was a Melungon name. It appears in my ancestry. Our ancestry goes back to the first Blacks to arrive in Jamestown. I am I white or black? Genetics says 60/40 black /white. History and culture a little different.

[@dwaynejones1146]

The times were very hard for everyone....yet with 1 drop of black blood increased the hardship 100 fold,and some who were non ambiguous assimilated ,leaving the black part behind...nothing has changed today.

[@gwdubs]

Victim mentality keeps you in shackles. Enjoy.

[@MsStarwoman44]

I'm from the Appalachians', I knew about this for many, many years, I knew before I even listened to this young woman about many of the Melungeon names, my Grandmother had long black hair naturally, a darker skin tone and was very beautiful in her day, her maiden name is Mullins!

[@dynomitenash8970]

Your grandmother sounds striking.

[@leMignonne]

Holy smokes😮!! Laborn Goins of the Rhea County/Graysville, TN is my 7th great grandfather on my maternal side!🤎 I’ve been watching your channel pretty much from its beginning and come to find out we may be distant cousins!😊. I love your content btw! Excellent work!🫶🏽

[@nytn]

This is what I LOVE to see! My Goins line is messy, I need to work on it a bit

[@lulumoon6942]

That's neat, love when we see how close we truly are! 🙏

[@batya7]

How cool is that!

[@JPMJPM]

Are you still a Goins? Do you happen to know Bradley Goins who once lived in Red Bank but now lives in Birchwood?

[@ladyboxrocks]

In addition to Goins I have almost every other name she lists as a DNA matches on ancestrydna. I can’t find my Goin lineage yet. I’m guessing it’s one of my female ancestors whose maiden name I haven’t found yet.

[@nazoflove]

Melungeon comes from the Kimbundu-Angolan word "Malungu" which means "watercraft" but it came to mean "shipmates of a common country" amongst the Mbundu speaking people in America as well as Brazil where Angolans were taken as well. My 11th great grandma was married to John Gowen both brought to Virgina from Angola..His son Mahill became the first free American-born African in US history🖤

[@WolfRoss]

I thought it was the sons of John Punch who originally was an indentured person brought to Jamestown and married a white woman. At the time this granted free person of color status to his decedents.

[@SaltyCowFarms]

So they were Phoenicians? Fascinating correlation

[@ebenezermandjamba7625]

@@SaltyCowFarms Angolans are bantu

[@matthewthomas965]

I come from a Cherokee cultured family in east Oklahoma. I took a dna test and found that my highest mark is Rwanda Africa and my second highest was Oman Middle Eastern, go figure. Anyway your the best, I love your channel and thank you for your teaching.❤️👍🏼🙏

[@saylorgirl799]

👉Epps family in the house from VA! Yes, we are melungeon! I’ve been researching our family tree for about 20yrs. And yes, I learned that my paternal grandparents were “white passing” and moved from NC to VA, and other “passing” members of their family moved to the Philadelphia area back in the 40’s and 50’s. It’s a VERY FASCINATING journey learning all of these stories about our collective past histories! Love your channel! 💙

[@nytn]

This is awesome. I just started and I need all the help I can get. What a beautiful history this is

[@dynomitenash8970]

These folks sound like a beautiful mix of several ethnicities. Understandable that they would isolate themselves from other people's expectations and prejudices.

[@biggiebou7268]

TY ! Love your vids. I too have a "Indian " Grandmother, not detected on paper trail. My Mothers fam were VERY dark. Your are a great help ! GBY !!!

[@wtk6069]

In some areas in Appalachia, most people have Native American ancestry five or so generations back because they their ancestors sometimes took Native wives in the late 1700s to mid 1800s. There simply weren't enough European women in Appalachia yet for them to marry, plus it gave all those Native wives a better option than being forcibly relocated out west, as it later turned out. My great-great-grandmother was such a bride. I still have her portrait. She was very obviously either Cherokee or Shawnee.

[@shannsimms9072]

I’ve always loved that beautiful ocean painting you have behind you.

[@nytn]

Thanks so much 😊 I collect them from antique stores. I have way too many in my house....all over the place❤

[@stephenjames2690]

it seems apparent why the people who were called Melungeon tended to live in isolated communities, and thus became even more diverse. Celebrating Native heritage was common until the Jim Crow era when one's identity defined all one's opportunities in life, and one was legally required to define oneself. Imo, you're totally right that being forced into one of two categories; especially when those categories are imaginary. I also think that it's easy to understand why people like Melungeons, Redbones, Creoles, and others exist. I agree that they are a culture because of their circumstance, not genetics.

[@FUCKDSS]

Circumstance and genetics and even the desire to be treated equal and live free like all others

[@sallyintucson]

While surfing through my tree the other day (I’ll pick ancestor’s in-laws and see where that name leads) I saw a woman on a census where there was only black and white boxes. Someone had scribbled over Black and wrote “Not Black”. Weird since prior censuses had checked her as white. I think the family was in Virginia.

[@user-ji6sz7gu5z]

Okay the millennium culture okay thrives from the slaves running up into the Appalachian mountains to be free and not to be captured by the slave readers and the slave captors that have been looking for them along with the indigenous black sleeves running their you also had an indigenous Seminole Indians sometimes Cherokee and other people that were considered to be of color that ran up to the then you had an entire community of poor whites or immigrants as they were labeled run to the Appalachian mountains to do business and so forth and so on with this going on they have their own community that was destined for freedom and without being scrutinized by the radical races of that surface at the time they were able to procreate with another and carry on and that's why you have so much mixture in this morning group of people these people are a diverse group of people that have the attribute of indigenous African blood sometimes mixed or Indian as they label these other indigenous colored groups but what's even more fascinating is that just like any other group of mixed race people such as the Creoles and the Cajuns these people are exactly the same they are all mixed with Spanish sometimes European of sometimes Indiana but they all have African origin every last one of these groups make up for a percentage of African indigenous blood, see I see independently that you know commentary like this puts out a relevant that you know these people are their own group of people and I don't think that's fair because they're not they are just as accomplished as any other color or Afro these people are you know mostly with African blooded heritage is as well as mixed with other things and by the way I have to tell you because I know a lot of your commentary especially about your own family experiences to me is very complicated and it also seems as though you are denying your afro ancestry with replacing it with Italian and so forth and so on I don't care how much a personwants to be considered mixed race to not identify with their afro origin I don't care how much European you have in you or any other distinctive ethnicity whenever you have Afrocentric DNA it stands out like a sore thumb I don't care if your skin is clear cut white you will have either hair texture that reflects after you will have a nose or lips or a body structure the phenotype will show in some way is very relevant that a lot of people do not want to identify with their April ancestry and that's disturbing to me because we as a colored people have paved the way for just about every single not American immigrant or colored person to live out or to be considered or to be recognized for who they

[@25oxendine]

They sprang up from the communities of Free Mulattos. They could not legally marry Whites, and they didn't have the desire to marry enslaved people. These free Mulatto were usually between 1/4 and 1/16 Black first of all, not the 50/50 Obama type. They often excluded family members who had any discernible "Negro blood". To them, ascension in their society meant aiming to be as White or as close to it as possible. Those who fell short called themselves "Indians"(once it was feasible) or Portuguese to explain away the swarthiness

[@barbarat5729]

You don't "tend to live in isolated communities" and "thus become more diverse." The exact opposite would be true.

[@viviandickinson]

I find it so interesting that I started watching this channel for you irish and Italian content because that's just what I have always thought I was. Well a few months ago I found out I was more then that. My moms side was a mystery and I ground out that she comes from mostly melungeon heritage. Tracing her family tree I have found most melungeon surnames like Chavez, Bell, Crow, and a lot more. I also found out she has Catalonia/Spanish, French, basque, roma, czech, baltic, German, Swedish, finnish, native American, barbados and scotts-irish. Her grandmother's on both sides were very dark with dark hair and I'm just in shock because I had no clue until now.

[@cloisterene]

I instinctively knew from an early age that there was some mystery or secret about the maternal side of my family tree but didn't learn what it was until age 23, the year Grandma passed away. I learned from her, not Mama who seemed embarrassed or fearful about it. When I found out and was shown the family pictures including my elderly gg-grandmother with her floor-length hair, calico dress and bare feet, everything suddenly made perfect sense. And indeed when I 'came out' with the knowledge of that important element of my ancestry, I found Mama was right: it can attract negative attention, mostly in the form of people who, despite knowing nothing at all about you or your family, wish to refute and announce that *you* have 'no right' to make that claim (as if I were claiming the lottery jackpot, lol)...Quite the opposite from times past (my parents' and grandparents' era) when the reaction would've been more of ostracism and rejection by society. Currently there are certain people who treat it like some club of entitlement with exclusive membership, or status symbol. Unless they know you personally, you're unwelcome to be 'associated with them'. They don't know my family history and genetic inheritance as I do. Even before assembling the paper trail as far back as it could lead me, I trusted my grandmother because she never lied about anything. Even my mother, though reticent, was honest enough to admit the truth about our maternal line. My uncles know about it, too; and one of them actually looks Indian with his black hair and tall, lanky physique. They're all very tall in that branch of the tree, and all carried on the culture of self-sufficiency including making their own clothes, gathering, gardening, hunting and fishing for their own food.

[@BronxRisen]

Hey hun I would love to share my mother and grandmothers pics with u as u explore on this topic! They whom are from those areas of North Carolina Roanoke Bertie Choctaw and Hertford counties, always quietly spoke on the topic.My family are Ridley’s and u would be shocked at how vastly my mother fits the description! I am still exploring on my family and recently found my mothers sister on her dads side in this area of Murfreesboro NC as well and although they’ve never met, the resemblance took my heart ….Thanks for sharing my NY sister❤️💪🏽👑

[@nytn]

I was thinking how much I would have loved the last name "Riddle" when I was reading this list ! I love that you connect to this side, too.

[@bettyjenkins2162]

Chowan County

[@BronxRisen]

I never liked it as a kid because we fought over the pronunciation! We also have Goins well as Boone in the family❤️

[@user-su3bl8bg3j]

I would like to say I fit into the Redbone, Melungeon group. What I know is it was a matter of survival. A history that will tear your heart out.

[@crcottre]

My mother's maiden name is ALLEY. We are brick-walled in our research in North Carolina, near Martinsville, VA along the Dan River in the very late 1700's. Lots of Melungeon names are found in the area at that time, and a curiosity of our ALLEY name is that most of our confirmed family there spelled it ALLY at the time. That is unique, and I haven't found it spelled that way in any other ALLEY records from other areas at the time. My interest in the Melungeons springs from the close association with with common Melungeon names. My DNA profile shows me about as white as I could be, but my gut tells me that a part of my family history will be found with a better understanding of this unique culture. Thank you for all of your work on this, and I will be following closely. 👀👍

[@nytn]

I will let you know if I see that last name come up! my uneducated guess is that it may be an offshoot of another similar surname. Did you happen to have any Portuguese show up on your test?

[@crcottre]

@@nytn none at all - almost all British, Scottish, and Celtic. I am almost certain that we are descended genetically from the other alleys in the area, but I can't find definitive documentation to make the connection to any particular family.

[@ronwinkles2601]

My ancestors, the Lawson Family comes from this same area in current Patrick Co., VA and Stokes Co., NC. They settled there in the early 1750's. I think you will find them to be neighbors to your Alley Family.

[@crcottre]

@@ronwinkles2601 you are correct. I have also found Lawson's who appear to have migrated to Indiana about the same time as my family did. The Lawson name is really big here in Hendricks county Indiana, too

[@theevolvingmindset333]

You're doing great work, Danielle!

[@joaomramalho1]

Rodrigues, Chaves and Francisco are common Portuguese surnames. Hug from Portugal, love your channel!

[@nytn]

So cool! That is really helpful.

[@SaltyCowFarms]

Phoenician connection

[@fratersol]

Common spanish names too

[@WhatsCookingTime]

​@@fratersolbut totally pronounced differently the Spanish pronounce this and they include a z. Portuguese person for example phonetically Rodrieegs. Different pronunciations on lots of words. Like my middle name for example Jorge. It's not pronounced as hoorhay like the Spanish. J is pronounced as a j 😊

[@Bruce_Ma]

Thank you very much for your series! I have been trying to solve the mystery of who my father’s grandfather could be. Family stories said that he was a black man who appeared to be white. My father’s Ancestry DNA shows that one of his DNA groups that he belongs is Louisiana Creoles and he has Native American, Turkish, and Iberian DNA on his grandfather’s side. You have given me a new path to look down.

[@B.cest-la-vie]

My Dad's family is from Louisiana and Mississippi. I have a bit of Iberian DNA as well.

[@catdaddy2643]

Neanderthal in all Europeans and Asians.

[@catdaddy2643]

Turkish are Annatolian from wayyyyy back

[@olg06]

​@@B.cest-la-vieIt's not unsual for people of Northwestern Europeans ancestry to have tiny bit of Iberian and vice-versa. I've seen soo many White-American DNA results have Iberian% like Stephen King among others. FYI full Iberians are white kzbin.info/www/bejne/bnq6h6mPjZiMoaMsi=nL4wX_G4dAYuiuLl

[@olg06]

​@@B.cest-la-vie It's not unsual for people of Northwestern Europeans ancestry to have tiny bit of Iberian and vice-versa. I've seen soo many White-America DNA results have Iberian% like Stephen King among others. Search on youtube "Verdeliss Myheritage" if you wanna know how full Iberians look like

[@stephanienwadieiiamhybasia]

I agree. I never identified as Creole, until I was an old adult. I am learning a lot by researching Creole history and my own family history.

[@TheFifthWorld22]

It's amazing how well you put all of this together thank you it's also amazing how We are being shown, and guided- and how so many of us are on very similar paths...all coming to meet up again 🌟🌟🌟🌟🎶The Best Is Yet To Be. let It Be🎉 I am editing to say I have a story which I'll try to tell very soon in depth, where my high school principal, she was a black woman member of the Black Panthers actually, try to force me to check a box and told me that because my father was one drop I was 100% And all of this. I had never heard of it I was shocked. It really did make me feel alone...I just thought about it and thought about it, all these years. I refused to check just one box it: didn't make sense to me. Thank you Danielle

[@TruthIsLikeTheSun]

Being a Black woman principal had little to nothing to do with her telling you to check the black box, nor did her being a member of the Black Panthers have anything to do with it. A white, Jewish, Asian, Native, or Hispanic principal could have said the same thing. It was the law made by white supremacists racist people: "The one-drop rule was a legal principle of racial classification that was prominent in the 20th-century United States. It asserted that any person with even one ancestor of black ancestry is considered black." After the law ended in 1967, the belief and practice continued and still exists in the hearts and minds of many today. Whether right or wrong, the seed was planted, and the weeds keep growing confusing, confounding, and choking people to death with the lunacy. We are ALL in the HUMAN RACE. Furthermore, I'm not sure why you make it a point to mention the principal's membership in the Black Panther organization. What did that have to do with anything as she fulfilled her role as principal assisting you with completing a required legal document? Many people wrongly categorized the Black Panthers as a hostile, militant, or terrorist group. They were not. Unlike the KKK and other white nationalists, and white supremacists domestic terrorist groups who intimidated, harrassed (to put it mildly), threatened and murdered people (still) just for their differences in race, religion, color, etc., the Black Panthers were formed to DEFEND the attacks on black people and neighborhoods, including police brutality, which continues today when black people are 3 times more likely to be killed by those sworn to protect and serve; thus, we get the Black Lives Matter Movement started by a black woman because of how her brother was treated by police and later greatly elevated by the Trayvon Martin murder. Additionally, The Black Panthers uplifted and served their communities in other positive ways, such as providing free breakfast for children. This spread across the nation and later became the model and inspiration for the US government public school free lunch program.

[@cloisterene]

In my genealogical research I found an unusually large number of "free persons of color" in North Carolina in particular, in antebellum censuses. I believe that is somehow significant. I've seen both "white" and "free persons of color" listed together in some NC households, pre-civil war.

[@Ethereal1971]

Really like your channel. Very interesting and informative. Thanks for sharing your research. I live in New Orleans, Louisiana and I have learned a lot, watching your videos.

[@nytn]

Very cool! I have loved working on my Louisiana side, it never ends

[@kolepate7057]

I love everything you’re outlining in this video. Especially how melungeon is a mixture of pre existing races and cultures set apart in a different land to make their own sub culture - the nuance in that you really shed light on. Because I really didn’t even think about how not all communities, which had a culture of racial mixing and could be termed melungeon, are of the same genetic/ethnic makeup. Some could be more native dominant with African tinges, others Europeans that mixed with Africans and implicitly gained native blood from those mixed Africans and countless other blended experiences. It’s really attached to idiosyncratic historical experiences that you can’t always just guess and I love that. America will never be a monolith!

[@nytn]

America refuses to be defined. I love her for it!

[@djspatriqt2290]

My mother is a Mullins and her dads family came to Jamestown in 1620 and settled in Newmans Ridge. Her dads grandmother was Mahalia Mullins, the moonshine queen of the Appalachian mountains. I am a mix of British, Irish, Scottish, German and Cherokee Indian.

[@djspatriqt2290]

@user-wv1pj6wh4h Pay attention to the conversation. We were talking about a different time frame than you are referring to. Not only that, we were talking about my Mom's side of the Familly. I'm praying 🙏 for you 🙏.

[@cloisterene]

I'm pleased to see Francisco on the list, as I ran across the name recently in my genealogical research and was very curious about it.

[@shaneh734]

Absolutely amazing! My second cousins side of the family is a Mullins. I immediately forwarded her this video!

[@nytn]

Wonderful! I love it

[@user-iq2yp1dn1q]

It is fascinating to understand what distinquishes culture from race, especially in a time when people self-segregated by culture while others discriminated by culture, leading to isolated groups that intermarriaged and emerged as a race of their own making.

[@copperweaver13]

The communities around me in SE Ohio have a long history of mixed ancestry. In the past these communities have been called ‘WINS’ that stood for White, Indian, Negro, Spanish. I am not sure where the term originated from.

[@kehenry1]

Glad you are approaching this story. One of our problems, as you have rightly pointed out, is that we see our world and history as black and white. As in, there were only white colonists and black slaves and these worlds only crossed in the least human and most emotionally distant way possible. The first thing we need to remember is that our ancestors were not different than us. They loved. They had desires. They had ambitions. They felt sorrow and loneliness. Longed for home and family. Made their own homes and families. Everything we do today, they did yesterday and 300 years ago. So, when we are trying to find our ancestors and their stories, instead of looking at them as two dimensional characters in a bad novel, we should think about how we feel and how we act under different circumstances. Because that is exactly what they would do. Using different technologies, of course. Second, this binary world we keep assigning people two was constructed in a post Civil War fantasy where desperate men were trying to pull a white nationalist victory out of complete humiliation of their army and ideas. Which is why we forget that Virginia was not just a colony of white plantation owners farming tobacco using black or native slaves. From the beginning, Virginia was an incredibly active trading port. Ships came from all across the known world to Virginia's ports. The sailors, captains and journeymen shipwrights on board were an eclectic, international mix of men. As were their wives at later times. They made port in Virginia. They interacted with the population, sexually, romantically, socially. They made their homes here. Men from the Basque region whose fathers and mothers often hailed from various Mediterranean ports on the European or North African side. Thus, from the beginning, there were always Free people of mixed race here in America. Not just descendants of a free white person and an enslaved black person. There were free interracial, black, yellow and every race and ethnicity, every economic and social status. It's reflected in our DNA. Studies show that up to 30% of the white American population has some African DNA. Many, like my own family, have a fleeting or fading 1-2% DNA, indicative of a 5th generation somewhere around the 1750s contributing. So...if you are looking for your family, think what you would do and then go find them there. Usually, hanging out with another family member you forgot you had.

[@JPMJPM]

I love Henry Cho, the Asian-American comedian from Knoxville that you spoke of. He’s still touring. I’ve been a fan of his since the ‘80s.

[@janwitt8173]

Thanks so much for sharing! My 3rd great grands, Felix Goodman and Lucinda Wise have roots in Tennessee and North Carolina. Bunch and Riddle are both in my mother's direct lines. I have DNA matches with the surnames Chavez/Chavis, Goins/Goings, Bolling, Reeves and Evans. Both my parents, my sister, and I have DNA matches to several Virginia area Native Americans as well as African DNA. This is really enjoyable to watch and learn about our heritage and culture.

[@harolddenton6031]

Chavis is also a big name in the lumbee Indian tribe in lumberton,nc. My dad's/father's/ mom was Julia (Jones) Denton. Her mother was Margaret (Riddle) Jones from Hendersonville,nc she was married to a John Jones.

[@brendadavis571951]

I was taught that Melungeon family were mixed black , white and American Indian . I met these people and they identified as white but would proudly tell you they are melungeon .

[@snicksabea]

Spanish too. The Spanish pirates that wanted to retire hid in the mountains and stayed and mixed.

[@Tigrethetiger]

You see the same amongst all heavily mixed populations even in Spanish speaking countries You have the majority population who don’t look white black or native Then you have some who are still mixed but mostly white, mostly black or mostly native

[@friendsofcoal]

Thank you 🙏 so much for posting these Melungeon video series . I descend from a Gibson (Gipson) and have long wanted to share my history with people that actually want to understand and not scold for appropriating😂 people want to see high percentages of any sort of DNA to prove your heritage. Mine is sort of distant so when I do explain to people why I have Italian, Eastern E Roma, North African and Levantine, and Indigenous American, they want a tribe im affiliated with or if my ancestor was enslaved…it’s usually a very hard conversation from there on because they don’t want to accept the notion of melungeons or mixed race familes ever existed. Or they are just ignorant, either way it’s usually a tough conversation when somebody doesn’t know the pre colonization history.

[@Biznessfashionista]

Bowman, France, Cox, Martin (those too you need to add to the Melungeon surnames). Patrick County, Virginia; Mt. Airy, North Carolina; Surry County, North Carolina; Piedmont region of North Carolina. Love your content!

[@davidirwin1549]

Thanks for this video series - it's very interesting for those of us that have this colonial Virginia ancestral mix. My GG Grandmother is Susannah Gill and parts of my family lived in Virginia, West Virginia and moved through Kentucky to southern Ohio. Also, my G Grandmother is a Locklear whose family left the Carolina's for SW Ontario (Lumbee's also considered part of this group). I just want to point out that more accurately the greater overall "larger term" would be "Tri Racial Isolates" who had their beginnings in Colonial Virginia. The term "Melungeon" only got attached to "one" of the Tri Racial Isolate groups of which there were many different groups in the USA. Melungeon got attached to those in NE TN, SW VA, NW NC, etc. but they are all a part of the greater "Tri Racial Isolates of Colonial Virginia".

[@batya7]

It looks like that term, "Tri Racial Isolates," is some sort of technical or legal language. Is that correct? And where does it come from before "Melungeon"?

[@davidirwin1549]

It's the overall term above the Melungeon's so the Melungeon's were 1 of many different groups of the Tri Racial Isolates mix group from Colonial Virginia @@batya7

[@iahelcathartesaura3887]

I wish someone could say definitively once and for all whether some of the takes on that photo you used in the thumbnail are actually white feature people with dark skin, OR as has been said, that that boy was cleaning out a chimney. Which would absolutely give the same appearance. I wonder if anyone knows for sure. It doesn't matter that much, but to support our ideas we need accurate images. Since the melungeon people never became a cohesive and highly populus group, we don't have pictures much! And most of them didn't have finances to get their portraits done sadly. I remember how amazed I was as an Appalachian Mountain Southerner when I moved to London after high school (1980) and met Pakistani people with very dark skin indeed, but typically 'white' features! Wonderful... people and God's limitless creativity and natural flow in reality. He loves us so.

[@sallyintucson]

When I was writing down family stories for future generations, I wrote them in a way that a complete stranger could understand them. In my mind this will help future generations to understand these people. I also mention who their parents were and when and where they lived, ALWAYS including the maiden name of the mother.

[@schadjam]

My question for your interview: One of my ancestors is King David Benge. One historic source states that his title of ‘King’ came from the belief that he was ‘King of the Melungeons’. I have traced the name Benge going back to the early days of the Virginia Colony and have come across an historic theory that believes that Benge is a misspelled, mispronounced derivative of Bunch. I also have ancestral ties to folks with the surname of Mullins, Goins and Bowlings, also of Clay County and perhaps part of the Melungeon clan that may have existed in Clay County. Any information on the Clay County Melungeon connection would be awesome!

[@cbtriplett]

Love this topic, and your well-researched vids. "Defy being defined," well said. My grandfather Bill (b. 1921, d. 1994) told me so many great stories. DNA confirmed my melungeon blood, and I've found bits and pieces of info over the years that corroborate his stories. For instance, growing up in West Virginia, I know someone w every surname you list, many from my h.s. The story you tell of of the self-reported Portuguese is interesting. My grandpa said that his great grandfather, WIlson Triplett, who refused to pick a side during the Civil War and posted signs that "any soldier of either side would be shot for resting" on his land in Eastern Kentucky, was often called Portuguese, to the point it offended him. Apparently he had nothing against Portugal, it was just the fact he had no ties to that country. Wilson considered himself white (your explanation of the Va Slave Codes answers that why). Wilson's grandfather, Daniel Triplett, passed for white, enough so that he fought with Washington at Valley Forge (I recently found Daniel's name on the Valley Forge muster rolls). Also gotta say: This is Who We Are. A vast and beautiful melting pot of the one race of human beings remaining. Surviving in the greatest Democratic Republic the world has ever known.

[@cbtriplett]

Also want to add, Daniel was born in western NC near Boone (there's a small town there called Triplett). His dad Francis III married a native woman and moved there in the 1700s after inheriting his mother (a slave named Bess) from his father Francis II (similar to Chicken George's story in Roots). That ties into your research that many Melungeon family's started in Virginia - Francis Triplett was the first Triplett in America in 1660, and was granted 20 acres from the Queen along the Rappahannock for each of the 40 people he brought. Please Keep up the GREAT videos despite the youtube oppression - for your ancestors and all of us, thank you

[@cbtriplett]

Daniel's son Jesse is the father of Wilson, my grandpa's great grandpa who moved to Kentucky. My Grandpa Bill's grandfather was Henderson, who went to W.Va. after having a feud with the Hall family (Talt killed his sister Marinda Triplett in Memphis, and so Henderson cut off Talt's horse's ears, which led to a gunfight in a graveyard that Henderson survived and Talt didn't). Jesse btw was known as Elk Jesse, not to be confused with his cousin Jesse Imes (called "Imes" because he would say "Imes gonna do" this or that). That Jesse was the forebearer to the Tripletts that are told in the ballad "The Triplett Tragedy" that occurred on Christmas in 1909 (The Ghosts of Johnson City have a good and modern version of it on youtube). Thanks for giving me a place to write all that. Felt good to tell my grandpa's stories :)

[@conniewingo5844]

Johnny Deep is Mulungeon. Beautiful culture beautiful people.

[@yolandacollins9824]

My last name is collins and I'm from kentucky and my cousin last name is Depp and we are black and everything mixed maybe cousin with Johnny Depp

[@Clem62]

Wonderful synthesizer set up and is that a theramin to the left?

[@shadow0dancer]

I had to laugh when you were talking about the Virginia colony. My Dads skin was very, very dark and when he broke his leg the sisters at the hospital didn’t know which ward to put him in. Our family originally was from Knoxville TN. Interesting, I’d never heard the term. I have the Goin name in my family too.

[@JT-ok6re]

I'm of Melungeon ancestry! I grew up in north west North Carolina. Its a cultural of different races.

[@FatherOfDragonss]

My family with this heritage is from Caldwell, Burke county and a couple others. Reed (Reid), Harbison, to name a couple

[@Enxwest]

This is a very informative video. On my father’s side of the family, there is a large group of relatives in Warren and Halifax County, NC (right over the Virginia border) that fit these characteristics. I remember meeting them for the first time 7 years ago and being amazed that they could have white/very light skin, light eyes and light hair, but Black features and speech patterns. They identify as Black.

[@LumBo7166]

I'm born '58,,,,my family from Tennessee and West Virginia. Mother's side, grandpa from Tennessee looking your shade. Grandma I could follow, but grandpa don't even know what city or county his wife had to verify him. Said all that to say u opened up a lot

[@leenam.4578]

My father's maternal grandmother's maiden name was Burkett (of Irish origin) but is posted as a Melungeon name on one of your lists. Prior to your videos I barely knew the term Melungeon.

[@JoaninFlorida]

It's obviously a BS term. She's trying to say it means descendants of someone black, but she refused to say that directly and dances around like an idiot. I had to shut her off. I am so sick of northern liberals who are shocked that white people slept with black and indigenous people like that's some kind of earthshaking news that nobody who is white knows about, so they feel the need to "inform" ignorant racist whites of this newfound fact. Newfound to her maybe. Talk about anti-white racism! Just because your name is Burkett, it certainly does not mean that you do or don't have black blood. Ireland is full of totally white Burketts. And nobody cares anymore if somebody has black blood except liberals.

[@Elke_KB]

Wow, you triggered a memory of me sitting in a lecture hall listening to the prof talk about the Virginia slave act. .....this would be the same professor that played a fife and would occasionally dance a little jig at the start of the lecture! 😂

[@nytn]

this made me laugh out loud, guessing this was pre-cell phone videos LOL

[@samparkerSAM]

Definitely recognized every single last name. Sounded like a role call at school here in Louisiana. My Moms a Williams from aforementioned west Virginia/ Tennessee side. Whats a trip is that her grand father was Jefferson Davis cousin; he was named after a shared grandfather Samuel Davis... Growing up in 1990's New Orleans, I would pick up from classmates a attitude; towards my mothers ancestor. We use to fight all the time, ... it turns out her great grandfather fought in the Union Army anyway 😂. When i got my Dad's family history, I teased my mom about my dads mixed ancestors. Ultimately its humbling that I can remember my teenage attitude... my appreciation grows for my family. However my W.A.S.P roots are not really a part of my life; Despite apologies my Mom doesn't share as much 💔.

[@nytn]

Hahahah, yes a roll call at school! That made me laugh. My appreciation for my family has grown, too. Wish I could tell my dumb 16 year old self some stuff

[@Reazin1]

The main/title character of the novel Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver is Melungeon, and lives in Appalachia. The book, if you haven’t read it or heard of it, is her take on David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens. She was the co-winner of the Pulitzer for it.

[@BirdDogg]

Lots of Melungeon history and lore here in northeast Tennessee, the mountains of Appalachia make for a great place to isolate for certain. Here at school we found a lot of Cherokee folks who identified as Melungeon up here around the Virginia / Tennessee line or were they Melungeon who identified as cherokee 🤔

[@corderomiles3769]

Dutch also

[@batescave]

"Tell me about your family" - perfect!

[@angelcox6136]

Cox is another Melungeon surname. I knew Brent Kennedy but lost touch with him. I went to one of the reunions in Wise W. VA. There were many Turkish people who commented that I look like a Turkish girl is what they said. We have such a diverse look. I didn't learn that we were Melungeon until later in my life. We know of the Cherokee ancestry but there is also French and certified Mediterranean blood. We don't know where the Mediterranean blood. I have been mistaken for every race that you can name. It depends on whether or not I've been in the Sun and how I wear my hair. It's quite fascinating.

[@bobmckenna5511]

Fun channel, a charming and thoughtful host. Regarding the pronunciation of the mountain range on the eastern side of the US> I was born and raised in Montgomery County Maryland, the Appalachian mountains pass by starting just barely west of the county line, Sugarloaf mountain. We always pronounced the third syllable as "lay". I think some regions prefer the third syllable as a short a, or "latch". Neither is wrong or right, it is another one of those Tomayto tomahto things. CaRIB-bean, or CaribBE-an. Offen or of-ten. Please feel free to resume saying Appalachian with your comfort zone, it is also my preference.

[@danajohnson3446]

I first heard the term Melungeon in 2001 at a doctors appointment. My daughter’s doctor was a Roberson and it timed out we were related. She asked me if I’d heard of Melungeons and said this was one of the more common names associated with this group of people. Very interesting history.

[@user-ld5sb5tq4g]

My second great-grandmother maiden name is Williams. I have yet to find her parents. Grandma Nancy who I name my doll after was a brown-skinned lady with hair down to her waist. Thanks the motivation to keep my genealogy keep going.

[@Smc1248]

Holy crap! We have Goins in our family from Knox County, KY

[@goldcherry103]

My great-grandmother's family is originally from Grayson County, Virginia. Their last name was Phipps. Back in those days, people rarely discussed "mulattos" or "melungeons." However this video is good info for us to pass down to future generations.

[@zigm7420]

I happen to have a brick wall ancestor who was named Mise Williams. No clue where she came from, but now your names list is making me think...

[@_S.D._]

I'm from Melungeon stock. I'm a direct descendant of Vardy Collins, aka the father of Melungeons from Hancock TN. I've also got Gibson, Bunch, Williams and Godwin in my line. My family is from eastern TN and southwestern Va. 7:46 is that Simon Collins? It looks it is, if so he is my 5th ggf. One of those little girls is my great grandpas great grandmother.

[@SonnyinChitown]

I've at least 7 of those surnames! My family were the first founding settlers in this area.

[@lanelle.delina]

Evans is in my maternal family name in south VA and northern Carolinas. Very mixed family background but story goes French and native/black were intermarried before the one drop rule became law. They pronounced it ‘E-Vaughans’. Name we believe was on the Dawes roll. My dna tests are strange because I also had south Asian dna on both sides and my dad is from South Carolina. It appears both my parents dna became more African 3 generations back but 7-8 generations was highly mixed native, south Asian, French, Portuguese.

[@virginiareese9606]

We may be related! My 2nd great grandmother are Goins from Sumter/Williamsburg, SC. The siblings of my 4th great grandfather married into Chavis and Smiling families.

[@adriannieves1495]

My family and I woulda been considered Melungeon in “ race “ then most likely; seeing as being Puerto Rican, Mexican and Cuban. We literally have Indigenous Puerto Rican Taíno, West and Central African, Spaniard, Portuguese, Italian, Indigenous Mexican Mayan, and North African Ancestry; so it’s pretty crazy but most likely they woulda considered us as Melungeon; not mention because a this, we all look different with different skin colors, hair types and features. Very Interesting and awesome Information in this video for sure. 💯👍🏾👍🏾

[@Ammo08]

My mother's half-brother was a Goodman, he was Melungeon, born in 1907. His father was from East Tennessee....he had dark hair, dark skin, very skinny and aquiline features, but his eyes were grey. I always looked up to him, such a great man. I grew up in the South, I'm 70 years old. The theory then was that the Melungeon were of Iberian descent, which of course would include the Moors from North Africa. Dr. Barry Vann, The Vanntage Point on KZbin, has a really good video on The Melungeon.

[@olg06]

Iberians don't claim Moors, they are muslim, the whole point they were expelled from their country.

[@sandraschultz3104]

some of those are British English names- Scottish who all were driven there after the wars in 1700s

[@CT-uv8os]

Lowlanders

[@patriceesela5000]

Another excellent video about a topic I had no idea about, the US surely has come a long way and still has quite a bit to go. Thank you Danielle 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾

[@user-kd6fe4tk6s]

I live in nashville also.i would love to meet you .I was born in wise co va.my mothers family lived in VA as well

[@richardwilliamswilliams]

Good morning from Copperhill Tn.

[@nytn]

Morning!!

[@carolinegooder7091]

Have you read the book on cast in American? Not just race but different wealth structures dividing groups.

[@lulumoon6942]

Caste structure is an interesting subject, there are curious old charts of race mixtures in South America that are very detailed.

[@johnnyearp52]

Caste by Isabel Wilkerson?

[@Itzpapalotl.]

Chavez and Rodrigues is interesting for that part of the world isn’t it. Maybe they added to the mixture of their culture.

[@molonlabe3gunn841]

My people are from Eastern KY. I grew up in Eastern NC…military brought us there. I do know the names Goins and Chavez can be found among the Lumbee Indian Tribe of Eastern NC, near Lumberton, Red Springs, Pembroke…Just FYI

[@mariejane1567]

There was a ton of Italians in West Virginia too

[@sunset4ever29]

Two of the names on the list are in my heritage and both families were in Tennessee in the 1800's.

[@t-four446]

On one of my lines I got to my mothers grandfather (my great grandfather) being born in Batchelor, Louisiana. His father born in Batchelor, Louisiana in 1874 (my second great grandfather). His father was born in Alabama (3rd great grandfather), and his mother Louisiana. The amazing thing was on the 1930 census he had his 86 year old grandmother living with him born in 1844 in Louisiana. Her father was born In Maryland, her mother was born in Virginia. From that line, my mother’s fathers line, or my father’s line I have yet to find an African slave

[@nytn]

you are doing really important work!

[@brenellhornsby6566]

You may also want to take a look at the $5.00 Indian issue that was proclaimed by the US govt in order to take land from the Indigenous (Indian) population and place it into the hands of whites. Many whites who claim indigenous background are related to $5.00 non-Indian ancestry.

[@nytn]

I have looked into that a bit! My family has indigenous haplo group (c1c) and records of being converted in the missions, but you are right not every story is factual!

[@johnnyearp52]

That is only for one part of the country.

[@CT-uv8os]

Yeah the tree grab roll years ago. Not all light skinned people are 5 dollar. Beware of who you accuse.

[@swannoir7949]

@@CT-uv8osBut many did, that's the point.

[@witnessingwar]

I'm interested in the history of the Spanish colonies in the south because I feel like my husband might have some Spanish ancestry that he doesn't know about. He's from Kentucky. His last name is Shown which I'm pretty sure is a German surname whose spelling was changed. What's interesting is that he's been asked by multiple different Middle Eastern men if he was Middle Eastern. He looks Middle Eastern so I was wondering if maybe it was a Spanish connection because of it's history with colonization from the East through the Umayyad Caliphate. I don't know much about Spanish history because my family is from New England and is German, French and from the British Aisles. I'm pretty basic white. :p It could be that he has Native American ancestry too but I'm not sure.

[@myradioon]

I think they are descendants of Portuguese/Azorean/Cape Verdeans (dark) sailors so prevalent on Colonial ship crews. Melungeon names are Portuguese!!! - like Rives, Gill (from Gilberto- most popular Portuguese name) Francisco, Chaves (means "Keys), Rodriguez etc.. "Melungeon" could be a mix up of the Spanish/Portuguese word "Melange" or "Malanga" (meaning "mixed")" and or "Malaga" meaning from the Iberian (Originally Arab) City of "Malaga" in Spain. The Portuguese/Spanish were the best sailors and were crew on nearly all the early Colonial ships from ANY country coming to Colonial VA/North America. They are on many crew rosters - then they jumped ship, were left behind, given small plots, etc. Some were Portuguese/Spanish Jews escaping the inquisition enlisting on crews. They were second class, darker, not landed gentry etc. and so moved inland and mixed with natives/escaped slaves/settlers etc. The Melungeon people in illustrations look PORTUGUESE!

[@nytn]

this is super interesting. the last names always struck me as Spanish...but not quote. The ending in "S" instead of "Z" especially!

[@myradioon]

@@nytn Anytime you see an "S" in a normally Spanish sounding name it is Portuguese "Gomes" instead of "Gomez" etc. It gets more confusing as Portugal, Spain and even Italy were all under the same rule after 1492 (Isabella/Ferdinand). Jews were kicked out or converted. Many ended up on ships/with fleets. The first whaling fleets/merchants in the Azores were Portuguese Jews. Many Portuguese names in the diaspora are Portuguese Jewish/Converso names. Many in Brazil. Nearly all of the Portuguese sounding names listed here are. I also think Melungeons have other ancestries mixed in as you say. Northern European, Huguenot, Etc. Also, many sailors/artisans in general coming to early colonies (Fort Charles SC, Roanoke, Etc.) were from the Mediterranean and even The Middle East/Turkey. Some were never heard from again. Thomas Jefferson had Turkish DNA. So do NC/SC Turks.

[@olg06]

🙄 All people have to do is get one of these Mulungen males with one of these Last names & look at his Paternal Haplogroup!!! If it's Middle Eastern Jewish or North african, then case closed. Until then this is all myth. Remember People lie, but DNA don't lie.

[@corderomiles3769]

Some of them are def puertoguese or dutch but "puertoguese" varies.. they could be mixed cape verdeans.. originally va indians that traveled with the germans to the African coast.. bc they was def there. Puertoguese were already mixed ppl that were called puertoguese

[@myradioon]

@@corderomiles3769 You are right. Cape Verdeans were some of the earliest mixed race sailors in the New Americas because those islands were the last stop before the New World - including for Columbus. His crew consisted of them (his wife was Portuguese Nobility and had land holdings there). They were "Free Men of Color" later on in Colonial America because they had "jobs" (not slaves) and Cape Verdean names can be seen even amongst ships/history of Pilgrim times.

[@lovealwaysbibi3336]

Well, since I've followed you and know that you're my relative, I have a lot of your same names. I have also, Goins, Chavis, Jones, and a few more.

[@debracrews5216]

My family is doing research because we possibly have melungeons in our line from West Virginia!

[@nancyanninflorida3913]

So so interesting!

[@trevorsmithfnp9749]

Melungeons, we are a region-specific Appalachian ethnic minority, a cultural minority, racial minority and religious minority- all at once.

[@trevorsmithfnp9749]

and my daughter's TN DMV states: Other

[@trevorsmithfnp9749]

and im a member of a Powhatan, Jamestown Tribal group, too.

[@trevorsmithfnp9749]

and I've the Cherokee GGrandma story as well as +Melungeon DNA Tests, all 3 Alleles/Markers, incl Graysville DNA.

[@sandrasmith7091]

I started to skip this video because I've seen alot of melungeon stories. But glad I did watch. The more I learn the more interesting it gets.

[@fratersol]

Hello my name is saul romero from new iberia, louisiana. My 9th great grandfather was miguel romero. Settled and founded the town im from in 1778. Came from malaga spain...

[@cynthiapickett7403]

I have most of those surnames in my family tree.

[@TRINITY-ks6nw]

Thanks!

[@nytn]

so kind of you, thank you!

[@vmch4586]

Since I was a teen, I have known that I have a knot on the Ridgeline off my skull. I have tested with Ancestry and 23 and me. I am completely ignorant about DNA . How do I discern if I have Melungeon heritage? P.S. I was born and raised in Pineville. 3 of my 4 grandparents were born in the neighboring parish, Avoyelles.

[@guardemdog]

So interesting my mom’s family is from the Appalachias. I have the bump! Always wondered about it. But according to my DNA I’m all British isles and just a touch of Sardinian and Balkans, and Portuguese DNA. My grandmother had black hair, violet eyes and darker skin. And very beautiful, so they called her Gypsy. (🫣)

[@Lightsavver]

Wow, Gibson, Baker, and Rainwater was my gg grandmothers names. I have dark skin, dark curly hair, high cheekbones, dark brown eyes for me from my Dad's side but, blue eyes for the rest. One of my GGs looked black and the other one was more Dutch on my Mom's side. My grandmother was called the n word many times in her life because of her features. Very curious now.

[@joymontague251]

Do they tell on DNA tests if people are Melungeon? I think maybe one reason at least now for asking race for medical forms is maybe diseases like sickle cell anemia.

[@enwalker]

The Goins and Chavis families both come from Virginia and you are right the family was forced to leave Virginia and that’s how we ended up in North Carolina and later Tennessee. Yes they are related they identify as Croatan here in the Sandhills.

[@Whisperhollow]

I thought Melungeon meant dark one. Melun as in melanin like the dark pigment in skin that determines our skin tone. Yes, I see the spellings are different, but if they are pronounced the same, sometimes misspellings, especially if the new spelling is phonetically spelled, they could become permanent. Geon means a member of?

[@GodHelpUsNow777]

I'm white.. my 11th great grandma is Pocahontas and I am a decendent of her only child kaokee .. Pocahontas and kocoum had kaokee .. DNA is amazing.. on my fathers side im known as melungeon .. i have pictures of my dad's grandpa.. triracial.. black indian and white...I'm still white white greenish grey eyes brown 2b and 2c hair type .. God made a way for his people ❤ DNA is not skin tone

[@lightwaves666]

Thank you Familiar names on my tree, more than 1 I think its an identity. What Ive discovered is that there is an Nigerian name dating back as far as the 1400s in my family Tree Agborowe Joane Agborowe 1475-1563 married to Sir James Clarke of Kent England of Ford Hall, they had a daughter Elizabeth 1562. She married a Moorman another clue we made a voyage to the virginia colonies. The Moors a nomadic people from north africa where living in england since the 1300s maybe even hundreds of years before. Even Jane Austen the english writer descended from this family some say pride and prejudice was based on this heritage Vardy Collins is a cousin, dont forget we are all related.

[@mzkatzmeowww]

I grew up knowing that we were Indigenous and would always check black and Indian. My mom always knew and told us. We are Nansemond . . . Melungeon. My sister and I hired a genealogist and found that our family is well documented on both sides. I’d share my story with you

[@GodHelpUsNow777]

I'm white.. my 11th great grandma is Pocahontas and I am a decendent of her only child kaokee .. Pocahontas and kocoum had kaokee .. DNA is amazing.. on my fathers side im known as melungeon .. i have pictures of my dad's grandpa.. triracial.. black indian and white...I'm still white white greenish grey eyes brown 2b and 2c hair type .. God made a way for his people ❤ DNA is not skin tone

[@kaleahcollins4567]

This is what i was trying to explain before

[@albertarthurparsnips5141]

Is it possible that Rita Coolidge or Johnny Cash had / have Melungeon roots as opposed to the Native American ( Cherokee ? ) roots they both espoused at one time or another ?…P.S Wasn’t Gary Powers a Melungeon ?…

[@kingkush8201]

I am a Evans, & Ballenger, Rainwater...🤔

[@peteywheatstraws4909]

I have read that Elvis and Lincoln were Melungeons for years now.

[@mrawesome736]

Watch the movie ( the big stone gape ) Melungeon ppl in it, and its where im from