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The 1755 Orange County, North Carolina, tax list several families who either they are their forefather once lived on the Pamunkey River in Louisa County, Virginia and who eventually migrated to Hawkins County, TN and became know as the Melungeons.
Gidean Bunch 1 tithe (mulatto)
Micajer Bunch 1 tithe (mulatto)
Moses Ridley (Riddle) 1 tithe and wife Mary (mulattoes)
Thomas Collins 3 tithes (mulatto)
Samuel Collins 3 tithes (mulattoes)
John Collins 1 tithe (mulatto)
Thomas Gibson 3 tithes (mulatto)
Charles Gibson 1 tithe (mulatto)
George Gibson 1 tithe (mulatto)
Mager Gibson 1 tithe (mulatto)
Most of these families moved from the flat River to the New River area of Virginia and North Carolina. The follow tax lists are from Kegley’s early adventures on the Western Waters) 1771 New River area Botetourt County, Virginia
Charles Collins 1 tithe
John Collins 4 tithes
Samuel Collins two tithes
Charles Sexton 1 tithe
McKegar Bunch 1 tithe
William Sexton 1 tithe
Some of these including Micager Bunch were living on Indian Lands.
Fincastle County was formed from Botetourt in 1772; this 1773 tax list shows the ones living on Indian land. Which means they had crossed the survey line agreed upon in the treaty of Lochaber as the western boundary.
David Collins (Indian Lands)
Charles Collins (Indian Lands)
Samuel Collins (Indian Lands)
George Collins (Indian lands)
Micajer Bunch (Indian lands)
John Collins SR
John Collins Jr.
Ambrose Collins
Elisha Collins
Lewis Collins
The Melungeons began selling their land on the Flat River in Orange County beginning about 1767 and moved to the back woods section of the New River in Virginia and North Carolina. They moved from the Pamunkey River area of Virginia to the Flat River beginning in about 1747-9. These families included Collins, Gibson, Bunch, Bolen, and possibly Moses Riddle. They were of the Baptist faith, some joined at Stony Creek by letter from another Baptist Church
FOREST: Do you know of any word in the Saponi language that is close to Melungeon?
According to North Carolina records, the Saponi Indians had a settlement about 15 miles east of Hillsboro, county seat for Orange County, North Carolina … According to their settlement location, the Saponi would probably be near the Flat River. …
The following Saponi information is from a Saponi chronology compiled from an Eno-Occoneechee petition for recognition by the State of North Carolina-1750. The Saponi had a settlement near Hillsboro, North Carolina. Post Revolutionary Pleasant Grove region Saponi Indians Jeramiah Bunch, George Gibson, and Henry Bunch received land grants in 1785 along the Eno River just east of Hillsboro, North Carolina.
pp. 84-85
Originally posted by Brenda Collins Dillon
I have a story about William Collins b. 1806 son of Meredith. He took over the Collins farm on Shelby Creek in Pike Co. Kentucky after his father’s death. William married 1) Mary Mullins
*snip*
My thoughts are that if William was Primitive Baptist the family might have been of that religion before migerating to Kentucky.
Interesting–after a bit of a search, this Mary’s parents are listed as William “Bald Head” Mullins and Betsy Roberts. I hadn’t heard of that William before–maybe he, and some later apparently unconnected ones, stem from a relative of “Revolutionary John”? It seemed surprisingly early not to be able to place her, slightly before the “25 similar names per generation” thing kicked in. 🙂 Looks very much like another Mullins connection along Shelby Creek.
The Primitive Baptist connection is interesting. I remembered a couple of references and peeked into the Old Regular Baptist connection, which was apparently heavily influenced by Primitive Baptists. (One of my Tacketts was involved in forming the first association.)
From http://library.pc.edu/special/oldregbaptist.htm:
“[The] first ‘association,’ New Salem, can trace its lineage to 1825 in Pike, Floyd, Perry, and Harlan counties of Kentucky.”
This is interesting, especially given the possible influx of Primitive Baptist influence.
Ken and I are looking into the Primitive Baptist connection even further…we have several individuals that we want to talk to when we can connect with them. One preacher that lived in Person county his whole life and lived in the neighborhood of Flat River church, and whose parents are buried there. And there is a possible trip to Elon College where the history is. We shot pics Friday of Wheelers and Flat River churches…along with a black church near Wheelers called Pine Hill. Interesting that in the Wheelers’ cemetary…there are Wheeleys and Wheelers..and we may have located where the original church stood…looking at stones in the ground.
If you are doing what I call cemetary hopping….keep you eyes peeled for the following surnames:
Collins, Riddle, Cox, Sexton, Belvins, Roberts, Sizemore, Bunch, Gipson/Gibson, and Bowling/Bowlin
These are some of the earliest surnames that started out together in Virginia before migerating across the border into North Carolina.
Brenda,
In reply to your query about any Saponi word that resembles Melungeon, I would have to say I’m not aware of any, but I don’t speak Saponi. I tend to believe the word is of French origin. There are other theories, but this one seems the most likely to me.
Also, although back in the late 1980’s we thought there may have been some connection between the Bunch/Collins/Gibson families and the Pleasant Grove families, this has not been born out by any subsequent research. The information contained in the 1990 petition for state recognition by the Eno-Occaneechi Indian Association (now the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation) has been continued (and still continues), so what you find in the 1990 document may not always be the most up to date.
Regarding the Primative Baptist Library located near Elon, I would call ahead if you want to visit. The older couple who ran it have passed away, and it is open only irregularly.
No, not in the last 200 years or so. Bear in mind, I’m only talking about a specific community found in Pleasant Grove Township of Alamance Co. I’m also not saying that those names are not Saponi, or have distant connections to the Occaneechi. They just don’t occur here today or in the “recent” past.
The more common surnames found today are: Jeffries, Whitmore, Burnette, Liggins, Watkins, Jones, Hayes, and Dixon, with Jeffries, Jones, Watkins, and Whitmore being the older ones. Stewart and Corn were also common in years past, but have almost died out.
Some of those names are also common in the non-Indian populations in the area
My mother’s side of the family has Wheelers who married an Evans. Might be the same area. I’ll have to do some digging.
Please let us know if there are any you can tie to Person County. There are a lot of Wheelers buried at Wheelers Primitive Baptist Church and I would be glad to photo any related to you. And there may have been some Bunch families in the Burchwood Cemetary. I can’t wait to get back out there after all this rain leaves and look for some more ancestors.
The farthest back I can go is a Silas Wheeler Evans b 1855 in unknown location. His dad of course an Evans and mother a Wheeler. I heard something as a kid about them being Ndns from PA before going to KS. I take that with a grain of salt though. He had a thick and nappy black beard. I have photos of these people with large drums and crude tamberine looking instruments. My mothers side is very sketchy about their past. I’ve heard of the Wheeler surname also being common among american Romani (Gypsies). My mother’s maiden name is Davidson. An Ashkenazic surname. So who knows. Just a heinz 57 is what my mother would say to me.
Brenda, you gave a list of surnames to check in the cemetaries. Just out of curiosity, I checked the list against the current county phone book. Here is what I found living in Person co and having a landline in their name…….
COLLINS 9
RIDDLE 1
COX 12
SEXTON 1
BELVINS 0
ROBERTS 16
ROBERSON 17
ROBERTSON 12
ROBINSON 13
SIZEMORE 1
BUNCH 1
BURCH 12
GIPSON 0
GIBSON 3
GIBBS 4
BOWLING 27
BOWEN 14
BOWLES 6
BOWES 96
Ken,
Very interesting.
In searching for minutes to the various Baptist churches have you located any early (1700) black churches or am I correct in assuming that black people during that time frame were not allowed to hold gatherings much less church services?
I have read somewhere the Virginia law on marriage and thought it was somewhere on the forum.
[I went searching on google and found this:
18th century law
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jcat2/18centvalaw.html
Servants regardless of age needed the consent of their master to marry. It couldn’t have been given very often. At least I’ve never come across one for either an indentured servant or a slave. I don’t know of any other legal prohibition of marriage between slaves. But a marriage between a white person and a negro, mulatto, or Indian was prohibited on pain of banishment from the colony within three months.
Women who had an interracial illegitimate child were severely punished. A free woman was fined 16 pounds sterling and if she was unable to pay she was sold into servitude for five years. If she was a servant after her indenture time was completed, she was sold for another five year term. In either case the child was bound out until the age of 31. ]
Here is what Tennessee had for a law:
THE CODE OF TENNESSEE, by Return J. Meigs and William F. Cooper
(Nashville, 1858), page 481, under Article I (Marriage) of Title 4
(Rights in Domestic Relations), 2437. Marriage cannot be contracted
between a white person and a negro, mulatto, or person of mixed
blood, to the third generation, inclusive. 2247. In each of the
foregoing cases, the party violating these provisions shall be guilty
of a misdemeanor.
No wonder so many of our people left their native lands.
Brenda
We have found no black churches that were established before the end of the civil war but all indications are that the primitive baptist and non-denominational churches accepted blacks and NDNs at their meetings and under their ever watchful eyes. LOL
Here is the cemetary index for Person co if you want to browse through it
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncperson/cemetery_index.htm
cr21,
….and I’ve traced WHEELERs from Penn who had the Blackfoot I.D. but these went into NY in the early 1800s.
Was your Silas Wheeler Evans’ wife’s name Amanda J. ?
Do you have the names of any of their children?
Bill
Brenda,
Becky and I got out and did some riding this afternoon. We got some surnames at Antioch Church…….. then found a private cemetary on Kermit Duncan Rd and recorded all the info there to be submitted to the archives through the site in previous post. The most interesting stop we made was at Cleggs Chapel Baptist on Surl/Mt Tirzah Rd. ( A traditionally black/indian church) We talked to several very informative members who gave us numerous leads on locations of private black cemetaries and elderly members we may want to talk to. Also got their blessing on our effort to get the info recorded. The whole cemetary project is snowballing in a delightful manner….. the ancestors seem to be pleased. Brenda, none of your surnames are there.
Bill,
If you have time, some names of interest to me who were at Cleggs Chapel
Lera Meadows b. 1870 d. 4-15-1934
Allen Meadows b. 1868 d. 1931
Woodie Meadows b. 1898 d. 1928
George Lunsford b. 8-11-1840 d. 3-1-1906
Ella Holman b. 1876 d. 1941
Any info on these names would be greatly appreciated. They may be the mulatto side of my Meadows/ Lunsfords.
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