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Hey there Forest *smiles*….that kinda tickles me because I too went hunting for sucha census listing! LOL We’re so silly at times huh? *thumps self on head* Nonetheless…I thought that the link/site was an interesting read…and so it goes, the video fella has writtena book and is in his own fashion promoting it and playign off of the mystique of certain locations etc in so doing. I wonder why he went to that particular cemetery anyhow? May never know but I’m glad he did because it definately inspired me to go and take some good pics of the pics and headstones…I so love going to cemeteries…can’t wait to record that one. Hubby called and said “Let’s go tomorrow” so it looks as if that is our plan…amidst this horrid cold and still lying snow….think warm thought for me will ya? Thanks for parusing the link….take great care~~~~Laurie
Hey Everybody, I was thrilled with this video and even emailed it to some people. Were the Melungeons of partial Saponi blood? Unfortuneately I read the website provided at the very end of the video and read what they had to say and my enthusiasm sank to the depths of dispair. If I understood it right it says that the Melungeons were Jews. And that the garden of Eden was in America and that the Hebrews built the Great Serpent Mound. And that Columbus was a Jew and was really leaving Spain to escape the Inquisition when they were starting to come after the Jews and he was returning to the Garden of Eden when he came to America in his mind. And that is why the Melungeons have kept their origins a mystery because of all of this prejudice. It didn’t make ANY mention about Native Americans being connected to the Melungeons in any way. I was so disappointed when I read this. I wish some of you would read this too and get your opinion, but I think I understood what they are saying. I listened to a National Radio program last night that tried to say all the Great Moundworks our people bult were really built by Egyptians. They can’t give our Race any credit for anything, accomplishments or any advanced thinking it sounds to me. Please read this too and let me know what you think. This is the website of the people who put out the video. terrestrialparadise.com. I hope I got this all wrong somehow, but I don’t think I did. Please let me know what you think? Thanks JeffDB
If Columbus was a Jew that would be a surprise to known history and especially to Him. Columbus was a Christian and I interpret that he along with more than a few Christians of that period (Queen Isabella included) took a very strong position on Biblical teachings in the tradition of the Apostle Paul. If there was a mission to his exploration it was to propagate the gospel to all the world along with the discovery and yes profit that might be the result of such navigation. You must understand His beliefs would have not found favor with the then Roman Papal Church. He never received reward or noteriety because of His position many times and His position certainly did not promote the Papist doctrine of conversion which included subgigating or even killing “savages” to force them to be Christian. That position promoted the great inquisitions as well and enprisoned and killed many Pauline Christians like Columbus. I suppose there are some people out there who would believe alliens built the Empire State Building. I happen to know a lovely lady whose father was one of the architechs . The video though roughly done is quite moving and I believe the families and their history from the east moving to the west certainly testify to being among those mixed Native, european and possibly Spanish/Portuguese descendents that seem to fit quite well on this forum. Ed
Hi Ed, No I didn’t believe any of the things the people had said that made the video. From what I have read the Melungeons were a group that were native American,White, Black and possibly Portuguese or Spanish. I was moved by the video too and I’m sure those were all Melungeon Locations. The lady at the end of the video strongly looked Native American to me. But when I read the website of the people who made the Video I realized they were saying the Melungeons were Jewish, and that long ago the Jews had possibly built The Great Serpent Mound and that it or America was the Garden of Eden, etc.. I never believed any of this though. Thanks, JeffDB
As soon as that video started, I felt like a young ‘un, going to Grandma’s house, or any number of places in Virginia.
I will echo Tom’s comment that “the girl at the front of the grave, looks so much like several members of my family”.
Hello y’all…hope everyone has been well and good and enjoying our springtime. I wanted to “touch base” with y’all on my recent ventures out to cemeteries in and around the areas shown in the “Lost” video. All told, this past weekend hubby and I drove wel over 300 miles trekking to locate everythign shown on that video. We drove all over Highland County, Pike County and Adams County here in OH….stopping in areas of: Brushcreek Twp, Marshall, McDonald Twp, Steam Furnace, Pleasant Plain, Hillsboro, Willettsville, Peebles, Roundhead Twp…to name just a few. We first made out way to a cemetery called The Blackburn Cemetery…it is in Pike Co, OH nr. Byington off Rt 124…it is a relatively small cemetery and the very first headstone we saw was one shown in the video: that being the stone for Faye (Caplinger) Gibson Nichols Bichols…also in that cemetery were surnames of: Perkins, Caplinger, Shoemaker, Nichols, Fletcher, Wisecup, McCoy, Elliott, Fort, Butler, Johnson, Manger, Cross, Nace, Smith, O’Briant, Murphy, Chandler, Whitt, Conley, May, Ison, Rhoades, Irvin, Stultz, Hannah, Davis, Sowards, Ross, Royster, Chrisman, Scowden, Washburn, Robinson, Carter, Corn, Green (and Greene) , Humphrey, Whitt, Royer, Jordan, Younker, Chenoweth, Ball, Beekman, Thompson, Potratz, Edgington, & Montgomery. All told, this cemetery and most of it’s headstones are in good shape…it is gated nicely and appears to be regularly maintained…there were few broken or severely damaged stones…most were legible and camera view capable…a few will require rubbing/cleaning to try and discern the exactitudes of whom they were for. The most unique stones in the cemetery were midway center and they were for 2 small children…the stones are above ground set on a pad and are long curved and cut away “coffin” shaped …very old…the oldest that we could tell thus far…dating back to the mid 1800’s. There are still current internments at this cemetery.
The second cemetery we visited at great length was called either West #1…and is alternately known as the Westwood Cemetery…it is teh one shown in the video that you must drive down a long winding lane to access but was also easy to locate…it is located off 124 on Bell Hollow Road and Pinkhook Hollow juncture. It is in this cemetery that the video shows the West family gravesite/s and there were NO photographs on any of the trees. This also smallish cemetery is surrounded by a fence and relatively nicely maintained. The Surnames most prominently within this location are: Gibson, Perkins, Caplinger, Cole, Boggs, Henson, Blanton, Cox, Martin, Potts, Poce, Freeze, West, East, Foulk, & Hunt. There is also quite a smattering of stones with no data on them at all…these being prominently set large stones and filedstones in clusters. All around the outside of the fenceline there are numerous Yucca’s that may well indicate other internments. There is only 1 Civil War veteran interred there but others were from other war eras and there are recent burials as well…many of the gravesites here are highly decorated with a vast array of statues and benches and mulched ornamantations…most interesting to me were a row of Perkins/Potts family stones that were etched with the same fugures: that of a running horse with a Native figure astride it with a weapon held high above his head as his long hair followed behind him.
We then left that cemetery and located, also on 124 the Marshall Cemetery….it is quite a bit larger and has just oodles of stones with most if not all of the same aforementioned surnames…it sits adjacent to a church and is nicely maintained and decorated to great measure. We did not spend a very logn time in this location…knowing full well that we had many more to visit.
Then we went from 124 to 41 to the Locust Grove Cemetery…this is a massively large cemetery and was flooded with visitors, making it just too daunting to fully photograph/record it at present…suffice it to say though, that virtually EVERY surname that ever lived in that and surroundign areas is interred there…we will re-visit this cemetery when we get a much earlier start (and have a 2nd back-up battery with us for the camera)! It is in very good condition and exceedingly decorated…the oldest internments there date to the early/mid 1800…and there are also quite a few recent burials.
Our next trip was to the Evergreen Cemetery, which is off of 41 to Rt. 32 to Steam Furnace…it sits directly across from the Church and it too is large….and nicely kept up and visited/decorated. I saw many of my family surnames there, including: Nichols, Wisecup, Gibson, Perkins, Cole, Workman…to name a few in my lines. We plan on re-visiting this cemetery again soon.
The last few cemeteries we visted we literally just “dashed” into…as it was getting late…they were 3 Chruch Cemeteries with no prominent names on them…1 was fenced, the other 2 were not…they were near teh juncture of 124 and 32….and another, the Pleasant Hill Cemetery, also smaller in size found us as were were driving out of Pike and into Highland County. We drove quickly into 3 other small “family” graveyards between Brushcreek and Hillsboro and will revisit those next time also….our camera ran out of “juice” by then. All told we took over 400 photographs and I’m now doing the daunting task of organizing/naming/placing/cropping and recording them if/as they appear in my tree. If we, with NO clear map located all of these cemeteries with little to no effort I can only imagine how many more there must surely be in the surrounding towns, etc. I’ll post many on my site as time allows and if you have anyone you are seeking in particular…just gimme a shout and I’ll look to see if we recorded/photographed them. If you know of any other cemeteries in and around the areas…please let me know and I’ll surely add them to my list of ones to visit as we jaunt out. Happy Spring…belated Mother’s Day…and DO visit local cemeteries as time allows! *wink* Blessings until next~~~Laurie
BlondeyeLaurie wrote: Hello y’all…hope everyone has been well and good and enjoying our springtime. I wanted to “touch base” with y’all on my recent ventures out to cemeteries in and around the areas shown in the “Lost” video. All told, this past weekend hubby and I drove wel over 300 miles trekking to locate everythign shown on that video. We drove all over Highland County, Pike County and Adams County here in OH….stopping in areas of: Brushcreek Twp, Marshall, McDonald Twp, Steam Furnace, Pleasant Plain, Hillsboro, Willettsville, Peebles, Roundhead Twp…to name just a few. We first made out way to a cemetery called The Blackburn Cemetery…it is in Pike Co, OH nr. Byington off Rt 124…it is a relatively small cemetery and the very first headstone we saw was one shown in the video: that being the stone for Faye (Caplinger) Gibson Nichols Bichols…also in that cemetery were surnames of: Perkins, Caplinger, Shoemaker, Nichols, Fletcher, Wisecup, McCoy, Elliott, Fort, Butler, Johnson, Manger, Cross, Nace, Smith, O’Briant, Murphy, Chandler, Whitt, Conley, May, Ison, Rhoades, Irvin, Stultz, Hannah, Davis, Sowards, Ross, Royster, Chrisman, Scowden, Washburn, Robinson, Carter, Corn, Green (and Greene) , Humphrey, Whitt, Royer, Jordan, Younker, Chenoweth, Ball, Beekman, Thompson, Potratz, Edgington, & Montgomery. All told, this cemetery and most of it’s headstones are in good shape…it is gated nicely and appears to be regularly maintained…there were few broken or severely damaged stones…most were legible and camera view capable…a few will require rubbing/cleaning to try and discern the exactitudes of whom they were for. The most unique stones in the cemetery were midway center and they were for 2 small children…the stones are above ground set on a pad and are long curved and cut away “coffin” shaped …very old…the oldest that we could tell thus far…dating back to the mid 1800’s. There are still current internments at this cemetery.
The second cemetery we visited at great length was called either West #1…and is alternately known as the Westwood Cemetery…it is teh one shown in the video that you must drive down a long winding lane to access but was also easy to locate…it is located off 124 on Bell Hollow Road and Pinkhook Hollow juncture. It is in this cemetery that the video shows the West family gravesite/s and there were NO photographs on any of the trees. This also smallish cemetery is surrounded by a fence and relatively nicely maintained. The Surnames most prominently within this location are: Gibson, Perkins, Caplinger, Cole, Boggs, Henson, Blanton, Cox, Martin, Potts, Poce, Freeze, West, East, Foulk, & Hunt. There is also quite a smattering of stones with no data on them at all…these being prominently set large stones and filedstones in clusters. All around the outside of the fenceline there are numerous Yucca’s that may well indicate other internments. There is only 1 Civil War veteran interred there but others were from other war eras and there are recent burials as well…many of the gravesites here are highly decorated with a vast array of statues and benches and mulched ornamantations…most interesting to me were a row of Perkins/Potts family stones that were etched with the same fugures: that of a running horse with a Native figure astride it with a weapon held high above his head as his long hair followed behind him.
We then left that cemetery and located, also on 124 the Marshall Cemetery….it is quite a bit larger and has just oodles of stones with most if not all of the same aforementioned surnames…it sits adjacent to a church and is nicely maintained and decorated to great measure. We did not spend a very logn time in this location…knowing full well that we had many more to visit.
Then we went from 124 to 41 to the Locust Grove Cemetery…this is a massively large cemetery and was flooded with visitors, making it just too daunting to fully photograph/record it at present…suffice it to say though, that virtually EVERY surname that ever lived in that and surroundign areas is interred there…we will re-visit this cemetery when we get a much earlier start (and have a 2nd back-up battery with us for the camera)! It is in very good condition and exceedingly decorated…the oldest internments there date to the early/mid 1800…and there are also quite a few recent burials.
Our next trip was to the Evergreen Cemetery, which is off of 41 to Rt. 32 to Steam Furnace…it sits directly across from the Church and it too is large….and nicely kept up and visited/decorated. I saw many of my family surnames there, including: Nichols, Wisecup, Gibson, Perkins, Cole, Workman…to name a few in my lines. We plan on re-visiting this cemetery again soon.
The last few cemeteries we visted we literally just “dashed” into…as it was getting late…they were 3 Chruch Cemeteries with no prominent names on them…1 was fenced, the other 2 were not…they were near teh juncture of 124 and 32….and another, the Pleasant Hill Cemetery, also smaller in size found us as were were driving out of Pike and into Highland County. We drove quickly into 3 other small “family” graveyards between Brushcreek and Hillsboro and will revisit those next time also….our camera ran out of “juice” by then. All told we took over 400 photographs and I’m now doing the daunting task of organizing/naming/placing/cropping and recording them if/as they appear in my tree. If we, with NO clear map located all of these cemeteries with little to no effort I can only imagine how many more there must surely be in the surrounding towns, etc. I’ll post many on my site as time allows and if you have anyone you are seeking in particular…just gimme a shout and I’ll look to see if we recorded/photographed them. If you know of any other cemeteries in and around the areas…please let me know and I’ll surely add them to my list of ones to visit as we jaunt out. Happy Spring…belated Mother’s Day…and DO visit local cemeteries as time allows! *wink* Blessings until next~~~Laurie
Laurie,
Wow! This is exciting! I will be in Ohio the end of July and may take a peek around in some of these cemeteries myself. Thanks so much for sharing your findings. I have not been doing too much genealogy, nor have I been very socialable; just finished up Spring Semester finals (20 credits to go! Yippee!). I did however do a little more seaching on my elusive grandfather Sparks. The name Workman came up in one tree and many Sparks were in Ohio and Illinois. However, there are also many in NC, and KY. It is a search that may never end as I know little of him. Blessings Laurie:) .
Shirley
I am from Highland County Ohio (born in Hillsboro, Highland County Ohio), and saw this video some time ago. The thing about it that gets me is that it states no one would come forth to talk on camera. I have lived here for over 40 years and no one ever heard of Melungeon until the book was written about the Carmelites. The Carmelites were heard of around here, but never Melungeon. Seems to me that if the Carmelites from Carmel (I have family there along with ancestors who lived there) had something to say, they would say it.
The other thing that gets me is where it says they denied themselves for so long that they forget where they came from. That sounds silly to me because I know alot of people from Carmel, Hillsboro, Marshall, etc., and they all know who they are and where they came from. I mean I am from and live around Highland County, I should know. Ha Ha
Now if we are talking about Adams County and this video, well my paternal ancestors on my grandmother’s side came from Tranquility, Adams County Ohio and the graveyard, though I cannot swear to it, looks an awful alot like the graveyard my ancestors are buried in. I have traced these ancestors and they mostly came from Pennsylvania, including an ancestress of mine, surname of Gibson. I have family buried in Marshall as well, where alot of my paternal side lived, as did I for a while.
I do not deny that Melungeons do not exist, but have a problem with a small group of Tri-Racial Isolates consuming every name known in the county. Again, I live here, and have most of my life and don’t believe the Carmelites were anything more than a White, Black, and some Native American, mixed race. We have seen nor heard associated with Melungeon there.
Alot of the names discussed, like Caplinger exist in my paternal lines, are in my family from the areas discussed as well. Nothing Melungeon in there. In my opinion, the video just raises a stink where no skunk exists. I am descended from, or know people desended from, most of the surnames listed above enough to tell you that you can look, but are seriously wasting time in doing so.
Good Luck!
Hey Steve good to hear from a “local” your input into this is really needed, many of the communities that do have tri-racial members often have been getting clled Melungeon but it looks asthough outsiders are doing the “name calling”.
I hope that you hang with us and tell us more about this community and others that are in the Ohio areas.
I live in Canada and don’t ever get into Ohio but it looks like a really nice place to settle.
Thanx again and please keep posting.
Well it appears I am one of the “Lucky” ones because of my maternal lines and paternal lines. One is from Wayne County West Virginia, and the other is from Highland County Ohio. Both proposed as being Melungeon, when in fact neither is, nor was in my research on the lines. I have Adkins, Skaggs, Ferguson, Clay, Osburn, Skidmore (which became Watts because everyone called them that, following the relationship that followed the death of my ancestress’ Watts husband), Hale (which ties into Henry Meadows’ line, who married my ancestors’ sister Delilah Hale discussed elsewhere on this forum), Roberts, Wells, Davis, Morgan, Belcher, Buchanan, Jackson, McDowell, Tolle, Douglas, Kerfott/Kearfoot, Myers, Caplinger, etc.
So I have been hit, and look to continue to get hit with the word “Melungeon” and can find nothing to support what I am being told about it.
Like I said, there was a small group of Tri-Racial Isolates/Melungeons, just a small pocket of them in Virginia way back when. But after Kennedy’s book, and his involvement in the Carmelite book, things have become way out of hand where everyone is included from Adkins to Elvis Presley.
My research on Wayne County alone from 1850-1900 shows that the county was actually a hotbed of Shawnee and Powhatan descendants. I am finding that most of those families have connections to the Blue, the See (who lived in Wayne County during those years), etc. All of them go back to the Shawnee with a few tracing back to the Powhatan. And their migratory routes place them where the Shawnee were during that time-frame in the 1700’s. Nothing Tri-Racial or Melungeon in there that I can find. They all trace back to Cornstalk, Sowege, and if not, they trace to the Powhatan.
Now when I say all, I mean those I have been working on thus far in Wayne County. Not everyone in Wayne County does, obviously. But the majority do. What is interesting is that the neghboring county of Cabell has nothing like this showing between 1850-1900, though most of the surnames found in Wayne County were in Cabell County also during that time-frame.
Now, as far as Highland County Ohio goes, and this video as well…
My ancestors came down from Westmoreland County Pennsylvania and before that, from the British Isles and were noted as wealthy. This included the Myers and Gibsons who came with them. They married into the Caplingers and a few of the others mentioned above in other postings. I know the Caplingers and they are not Melungeon, nor do they live in the Carmel area anymore. In fact most of the people mentioned in the Carmelite book are either dead, or have moved away. I am friends with the Hilderbrants/Hilterbrands/etc. in Carmel and they are white. My ancesotrs from the Marshall area lived in Carmel, Sinking Springs, Hillsboro, Greenfield (home of Johnny Paycheck) and my grandmother’s family came from Tranquility in Adams County Ohio. Alot of my family is buried there from my grandparents, to my uncles and aunts, to my 2nd and 3rd great-grandparents. Family is buried in the Marshall cemetary, and in most cemetaries in the county. They were spread out over Ohio.
Now in tracing my line from Highland County, I find the same is true. Nothing Melungeon or Tri-Racial in there at all. Douglas, Kerfott/Kearfoot, Applegate, Sowers, etc. All came from the British Isles and married into those from the British Isles. Now Kerfott/Kearfoot has been rumored to have Shawnee in them, but so far that is just rumor. I can find nothing to support that claim, so I note it but doubt authenticity.
Now if we talk about the books of Kennedy, we are opening a can of worms with some people. I have it on good authority that some of the lines Kennedy claims have Melungeon in them has been researched by a researcher from North Carolina, before going to one of Kennedy’s presentations, because she descends from those lines and am told that every one mentioned is found on record as being white. This supports Virginia DeMarce’s claims as well.
Next we find the the MHA (Melungeon heritage Association) has debunked the long standing “Melungeon Physical Traits” everyone has been claiming they have (illness, physical deformations) since Kennedy’s book.
Now the big switch has come in the form of Islam/Turkey. Before that it was Portuguese origins. Another missed YouTube video finds a Muslim public speaker in Florida telling everyone that if you have the surnames you are Melungeon because Kennedy has unearthed it all. But they also claim they (Muslims) invented the Computer, Math, Science, Medicine, etc.
To Be Continued….
In the case of the disease Kennedy has come down with, which is sad for anyone to get, he calims it’s origins are Mid-Eastern and not found anywhere else in the world. This is incorrect and can be found almost everywhere including the British Isles, where the Kennedy name originates. Shovel teeth is just a falsehood, everyone has curved front teeth in the shape of a shovel, this is nature’s way for us to be able to eat. The golfball size lump on the base of the skull, everyone has a lump at the base of the skull above the backbone.
Then we find gravehouses and buried facing east as the recent examples of Middle Eastern connections. Gravehouses originated in England and was carried into the U.S., mainly they were built (in the U.S.) so that people would know where someone was buried, like burials along fence lines. Land was precious and every inch available was farmed. Most had no money for tombstones and would bury them along the fenceline or in a gravehouse to keep from someone plowing up the dead during planting season.
Being buried facing east is a Christian thing as well because the Bible states that Jesus will return from the east, so the belief is that if buried east we will rise up upon his return facing him.
So my point with all this is that just because someone wrote a book, this doesn’t make it factual. I think, to a degree, that the populous is using anything to make their research into their family easier. If Joe Schmo has heard there was Native American in his ancestry and goes about trying to find it, but with difficulty. Perhaps he runs upon the Melungeon books and information and because his last name is Schmo he finds “If your name is Schmo, and you cannot find, then you are Melungeon.” Then he thinks “well that must be it.”
Well, because his last name is Schmo does not prove that he is descended from Melungeon, anymore than Native American, Jewish, Czech, Polish, etc. A surname does not constitute a race. For example I have family that changed their surnames, either by dropping a letter or two, or to a different name completely. This is why research is a necessity, not just by the readings of a couple books on Melungeons. Yeah, maybe, and I use that word “maybe” loosely, a Melungeon took on the name of Adkins, but that does not mean they encompass all Adkins.
So now we have outsiders coming into Highland County looking for Melungeons, where none exists. Look at the video and recognize that it is only telling you what to think, it proves absolutely nothing about the Carmelites, nor does it give anything but subtitle “this is what to think” text.
I can live with it all, because I know it is all nonsense really and can overlook it. But I am from this area and nothing Melungeon is going on around here. All the Carmelites were was intermarried blacks and whites with rumors of Native American mixed in. Does that constitute Melungeon?, Does that constitute Tr-Racial Isolates? I think not. No more different than whites marrying blacks, whites marrying Spanish, Spanish marrying Native Americans, etc., that is going on as we speak.
Obviously no one is quite sure where the Melungeons/TRI came from, and to date no one can give the names of these people before they allegedly took on the anglo surnames. Wouldn’t one think an original surname would be needed to find out where these people came from. The “took-on” surnames have no bearing on that and you can find nothing about the origins of this group in that manner.
So what is going on is people are really buying into folklore at this point. Books were written, YouTube movies made, and sites galore are online that answer nothing. Then for whatever reason origins of these people have switched.
One little small pocket of TRI’s that existed could not possibly be “widespread” across the U.S. and do not exist in Carmel Ohio.
The simple answer for people is to just go and research Kenney’s lines and see what is fact and fiction. Many live in Virginia here, and perhaps own his work, so it wouldn’t be that big of a deal to autheticate his claims.
As I said, I have it on good faith that this has already been done by a lady in N.C., albeit unintentional, and everyone he says has Melungeon/Mid-Eastern roots, she found on records as white, where Kennedy said he found otherwise on the records.
I am not bitter, trying to start a fight, or whatever. Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and opinions. I am just saying the stink you are smelling here in my neck of the woods has no skunk, only surnames.
Steve-O pretty much nails the nonsense to the dirt floor.
Kennedy, and a lot of other people, is into selling “BOOKS” and makin’ money for him, at our expense, although I suspect he is well-intentioned – that doesn’t cut it any more.
I have zero respect for him. He’s turned (?) into a ‘huckster’.
Oh? you didn’t hear alot about the results of the “Melungeon DNA Project” ?
They didn’t find what they claimed they ‘would’ find and because those results didn’t fit their hypothesis (Hypothesis = statement unsupported by fact), the study results were not widely disseminated.
Lot’s of reasons why they didn’t widely report the results, but you wouldn’t suspect – unless you had forgotten your high school history – who knew? – almost anyone who ever picked up a book could have spotted this deception.
Moral?
“Digg” every statement not having a ‘footnote’….
and “Digg” every “footnote” to insure it supports the author’s premise –
my posts included.
Exactly. Just a browse online will show that this whole thing has got completely out of hand. Just look at the ever-growing list of surnames and think to yourself “Now how can that be?” It is encompassing the entire U.S. which is just not possible. If that were the case, then everyone would be every nationality known to man.
Now I could list a slew of names of people who have contacted me about this either on forum or by spam looking for support. But I am not going to go into all that, but it has become too widespread. Upon my first “approach” by these people, I began to dig around on the subject and found little to support the claims. Then later was in contact with someone shooting me emails about certain things, followed by another later on, basically asking me if I could “logically” shoot down the latest “straw-graspings” these, as I call them, “Melungeon Theorists” were tossing out as proof of Melungeon ancestry. I successfully shot every single one down. I think the people involved in ontacting me were either shocked or amused by this. All it took was a bit of research to dispell it all.
Now the Highland County Ohio Gibsons, all the ones I know…and I know quite a bit of them, are what I call “whiter than I am” because I am dark complected and they are all “white”, fair complected, blonde hair, blue eyed.
The Jacksons are African American, as are the Curtis. The Carters moved in later, around 20 some odd years ago, from another state and the family and I are good friends. All white, mostly blonde. The Elams are white. The Frymans are white, Losey…white, etc. Now there may be Native American blood in these families, but none look Mediterrainian (sic).
I have an old photgraph of my great great grandfather and his family, including my great grandfather in the picture, and the same applies. My Myers/great great grandmother is darker, could be of NA descent, but definitely nothing that looks Mediterrainian (sic). This is where alot of the Caplinger, Courtney, my Douglas (grandmother), Turner, Tatman, Montgomery, Bloom, Deleplaine, DeWilde, Wainwright, Havens, Stannard, Ferren, Bumgarner, Beard, and Cropper lines fall in. None found in the vital records office, birth/death records, and various Highland County record books indicate anything other than white. I have researched, and have an uncle who has as well, and nothing outside of white can be found. From old photographs to the items mentioned.
When you get into Adams County Ohio I find that my Swearingen ancestor’s descendants (from my mother’s line from W.V.) are presently residing there, noted for the connection to Marmaduke Van Swearingen who many believe was Blue Jacket, though I feel he was another Shawnee adoptee entirely and confused with Blue Jacket. But the Douglas, Kerfott/Kearfoot, etc. all were white from the research I have done on them.
The problem most people have nowadays is that nothing has been passed down to them in oral histories, or in the form of records/paperwork. My mother gave me the stories and everyting she had, including my grandparents’ funeral registries and all my grandmother’s photographs. Which leads me to another Melungeon family name debunked.
My grandmother in Wayne County W.V. was friends with a lady with the last name of Steele (born around 1905). The Steele family was one who changed their name from Casteele (also found in Wayne County) and are both related. The Steele/Casteele name can be traced back to Castle which has it’s descendancy from a Shawnee lady named Sowege. Now in my tracing of this family I find that my grandmother was 2nd cousin to her friend. Her surname of Osburn is found in there as well as my Adkins line. Her maiden name was Fry. Her husband who was a Steele traces back to the Adkins and to the Castle family, thus to Shawnee Sowege. I find defite links to the Shawnee, but nothing Melungeon. The Castles came across the sea to Virginia, then one of their offspring married Shawnee, then every name found is from white families in Virginia. Yet the Steele family is listed as Melungeon.
In closing I am very luckyto have what my mother gave me, and even more lucky that her side of the family was so well recorded because of their historical significance. So it has been very easy for me to debunk the Kennedy Bandwagon because of this. The problem lies, again, in the fact that most people today could care less about their ancestry, have nothing to pass along, etc. My research tells me I am Shawnee on my mother’s side (to a great degree of research too lengthy to add to this lengthy response), and my research has even been forwarded to the Shawnee out west. I am slowly unearthing Powhatan ancestry as well in my Adkins line, which has been discussed here some time ago. And unfortunately there has been books written about my mother’s side that were well intentioned, but off base, that lead researchers today to dispute my claims. But I have been in contact with two Shawnee divisions that have both said my research is right on track with what they have. I have worked hard for years to unearth these things, with alot more work to go, but I can assure you that the Melungeon wrtitings on my ancestry is, to put it bluntly, a load of crap.
Steve-O
I thought I would post and share my understanding of these groups…Melungeons, Brass ankles, Red Bones, Carmelites, were a specific group of people, in a specific time, in a specific area. One may have an ancestor who was among these groups, but this does not make this individual Melungeon or any of the others?? This is my take on what I have read. As for the diseases, etc that is genetics, environment and other influences. These groups have mixed with many cultures down through the years so to say that you have a specific disease from an ancestor who was Melungeon, for example, would be unlikely. And just because you have an ancestor who was a Gibson, Adkins, Collins etc, does not mean you had these ancestors. You have to tie your family line to these specific families, but that still does not leave one with concrete answers, as I have found. Your best bet is your own family history…what has been passed down…if your grandmother said there is native roots…well, enough said. Blessings, Shirley
JeffDB wrote: This is the website of the people who put out the video. terrestrialparadise.com. I hope I got this all wrong somehow, but I don’t think I did. Please let me know what you think? Thanks JeffDB
Did you miss this part on the website?
“* While The Terrestrial Paradise is a fictional work, much of it is based on fact on the history of the Melungeon people of Kenucky, Tennessee, Virginia and Ohio. When possible, hypertext links conncect to accounts of actual events. “
It’s fictional, no reason to get worked up.
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