Re the Melungians. I don't pay much attention to the modern infighting and scramblings associated with them. I tend to pay more attention to the written observations of the type such as the journal entry from the mid 1600s that I posted. As for the contemporary conflict of origin, I call attention to the fact that in the early 1600's in new england there were quite a few free blacks who also owned land and conducted business. We have the Lewis and Clark journals that give evidence to the popularity of Clark's? negro manservant among the Indian women of the tribes they visited. At that particular time, it was not uncommon for these couplings, and trouble only arose much later. Many Indians and free blacks fought in the revolutionary war.
The issue among researchers arrives with the use of the word Mulatto, (which was often applied to persons of mixed race, whether AI or negro of whatever mix came out of the couplings)...which did not always mean to all people what it currently means to us.
I am, by certain genetic physical characteristics, considered to be, somehow, of melungeon extraction (I have a rather pronounced "melungeon bump") when in fact we are more than likely slightly "homogenized" Saponi Indians melted down over the generations. My family in particular was listed on censuses as white, they, for the most part "passed" as white, although at this point in time it is impossible to guess as to whether or not this was purposeful, or, if the census takers just wrote down what they percieved, (I see white or light skin, therefore you are white). They also moved from one area where they were known to another in which they were not, thus changing again percetions of "what they were". It was not until after the Civil War that some members of my family tree conjured up a "Black Irish" family (this is noted on civil war pension applications in which the applicant strived to explain his skin color) "black irish" became the new white...as these fellas discovered admitting to have any indian or negro blood would surely get their pension refused. All of the sudden the family geneology aqcuired "black Irish" forefathers...which they knew, was patently untrue....but, it worked. Pensions were acquired
Within the course of two generations my family went from white, to black irish...
I am guessing that the community discovered and mentioned in that 1600s journal entry had intermingled with the indiginous population to some degree, and quite possibly with any adventurous negros who may have come into the area, thus mixing up not only blood, but language as well. That sort of intermingling did not have the same stigma that was to overshadow those of mixed blood in the late 1700s to the present.
Currently I suppose my genetic pile of DNA would cause even the most advanced researcher to pause and scratch his head, for he'd likely find Ashkanazi genes, AI genes, and quite a few others that would make him throw his hands in the air.
