Melungeons: The Last Lost Tribe in America

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Mercer University Press, 2005 - History - 186 pages

Most of us probably think of America as being settled by British, Protestant colonists who fought the Indians, tamed the wilderness, and brought "democracy"-or at least a representative republic-to North America. To the contrary, Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman's research indicates the earliest settlers were of Mediterranean extraction, and of a Jewish or Muslim religious persuasion. Sometimes called "Melungeons," these early settlers were among the earliest nonnative "Americans" to live in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia. For fear of discrimination-since Muslims, Jews, "Indians," and other "persons of color" were often disenfranchised and abused-the Melungeons were reticent regarding their heritage. In fact, over time, many of the Melungeons themselves "forgot" where they came from. Hence, today, the Melungeons remain the "last lost tribe in America," even to themselves. Yet, Hirschman, supported by DNA testing, genealogies, and a variety of historical documents, suggests that the Melungeons included such notable early Americans as Daniel Boone, John Sevier, Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, and Andrew Jackson. Once lost, but now, forgotten no more.

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Contents

Melungeon Mythology Who Are We and How Did We Get Here?
ix
DNA Disease and Demographics The Keys to the Mystery
33
1492 A Most Propitious Year
45
Rewriting the Past A New Origin Story
55
Family Trees and Family Treks Migration Marriage and Naming Patterns among the Melungeons
83
The TemplarFreemason Connection
99
Keeping the Faith How Jews and Moslems Gathered Together and Became Baptists
115
We Are Not Alone Melungeons around the World
125
Reconstructing Our Past and Exploring Our Future Whither The Melungeons?
133
Appendixes
145
Index
179
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