Melungeons: The Last Lost Tribe in AmericaMost 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 Yet, Hirschman, supported by DNA testing, genealogies, and a variety of historical documents, suggests that the Melungeons included such notable early Americans as Daniel Boone, John Sevier, Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, and Andrew Jackson.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. |
From inside the book
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... Thomas Warner ( assistant ) Men Anthony Cage ( assistant ) John Spendlove John Hemmington Edward Powell Humfrey Newton Thomas Gramme [ Scot . " Graham " ? ] John Gibbes Richard Shaberdge ( Shabedge ) John Tydway William Browne Michael ...
... Thomas Butler Hugh Patterson John Bridger Grifen Jones ( prob . Welsh ) John Burden John Cheven Thomas Smith William Willes John Brooke Cuthbert White John Bright Clement Tayler William Sole John Cotsmur John Jones ( possibly Welsh ) ...
... Thomas Smart Ambrose Viccars John Sampson Thomas Archard George Howe ( probably son of William Wythers George Howe , killed by Indians ) John Prat Robert Ellis Thomas Humfrey Children born in Virginia Virginia Dare ( daughter of ...
... Thomas Hewet , a lawyer ; Thomas Harris , a professor at Cambridge University and Richard Wildye , a graduate of Oxford University — altogether an unlikely group to select for colonizing a remote , forested island , surrounded by Native ...
... Thomas and the field supervision of J. W. Emmert in 1885. It was accessioned into the museum in 1889 and the story of its discovery reported in the Bureau of American Ethnology Twelfth Annual Report , 1890-1891 , published in 1894 . Dr ...
Contents
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 |