(Thanks to Andreas Mielke for bringing this to my attention.)
Press release of the Melungeon Heritage Association..................
Kingsport, Tennessee, June 20, 2002 - Some of the veil of mystery surrounding the "mysterious" Melungeons was lifted today when the results of a two-year DNA study were announced. New questions have been raised, however, concerning females potentially from Turkey and northern India who are a part of the Melungeon ancestry.
The Melungeons are a group of people of unknown origin first documented in the mountains of Appalachia in the early 19th century. Many believed they were of mixed racial ancestry and the Melungeons faced legal and social discrimination. As a result, they tended to live in remote areas, most notably Newman's Ridge in Hancock County, Tennessee. In the 1940s and 1950s, sociologists and anthropologists labeled the Melungeons and other similar groups as "tri-racial isolates". Over the years, numerous myths, legends, and theories evolved to explain the Melungeons' mysterious origins. These legends often involved sailors and explorers from Spain, Portugal, Carthage, or Phoenicia who were stranded on the American continent and intermarried with Indians. The Melungeons themselves often claimed to be "Portyghee". Most researchers believed they were a product of intermarriage between English and Scots-Irish settlers, Indians, and free African-Americans, and discounted their claims of Mediterranean origin. The DNA results announced today confirmed that the Melungeons have European, African, and Native American ancestry, as well as genetic similarities with populations in Turkey and northern India.
More surprising, however, is the fact that some of these Turkish- and northern Indian-like sequences have been passed through the Melungeons' maternal lines, indicating that their overseas ancestors included not only male sailors and explorers, but females as well.
(End of article.....)
(John here) One quick observation is that the Portugese traders and sailors did get around in the world.
This will be a short note as I am going out (Monday) to Lancaster County here in Pennsylvania to give a talk to the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society.
(17 Sep 02)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.