BOOK REVIEWS

I have recently read two books that I wish to recommend to the readers of this blog, especially those who are interested in true tri-racial family history.

1^st book-THE INVISIBLE LINE BY Daniel J. Sharfstein , The Penguin Press New York.  Three American Families and the secret Journey from black to white.  Gibson’s; Very well documented with footnotes throughout the book on the life of  the  Gibson’s, Spencer’s and Walls, they reflect the diversity of Southern life: They were pioneers settling in the wilderness, first along the coast  and then inland. They endured revolution, fought in the Civil War and crossed paths with central figures in American History. With time the families gained distance from their roots, but did not escape the nation’s belief in a line separating black from white.        

The 1880 Johnson Co KY census shows the names of some of the descendants in the book and living next to descendants of Valentine Collins, all listed Mul. (mulatto)
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kyjohnso/JClowe11.htm

183- Andrew Collins

Andrew  B	COLLINS	17	(mul) Farmer	KY	KY	KY
	Nancy A	(COLLINS)	17	(mul) ( m 5

185 are the Spencers in the book

85	Jordon	SPENCER	62	(mul) Farm Laborer	KY	VA	VA
	Malinda	(SENTERS) jvs	50	(mul) Wife	VA	SC	SC
	Polly A	SPENCER	18	(mul) Dau	KY	KY	VA
	Lydia  M	SPENCER	16	(mul) Dau	KY
	John  M	SPENCER	14	(mul) Son	KY
	William  J	SPENCER	12	(mul) Son	KY
	Clerisa	CENTERS	65	Sister-in-law	SC	SC	SC

186 Mary Collins nee Dale is another Valentine Collins descendant.

186
Mary	COLLINS	80	(mul) (Widow) (Husband David COLLINS)	VA	VA	VA
	Angeline	COLLINS	39	(mul) Dau	KY	KY	VA
	Julia  A	COLLINS	20	(mul) Dau	KY

If you scroll down a bit there are more Collins, according to my source all are descendents of Valentine Collins. Also, the Senters who married into the above Collins.

Y-DNA test from descendants confirmed Valentine Collins was sub-Saharan African.  

There really is an invisible line from black to white and this fits some of the hardships and discrimination of  several Melungeons families, including my gg,Goins and Minor families. 

2^nd book review- BECOMING  MELUNGEON, Making an ethnic Identity in the Appalachian South. By Melissa Schrift,  University Nebraska Press. Lincoln & London.

Page 3 Introduction “Unlike others I am  not interested in the Melungeon Story, or Melungeon Origins. Instead my interests relate to the ways in which the Melungeon  legend has been socially constructed vis-à-vis the media, and how that social construction evolved into a fervent movement of self-identified Melungeons in the 1990s.  My interest in the social construction of Melungeon identity a number of interrelated questions: Who are the individuals today who claim a Melungeon identity, and by what process do they establish and legitimate such claims ?  To what extent have portrayals been resisted by individuals in Hancock County and those who self-identify as Melungeons?

2^nd paragraph page 7, Introduction, the earliest reliable ethnographic sources understood Melungeons to be one of many southeastern tri-racial isolates that emerged from intermarriages among whites, blacks, and American Indians. By 1800 these isolates occupied Newman’s Ridge in an erea that included much of East Tn. And southwest Virginia and today lies in Hancock County. The most common surnames associated with these early Melungeons include Bolins, Bunch, Collins, Gibson, Goins,and Mullins. No evidence exist that anyone self-identified as Melungeon before the late 1960’s; thus it is reasonable to suggest that the term was imposed by outsiders as a derogatory one.”   

   The interviews with self-identified Melungerons were interesting , one was asked what it means to be Melungeon, she told her not to worry about all the talk about Melungeons being from “here or there” “Melungeon only means Portuguese,”she said . She told me she had only recently discovered she was a Melungeon”. She quickly followed with, “ I have always thought of myself as white–Melungeon white.”As I read this book I was amazed at the fact that most who were interviewed did not know or care who the Melungeons were, they just claimed to be one. 

Missing from all of this is the fact MHA leaders still advocate that Melungeons exist today, when in fact only descendants of the derogatory clan exist as expressed by Attorney Henry R. Price. “Melungeons The Vanishing Colony of Newman Ridge.” 1969. This book was used and distributed at the outdoor drama“Walk Toward The Sunset” in Sneedville, Tennessee.  Henry writes in PREFACE V; “I have been a student of Melungeon History and culture for nearly 25 years. I have lived with them, played with them, fought with them, gone to school with them, represented many of them in court, and have probed their background to unearth their origin. And yet I know little more today than when I began.  The Origin of the Melungeons is still a Mystery. His span in these hills is still an uncertainty, but his destiny is all too sure, The day of the Melungeon is quickly passing and is almost gone.  In the history of the earth, civilizations rise and fall; peoples make their appearances and then fade into oblivion, so also with the Melungeon. Like the summer leaf that falls to the October frost, the day of the Melungeon has reached its twilight. This once proud and fiercely independent people are all but gone. In years past they hacked and grubbed out a habitation in this Appalachian wilderness. For nearly 200 years they lived loved and fought and died with a free-spirited abandon found only in Appalachia .They asked of their surrounding neighbors only to be left alone, to live in peace: They received in return economic deprivation, intolerance, prejudice, and discrimination.   They came off the mountains and have helped build schools and churches, governments and cities. For a time the Melungeons fought and won. But there were two enemies the Melungeons could not overcome time and the attractiveness of his womenfolk to the surrounding white settlers. Intermarriages with the neighboring white community has just about written the end for this mysterious clan. The day of the Melungeon is waning. Their mountain domain, once viable with the laughter of children, is returning to the wilderness of a century ago. The young folk have left the ridges. Only the old remain. They will die here and soon their graves, like those of their fathers before them, will give way to the wild honeysuckle and sassafras. ” [Published by the Hancock County Drama Association, Sneedville Tennessee.]   Note: The last time I checked none of the members of the Vardy Historical Society lived in Vardy.  

              

Dr Virginia DeMarce in her review of Kennedy book , Melungeon thus becomes a catchall description for dark skinned individuals” The manner in which individuals are deduced to be Melungeon is troubling. By surmising a connection when it cannot be shown." and then she went on to write in the review that this belief is contrary to the historical facts:  "Tennessee Melungeons And Related Groups”- Dr. Virginia Easley DeMarce Historian Branch of Acknowledgement and Research, Burea Of Indian Affairs Washington DC

                                                                                       

 “Fact. The actual, factual history of social isolate settlements are going to be written by genealogist and family historians: document by individual document, fact by painstaking fact. The function and duty of the individual historian and the genealogist is to demystify and to demythologize."  "When we know the origins of each individual Melungeon family, we will know the origins of the Melungeons. When we know the orgins of each family in 'other' social isolates, we will begin to understand their genesis and development." (Dr. Virginia DeMarce Speech in the 1996 NGS conference)

 *The Origin of the Melungeons has been scientifically proven by DNA. “The Melungeons of the early 19^th century were the offspring of African-American men and European-American women and is defined even more by the Family Finder  and 23andme DNA tests.  Add this knowledge  to DeMarce written factual records  and each  individual Melungeon descendant  can correctly trace their family tree. 

  

Melungeon was one of the Clans studied by Edward T. Price in 1950-53.

Geographic Analysis of White-Negro-Indian Racial Mixtures in Eastern United States.              

Edward T. Price, Los Angles State College 

1-The Melungeons -Centering in Hancock County, TN,  reached Newman Ridge and Blackwater Valley in then Hawkins County, now Hancock County in the 1790’s    2-Redbones- Louisana 3-Cajans-Alabama, Mississippi 4-Cereoles- Mississippi  5-Dominickers-Georgia  6-Brass Ankles- South Carolina 7- Croatans-North Carolina and South Carolina 8- Cubans -North Carolina 9-Browns Branch, Kentucky 10-Cubans,  11- Magoffin - Kentucky  12-Issues, Amherst County, Virginia 13- Irish Creek -Virginia 14- Carmel Indians-Ohio 15-Wesorts, Maryland 16-Darke Country, West Virginia 17-Guineas-West Virginia 18- Nanticokes, Maryland 19-Moors and Nanticokes, Maryland 20- Keating Mountain-Pennsylvania,  21-Pools, Pennsylvania  22- Jackson Whites, New York and New Jersey 23- Bushwhackers-New York 24-Slaughters- New York.

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