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Melungeon DNA Project

Project Information and Goals

Amateur and professional genealogists and historians have been researching records, newspapers articles, Bibles, church records and more, plus listening to family stories for years to try and document the Melungeon people. 

The Melungeon Project is a study of males and females who have proven known Melungeon ancestors, according to old records, and agreed on by some of the top serious Melungeon researchers. The participants must descend in a genealogical useful line; i.e., father to son to son, etc. for the Y chromosome testing and Mother to daughter to daughter, etc. for the mtDNA testing. The DNA results, combined with extensive genealogy research, hopefully will open some new windows for research on the Melungeon people. 

DNA information is to be used in conjunction with historical and traditional research. DNA results do not often “prove” a relationship, but can be quite helpful in guiding research. If a profile does not match, obviously a hypothesized relationship may be incorrect. At other times it may point to an unknown adoption in the family, or some other so-called non-paternity event.

Everyone joining must present genealogy in a reasonable time.

There will be two groups

Group 1: Core Melungeon

Group 2: Melungeon related

Bunch, Goins, Gibson, Minor, Collins, Williams, Goodman, Denham, Bolin, Mullins, Moore, Shumake, Boltons, Perkins, Mornings, Menleys, Breedlove, Hopkins, Mallett, with various spellings of these names. More names may be added as this is an ongoing research project and these names will be in Group 1.  If these names are in your family but are not in a direct line that follows Y DNA or mtDNA testing you will be in Group 2.

 

                                                                                                             

"Then came forward sister Kitchens and complained to the church against Susanna Stallard for saying she harbored them Melungins."  Stony Creek Baptist Church, Fort Blackmore, Scott County, Virginia

 

William McGill (Justice of the Peace, Hamilton County TN)

Question:
Was this character that of a white person or negro, or of what race did he have the character of being?
Answer:
He was a mixed blooded man in some way, that was his character. We generally called them Malungeons when we talked about the Goins and them—the Goins that were mixed blooded.

 

Q. Of what race of people was Solomon Bolton? What did he and his family claim as to be his nationality? How was he treated and recognized in the community where he lived?
A. I don't know of my own knowledge what race of people he belonged to. I often heard Bolton say that he was Portugese. I have often heard his wife say the same thing. He was treated and recognized in the community in which he lived as such.  (Shepherd Trial, Hamilton County TN.)

 

June 9, 1874
Lucinda Bolton Davis
My father was a Spaniard and his mother a blue eyed German. My mother was an American,  was born in America. I don't know what nation she descended from.  (Shepherd Trial)

 

“Vardy Collins, Shepherd Gibson, Benjamin Collins, Solomon Collins, Paul Bunch and the Goodmans, chiefs and the rest of them settled here about the year 1804, possibly about the year 1795, but all these men above named, who are called Melungeons, obtained land grants and muniments of title to the land they settled on and they were the friendly Indians who came with the whites as they moved west. They came from the Cumberland County and New River, Va., stopping at various points west of the Blue Ridge. Some of them stopped on Stony Creek, Scott County, and Virginia, where Stony Creek runs into Clinch River. --- The old pure blood were finer featured, straight and erect in form, more so than the whites and when mixed with whites made beautiful women and the men very fair looking men. These Indians came to Newman’s Ridge and Blackwater. Some of them went into the War of 1812-1914 whose names are here given; James Collins, John Bolin and Mike Bolin and some others not remembered; those were quite full blooded."  Lewis M. Jarvis interview 1903 Hancock County Times.

DNA 101: Y-Chromosome Testing, John Blair's site:

 http://blairgenealogy.com/dna/dna101.html

 

An Overview and Discussion of Various DNA Mutation Rates and DNA Haplotype Mutation Rates

by Charles F. Kerchner, Jr.

http://www.kerchner.com/dnamutationrates.htm
 
Y DNA Inheritance Chart, Created by Dennis West, to illustrate the path of the Y-chromosome
http://web.utk.edu/~corn/westdna/west7.htm
 

HISTORY OF THE MELUNGEONS

http://www.geocities.com/ourmelungeons/history  

 

EXAMINING MELUNGEON HISTORY AND GENEALOGY

http://www.jgoins.com/emhistory.htm

PLEASE NOTE:

 The Core Melungeon Project volunteer administrator has no commercial affiliation with any profit making organization and receives no compensation for services or expenses involved with the project.

 

NOTE:  If you have historically known Melungeon ancestors, and already belong to a DNA Project, you may join us as your second project, when you do, your results will be moved to our site.  Or, if you are interested in our project and have not been tested contact jg@jgoins.com or click here.

 

By setting up a Family Reconstruction Project at Family Tree DNA, the Core Melungeon DNA Project Group is taking advantage of a substantial group discount. It also allows us access to the test results, so we can see whether each of the lines is related (or not related) to one another.
 

Wondering how to collect the DNA sample?

Visit the Dorsey "DNA Collection" link:

http://www.davedorsey.com/dna.html

Sometimes testing our own Y or mtDNA will not get us back to the fore-parent whose test we need. If you can't be tested for a known Melungeon line, you can help by donating money to help those who can be tested.  Go here for further information:  Donation

Historical Melungeon Websites:

The Best Melungeon Page on the Internet

Jack Goins Website

 

 

 

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