Melungeon Historical Society: IN SEARCH OF KINFOLKS LEFT BEHIND

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

IN SEARCH OF KINFOLKS LEFT BEHIND

IN SEARCH OF KINFOLKS LEFT BEHIND

by Jack Goins

In the April Newsletter I wrote about our need to research some areas where our ancestors lived prior to migrating to the Clinch River Valley beginning in 1795. When a large group of our Melungeon Progenitors left The Pamunkey River area of Louisa and Hanover County, Virginia they migrated to the Flat River which at that time was Granville County, North Carolina. This research is about the Flat River area and the people who lived here and the ones who stayed. Person County, North Carolina is bounded on the north by Virginia, on the south by Durham and Orange counties, on the west by Caswell, and on the east by Granville. My wife and I visited the Flat River area in Person County, North Carolina in 1997 and took the pictures that are in my books of the Flat River and the Flat River Primitive Baptist Church established in 1750. This area in Person County was then Granville County, became Orange in 1752. This was the location of the Melungeon Progenitors after selling their land in Louisa County, Virginia they migrated to this area and lived here for at least 17 years (1749-1767), they were sometimes enumerated as mulatto on land records and also on a 1755 tax list.

In this area there is a tribe of Indians and I wrote about them in the first chapter of my book, Melungeons Footprints From the Past. In the Person County Indian Group, a school census taken in November 1936, listed 346 persons in the community representing 76 families and the families averaged 6 to 8 children. (2-May 1937 Louise V. Nunn-A comparison of the social situation of two Isolated Indian Groups in Northern North Carolina. Submitted in partial requirements for a degree of Master of Arts, Columbia University, New York, New York-.80 pages.)

Who were the 76 families of Person County Indians and who are they today ?

Newspaper Article - 1948 THE INDIANS OF PERSON COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA, HISTORY OF A PROUD AND HANDSOME TRIBE OF INDIANS NEAR ROXBORO MAY BE CONNECTED WITH LOST COLONY MYSTERY; ABOUT 70 FAMILIES LIVE IN EXTENDED FARMING COMMUNITY

By Tom MacCaughelty

Durham Morning Herald, March 21, 1948

“As Indians, they never have been positively identified. Can they be, as their tradition holds, the long sought descendants of the friendly Indians who received the colonists of John White? Strangely enough, among the approximately 350 people in the scattered farming community, only six family names are represented: Johnson, Martin, Coleman, Epps, Stewart (also spelled Stuart), and Shepherd. Stranger still, three of these names correspond closely with those among the list of Lost Colonists: Johnson, Coleman, and Martyn. But theirs are common English names long familiar in North Carolina, and intermarriage with the proximity to whites would be expected to extend such names among them. (A seventh prominent name among this group is Tally.) As far back as anyone knows, these people have displayed the manners and customs of white settlers, but in this they don't differ from identified Indians.”

29 March 2003 – Courier-Times

State House OKs request from
Indians of Person County to change official name to ‘Sappony’

The Indians of Person County has been recognized under North Carolina law as the "Sappony" tribe. after the House passed a bill effecting a formal name change for the Indians of Person County, who have been officially known by that name for the past 90 years.
Caswell County was formed from the Northern part of Orange County, North Carolina in 1777 it included part of the Flat River, it was bounded on the North by Pittsylvania & Halifax Counties, Virginia. From looking at land and tax records John Collins on the Rocky Branch was still there.

1777 list                                                                                                                                                                                           Paul Collins 1 Martin Collins 1                                                                                                         Middleston Collins 1,
Obadiah Collins 1,
John Collins 1
Most of the Flat River Collins began migrated to the New River area in 1767, both John Collins Sr. & Jr. were on the 1771 tax list of Fincastle County, Virginia.
Person County was formed from Caswell County in 1791 and the Flat River was in the new county. I didn’t find any Collins on the 1800 census of Person County but did find an old Thomas Gibson, Edward Goin a family of 4 free colored, Enoch? Goin 7 free colored, Allen Goan 7 free colored. Johnson is the most popular surname on the census and is also a name among the Person County Indians.

A Startling Discovery

I received some valuable information from Sappony tribesman Stuart who told me there was a Rolen Collins who hung out with the Person County Indians at Woodsdale, late 1800s. Stuart also told me several from their group migrated to Hawkins County, Tennessee, including his great grandfather Thomas Stewart who married Eliza Epps daughter of Peter Epps, others in this group with the Stewarts were Johnson,Shepherds, Epps and Martin. He also told me many from this group are buried in the Jaynes/Shepherd Cemetery near Rogersville. I found it listed in our cemetery books at the archive. It is located off Hwy 66 on the Webb Road in the Choptack Community near Rogersville, Tennessee. I found the cemetery and took this picture Tuesday September 7, 2010.

Thirty nine people are buried here, five in unmarked graves. 5 Shephard, 7 Stuart, 3 Martin. They migrated to Hawkins County area in 1800s, their headstones are their witness that they died in Hawkins County: John H. Stuart b 7 April 1865, died 11 June 1898; Eliza R. Stuart born 16 March 1826, died 21 May 1893.

In my conversation with the caretaker of this cemetery, a Martin, was not aware of the Indian connection, but he did tell me years ago when the cemetery began, the land was owned by a Shephard family. I need to find someone in this area who knows about their ancient Person County Indian Ancestors.

http://www.ncperson.org/high_plains.htm#web_site

Like their website reads the Person County Indians now Sappony have never been positively identified. And their school was equally financed by Virginia and North Carolina. The first school was built on Green Martins land in 1888 and the cemetery in Hawkins County is run by a Martin 122 years later. I don’t find a connection or association between this mysterious group and the Melungeons except for the fact they lived on the same land around the Flat River in 1750. Maybe the answer to some of this will come from the Hawkins County descendants as this research continues.

Jack Goins

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5 comments:

UnknownJanuary 12, 2011 at 6:18 PM
Jack, do you know if any of these Martins have tested yDNA? Our family legend says that we go back to the 1790's to a Williams woman and an "unknown Cherokee". Well, when I tested my yDNA it matches a Martin line. Our family shows strong Indian features. Maybe this is my Martin line. Thanks, Randy Williams randywilliams@verizon.net
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phyllisMay 26, 2011 at 2:35 PM
My family of Shepherds came from Person County. My earliest ancestor was a Smith Shepherd born around 1831 married Ann Epps had two daughters Mary and Leah(my gggrandmother). Leah migrated to Robeson County and she was married to a Will Martin. We are Native Americans.
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First Use of the word Melungeon

The earliest known written use of the word "Melungeon" is in an 1813 Scott County, Virginia Stony Creek Primitive Baptist Church record:

"Then came forward Sister Kitchen and complained to the church against Susanna Stallard for saying she harbored them Melungins. Sister Sook said she was hurt with her for believing her child and not believing her, and she won't talk to her to get satisfaction, and both is 'pigedish', one against the other. Sister Sook lays it down and the church forgives her."

The Melungeons were found here:

LITTELL'S 1849

You must know that within ten miles of this owl's nest, there is a watering-place, known hereabouts as 'black-water Springs.' It is situated in a narrow gorge, scarcely half a mile wide, between Powell's Mountain and the Copper Ridge, and is, as you may suppose, almost inaccessible. A hundred men could defend the pass against even a Xerxian army. Now this gorge and the tops and sides of the adjoining mountains are inhabited by a singular species of the human animal called MELUNGENS.

BURNETT 1889

It appears that the Melungeons originally came into east Tennessee from North Carolina, and the larger number settled in what was at that time Hawkins County, but which is now Hancock. I have not been able to hear of them in any of the lower counties of east Tennessee, and those I have seen myself were in Cocke county, bordering on North Carolina.

DROMGOOLE 1890

The Ridge proper is the home of the Melungeons. These people, of whom so little is known, inhabit an isolated corner of the earth, known as Newman’s ridge, in Hancock county. First, I saw in an old newspaper some slight mention of them. With this tiny clue I followed their trail for three years. The paper merely stated that “somewhere in the mountains of Tennessee there existed a remnant of people called Malungeons,......I merely mention all this to show how the Malungeons of today are regarded, and to show how I tracked them to Newman’s Ridge in Hancock County.....

HUMBLE 1897

The Blackwater Valley lies between Mulberry and Newman’s Ridges, and is from half a mile to mile wide. Twenty years ago it was still a wilderness, but is now under good cultivation, and divided into small farms upon which are rather poor dwellings and outbuildings. In this valley and along Newman’s Ridge, reaching into Lee County, Virginia, are settled the people called Melungeons. Some have gone into Kentucky, chiefly into Pike County, others are scattered in adjacent territory.

OTIS 1900

These people are called the Malungeons. ................ ......The Malungeons number between 400 and 500. They live on Black Water Creek, in Hancock County, which section they have inhabited for more than 100 years. ................ The records of Hancock County show that the Malungeon ancestors came to Powell's Valley as early as 1789, when they took up lands on the Black Water.

JARVIS 1903

Greasy Rock Creek, a name by which it has ever since been known and called since, and here is the very place where these Melungeons settled, long after this, on Newman’s Ridge and Blackwater. ............these friendly “Indians” live in the mountains of Stony creek, but they have married among the whites until the race has almost become extinct. A few of the half bloods may be found-none darker- but they still retain the name of Collins and Gibson, &c. From here they came to Newman’s Ridge and Blackwater and many of them are here yet....

CONVERSE 1912

The northern end is drained by Blackwater Creek, which winds its way leisurely northeastward through narrow strips of verdant meadow land. Here, along the banks of this sparkling stream and on the top and eastern slope of Newman's Ridge, is the home of the Melungeons.

WILSON 1914

Occasionally the student of ethnology may stumble upon a community that is a puzzle, as, for example, that one occupied by the 'Malungeons' of upper East Tennessee.

MOORE AND FOSTER

So far as is known they were first found in Hancock County on Newman's Ridge, soon after the Revolutionary War. Now they are settled in several counties, although still most numerous in Hancock County.

PLECKER 1942-1930

We have in some of the counties of southwestern Virginia a number of so-called Melungeons who came into that section from Newmans Ridge, Hancock County, Tennessee..............

August 5, 1930
Mr. J.P. Kelly.Trustee of Schools,
Gap,Lee County, Virginia

Dear Sir: office has had a great deal of trouble in reference to the persistence of a group of people living in that section known as "Melungeons", whose families came from Newman's Ridge, Tennessee.

CAMBAIRE 1935

It seems the Melungeons came into Hancock County between 1810 and 1851.

OSBORNE 1947

From what I gathered from Uncle Wash, the Melungeons started coming to Wise and Scott Counties about 1820. These people came in about equal numbers from Kentucky from Newmans’ Ridge and lower end of Lee County. A few came from North Carolina.

WORDEN 1947

Whatever they are—the Malungeons still are on Newman’s Ridge, in Hancock, Rhea and Hawkins counties of Tennessee, and a few across the border in Virginia. Many are scattered by ones or twos miles from the isolated ridge top they occupied for so long.

E. PRICE

The persistent folk tale, however, insists that the Melungeons are unusual racially; it identifies them as a dark-skinned people whose center is on Newman's Ridge in Hancock County. The Newman's Ridge-Blackwater area seems to be the locality where they have the deepest roots.

VINCENT 1961

colony of folks in this end of Tennessee settled along Newman's Ridge, and on Mulberry Creek in what is now Hancock County, and a few miles out from Sneedville.

DAVIS 1963

Trapped in poverty, snubbed by their fair-skinned neighbors, some of them withdrew to the poor land along Snake Hollow, deep in the rattlesnake-infested gorge in the shadow of towering Newman’s Ridge. Some of them settled along the northern end of the valley, at the Virginia line, where Blackwater Creek flows, and some settled on the Ridge.

BERRY 1963

For a century and a half, the prolific Melungeons have migrated in all directions from Newman's Ridge. .... There are fifteen hundred in Lee County, Virginia....Five hundred are in Scott Count, Virginia........A thousand are found in Wise County, where they are known as "Ramps."

GAMBLE

The only true Melungeons left, however, reside in the nearby mountainside areas known as Snake Hollow and Mulberry Gap.

H. PRICE

they occupied Newman's Ridge---rough and steep in places, but offering some table land and numerous hollows. Here they located near springs or creeks.

S. PRICE 1968

But whatever their origin, the group eventually settled in Hancock County, along Newman's Ridge and in settlements known as Blackwater, Snake Hollow and Vardy.

NORDHEIMER 1970

Newman’s Ridge overlooks Sneedville, a poor community of about 700 persons near the Virginia border. In the early 19th century nearly 350 Melungeons settled on the ridge, coming down into the valley only on rare occasions to forage for wild vegetables and sell moonshine whiskey. They lived apart from the whites for generations. The ridge was a hilltop sanctuary against the outside world and its prejudice.

FETTERMAN (Price) 1970

They bore the Melungeon names which appear on Newman's Ridge: Collins, Mullins, Brogan, Goins, Gibson, Bowlin. They were free of the restrictive legislation aimed at slaves and former slaves during the 1700s and 1800s.

YARBROUGH 1972

Those left in Snake Hollow, Blackwater, Vardy and Mulberry - are few in number, Most have left the hills for jobs in cities far and near. And time is catching up with those remaining. In 1931 there were 40 Melungeon families living on Newman's Ridge above their ancestral home.

LYNCH 1973

And the white man forced them high into the Clinch Mountains, principally Newman's Ridge just outside present day Sneedville, Hancock County, Tennessee.

BIBLE 1975

In East Tennessee, they have spilled over into the neighboring counties in an extension of the Hancock County families...... ......... "Melungeon surnames were noted in southwestern Virginia as early as 1820, but the families were not classified until 1870, when the census enumerators in Lee County listed the county and state of birth of each person. Of forty-six families whos names suggest they were Melungeons, thirty had one or more members who had BEEN BORN IN HANCOCK or HAWKINS County. Eight had members born in Scott County, and at least one of these also had been born in HANCOCK COUNTY. One person was born in Letcher County, Kentucky of parents born in HANCOCK and Scott Counties. The adults of a Goins family (one of the few listed as mulatto) were born in Surry and Ashe Counties, North Carolina; their children were born in Knox, HANCOCK and Grainger Counties, Tennessee. This is the best direct evidence available to confirm the relationship between several different groups of Melungeons and the importance of NEWMAN'S RIDGE as a CENTER OF THEIR DISPERSAL, but it is evident that the secondary Melungeon localities were also fed from North Carolina and Virginia

HAUN

Most of the mountain people refer to them as Blackwaters and Ridgemanites.” But even in that long gorge, winding some 20 miles in a half-mile-wide band between Newman’s Ridge and Powell Mountain there are few “pure Melungeons” left today.

WINKLER 2003

The only people who were called Melungeon 100 years ago were those who lived in or near Hancock County, Tennessee--including Lee, Scott, and Wise Counties in southwest Virginia.

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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

IN SEARCH OF KINFOLKS LEFT BEHIND

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