I am responding to Virginia Demarce's "essay-review" of my book,

"The Melungeons: The Resurrection of a Proud People," as

published in the June, 1996 issue of "National Genealogical

Society Quarterly."  Although Demarce's "review" covered an

extraordinarily lengthy sixteen pages, I am keeping my response

to one-third the space allotted to DeMarce in expectation of its

unedited inclusion in your next issue. 

First, it is unfortunate that the NGQ is published quarterly, since

this enforces a three month delay between DeMarce's attack and

any possible response on my part [a fortuitous circumstance for

DeMarce - a former President of the National Genealogical

Society - whose previously published works strongly conflict with

the theories set forth in my book].  I can only assume that, with

the receipt of my response, that the playing field will now be

equalized and that, in fairness to me, DeMarce will likewise be

forced to wait three months before responding via the next issue.

Second, Virginia'a scathing and personal attack misses the point

of the book.  It is a book of speculation begging for more inquiry

and stating the author's limitations from the outset.  As Virginia

points out - and as I admit early and often in my book - I am not a

professional historian, anthropologist, physician, or genealogist,

but simply a human being who, after a debiliating illness,

stumbled onto something that I found to be both intriguing and

deserving of further research, but being generally ignored - and

even ridiculed - by those I considered to be more qualified

researchers.  My book is an up-front call for help from qualified

scholars, with the entire premise of the book being "Here is

something worth examining...I know there are errors in my

work...please help solve this mystery."  Most reviewers quickly

grasped the nature of the book, agreed with the intriguing nature

of the evidence, and accepted the book for what it was intended to

be.  An example of the result I sought can be seen most recently in

historian William Anderson's review in the February, 1996 issue

of "The Journal of Southern History."  Anderson, who takes

no stand either way, at least understood the thrust of the book and

concludes his review with precisely the message I had hoped for:

"Kennedy had not intended to produce the final word on the

Melungeons.  However, he has presented new ideas to explore."

Virginia's "review" seeks to dismiss and discourage any further

inquiry into the origin of the Melungeons, does nothing to

encourage team work, and absolutely incites needless bickering

and unnecessary hard feelings.  One can only deduce that she is

threatened in some way by further research into the Melungeon

question and must resort to venomous and personal attacks in

order to halt such efforts.  For the record, I am here to stay, at

least until God decides my work is finished.  And attacks such as

this only serve to motivate me further.  I will not go away.

Third, Virginia conveniently does not mention that in early 1994 I

made several indirect requests via mutual acquaintances- and two

direct written requests - for her assistance and involvement prior

to the publication of the book - to no avail.  Not even a response. 

The first -and only - communication received by me from Virginia

DeMarce was more than two years later (early June, 1996) when

she notified me by mail that her review of my book would be

published in the June issue of "National Genealogical Society

Quarterly."  Our Melungeon related records are considerable,

and include numerous documents and much data never seen by

DeMarce.  All have been offered to her for review from the

beginning, but she has shown no interest.  DeMarce's mind is

obviously made up and I suspect nothing will change it.  A closed

academic mind runs the great danger of becoming a pedantic

dinosaur in a modern world where intimidation no longer serves

as a sufficient tool to discourage unwanted inquiries and, even

more threatening, actual enlightenment.

Fourth, DeMarce is in extreme error when she suggests that I have

done no research regarding my bout with sarcoidosis, insinuating

that mine is an isolated case.  There are more than two dozen

documented cases of sarcoidosis among fellow Melungeon

descendants in my tiny home town of Wise, Virginia alone. 

Hundreds more fill our files.  Physicians in Wise, Abingdon,

Virginia, and Kingsport, Tennessee are assisting in tracking the

flow.  I am in touch with two Lumbee Indians who also share this

illness with me.  Other cases are surfacing regularly, having been

previously misdiagnosed as chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus,

Lyme's Disease, etc.  DeMarce might have known this had she

been willing to communicate with me, but the truth would have

taken away her artificially potent lead argument in the review. 

Also conveniently overlooked by DeMarce are a half dozen

confirmed cases of the extremely rare genetic disorder Machado-

Joseph Disease among Melungeon descendants (most recently an

elderly East Tennessee male now cooperating with Portuguese

geneticists at McGill University, and an eastern Kentucky woman

diagnosed with MJD this Spring at Johns Hopkins, who has also

been referred to McGill).  Other rare genetically based diseases

confirmed among Melungeon descendants include Behcet's

Syndrome - named for the Turkish physician who first identified

this predominantly Middle Eastern eye and joint disorder and, of

course, literally hundreds of cases of thalassemia.  Obviously

DeMarce is unaware of this line of research.  Furthermore, Dr.

James Guthrie's gene frequency study of 177 east Tennessee and

southwest Virginia Melungeon blood samples ["Tennessee

Anthropologist," Spring, 1990) indicates no significant

differences between Melungeons and populations in Spain and

Portugal, North Africa, the Middle East, and the Aegean region of

Turkey.

Fifth, DeMarce accuses me of redefining the meaning of

Melungeon (at least in comparison with her definition) and

expanding the perceived range of these people.  This is the point

of the book and I happily plead guilty, thanks to the incredible

diluge of data from other Melungeon related families!  I am

convinced -as are others - that the original "Melungeon"

population was much larger than DeMarce supposes and,

consequently, Melungeon descendants are far more numerous

than DeMarce calculates.  I base this on the sheer number of

geographically based responses we have received from individuals

related to one another claiming the same heritage, the legends of

similar origins (e.g., Portuguese, Turkish, Moorish) among such

related subgroups as the Melungeons, Redbones, Carmel Indians,

the Brown People, the Cubans, the Guineas, the Brass Ankles, the

Lumbees, etc.), the Melungeon connection to numerous

southeastern tribal groups, and the growing evidence that

sixteenth-century America was far more ethnically diverse -and

politically complicated -  than DeMarce realizes. 

DeMarce incorrectly assumes that a "white" or "black" census

record means just that.  The point of the book is that it doesn't!  I

couldn't help but smile as DeMarce set about to prove that my

ancestors were "white" according to the old census records.  Of

course they were, just as I am "white."  That's how we survived

and also how our heritage - whether Melungeon, Native

American, or African was lost.  My coarse black (and gray!) hair,

my deep tanning ability, my total lactase deficiency, my Asian

shovel teeth, and my central Asian skull bump - to say nothing of

my sarcoidosis -all tie me to non-white ancestors [Middle

Eastern/Native American/African] that I knew nothing of until I

began this journey.  And that DeMarce says do not exist!  In a

more personally painful family connection between my family and

the east Tennessee Melungeons (a connection that DeMarce

likewise insinuates does not exist) I, along with my great-great

aunt, a Robinson/Mullins, share the near-mythical, rare, but very

real Tennessee Melungeon characteristic of having been born with

six fingers on each hand.  Yes, Virginia, it's true and I have the

surgical scars and medical records to prove it.  And, yes, I've seen

the same hand structure on two equally unfortunate Melungeon

"cousins" from the Blackwater section on the Hancock County,

Tennessee/Lee County, Virginia line.  While it was a source of

intense emotional pain for me as a child, as it has been for them,

it's suddenly one more little piece of evidence tying me to the

Melungeons that I'm sure even Virginia will appreciate.

Sixth, "Melungeon" is not an ethnic group per se, which DeMarce

undoubtedly understands intellectually but fails to grasp

emotionally.  It was a phrase (most likely "melun can" - a

Turkish term meaning "cursed soul" and pronounced identically to

"Melungeon") used as a self-descriptive term by a large group of

mixed race, darker-complexioned people who were trapped in a

hostile environment.  As such, the term stuck with the various

spin-off groups who migrated here and there but were spawned

from this original population.  Just as many Americans who

possess a Scots-Irish surname from an ancestor who preceeded

them by seven generations proudly proclaim their "Ulster" blood,

so did the legacy of the earliest Melungeons continue far beyond

the original settlers.  DeMarce seems to have trouble with this

concept, but it is no different than the 40 million "Irish" who

magically appear each St. Patrick's Day.  Dark people are equally

entitled to recall - and celebrate - their heritage as well.  There are

far more Melungeons than DeMarce ever imagined.  I had no idea

either until they began to seek me out, which is also what led me

to write the book.  An enormous number of people have been

aware of this heritage, but frustrated in their efforts to learn more

about themselves because of the prejudices of researchers who

deny its relevance, and even its existence. 

DeMarce inadvertantly supported the heart of my thesis by

pointing out the obviously erroneous census records which list

many of my ancestors as "white"!  I'm certain I have other

ancestors who fell into the "black" classification but were

irretrievably lost to us because of our "white" ancestors' attempt to

both escape such a classification and to distance themselves from

those relatives who were unable to achieve the prized "white"

status.  This is what prejudice and ethnic cleansing are all about. 

Virginia DeMarce needs to recognize that history is not cold,

impersonal lines inked on yellowed paper, but instead is reflected

in the human beings who live and experience it.  Although I

cannot imagine that DeMarce is unfamiliar with these works, I

suggest she re-read two excellent articles that will explain the

tragic consequences of "documentary genocide."  Jeffrey L.

Hantman's "Monacan Archaeology and History "and J. David

Smith's "Legal Racism and Documentary Genocide," both

published in the Spring/Summer, 1992 issue of "Lynch's

Ferry." 

Seventh, tied to the above subject, J. David Smith's article also

addresses in some detail the horrific racist activities of Dr. W.A.

Plecker, the Commonwealth of Virginia's Registrar of Vital

Statistics.  I am puzzled over DeMarce's implication that I am self-

centeredly upset with Plecker for his brutal and punitive control

over, in DeMarce's words, "Kennedy's people."  I never said that! 

I was - and continue to be - appalled over Plecker's brutaility

toward all darker complexioned people: Native Americans,

African-Americans, Melungeons, and other mixed race groups. 

This is but one of several glaring examples of DeMarce putting

her words into my mouth and then criticizing me for supposedly

saying them.  I have enclosed a copy of a letter written by Plecker

in 1930 which I believe illustrates the depravity of this man and

also sadly illustrates how our census and other genealogical

"records" are often created.  If racial classifications were being

determined a century ago in the same manner as Plecker was

determining them for the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1930 (and

well into the 1940s), then the paper trail that DeMarce depends so

heavily upon is virtually worthless.  And I believe such to be the

case.  I know the prejudice my "white" family suffered despite

achieving their desired classification - a classification that was

NOT readily accepted by their neighbors in Wise County.  I

would be interested in seeing Virginia DeMarce sit across a table

from my Mother, my great aunt Helen Nash Mayo, my uncle

Vernoy Moore, and other family members, stare into their Asian

and Mediterranean and African faces, and tell them that their pain

and suffering was purely "fiction," as she asserted in her "review." 

They have read her "review" and, after finally gaining the courage

to speak openly of their past experiences as victims of prejudice,

were pained by DeMarce's clinical - and incorrect - assessment of

their personal realities.  Their reaction, however, was illuminating,

for I saw first hand how easily people can be hurt and how entire

ethnic groups can be intimidated into silence by those they

perceive as "educated" or "powerful." 

Prior to 1788, the English parliament - with a straight face and all

the necessary "legal" apparatus- held that the British had preceded

the Aborigines to Australia and used this farce as justification to

confiscate Aboriginal lands.  This is the same government that

created our census gathering machine and set the American

standard for classifying people for years to come.  DeMarce's trust

in our early records far exceeds mine.  Virginia is a fabulously

talented genealogist, a wonderful stickler for detail.  Her skills

are, at least to a layperson like me, incredible (which is why I

earlier sought her assistance).  But the end result of the

application of her skills is only as valid as the records with which

she is working.  And this is her great weakness: her unquestioning

acceptance of old records as accurate records.  She will never

know the full truth based on the written record.  Ask the Jews of

Germany, or the Bosnian Muslims, or the American Indians.  And,

yes, ask the Melungeons.  I question the records now and I will

continue to question them because I am a thinking human being

who can see the incongruities, both in the written records and in

the faces of my family.  I believe the attached letter from W.A.

Plecker - a clear effort to create through bribery a false written

record - will further illustrate this point in a manner directly

linked to the Melungeons.

Eighth, contrary to DeMarce's statement that I lack an

understanding of historical events, I instead assert that DeMarce

remains mired in a 1950s concept of southeastern population

patterns - and the antiquated census data that supports these

presumed patterns - and that this dogmatic approach to ethnic

categorization has severely limited her ability to move forward. 

DeMarce also fails to grasp that historical research also moves

forward.  We learn more every day about the pyramids of ancient

Egypt, Viking explorations of the New World (a concept once

ridiculed by people like DeMarce), and human habitation in the

New World thousands of years before 1950s scholars would ever

have conceived possible.  History is not a static, unchanging,

neatly compartmentalized personal toy.  It belongs to all

humanity, and begs to be constantly reviewed in light of new

knowledge. 

In this regard, research coming from scholarly teams at the

University of Istanbul and the University of Marmara (headed by

the respected Ottoman scholar, Dr. Zekeriya Kursun), among

others, as well as the growing evidence of a heavier Spanish and

Portugese presence (witness the outstanding archaeological work

at Santa Elena by team member Dr. Chester DePratter and the

eminent Stanley South, as well as related research by Spanish

researcher Eloy Gallegos and Portuguese researchers Manuel

Mira and Fernanda Rodrigues) will soon serve notice that our

shores were far more multi-cultural than DeMarce has ever

imagined.  My research, as well, is not a trivial pursuit: in October

I will be making my fourth journey to Turkey for the specific

purpose of cooperative research.  To castigate those who simply

want to know the truth, and to ridicule our ancestors who seemed

to know who they were, serves no humane - or scholarly - purpose

other than to defend the personal agenda (and previously

published work) of Virginia DeMarce. 

Ninth, beyond the legends and folklore of our origins, and the

powerful genetic and medical evidence, DeMarce also seems to

dismiss the staggering linguistic connections that are difficult to

explain without taking into consideration a broad-based

admixture between possible Ottoman/Mediterranean cultures and

Native Americans and southeastern "whites.".  A few examples of

more than 200 already identified:

The Cherokee term for themselves was "ani yun wiya," meaning

"the principal people."  The Ottoman term for "the principal

people" was - and still is in modern Turkish, "ana yogun -

pronounced identically since the Turkish "g" is silent.

The old name for Kentucky was "Kain Tuck," meaning "dark and

bloody ground" in the local "Indian" dialect.  "Kan tok" is Turkish

for "full of blood."

The top tribal administrator for the Creek Indians was called a

"mico."  A "mico" held the same position on a sixteenth-century

Ottoman galley.

"Hodja" is the Creek Indian word for the tribe's wisest and

strongest warrior; "hodja" is also the Turkish word for the most

respected teacher in the Muslim community.

The Cherokees wore turbans and Ottoman style robes.  The

Creeks wore the fez.  And when the Creeks were driven into

Florida they changed their name to the "runaways," - "Seminole"

in their language.  "Sami nal" is old Ottoman, meaning literally

"Semites who gave up."

Croatian and Bosnian sailors almost always sailed with the

Ottoman navy.  They called themselves "Croatan" - nearly

identical to "Croatoan" - the same mysterious "Indian" group the

Lost Colonists supposedly left with, leaving the infamous carving

on the tree for future historians to ponder - and argue - over.  This

connection, if pursued and borne out through research, could add

great credence to the Lumbee's longstanding claims of origin -

including the sometimes scoffed at Lost Colony connection.

It is well documented that the late nineteenth-century Melungeons

of east Tennessee and southwest Virginia called a watch or a

timepiece a "satz," variously spelled as "sotz." (see John Rice

Irwin's "Alex Stewart: Portrait of a Pioneer," 1985).  The

Turkish word for a timepiece of any sort is "saat."

The Turkish word for "huge noise" is "Ne yaygara" - yes,

pronounced identically to "Niagara."

The Turkish term for "good cotton" is "pamukey" (pamuk-iyi) -

quite similar to "Pamunkey," an eastern Virginia Native American

tribe to which many Melungeons claim a relationship.

The Creek word for God, "Sa-kee-tom-masee" is eerily similar to

the old Ottoman/Arabic term, "Saki-tam-Mesih," literally "the

giver (cupbearer) of the pure Mesiah."

"Pohotan" is Ottoman-Croatian for "cruel leader" and the

Ottoman-Croatian "Matorka" - meaning "precocious little girl" is

nearly identical to Pocahontas's real name of "Matoaka."

The old Appalachian term "gaum", meaning messy or sad, is

pronounced identically to the Turkish "gam," meaning messy or

sad.

The Hurricane section of Wise was originally called

"Fernanda";the Blackwater section of Lee County, "Dona" -

pronounced identically to the Portuguese "Dona" and meaning

bridal gift (different than the Spanish version of "Dona" meaning

"honored lady").

And this is merely the tip of the iceberg.  And even if all these

amazing similarities only prove to be some sort of great cosmic

coincidence, how can any thinking person not be at least a little

curious?  Virginia DeMarce is not.  I am, as are others.  And her

taunts and criticisms will not deter me - and others - from further

exploration.

Incidentally, I have just received a communication from Turkish

researcher Cevdet Kaya informing me that Ottoman archival

evidence indicates Ottoman sailors were taken to the Canary

Islands in both the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.  The

Canaries, of course, provided (along with the Portuguese Azores)

a significant percentage of New World settlers for Spain and

Portugal, an established fact which even DeMarce cannot argue

with.  In May, Turkish researcher/newspaperman Nuri Yilmaz of

"Turkiye Gazeti" discovered in Istanbul's Ottoman archival

records that, in 1558, the Portuguese sold to the British a sizable

number of Ottoman prisoners of war which the British Navy

purportedly planned on taking to the New World for labor

purposes.  And James H. Quill in his exceptionally well

documented  "Azores Islands: A History" (Golden Shield

International, Tulare, California, 1993) documents the pre-

Columbian Jewish and Ottoman (Moorish/Turkish) populations

that immigrated to the Azores to later serve as New World settlers. 

Guill asserts with documentation that "...Azorean settlement in

North America...was initiated in the early 16th century."  It

appears that Ottomans may have arrived on our shores in

numerous ways.  I am awaiting copies of Kaya's documents from

Istanbul's Ottoman library before including this data in either the

book or our updates.  But rest assured, the journey has only begun

and the book, as imperfect as it might be, has served its purpose to

rally qualified researchers.

Eighth, a few problems - some trivial, some serious - in DeMarce's

review that should be addressed:

*As my editor at the Mercer University Press will confirm, a line

was inadvertently left out under the photograph of Ida Powers

Kennedy.  She died in childbirth with her third child, not my

grandfather which she is obviously holding.  The mistake was

caught immediately after publication and with the reprint it will

be obvious how the deletion both occurred and was missed.  And

while DeMarce can suggest that, given Ida's aged appearance, she

probably wasn't Ida, she is wrong.  The woman in the photograph

is indeed my great-grandmother, Ida Powers. 

*While DeMarce may also question whether the photograph of

Major Pelham Colley is indeed Major Pelham Colley, I can assure

you, based on his identification by his daughter (my grandmother

who is in the photograph with him) as well as other family

members, he is indeed Major Pelham Colley.  Major was

approximately forty years of age in the photo and in my opinion

looks his age.  She is correct about the Colley ancestral line

containing errors:the new replacement lines (including Jasper

Colley and Margaret Sutherland) was submitted to the Press

approximately one year ago.

*DeMarce suggests that I am in error in believing French

Acadians would have added swarthiness to the Melungeon

population.  This is totally turned around.  I believe French

Acadians would have "lightened" the Melungeon population and

would have been accepted readily into it as "political" refugees as

opposed to "racial" refugees. 

*DeMarce criticizes me for including "Phoenician seamen" (page

148) among the probable Melungeon ancestries.  This is a blatant

falsehood - I discount this romanticized theory in my book and

DeMarce knows it.  Although someone may prove me wrong, I do

not believe ancient Phoenicians are part of the Melungeon

ancestral fabric, other than through the genes passed on to all

Mediterranean populations.  In fact, the thrust of the book is to

lay to rest such romantic notions as "lost tribes of Israel" and

"ancient seafaring Phoenicians."  I am convinced that the

Melungeons are indeed tri-racial and are descended from Native

Americans and sixteenth-century European, Mediterranean,

Middle Eastern, and African settlers - voluntary or otherwise. 

This is a pretty conservative theory, frankly, and I am bewildered

not only by DeMarce's frantic resistance, but her inexplicable

need to throw in the "Phoenician" line which I most certainly did

not say or even insinuate.  That was not a very nice - and

certainly not an honest - thing to do.

*Despite DeMarce's assertion, nowhere do I indicate that my

Colley forebears were the victims of undue racial prejudice (page

144 in DeMarce's "review").  This seems to be a common practice

in this alleged book review - inventing statements, attributing

them to me, then lambasting me for what I supposedly said.

DeMarce insinuates that simply because my ancestor, William

Roberson, couldn't spell his name, claimed to be Scots-Irish but

was born in London, and travelled through Robeson County,

North Carolina, that I suspect he was a Melungeon.  Virginia fails

to mention that William's family claimed to be Portuguese and

this claim is documented in my book and a critical piece of the

information.  Another "straw dog" created by DeMarce to mislead

the reader as to what I really said.

My "claimed ascent to Pocahontas," to use Virginia's words, is in

reality prefaced in the book by my statement that I cannot verify

it, but include it only because some of my family cling to its

authenticity, demonstrating at least some perceived connection to

the Powhatan tribes on the part of some family members. 

Virginia's statement, again, is misleading.

Because some of my ancestors were elected to public office,

DeMarce assumes that all my ancestors were "white."  I am

descended from many people.  Some were Scots-Irish, some

German, and so on.  But even election to public office, especially

in the nineteenth-century Appalachian region, does not guarantee

the "whiteness" of the electee.  I strongly suggest that DeMarce

familiarize herself with the work of emerging scholars such as

Darlene Wilson at the University of Kentucky, whose

groundbreaking work will, in my opinion, revolutionize the way

we look at race in the Appalachian Mountains.  Wilson's premise

- well researched - is that as Melungeons and other mixed race

groups migrated into sparsely settled areas, they successfully

"reinvented" themselves as "whites" thus making their way into the

political process and, occasionally, even re-defining both the

political process and even the definition of "white.".  Some of my

"elected official" ancestors probably benefitted from this same

phenomenon.  Any anthropologist upon examining my family will

tell you point blank that a great deal besides western/northern

European "white" is at play.  Which, again, is a major point of the

book.  DeMarce's near total adherence to the "official record" is

debilitating and illustrative of how the Melungeon heritage has

been stolen away.

In a strangely bizarre statement, DeMarce seems to express a bias

against Middle Easterners, providing possible insight into her

longstanding unwillingness to accept a more diverse origin for the

Melungeons.  She criticizes my ponderings on Vardy Collins, and

my inclusion of the oft mentioned "Navarrh" as a possible form of

his name - a form that his own family has historically associated

with him - that might tie him to an Iberian or Arabic origin.  She

dismisses this possibility with the chastisement that I have

overlooked "the solid pioneer Vardeman  that the man actually

was."  DeMarce's statement reeks of ethnic prejudice by

insinuating that if Vardy was Arab or Portuguese that he

obviously wasn't a "solid pioneer."  Regardless of Vardy's

ethnicity he was still Vardy Collins and most certainly a pioneer,

Arab, Portuguese, or otherwise.  But there is a possible twist of

fate along another line that still casts a shadow over DeMarce's

rationale.  Since the publication of the book I have learned that

"Var duman" - yes, pronounced just like "Vardeman" - is Turkish,

meaning, amazingly, "everything is hopeless" or, literally, "all that

one possesses has gone up in smoke."  Perhaps coincidental, but

how appropriate for this old Melungeon who had indeed suffered

greatly. 

And I am greatly puzzled by DeMarce's making light of the

possibility that Mediterranean/Middle Eastern immigrants might

have Anglicized their names in order to survive in an Anglo world

(page 147).  James Guill (above mentioned author) presents

several cases of Portuguese doing just that upon their arrival in

America.  I have an Arab Lebanese born friend whose name is

now Mike Anderson, and  Native Americans did it en masse.  My

wife is an enrolled member of the White Earth Band of the

Minnesota Chippewas, but her people are all Branleys and

Morrisons.  Why should this seem so strange to DeMarce?  It's a

fact of American life, and has been for centuries.

While I readily admit errors in my work - and time and again

caution readers in this regard - the above examples should

illustrate that no one is above making errors.  But errors are

gauged in matters of kind, as well as degree.  And as I said earlier,

the error of accepting early American census records as

unalterable fact may be the most egregious - and far-reaching -

error of all. 

Finally, some readers may be interested to know that a revised

edition of the book with genealogical corrections and expansions

(made over the past two years thanks to those who heeded my

plea) and significantly updated genetic, medical, historical, and

cultural data is due out in November.  The basic theories I

propose in the first book remain unchanged, but are more heavily

supported by data collected since the first printing.

In summary, the real importance of the Melungeon story goes far

beyond any trivial need for me or anyone else to "prove" their

ancestry.  And it goes far beyond any historical, cultural, or

medical benefits that may result from keener self knowledge

(though it is not an insignificant health benefit to know one's full

ethnic and racial heritage).  No, the real benefit of the Melungeon

story - and its legacy of incredible ethnic diversity - is that it ties

all races and all people together in a way that few other scenarios

ever could, or would.  And the lessons to be gained from such

demonstrated kinship are reaching the masses in a way that few, if

any, stories have ever accomplished before.  I speak regularly to

youth groups, about the Melungeons in particular but hidden

racial and ethnic relationships in general.  And the results are

outstanding - young "white" and "black" and "Native American"

children marvelling in their newly discovered kinship.  For me,

this is a direction in which I plan on moving more fully toward,

leaving the work of genealogy to the genealogists and history to

the historians.  I have done my part, and while it wasn't done

perfectly I believe history will show that it wasn't done as badly as

some might have me believe.

A Challenge

I realize full well that research takes time.  I have access to the

evidence that has accumulated in our files since the book's

publication, and I see the efforts now underway by qualified

researchers in various fields.  It may take five years, or ten years,

or twenty years, but I am convinced - and am willing to wager my

professional and personal reputation on the certainty - that at

some point the evidence will undeniably prove a significant but

heretofore ignored Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and African

heritage that has influenced our southeastern racial, ethnic, and

cultural heritages.  If Virginia DeMarce is absolutely convinced

that such is not the case, as her "review" would certainly lead one

to believe, then I call on her to say so -in writing and, preferably,

in the NEXT issue of NGQ - so that future scholars can judge us

accordingly.  If she is willing to commit herself to a written

opinion, then time will take care of everything.  If she is not, or

prefers to continue dancing around the issue, then I strongly

recommend that she instead cease fighting those who would be

her friends and apply her considerable talents toward examining -

without prejudice and bias - the ever growing body of evidence

surrounding the diverse origins of the Melungeons.  We have

always been willing to listen to Virginia DeMarce, but we, too,

have minds and voices.

With appreciation for the opportunity to respond,

N.Brent Kennedy, Ph.D.

Vice Chancellor

Clinch Valley College of the University of Virginia

Wise, Virginia

August 15, 1996

September 1996

"The Appalachian Quarterly," a new historical and

genealogical quarterly to be published by Wise County Historical

Society of Wise County, Virginia, was announced September 1 by

Rhoda Robertson, editor.  She stated, that in association with Dr.

N. Brent Kennedy, Vice-chancelor of Clinch Valley College, the

society would compile, collect, preserve and protect genealogical

information on families of probable Melungeon descent.

The editor wrote:

"Like the mists that envelop the mountains, the

Melungeons are a people whose ancestry has been

shrouded in mystery.  However, through the efforts of Dr.

Kennedy and other researchers, the veil of secrecy

surrounding these proud people is being lifted, and their

unique heritage is being revealed.

The Melungeons are most likely the descendants of the

late 16th century Turks and Portuguese stranded on the

Carolina shores when the settlement of Santa Elena, South

Carolina was abandoned by the Spanish.  They later

intermarried with the Powhatan, Pamunkey, Chickahominy

and Catawba Indians.

After being abandoned in the outlying Spanish forts, they

setted in the Appalalchians and further intermarried with

the Cherokees and much later with the northern European

settlers, primarily the Scotch-Irish, becoming part of the

Ameican Melting Pot.

The word "Melungeon" is both Portuguese [white person]

and Turkish [cursed soul].  Today Melungeon descendants

can be found among all racial and ethnic groups.  Abraham

Lincoln and Elvis Presley have probable Melungeon

heritage through their maternal lines.

The Wise County Historical Society seeks to collect the

heritage and history of all persons of Melungeon descent. 

No history or genealogy of the Appalachian Mountains

would be complete without the Melungeons.  Therefore,

each issue of the quarterly will deal with Melungeon

ancestry.  The magazine will carry articles on the the

topics of linguistics, genetically transmitted diseases and

history.  Attention will be devoted to the history of the

Spanish settlements in Florida, the Moors, the Turks and

their settlements."

Dr. Kennedy wrote,

"The Melungeon Registry is an enrollment archive to

register Melungeon descendants and provide a site for

coordinating related family research activities.  While the

Registry requires at least on probable Melungeon ancestor

for membership, the true intent is to unify registrants in

community, civic, social professional and spiritual areas as

opposed to a purely physical sense.

The Registry is not meant to be , nor will it be permitted to

become, an exclusive club which will blatantly, subtly or

unfairly exclude others or excommunicate in an air of

preseumed ethnic or racial superiority.

Melungeon descendants can be found among all races and

ethnic groups and all descendants are invited to see

enrollment with the Registry.  All descendants of enrolled

members are automatically eligible for enrollment."

Melungeon descendants are invited to register their Melungeon

ancestors.  The society charges $10 for registration or $20 for the

registration and a subscription to "The Appalachian

Quarterly."  For details and registration forms, contact The Wise

County Historical Society, Box 368, Wise, VA, 24293.

You have been sent this message from [email protected] as a courtesy of the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com).

Arlee, I thought you would enjoy this.

Les

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Beneath Myth, Melungeons Find Roots of Oppression

WISE, Va. –– It usually begins simply enough. A blue-eyed, olive-skinned child asks a parent: Who am I? Where did our family come from? In the mist-shrouded hollows of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the answers have long been evasive.

When Brent Kennedy started questioning his origins, an aunt doused old family documents and photographs with gasoline and set them ablaze. "I hope you burn in hell," another relative told him.

Bill Fields grew up hearing an elaborate, romanticized, totally concocted genealogy traced back to a white matriarch captured by Indians.

Mary Ramsey Cameron's grandmother to this day refuses to even discuss the family tree. But a sympathetic aunt once whispered a melodic word that she implored Cameron to keep hush-hush:

Melungeon.

For generations in Appalachia, the word has been an epithet and worse. Melungeons, who have a mixed European, African and Native American heritage, have been maligned and denied their basic rights. They have been pushed off fertile land. They have been barred from schools. They have been prohibited from voting.

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Now something extraordinary is happening here up on Stone Mountain and along Tennessee's Newman's Ridge, two bastions where Melungeon ancestors retreated from the land confiscations but could not escape the slurs. Descendants of men and women who desperately tried to hide their backgrounds so they and their children could pass as pure white are researching and proudly embracing their mixed Melungeon roots.

"It's a betrayal of my ancestors," acknowledged Kennedy, a University of Virginia administrator whom many credit with sparking the interest in Melungeon studies. But, he added: "I'm also liberating them. We are finally getting to the point where we are justifying who they were."

When about 1,000 people who are--or suspect they may be--Melungeon gathered in Wise recently for a conference exploring often arcane theories about their origins, many said they hope to set an example for Americans of all races.

"This is a movement," said Connie Clark, head of the Melungeon Heritage Association and a Wise high school teacher who educates her students on their Melungeon links. "Some people don't accept or tolerate differences. Our mission is to show the world we are all one people. Who better to teach that than those of us who are mixed? Our ancestors were persecuted. We were raised believing we were white. And now we're saying we are not white. Race doesn't matter. Here we are, poor Appalachians, and we're leading a movement."

There probably would be no Melungeon movement if Kennedy hadn't gotten sick in 1988.

Suddenly, he couldn't walk. His vision blurred. His joints throbbed. After receiving a diagnosis of sarcoidosis, he began reading up on a disease primarily found in people of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean descent. That was odd. Kennedy's relatives had always said they were Scotch-Irish. To the chagrin of some relatives, he began delving into his background. He became convinced they were Melungeons.

When his condition improved, Kennedy reassessed his life, quit his job as a fundraiser for nonprofit organizations in Atlanta and moved home to Wise. His mission in life was to unravel not just one family's past but the elusive mystery of the Melungeon people.

Even the numbers of Melungeons are little more than guesses. Researchers believe some 75,000 people are proud of their Melungeon background. Another 250,000 know they're Melungeon and don't want to know anything more about it. Theoretically, millions could have a Melungeon ancestor and not know it.

Family surnames are often a hint. Mullins, Goins, Collins and Roberson are classics. Some Melungeons suspect Abe Lincoln, Elvis Presley and Ava Gardner may all have had some Melungeon blood.

But it can be difficult to trace. Historical records are sometimes sketchy and amorphous. Family sagas are often clouded with unfilled blanks and outright lies. When records do exist, Melungeons were variously described as "Portyghee," Indian, white or "free persons of color." Who could blame Melungeons for shunning census takers? Some historical accounts were contemptuously racist.

"The Melungeons are filthy, their home is filthy," read a 1891 report published in the magazine Arena. "They are rogues, natural born rogues, close, suspicious, inhospitable, untruthful, cowardly and, to use their own word, sneaky. In many things they resemble the Negro. . . . They are an unforgiving people, although . . . they are slow to detect an insult, and expect to be spit upon."

To this day, there are teenagers around Wise who can remember their parents' admonitions to behave or else "the Melungeons will get you."

Kennedy thought there had to be a more balanced, complete explanation of how Melungeons came to be a much-villified "tri-racial isolate," as academics tag them in what many Melungeons consider a dismissive box.

As his search broadened, Kennedy began attracting a group of academics, physicians and fellow Melungeons interested in probing Melungeon origins.

Partly through research, partly through extrapolation, they have proposed a raft of theories, which Kennedy outlined in a controversial 1997 book called "The Melungeons: The Resurrection of a Proud People; An Untold Story of Ethnic Cleansing in America."

They believe they carry the genes of sailors, explorers and indentured servants--all men--who coupled with Native American women in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

One thread suggests they may have links to Portuguese and Spanish settlers left behind from the Spanish colony of Santa Elena, which today is Beaufort, S.C. Another theory traces them to Ottoman Turks and Moors who were galley slaves aboard Spanish ships and may have been freed by Sir Francis Drake on Roanoke Island, N.C. Still another possible connection is Turkish and Armenian craftsmen working in Virginia settlements in the mid-1600s.

Some believe their very name, Melungeon (pronounced meh-lun-jun), may be a derivation of the Turkish Mulun can, which translates as "damned soul." As Anglo-Saxons moved to the New World, the theory goes, the dark-skinned people with European features who already were there were shoved off fertile land into the hinterlands until they ended up in the hardscrabble mountains of Appalachia.

None of this has been proved to the satisfaction of most academics. They caution that Melungeons may be leaping to conclusions. And though many Melungeons note the African component of their background, some critics suggest the focus on exotic Turkish links is an attempt to distance themselves from their black ancestry.

Virginia DeMarce, a former president of the National Genealogical Society, notes that Melungeon is neither a race nor ethnicity, but a melange of racial genes that differs in every Melungeon family. She dismisses the theory of a Turkish link as undocumented fantasy, and many academics concur.

"It's a myth designed to give them some self-esteem they never had," said David Henige, a University of Wisconsin historian who specializes in African oral traditions. "They fail to realize it's not accidental that there is no evidence of these things."

Research into Melungeons can be as significant for some African Americans as it is for white Melungeons. For Kevin Hayes, a technical manager for IBM in Atlanta, it may help explain why he and his mother were born with sixth fingers that were amputated at birth and why an aunt has diseases more typical among Mediterranean people.

"The African American community is more accepting of not being pure African," said Hayes, who discovered Melungeons while searching a genealogical site on the Internet. "This country is a greater melting pot than most people imagine. People of mixed heritage need to acknowledge it and speak out about it if we are going to have any hope of overcoming racism."

Science is beginning to shed some light on origins discarded or forgotten generations ago. DNA tests in 1990 on blood samples from 177 Melungeons are consistent with Mediterranean, especially Portuguese, traits. Testing for Turkish links is just beginning.

"It's at least possible," said Chester DePratter, a University of South Carolina archaeologist digging at the Santa Elena site and an adviser to the Melungeon Heritage Association. "The evidence is there for some things, and others you need to be cautious about interpreting."

Although the Turkish Embassy says its government takes no official position on Melungeons, many Turks have embraced the Melungeons as long-lost cousins.

The University of Virginia at Wise and Dumlupinar University in Ankara recently established faculty and student exchanges. The towns of Wise and Cesme on the Aegean coast of Turkey are sister cities. One of Cesme's main streets has been renamed Wise Avenue. Melungeon heritage tours to Turkey have been reciprocated by Turkish tours coming to Appalachia. In 1996, Cesme dedicated a "Melungeon Mountain" overlooking the sea; about 30 visiting Melungeons have their names on small metal plaques attached to trees on the bluff.

And the Melungeon Heritage Association has just been accepted into the Assembly of Turkish-American Associations.

"We were surprised at first, then extremely excited," said Guler Koknar, the executive director. "It's not a clear-cut connection. But we're supportive of it. Who are we to say: 'We don't want you'?"

For many Melungeons, who have puzzled over convoluted family histories and unusual diseases, the emerging explanations just make more sense.

Wayne Winkler, a radio station manager whose mother is Jewish and father is Cherokee, said tracing his heritage to Melungeons has given him a sense of belonging.

"On the reservation, I was the Jew," he said. "In Hebrew school, I was the Indian. With Melungeons, it's like a shoe that finally fits."

For many Melungeons, the debate over their roots is as much about class as it is about race. It's a message to non-Melungeon folk in Appalachia, and to the world at large: The days of judging us are over. We're judging ourselves now.

"Appalachia is that place where you ain't never gonna get white enough, but spent an incredible amount of time trying," said Darlene Wilson, a Melungeon sociologist. "You can't have a middle class unless you've got an underclass. America needed Appalachia the way Appalachia needed Melungeons."

Ever since President John F. Kennedy, Melungeons say, politicians have used the poorest and most disheveled among them for staged photos that stereotyped them as poor, crude and uneducated hillbilly moonshiners.

"This is about Appalachian people taking control of saying what we are," said Bill Fields, publisher of the Melungeon newsletter, Under One Sky. "The academics don't like it, but we're telling ourselves our own history. That hasn't happened before in this part of the country."

By Tim Hashaw

Available information INDICATES Thomas Gowen was the son of Mihil Gowen.  Those who disagree that Thomas was the son of Mihil and at least part African use the sole argument that Mihil's land was escheated at his death. "The last court records of Mihil Gowen INDICATE that  at the time of his death he had

no heirs because his land was escheated".  Note the use of the word

"indicate" as I use it in the first sentence of this letter.  As many

researchers show, the Virginia land of the 17th century "Negro" Anthony

Johnson was also escheated at his death though his many heirs are well

recorded.  As is documented frequently in colonial records "escheat" does not

necessarily equate to "no heirs."  See "Anthony Johnson" in  J. Douglas Deal,

"Race and Class in Colonial Virginia," Garland Publishing Inc.,New York. 

Escheat was not an absolute indication of absence of heirs, especially when

race was concerned, crimes were alleged, debts were owed or when heirs moved

on to other parts of the territory.

Furthermore, as Paul Heinegg shows, Thomas Gowen was referred to as a mulatto.

> Thomas1 Gowen (Michael1, John1), born say 1660, was living in Westmoreland

> County between 1693 and 1702 when he was involved in several minor court

> cases, both as defendant and plaintiff, for debts. In 1703 he provided

> security of 2,000 pounds of tobacco for Chapman Dark that he would return

> to the county after travelling to Maryland to get testimony that he was a

> free man. On 1 March 1704/5 the court ordered him to pay Edward Barrow

> 1,200 pounds of tobacco which Thomas lost to him in a horse race [Orders

> 1690-98, 90, 244a, 250a; 1698-1705, 33, 39a, 56a, 109, 174, 190a, 190,

> 238a, 254a]. He was called Thomas Goin of Westmoreland County on 8 June

> 1707 when he was granted 653 acres in Stafford County below the falls of

> the Potomac River. This land was adjoining Robert Alexander's land

> according to a 29 May 1739 Prince William County deed [Gray, Virginia

> Northern Neck Land Grants, 39, 125]. In an 8 May 1767 land dispute a

> seventy-year-old deponent, Charles Griffith, related a conversation which

> he had with Major Robert Alexander forty-three years previously in 1724.

> Major Robert Alexander, who owned land adjoining the Gowens, supposedly

> said of them, he had a great mind to turn the Molatto rascals (who were then his

>> tenants) of[f] his land

> Griffith further stated that

> he was at a Race in the same year where the Goings were (who then had

> running horses) and that the old people were talking about the Goings

> taking up Alexanders land and selling it to Thomas and Todd which land the

> old people then said was in Alexanders back line or at least the greatest

> part of it ... and if it were not for the Alexanders land ... the Goings

> would not be so lavish of their money of which they seemed to have plenty

> at that time ... [Sparacio, Land Records of Long Standing, Fairfax County,

>

"Thomas and Todd," mentioned in the abstract, owned 1,215 acres in Stafford

County on Four Mile Creek adjoining Robert Alexander on 3 August 1719 which

was land formerly surveyed for Thomas, John, William, and James Goins [Gray,

Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants, 69]. Later in his testimony Griffith

mentioned conversations with Thomas and James Gowen. Thomas' children may

have been10       i. William2, born say 1680.11       ii. James1, born say

1683.iii. Peter Goeing, born say 1690, granted 187 acres in King George and

Stafford counties adjoining Alexander Clements and Shrines' land on 7 October

1724, but the deed was canceled and the land granted to John Mercer [Northern

Neck Grants A:86]. "   

While certain researchers have offered various other reasons why Thomas was referred as a "molato", the easiest answer, to paraphrase Sherlock Holmes, is the best.  Thomas Gowen was part African.  The idea that Thomas' relationship to Mihil is "fabricated speculations" is nonsense. Evidence that Thomas was

not part African and not the son of Mihil Gowen is as much "fabricated

speculation" as the reverse. The documents "indicate," but do not absolutely

prove one theory or the other.  I will be honest and admit this, others will

not.   In my opinion, the testimony that Thomas was part African and was the son of Mihil Gowen outweighs the single issue of Mihil's escheated property as "evidence" that he had no heirs, when in fact he did have one documented

heir, William Gowen, who is claimed to have conveniently "died young."

Additionally, Heinegg identifies a number of "free Negroes" and other persons

of color as descendants of Thomas Gowen.  See

<A HREF="http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/Fagan_Gowen.htm">http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/Fagan_Gowen.htm</A>

Tim Hashaw

Houston, Texas

EAST INDIAN SLAVES IN COLONIAL AMERICA:

AN UNTOLD FACET OF AMERICAN HISTORY

By Francis C Assisi

Recent Articles published by Asian American Net

     The evidence is in. Indian American roots can now be

traced to within fifty years of the arrival of the first

English settlers in colonial America. That is, going back to

at least 350 years.

     Archival records of the 17th and 18th centuries,

examined by this writer over a period of 10 years, provide

us with unequivocal evidence that men, women and children

from the Indian subcontinent were brought to the colonial

settlements, via England, as indentured servants and slaves.

And their progeny, through intermarriage with Europeans or

Africans or Native Americans, merged seamlessly into the

African-American population.

     These records, along with the genealogies of certain

American families that trace their origins to colonial

America, lead us to East Indians and their mixed race

descendants indistinguishable from today's mainstream

American population. Moreover their Euro-American

names -such as Fisher, Dove, Bentley, Dunn, Mayhew, Creek

and Hayfield, - mask their ethnic background, making it even

more difficult to ascertain their origins.

     All this evidence comes from U.S. government documents,

in the light of which the history of Indian Americans and of

Asian Americans will need revision and re-orientation. It

also proves that, along with African Americans, Indian

Americans too are heirs to that abomination known as slavery

in America.

     Archival sources from the states of Virginia, Delaware,

Maryland, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, along with the

East India Company archives at the British India Office

Library, now confirm that indentured servitude was intrinsic

to the arrival, existence and survival of these men women

and children from India and whose progeny became part of the

slave population of that time.

     Court records, judgrees, land deeds, marriage and

church registers as well as diaries, letters and oral

narratives are major resources in reconstructing this

tantalizing East Indian presence in colonial America.

     We can be absolutely certain about this, because the

various petitions for freedom and court records clearly

identify them as  "East India Indians".

EAST INDIAN FAMILIES IDENTIFIED

     For example, the genealogical records of the

Mayhew/Mayhall family reveal that Thomas1 Mayhew, born 1708,

is identical to Thomas India who petitioned the Prince

George's County Court, Maryland, in March 1729, stating that

he was free born, baptized in England, and imported with his

mother into Maryland under indenture. He was detained as a

slave by Madam Eleanor Addison [Court Record 1728-9, 413].

     We can be sure of his East Indian origin because his

son Thomas (2) Mayhew (born 1735), who escaped from the

Prince George's County Jail, according to the 29 may 1760

issue of the Maryland Gazette, was described as "of a very

dark Complexion, his Father being an East-India Indian ...

formerly lived in lower Prince George's County" [Green, The

Maryland Gazette, 1727-61, 246].

     Two of the known descendants of Mayhew were Robert

Mayhall, "Mulatto" head of a Charles County household of 9

"other free" in 1790, and William Mahuel, head of a Queen

Anne's County household of 1 "other free" in 1790. Their

descendants are spread throughout Maryland and elsewhere in

the United States.

     The freedom petitions of East Indians and their

descendants provide the most authentic evidence that slavery

was part of the Indian American experience.

     Consider the case of William, an East India Indian

servant of Daniel Neale, who filed a suit in Westmoreland

County, Virginia, to gain his freedom. After hearing his

petition, the court ruled on 30 March 1708 that William was

a free man and 'ought not to have been sold as a slave' and

ordered Neale to pay damages to the tune of 30 shillings and

four bushels of corn. In his petition William told the court

that nineteen years ea  was 'fraudulently trapped out of his

native country in the East Indies and thence transported to

England and soon after brought into this country and sold as

a slave' to the Neale family.

     In 1780, an East India Indian named Hayfield petitioned

before Prince Georges County, Maryland, that he was brought

from London in 1770 by Captain Alexander Crystie and sold

into slavery to John Read Magruder.

     A Richmond County register of Wills and Inventories

reveal the 6 February 1705 petition of Sembo an East India

Indian servant to J.Lloyd Esq., for his freedom. Later that

year there is a petition of Moota, an East India Indian, who

was a servant to Capt Thomas Beale. Both Sembo and Moota

were 'ordered and judged' to be free. And on 2 May 1716 a

petition was heard relating to Anthony an East India Indian

versus Henry Long.

     The Bruton Parish Church, James City County, records

that on 12 August 1738, there took place the burial of an

East Indian belonging to Honble William Gooch, Esq.

     Nor was it just men who were brought from India;

records indicate that there were women and children too.

     The Virginia Archives (Microfilm Reel no. 58.  p 251)

inform us that on March 1699 Henry Trent of Accomack County

bought an East Indian servant by the name of Nick who was

just 11 years of age.

     And on 16 November 1713, Joseph Walker  of York County

'acknowledged his release and acquaintance to Moll an East

India Indian woman.' The record indicates that Moll was

imported into the colony by Joseph Walker in 1700 and then

sold to Jno. Tullet. There is also an 18 February 1716

petition of Eliza Ives for service from her East Indian

woman servant 'for the trouble of her house in the time of

her lying in', which was rejected by the court.

     In 1791 a grandson of Mary Dove named William Dowry

sued for his freedom in the General Court of Maryland. On

that occasion, Ann Ridgely, who was the daughter-in-law of

slave owner Leonard Thomas, testified that Mary Dove was a

tall, spare woman of brown complexion and was the

granddaughter of a woman imported i deponent's great

grandfather. The deponent told the court that she always

understood that the grandmother of Mary Dove was a "Yellow

Woman," had long black hair, was reputed to be an East

Indian or a Madagascarian, and was called "Malaga Moll."

Ridgely testified that Mary Dove had a daughter named Fanny

who was the mother of William Dowry the petitioner. Another

witness, a certain Alexander Sands, commonly called Indian

Sawony, also was a witness for Mary Dove, and testified that

her grandmother was an East Indian woman.

     Like many of their fellow slaves, the East Indians too

sought to escape from the oppression of slavery. The

Virginia Gazette recorded on 4 August 1768 that an East

India Indian named Thomas Greenwich ran away from his master

William Colston of Richmond County. Another runaway incident

involving an East Indian was recorded on 7 March 1771 when a

Virginia born African-American named Alexander Richardson

(21), and an East Indian 'upwards of 5 feet and a half high,

about 22 years old, of a very dark complexion' ran away from

the sloop Betsy out of Corotoman river, in Lancaster County.

In April 1737 an East Indian belonging to Mr John Heylin, a

Merchant in Gloucester, ran away accompanied by a 'mulatto

fellow named George'.

     On November 1734 a petition for freedom was filed in

Ann Arundel County by 32 year old Ann Fisher whose father

was an African, but whose grandparents were an East India

Indian servant (Peter) and an Irish woman servant (Mary

Molloyd) of Lord Baltimore. Records indicate that Lord

Baltimore was present at the marriage of Peter and Mary

Molloyd in St Marys City in 1678; their first child being

born in 1680.

     We are told through court documents filed in March 1779

in Ann Arundel County that another servant of Lord

Baltimore, identified as the Englishwoman Mary Davis, was

married to an 'East India Indian who came into this country

with Lord Baltimore'.  According to the 1780 petition of

Rosamond Bentley, Mary Davis had a daughter named Rose

Davis, who in turn had a daughter known as "In her of the

petitioner. In August 1781 the court ordered slave owner

Anthony Addison to release Rosamond Bentley from servitude.

Subsequently, other members of the same Bentley family also

won their right to freedom.

     The March 1736 petition of William Creek showed that he

was born in India, taken to England while very young,

converted to Christianity, and bound to serve an apothecary

named Harris. While under this service Creek earned the

displeasure of his master and 'was most unjustly and

clandestinely sent and consigned' to a captain John Burton

who brought him to Maryland and sold him to Samuel Chew.

After serving nineteen years instead of the stipulated

seven, Creek appealed to the court for his freedom or that

he be hired for wages. The court set him free.

     In November 1761 the court adjudged Juba a 22-year old

East Indian who belonged to the Estate of Benjamin Tacker,

Junr., to serve an additional two years.  John Williams an

East Indian servant boy earned his freedom in March 1706

from Richard Hodgson.

    In all this we have the first tangible evidence that

slavery is part of the Indian American heritage and

experience.

==============================

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