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Searching for the truth - Mystery of the Melungeons takes a very interesting turn
By: KIM LOBRILLO, Tribune Correspondent February 10, 2005
For more than 200 hundred years the mysterious origins of the Melungeons has mystified many who were searching for facts.
Recent research compiled by the Melungeon Research Committee (MRS) reveals the most probable theory thus far.
N. Brent Kennedy is the founder of the MRC, and author of "The Melungeons, The Resurrection of a Proud People."
Kennedy's search for his heritage led to the conception of
MRC in 1992 and the in-depth research performed internationally by the MRC team. Many members of this team, including Kennedy, are Melungeon.
Hancock County Historian Dr. Scott Collins is a member of MRC.
Kennedy consulted frequently with Collins when writing his book.
According to information obtained from Collins, the research committee has discovered that Melungeons most likely descend from 16th century settlers, Portuguese and Spanish, who were abandoned or cutoff when the English overran the Santa Elena Colony, presently known as Beaufort, S.C., in 1587.
The MRC believes these settlers came to the coast of South Carolina in 1567 under the leadership of a Spanish captain, Juan Pardo. The settlers consisted of approximately 250 soldiers, their wives and children.
"Several forts were built around the borders of South Carolina and Georgia, and one near Chattanooga," Collins' information states. The settlers lived in and around these forts 20 years, "until the English arrived and ran them out of the area."
In addition, the research committee has reason to believe several hundred Turks and other Muslim sailors were put off ships at Roanoke Island, N.C. in 1586 by Sir Frances Drake.
"The evidence indicates that both (groups of settlers) intermarried with Native Americans, primarily Cherokees, Creeks, Catawba and Pamunkey," the information states, "and that the resultant populations were eventually pushed together in the mountains of western North Carolina and upper South Carolina where they merged."
Members of this community would later make claims of Portuguese, Moorish, Turkish and Native American descent to disbelieving Anglo-Saxons.
The term "Melungeon," is spelled based on how it sounded to the earliest Anglo settlers, Collins said. It most likely originated from the Turkish term "Melun can," pronounced the same way.
Melun can means "cursed soul," or "one who has been abandoned by God."
The Melungeons could not be classified as white, black, mulatto or Indian and were categorized as free persons of color. "Their significant land holdings were confiscated, they were denied right to education, voting and judicial process, and driven either westward or higher into the mountains of the Carolinas, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia," according to information supplied by Collins.
There are many more interesting theories and facts MRC has discovered. Kennedy's book goes to great length discussing each one in detail. Some of the more disturbing details chronicle the racism Melungeons have been forced to endure through the years, including the horror of a census that would not recognize their heritage.
Updates on MRC research reveal DNA and genetic research that links at least some of the current Melungeon population to the Mediterranean and Middle East through diseases they have acquired which are specific to those areas.
Some of these people live in East Tennessee and have never traveled overseas.
Speaking of East Tennessee, it would simply be unacceptable to discuss the Melungeons and make no mention of the legendary Mahalia Mullins, also known as "Big Haley."
In the mid-1800s, Mullins lived in a cabin on Newman's Ridge in Sneedville. It was widely known that she made and sold some of the best moonshine in those parts.
Many stories have been told through the years focusing on this particular aspect of her life. Had Mullins' size not been an issue, she almost certainly would not have earned such an infamous place in most history written about Melungeons.
Mullins was obese, weighing an estimated 500 or more pounds.
When a young deputy, who had been sent to arrest Mullins for selling illegal alcohol, appeared before the judge without her in tow, he was said to have told the judge in a most serious manner, "She's catchable, but not
fetchable."
Apparently, when the deputy went to Mullins' cabin she was, by all accounts, most amicable. She did not refuse to give herself up. They simply could not get her out of the cabin-Mullins was too large to fit through the narrow cabin door.
She spent the rest of her life under house arrest inside of her cabin. They most likely weren't too concerned about her being a flight risk.
Besides, Mullins was not a thief or a murderer. She was a widow and mother trying to support her children. Making moonshine was a common occupation, albeit illegal, for many mountain folks back then.
There just weren't a lot of employment opportunities available, especially for a Melungeon, Kennedy said in his book.
When Mullins passed away, they had to tear down the chimney in order to make a passage wide enough to remove her from the cabin. Because she was too large to fit into a standard casket, a makeshift coffin was built around her bed before she was carried out and buried in the woods only a few hundred feet from her home.
Mullins' gravesite, forgotten through the years, was discovered less than 10 years ago.
Collins was a member of the group of researchers who found Mullins' grave marker buried under a foot of soil and entangled in the roots of a tree next to her grave.
Collins and Kennedy are descendants of Mullins.
Of course, most people associate Melungeons with Hancock County. This is not a lesser-known piece of historical information. Still, we may never know for certain how the Melungeons came to be in America.
At least we know who are they are.
Kennedy dedicated his book to them.
"To all people of Melungeon descent who are living evidence of the human will to survive, standing tall among their neighbors as teachers, farmers, doctors, and miners," Kennedy said, "all bearing witness to the indomitable spirit of their early American heritage."
According to information at the Hancock County Historical and Genealogical Society, an estimated 500 Melungeon descendants still live where their ancestors settled in northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia.
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©Citizen Tribune 2005
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