The Croatans A Class of People about Whom Even the Dictionary Knows Nothing
Excerpt;
" though these people principally reside in Robeson county there are
settlements of them in both the Carolinas and in East Tennessee, where they are
known as Melungeans, a corruption of the French Melange, or mixed, a
description of them given by the early French settlers. Those in Robeson county
"are generally white, showing the Indian mostly in actions and habits."
They seem not to be white enough to gain admission to the public schools for
the whites, and too white to gain admission to the public schools for
blacks, and so special schools were provided for them in 1885.
The Melungeans of Tennessee, however, dispute the statement that they are
Croatans, and "claim to be Cherokees of mixed blood (white, Indian and
negro), their white blood being derived from English and Portuguese stock. They
trace their descent primarily to two Indians (Cherokees) known one of them
as Collins the other as Gibson, who settled in the mountains of Tennessee,
where their descendants are now to be
