They Were Indians
The ancestors of the families in the article on the 'Lost Tribe of Indians in Ohio' were the Cole, Perkins, Gibson, Collins, Nichols etc., there were known as 'the Brown People of Magoffin County' before migrating to Ohio. On Newman's Ridge in East Tennessee they were known as Melungeons and their kinfolk retained that name there.
This article followed the string of articles published by Will Allen Dromgoole;
The Melungeons
A Peculiar Race of People Living Hancock County
1890-09-28
The Knoxville Journal
Special Correspondence of The Journal
Rogersville, Tenn., September 25
The newspapers of the country are again wrangling with the 'Melungeons' or 'lungens' a peculiar race of people living along Newman's Ridge in Hancock county. They are also scattered along Clinch mountain in Hawkins and Grainger in isolated settlements. Even that bright and fascinating young writer, Miss Will Allen Dromgoole has taken it upon herself to journey all the way from Nashville to the wilds of Hancock for the evident purpose of settling once and for all the much disp... (?) question of their origin. Unfortunately she gleamed little information other than that already published.....
..........As to their origin--- well that is where the mystery comes in. While they have the appearance of Mulatto, Portuguese, and Indian all mixed in different and various proportions, they bear names evident of English origin, such as Gibson, Collins, Singleton, Goins, and Mallett. The Gibson and Collins are the most numerous......
...........In Magoffin county, Kentucky, one of the wildest of the eastern subdivisions of the commonwealth there is a community or settlement of people, who claim to be descendants of Portuguese, and the resemblance is said to be striking and complete.....While Dromgoole has been credited with bringing the Melungeon people to the headlines of newspapers it was in fact Dr. Swan Burnett and Hamilton McMillan a year earlier.
If you want to find information on the United States Census you can go to https://www.census.gov/-- yes that is correct it is a dot gov. In 1890 the U. S. Census Printing Office published a "Report on Indians Taxed and Indians Not Taxed in the United States (except. Alaska) at the Eleventh Census: 1890.
In the State of Tennessee Indians, taxed and not taxed;
In a number of states small groups of people, preferring the freedom of the woods or the seashore to the confinement of regular labor in civilization, have become in some degree distinct from their neighbors, perpetuating their qualities and absorbing into their number those of like disposition, without preserving very clear racial lines. Such are the remnants called Indians in some states where a pure-blooded Indian can hardly longer be found. In Tennessee such a group, popularly known as Melungeans, in addition to those still known as Cherokee.
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63D CONGRESS 3D SESSION
SENATE DOCUMENT NO. 677
INDIANS OF NORTH CAROLINA
LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR
TRANSMITTING, IN RESPONSE TO A SENATE RESOLUTION
OF JUNE 30, 1914, A REPORT ON THE CONDITION
AND TRIBAL RIGHTS OF THE INDIANS
OF ROBESON AND ADJOINING COUNTIES OF NORTH CAROLINA
JANUARY 5, 1915.--REFERRED TO THE COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS AND ORDERED TO BE PRINTED
Exhibit B7.
LETTER OF HAMILTON MCMILLAN TO INDIAN OFFICE, JULY 17, 1890.
The Croatan Tribe lives principally in Robeson County, N. C., though there are quite a number of them settled in counties adjoining in North and South Carolina. In Sumter County, S. C., there is a branch of the tribe and also in East Tennessee. In Lincoln County, N. C., there is another branch, settled there long ago. Those living in East Tennessee are called "Melungeans," a name also retained by them here,
SENATE DOCUMENT NO. 677
INDIANS OF NORTH CAROLINA
LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR
TRANSMITTING, IN RESPONSE TO A SENATE RESOLUTION
OF JUNE 30, 1914, A REPORT ON THE CONDITION
AND TRIBAL RIGHTS OF THE INDIANS
OF ROBESON AND ADJOINING COUNTIES OF NORTH CAROLINA
JANUARY 5, 1915.--REFERRED TO THE COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS AND ORDERED TO BE PRINTED
Exhibit B7.
LETTER OF HAMILTON MCMILLAN TO INDIAN OFFICE, JULY 17, 1890.
The Croatan Tribe lives principally in Robeson County, N. C., though there are quite a number of them settled in counties adjoining in North and South Carolina. In Sumter County, S. C., there is a branch of the tribe and also in East Tennessee. In Lincoln County, N. C., there is another branch, settled there long ago. Those living in East Tennessee are called "Melungeans," a name also retained by them here,
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Magoffin County, Kentucky 1900 UNITED STATES CENSUS
INSTRUCTIONS FOR FILLING THIS SCHEDULE
This modified form of Schedule No 1 is to be used in making the enumeration of Indians, both those on the reservations and those living in family groups outside of reservations.
Detached Indians living either in white or negro families outside of reservations should be enumerated on the general population schedule (Form 7-224) as members of the families in which they are found: but detached whites or negroes living in Indian families should be enumerated on this schedule as members of the Indian families in which they are found. In other words,every family composed mainly of Indians should be reported entirely on this schedule and every family composed mainly of person not Indian should be reported entirely on the general population schedule.
Detached Indians living either in white or negro families outside of reservations should be enumerated on the general population schedule (Form 7-224) as members of the families in which they are found: but detached whites or negroes living in Indian families should be enumerated on this schedule as members of the Indian families in which they are found. In other words,every family composed mainly of Indians should be reported entirely on this schedule and every family composed mainly of person not Indian should be reported entirely on the general population schedule.
SPECIAL CENSUS PAGE ONE
SPECIAL CENSUS PAGE TWO
SPECIAL CENSUS PAGE THREE
SPECIAL CENSUS PAGE FOUR
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Weekly Courier Journal
4-22-1889
4-22-1889
A Tribe of Indians Which Continues
to Flourish In Floyd County
GATHERING IN THE 'SHINERS
(Bill Cole - Cherokee Indian Chief)Hazard, Perry County April 15 --
to Flourish In Floyd County
GATHERING IN THE 'SHINERS
(Bill Cole - Cherokee Indian Chief)Hazard, Perry County April 15 --
Excerpted;
''A woman with a very yellow face came to the door and after piling her
youngsters into a box sardine -style informed us that she was Bet -
the great-granddaughter of old Bill Cole, the aged Cherokee Indian
chief who died on the same hill ten years before. Cole the head of a
tribe of half-breeds and about a hundred and fifty of his people
still live on the same ridge. He was 110 years old when he died and
his grave is on the highest spur of the mountain where his house
still stands. ''
youngsters into a box sardine -style informed us that she was Bet -
the great-granddaughter of old Bill Cole, the aged Cherokee Indian
chief who died on the same hill ten years before. Cole the head of a
tribe of half-breeds and about a hundred and fifty of his people
still live on the same ridge. He was 110 years old when he died and
his grave is on the highest spur of the mountain where his house
still stands. ''
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To Be Continued
