Lost Tribe of Tennesee UPI

 

Independent

27 Nov 1964, Fri · Page 12

(Editors Note" Virtually withdrawn from civilization, yet retaining contact through television, a mysterious group of people called the Melungeons appears headed fro extinction in the mountains of Tennessee.  Historians are divided over their ancestry, tracing their origin variously to Spanish explorers, the Lost Colony of Roanoke, and to the ancient city of Carthage.  A UPI reporter recently visited the Melungeons in an effort to learn more about their background.)

By JOHN GAMBLE

SNEEDVILLE, Tenn (UPI)

A narrow dirt road winding up a mountainside in east Tennessee may hold the answer to one of history's mysteries. 

But the chances of such a revelation are extremely dim. For the road ends in the land of the Melungeons, a shy and clannish people who refuse to discuss their background. 

Local historians say the Melungeons may be descendants of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, which disappeared soon after it was founded on the North Carolina coast by English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh. 

These historians say the colony's inhabitants migrated south instead of west because of the barrier of the Great Smoky Mountains. 

Other theories regarding the ancestry of the Melungeons are that they are descendants of a band which left Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto's party to search for gold and silver in the Tennessee mountains; that they are a mixture of Indian and Negro ( the state supreme court ruled in 1959 the Melungeons were not Negro); and that they are descendants of people who lived in the ancient city of Carthage.

The latter theory is the most widely accepted and what information the Melungeons have imparted seem to support it.  This theory is that after Carthage was destroyed by Roman legions in 145 BC some inhabitants fled to Morrocco, where they intermarried with the Moors, and later migrated to Gibraltar, Portugal and South Carolina.  Because of their dark skin, many were sold into slavery hundreds of years later, but some escaped into the mountains of Tennessee and Virginia.  

The only "true" Melungeons left, however, reside in the mountainside areas known as "Snake Hollow" and "Mulberry Gap." Comprising about a dozen families, the Melungeons live in small cabins dotted with television antennas.  the dirt road to the area is impassable by car in the winter because of ice and snow. 

The elder Melungeons walk the six or seven miles to Sneedville, a modern hill community of 900, on Saturdays.  Melungeon youngsters seldom are allowed to make the trip.

It has been the mixing-and intermarriage - of Melungeon youths with the young people of Sneedville that has brought the "true" Melungeons to the point of extinction. 

The Melungeons have few visitors, and want it that way.  Their contact with the outside world is largely through television, and some are fairly well informed on world problems. 

"The Russians will not stop until they take the world with bombs and fire, " one Melungeon observed to a rare visitor. Politically, the Melungeons are almost solidly Republican.

While rejection most outside contact, the Melungeons have taken to many modern gadgets.  Most all of them have television sets, and many of the farmers drive tractors. 

The Melungeons have retained their ancient custom of burial.  They build a shacklike structure over the grave and keep it freshly painted white, even when some of their homes go unpainted.  The cemeteries appear as small villages to visitors. 

The older Melungeons are highly superstitious and believe the moon has extraordinary powers.  One youngster said he has seen 'grannies' walk into the graveyards many times speaking a strange language. 

Asked about their ancestry, most Melungeons refuse to answer, but a few respond they are "Porter-ghee."

They are more willing to talk about the younger generation, which they say is 'Lazy" and "spoiled by TV" "They are too lazy to walk seven or eight miles to a grocery store.  I do it all the time," said Mrs. Bertha Bell, 58. 

The Melungeons, devout Christians, are friendly to the townspeople, yet distinctly clannish.  Copper-skinned, with black hair and dark eyes, they usually wear colorful clothes.

They come to town less often now.  Within recent years, they have received unwanted publicity in a national magazine and scores of college sociology groups have come to "study" them. 

Townspeople have become angry at the attention the Melungeons receive from "outsiders."  They also refuse to impart much information.  Some followed this reporter around town.  

"Leave these people alone," one man said.  "They ain't done nothing no other person in this valley ain't done.  They just want to be left alone."

 

AN EARLY UNTARNISHED VERSION OF 'THE MELUNGEONS'

February 5th of 1889 Swan Burnett read his piece “A Note on the Melungeons” before the Society of American Anthropologists. It also was printed in the Boston Traveler and appeared five days later in the Atlanta Constitution.

Burnett’s article was published in October of 1889, Vol. 11, pp 347-349, "American Anthropologist Magazine."

After appearing in the Atlanta Constitution in February a Mr. Laurence C. Johnson wrote to the editor on March 11, 1889 with the history of the ‘Melungeons’ as he knew it. This appeared prior to Dromgoole. Mr. Johnson was not selling newspapers, writing an article or selling a book. It appears he was simply responding to the article by Swan Burnett and telling an honest account of the Melungeons, as he knew it. I believe this story is an important one in the way that it is told.

Atlanta Constitution
March 11, 1889
The Melungeons

Meridian, Miss.,
March 11– Editors Constitution

Near a month ago an article appeared in The CONSTITUTION named Melungeons. I laid it aside in order to correspond with the writer, but the paper got destroyed and the name and address had not been noticed with care, and are forgotten. Excuse me then for addressing him through the same medium.

His name Melungeons is a local designation for this small peculiar race. Their own claim to be Portuguese is more generally known. Their original site is on the Pedee river in South and North Carolina . They were once especially strong in Georgetown and Darlington districts of the latter. Though called Portuguese – this does not indicate their true origin. I have no doubt local traditions, and the records still to be found in the Charleston library will give the true account. As dimly recollected, for I never made search with a purpose in view, it was thus in the primary colonial times of the Carolinas, Winyaw Bay was the best and most frequented harbor on the coast, and Georgetown more accessible, was more of a commercial town than old Charlestown., to that port British cruisers sometimes brought prizes.

Among these once was a Salee Rover, (*See Below) which was sold for the distribution of the proceeds as prize money. The crew consisting mostly of Moors, with a sprinkling of Arabs and negroes, were turned ashore free. Their complexion and religion prevented immediate absorption by the white race, and they found wives among Indians, negroes and cast off white women at a time when many of these last were sold by immigrant ships for their passage money. They became a peculiar people. They were the free people of color of the Pedee region so true to Marion during our revolutionary struggle and no other race in America retained such traditionary hatred of the British.

Your correspondent [whose name I am sorry to have forgotten] having a taste for ethnological studies will confer a favor upon that branch of early post-colonial record and legislative proceedings of South Carolina. He will find it sustained by the appearance of these people if he can find a few pure specimens–their physical structure, their hair, their teeth, and general features, though every trace of their Moslem religion and north African dialect may have long been lost.

Very respectfully,

Laurence C. Johnson

About the Author

Lawrence Clement Johnson was born August 21, 1821 in Chester County, South Carolina.   He died Ausust 14, 1909 at the Confederate home  (Beauvoir) in Gulfport, Mississippi.  He was the son of Dr. Benjamin Brown Johnson and Jane Milling Young Johnson.  He was the grandson of William Johnson, Revolutionary War soldier of Charleston, South Carolina and  was a Lieutenant in Company F. 9th Mississippi Infantry CSA.

Johnson was a pioneer in the discovery and description of the phosphate fields of Florida and in 1886, he wrote a paper entitled "The Structure of Florida" and presented it at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in New York.

He lived in Holly Springs, Mississippi (Marshall County) and by 1860 held the position of Clerk of the Circuit Court in Marshall County.  In 1882, he was hired as an Assistant Geologist.

Johnson married Mattie McLain, daughter of Rev. Robert McLain and Laura Brown McLain in Clarke County, Mississippi.  The following year, Johnson's young wife died within a month of giving birth to their daughter, also named Mattie.  Their little girl only lived three years.  Johnson never remarried. He is buried in Enterprise Cemetery, Clark County, Mississippi beside his late wife and daugher.

NATIONAL SURVEYS ARTICLE - NEW YORK TIMES   June 29, 1885

Information provided by- Peggy Johnson Carey

carey@seark.net

THE NEWS AND OBSERVER

Raleigh, NC 

Wednesday - March 20, 1889

 

A writer in the Atlanta Constitution looks for further information with respect to the "Melungeons,"  the supposed Portuguese colony and its descendants who dwelt chiefly on the Pee Dee river in North and South Carolina.  He ways that though called Portuguese, this designation does not correctly indicate their true origin.  He maintains, while not pretending to be strictly accurate, that "in the primary colonial times of the Carolinas, Winyaw Bay was the best and most frequented harbor on the coast, and Gerogetown, more accessible, was more of a commercial town than old Charlestown.  To that port British cruisers sometimes brought prizes.  Among these once was a Salee Rover, which was sold for the distribution of the proceeds as prize money.  The crew, consisting mostly of Moors, with a sprinkling of Arabs and negroes, were turned ashore free.  Their complexion and religion prevented immediate absorption by the white race, and they found wives among Indians, negroes and cast-off white women sold by immigrant ships for their passage money.  They became a peculiar people.  These were the free people of color of the Pee Dee region so true to Marion during our revolutionary struggle, and no other race in America retained such traditionary hatred of the British.  'Hamilton McMillan, Esq', in his little work on the identity of the Henry Berry Lowery people of the Pee Dee region with the lost tribe of Croatan Indians, makes the supposed Portuguese, the Lowery tribe and the Croatans one and the same mixed race of people, if we remember rightly.  Now here we have them "Moors, with a sprinkling of Arabs and negroes."  Who can throw further light on the 'Melungeons?"

*Salee Rovers

Salé was apparently colonised by the Phoenicians at approximately the same time that Chellah, across the Bou Regreg to the south. Researchers know a considerable amount about the Chellah^[1] colony, probably because of the good state of preservation of the Chellah site.

In Pirate Utopias, Peter Lamborn Wilson says:

"Salé ... dates back at least to Carthaginian times (around 7th century BC). The Romans called the place Sala Colonia, part of their province of Mauritania Tingitane. Pliny the Elder mentions it (as a desert town infested with elephants!). The Vandals captured the area in the 5th century AD and left behind a number of blonde, blue-eyed Berbers. The Arabs (7th century) kept the old name and believed it derived from "Sala" (sic., his name is actually Salah), son of Ham, son of Noah; they said that Salé was the first city ever built by the Berbers."^[2]

In about 1630 Salé became a haven for Moriscos-turned-Barbary pirates. Salé pirates (the well-known "Sallee Rovers") roamed the seas as far as the shores of the Americas, bringing back loot and slaves. There is an American family van Salee descended from a Salee Rover who was captured by the Dutch and settled in New Amsterdam. The character Robinson Crusoe, in Daniel Defoe's novel by the same name, spends time in captivity of the local pirates and at last sails off to liberty from the mouth of the Salé river.

Salé has played a rich and important part in Moroccan history. The first demonstrations for independence against the French, for example, sparked off in Salé. A good number of government officials, decision makers and royal advisors of both France and Morocco were from Salé. Salé people, the Slawis, have always had a "tribal" sense of belonging, a sense of pride which developed into a feeling of superiority towards the "berranis", i.e. Outsiders.  -- SOURCE

---

There never was, nor ever can be again, such a perfect example of a confederation of the brethren of the sea as that of the Pirate Republic of Bou Regreg. Rabat and Sale were the twin cities at the heart of this Republic. They were both guarded by medieval walls that had been greatly reinforced by artillery fortresses dug into the outlying cliffs that overlook the dark, muddy waters of the Bou Regreg estuary from the north and the south banks. Submerged rocks, a line of forbidding cliffs, Atlantic reefs and a sand bar at the mouth of the tidal Bou Regreg made the estuary waters a very safe harbour.

It was from this secure base that the free-ranging pirate squadrons known as the Sallee Rovers set out to harass the sea-lanes, merchant ships and harbours of Europe. They were brilliantly successful for their ships crews were a kaleidoscope of international talent that allied the military élan of Moroccans and exiled Spanish Moors with Dutch, German and English professional skills. The crews spoke a lingua franca that was based on Spanish with a mixture of French, Italian, Portuguese and Arabic loan words.

The Sallee Rovers did not just restrict their operations to the capture of shipping but took the war into the lands of the enemy; landing raiding parties that returned with captives. Their notoriety as white slavers reached a crescendo in the mid 17th century England when a series of daring slave raids seized captives from St Micheals Mount in Cornwall and Baltimore in south-west Ireland as well as intercepting the cod fishing fleet off Iceland. The boasting verses in Rule Britannia about Britons never shall be slaves could certainly not have been written in those years. It has been calculated that in this period that there were more Britons labouring away as slaves and concubines in North Africa than as settlers in all of the colonies of North America put together.  

Note On The Melungeons

 

A NOTE ON THE MELUNGEONS

By Swan M. Burnett, M. D., Washington

October 1889

This article was read before the Anthropological Society of Washington D. C on February 5, 1889 and published in the American Anthropologist in October of that year.  It appeared February 10, 1889 in the Atlanta Constitution, and the  Hartford Courant  March 8, 1889.   It was mentioned also in Boston Traveler  June 13 1889.   It was also mentioned in the July 1889 publication of The Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution (Progress of Anthropology in 1889)  and in 1890 it appeared in the German publication Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie.  The article was very likely carried in other major newspapers as well.

Legends of the Melungeons I first heard at my father’s knee as a child in the mountains of Eastern Tennessee, and the name had such a ponderous and inhuman sound as to associate them in my mind with the giants and ogres of the wonder tales I listened to in the winter evenings before the crackling logs in the wide-mouth fireplace. And when I chanced to waken in the night and the fire had died down on the hearth, and the wind swept with a demoniac shriek and terrifying roar around and through the house, rattling the windows and the loose clapboards on the roof, I shrank under the bedclothes trembling with a fear that was almost an expectation that one of these huge creatures would come down the chimney with a rush, seize me with his dragon-like arms, and carry me off to his cave in the mountains, there to devour me piecemeal.

In the course of time, however, I came to learn that these creatures with the awe-inspiring name were people somewhat like ourselves, but with a difference. I learned, too, that they were not only different from us, the white, but also from the Negroes–slave or free–and from the Indian. They were something set apart from anything I had seen or heard of. Neither was the exact nature of this difference manifest even in more mature years, when a childish curiosity had given way to an interest more scientific in its character. There was evidently a caste distinction as there was between the white and Negro, and there was also a difference between them and the free Negroes. No one seemed to know positively that they or their ancestors had ever been in slavery, and they did not themselves claim to belong to any tribe of Indians in that part of the country. They resented the appellation Melungeon, given to them by common consent by the whites, and proudly called themselves Portuguese.

The current belief was that they were a mixture of white, Indian, and Negro. On what data that opinion was based I have never been able to determine, but the very word Melungeon would seem to indicate the idea of a mixed people in the minds of those who first gave them the name. I have never seen the word written, nor do I know the precise way of spelling it, but the first thought that would come to one on hearing it would be that it was a corruption of the French word melangee—mixed.

It was not, however, until I had left East Tennessee and become interested in anthropology–chiefly through my membership in this Society—that the peculiarities of this people came to have any real significance for me, and I was then too far away to investigate the matter personally to the extent I desire. I have, however, for several years past pursued my inquiries as best I could through various parties living in the country and visiting it, but with no very pronounced success. I have thought it well, however, to put on record in the archives of the Society the few notes I have been able to obtain, trusting that some one with better opportunity may be induced to pursue the matter further.

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. At what time this emigration took place in not known, but it was certainly as long ago as seventy-five or eighty years. One man, “Old Sol. Collins,” in Hancock County, claims that his father fought in the revolution.

They are known generally by their family names, as the “Collinses,” &c., and on account of the caste restriction, which has always been rigorously maintained, they do not intermarry with the Negroes or Indians. As stated before, they are held by the whites to be a mixed race with at least a modicum of Negroes blood, and there is at least one instance on record in which the matter was brought before the courts. It was before the war–during the time of slavery–that the right of a number of these people to vote was called in question. The matter was finally carried before a jury and the question decided by an examination of the feet. One, I believe, was found to be sufficiently flat-footed to deprive him of aright of suffrage. (*See Below) The others, four or five in number, were considered as having sufficient white blood to allow them a vote. Col. John Netherland, a lawyer of considerable local prominence defended them.

It should be stated, however, that there is a disposition on the part of the more thoughtful of those among whom these people live to give some credence to their claim of being a distinct race, a few inclining to the Portuguese theory, some thinking that they may possibly be gypsies, while yet others think that they may have entered the country as Portuguese or gypsies and afterward some families may have intermingled with negroes or Indians or with both. So far as I have been able to learn, however, there was not at any time a settlement of Portuguese in or near North Carolina of which these people could have been an offshoot. Those that I have seen had physical peculiarities which would lend plausibility to any one of the foregoing theories.

They are dark, but of a different hue to the ordinary mulatto, with either straight or wavy hair, and some have cheek bones almost as high as the Indians. The men are usually straight, large, and find looking, while one old woman I saw was sufficiently hag-like to have sat for the original Meg Merriles. As a rule, they do not stand very high in the community, and their reputation for honesty and truthfulness is not to be envied. In this, however, there are said to be individual exceptions.

It is perhaps characteristic of them that, since a revenue tax has been placed by the Government on the manufacture of spirituous liquors, these people have been engaged largely in illicit distilling; but, whatever may have been their origin, it is still a fact of interest that there has existed in East Tennessee for nearly a hundred years a class of people held both by them selves and by the people among whom they live as distinct from the three other races by whom they are surrounded, and I trust that these few imperfect notes may cause a study of them to be made by some one more competent than myself. For assistance in getting information I am particularly indebted to Dr. J. M. Pierce, of Hawkins county, Tennessee, and to Dr. Gurley, of the Smithsonian Institution.

Since the above communications was read before the Society I have received from several sources valuable information in regard to the Melungeons; but the most important contribution bearing on the subject, as I believe, is the little pamphlet published by Hamilton Mc Millan, A. M., on “Sir Walter Raleigh’s Lost Colony” (Wilson, N.C., 1888). Mc Millan claims that the Croatan Indians are the direct descendant of this colony. What connection I consider to exist between the Melungeons and the Croatan Indians, as well as other material I have accumulated in regard to the Melungeons, will be made the subject of another communication which is now in preparation.

* *Read before the Society at its regular meeting, February 5, 1889.

A paper read by Dr. Burnett before the Washington Anthropological Society on the Melungeons in the southern Alleghanies is a case in point. Neither white nor black nor Indians, these people live encysted, like the Basques of the Pyrenees and little contaminated by mixture. Neither white nor black nor Indians, these people live encysted, like the Basques of the Pyrenees and little contaminated by mixture.

Annual Report By Smithsonian Institution - 1890

*See article The Melungeons of Eliza N. Heiskell, daughter of John Netherland who represented the Melungeons:

 "To prove they were not Negroes, the beautiful hands and feet of some of the race were examined, and the marked difference between them and the Negroes decided the question in their favor. The late John Netherland of Tennessee obtained the right of for them, and their deep gratitude was manifested towards him in every way as long as he lived."

*See also Bill Arp's Letter - while it appears he is speaking of the 'Croatan Indians' there have been no 'voting trials' found for them to date and it appears Bill Arp may have been speaking of these Melungeon voting trials.

"The committee took them out to a sandy place in the road and had them take off their shoes and make tracks barefooted.  Five of them made very fair Anglo-Saxon tracks and were accepted, but of the other two the report was that the hollow of their feet made holes in the ground and they were rejected.  There are some of these Croatoans on Newman’s ridge, in Tennessee. "

*See also Melungeons Paul Converse

''Their right to vote, however, was frequently challenged. In one case, in which Col. John Netherland was the defending lawyer, the matter was carried into court and decided by measuring their feet. Four or five were allowed to vote but one was debarred on the ground that his feet were too broad.''

ABOUT DOCTOR SWAN M. BURNETT

Born 16 MAR 1847 in New Market, Jefferson County, Tennessee. "In 1870 he received his M.D. degree from Bellevue Hospital Medical School, NYC. From 1870-75 he practiced medicine in Knoxville, TN.

Dr. Burnett took his wife abroad in 1875, where for two years he studied ontology and ophthalmology in London and Paris. Returning to the U.S., he settled in Washinton, D.C., where he became a distinguished specialist.

He earned a PHD. degree at Georgetown University in 1890. Earlier, in 1878, he had been appointed lecturer in ophthalmology and ontology at Georgetown Medical College, attaining the rank of full professor in 1889. He was a co-founder of the Emergency Hospital in Washington, and established the Lionel Laboratory as a memorial to a son who died in childhood.

At the time of his death he possessed the largest privately owned medical library in Washington. Also, he devised the first ophthalmoscope with a rack for holding the correcting lenses of the observer while making an eye examination. The author of several books in his field of specialization, he helped compile the National Medical Dictionary (1889), and also wrote extensively on his hobby, Japanese art, for the International Studio, Connoisseur, and the Craftsman.

  Biography
American Anthropologist

Hancock County -Goodspeed 1886

 

Transcribed From
 

Goodspeed's History of Tennessee-1886

Hancock County lies immediately east of Claiborne County, and is bounded on the north by Virginia. Clinch River traverses the county from northeast to southwest, and Powell River crosses the northeastern corner of the county. The surface is very rough and mountanous, but some excellent land is found along the streams. The valleys, however, are generally narrow. The extent of its mineral resources is not well known, but both coal and iron exist in considerable quantities.

The settlement of this county began about 1795, but for many years it remained very sparsely populated. As in other counties, the river valleys were the earliest occupied. No record has been left of the pioneers of the county, and but little can now be obtained from personal remembrance of them. Jonas Loughmiller located just southeast of Sneedville, and William McGee beyond him on the north side of the Clinch. Below the latter, and to the southwest of the town, was the settlement of John Ray, while on the opposite side of the river, at the mouth of Duck Creek, lived Enos Matthias. William McCully and Daniel Slavens located still further down the river. John Givens, an early Baptist preacher, lived on Beaver Creek. In the neighborhood three of four miles south of Sneedville was Alexander Treat, Solomon Mitchell, John and Lincoln Amis, the Bouldens, Andersons, Bryants and Collinses. A settlement was also made at an early date at Mulberry Gap, where a little village sprang up. Newmans' Ridge, which runs through the county to the north of Sneedville, and parallel with Clinch river, is said to have taken its name from one of the first settlers upon it. It has since been occupied mainly by a people presenting a peculiar admixture of white and Indian blood.

The first act for the creation of Hancock County from portions of Hawkins and Claiborne Counties was passed in 1844, but, finding that it violated some provisions of the Constitution, a second act was passed two years later. Commissioners were appointed to organize the county and to fix the boundary lines to conform with the constitutional requirements. This was done, and the county was organized. At about the same time certain inhabitants of the Hawkins fraction filed a bill enjoining the commissioners from further action. The cause came up for hearing before Chancellor Williams in May, 1848. He rendered judgement in favor of the complainants, and an appeal was taken to the supreme court, where the chancellor's decree was reversed. During the two years, therefore, from 1846 to 1848, the county business was suspended. The first court was held at the house of Alexander Campbell. Afterward the old Union Church was used until 1850, when a small but substantial brick courthouse was erected. At about the same time a log jail was completed. It was only a temporary structure, and in 1860 was replaced by the present brick jail. Recently the courthouse with all its contents, was destroyed by fire, and as yer no steps have been taken toward replacing it. Two places, known respectively as Mulberry Gap and Greasy Rock, were placed in nomination for the seat of justice. The latter was chosen, and a town laid off on land owned by Robert and Alexander Campbell, the latter owning the part of Greasy Rock Creek, and the former the portion east of it. The father of these gentlemen, Robert Campbell, Sr. who was one of the first settlers in Hawkins County, obtained possession of a large body of land, including the site of Sneedville, and about 1815 divided it among his three sons who located upon seperate tracts. The third son, Joseph Y. Campbell, obtained the farm where Joseph Campbell now lives. The neighborhood had long been known as Greasy Rock. This name is said to have originated in this way: A spring just below the present town was once a famous rendezvous for hunters and trappers, who were accustomed to dress their skins and pile up venison and bear meat on a large rock there. This rock was, therefore, usually greasy, hence the name. When the town was laid out, it was named Sneedville in honor of W. H. Sneed, of Knoxville, who had acted as counsel for the new county

The first building erected in the town is still standing opposite Mr. Tyler's office. It was built by Maj. John M. Sawyers. Soon after a double log house was built on the lot just in front of the dwelling of Mrs. Elizabeth Campbell, facing Main Street. A store was opened in it by Robert and Alexander Campbell and William and John McNeil, with William McNeil as manager. The same building was afterward occupied by George Fain, and Robert and Joseph Campbell successively. In 1848 Tyler, Jesse & Co. began business near the old church, but soon moved to Main Street and there continued as the firm of Lea Jesse & Co. until 1862.

Soon after the town was established an academy was incorporated under the name of Greasy Rock Academy. A two-story frame building was erected, and the school was placed in operation with the following board of trustees: Lea Jesse, Joseph Campbell, G. W. Baker, Isham Brewer, David Trent, Samuel Jarvis, Holden McGee, A. Campbell, William B. Davis, Canada Hodge and William S. Rose. Among the first teachers were M. H. B. Burkett, D. T. J. Burkett and James G. Rose. Within the past few years the institution has been reincorporated as the McKinney High School.

In 1829 or 1830 a union church was built at Greasy Rock, where Baptist and Methodist congregations were organized. After the twon was established each denomination built a house of worship. The number of Presbyterians in the county has always been very small, and no congregation has ever been formed in Sneedville.

 

Molungeons & Melungeons

Updated October3, 2009

---

On July 8, 1864 under WAR NEWS the DAILY SOUTH CAROLINIAN  writing on the battle that had taken place at Sapponi Church and Reams Station said;

 

"The poor negroes was the most notable feature of this great capture.  They comprised every conceivable class of the race, and as the vast throng crowded to the office of Provost Marshall Hawes yesterday afternoon, marching in open and rather promiscous order, they occupied nearly the whole of Bank Street. We notice among them the old and the young; the robust and the infirm; the quick footed and the halt; the bright mulatto clad in tawdry finery, and the ebo-shin and the "molungeon," dressed in homespun"  -----  (The quotes are in the original clipping and are not mine jp)

The question is how did this man writing in the South Carolina paper determine they were ''molungeons'' caputured that day -- and how did he determine the difference between the ''molungeon'' and the bright mulatto?  Was it the difference in their clothing -- skin color -- facial features or what?  Were these Virginia Molungeons different from the Tennessee Melungeons?  Or were they kin? 

Perhaps as more articles, clippings, etc., find their way online it may shed more light, as this newly found article published in  The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 32, No. 2 (1911), pp. 210-215  by The Johns Hopkins University Press and written  by Basil Gildersleeve has at least provided some possibilities.

Some information on Gildersleeve;

• Born (October 23, 1831 – January 9, 1924), American classical scholar, was born in Charleston, South Carolina, son of Benjamin Gildersleeve (1791–1875), a Presbyterian evangelist, and editor of the Charleston Christian Observer from 1826 to 1845, of the Richmond (VA) Watchman and Observer from 1845 to 1856, and of The Central Presbyterian from 1856 to 1860.
• December 11, 1875, Daniel Coit Gilman, president of the newly-founded Johns Hopkins University, approached Gildersleeve with the offer of teaching Classics there, and he gladly accepted.
• In 1880, the American Journal of Philology, a quarterly published by the Johns Hopkins University, was established under his editorial charge
• He was elected president of the American Philological Association in 1877 and again in 1908 and became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters as well as of various learned societies. He received the degree of LL.D. from William and Mary (1869), Harvard (1896), Yale (1901), Chicago Pennsylvania (1911); D.C.L. from the University of the South (1884); L.H.D. from Yale (1891) and Princeton (1899); Litt.D. from Oxford and Cambridge (1905).

Who Are These Molungeons of Virginia 
In my search of who they were I cantacted the Library of Virginia and was referred to the 'historian' who advised me they could not find one single record of these people called Molungeons. 

--- The platform of Feb 1856 which expunged and ignored the 12th section and in a letter which goes expressly for restoring the Missouri Compromise. The Mulungeons of Richmond endorsed the 'late convention' at Philadelphia too; but will any southern man-- a Stuart or an Imobdin even -- endorse this letter for the restoration of the Missouri Compromise.''



From the Richmond Whig. Letter from Hon. John M. Botts
Date: March 26, 1859
Location: Maryland
Paper: Easton Gazette
Article type: Letters

......when the Sheriff came to count up the votes at the close of the polls, they counted but five -- and if I had received the vote of one ''Molungeon,'' and he had been authorized by the Constitution to vote, and had 'had' a majority of only one--- it would have been difficult to tell, whether I was most indebted for my election to the "Molungeon" or to the Chief Justice of the U.S.; and if my competitor had received six "Molungeon" votes, or the votes of six worthless and degraded locofocos (supposing they could be any such) they would have more than balanced these five of the first men of the State could boast...........

THE ORATORICAL OGRES AT WORK
GOGGIN SWALLOWED WHOLE

Date: March 28, 1859
Location: Alabama Paper: Daily Confederation

Thirteen congressional electors, fifty senatorial electors, and three hundred and sixty county electors have been notified to hold themselves in readiness to repel the Dragoon of Rockbridge. Botts too, will dash to the rescue at the head of a noble band of "Molungeons and Eboshins" as soon as the weather becomes sufficiently warm to render his odoriferous forces efficient.

The Slave Power; its Character, Career, and Probable Designs. By JE...

Continental monthly: devoted to... - Cornell University - Jan 1, 1863

"Whether their own children were sold may be imagined from an anecdote long current in Virginia, relative to ex-Governor Wise, who, in a certain law case where he was opposed by a Northern trader, decided of a certain slave, that the chattel, being a mulatto, was of more value than 'a molungeon.' And what, in the name of God, is a molungeon?' inquired the astonished 'Northern man." 'A mulatto' replied Wise, ' is the child of a female house-servant by 'young master' --a molungeon is the offspring of a field hand by a Yankee peddler."

Mr. Cairnes has, no doubt, not often heard of mulattoes--they constitute the great majority of Virginia slaves. But did he ever hear of a 'molungeons'?

December 1864
-- Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Battles and Sketches of the Army of Tennessee - Page 511

 

It soon became noised that these men were to be shot as bushwhackers General Forest informed General Rousseau, by flag of truce, that those men were his regular soldiers, and that if he shot them it would be at his peril.

 

The names of his soldiers were sent in, but the scout and Bose Rouss (some called him Malungeon), who had killed a Federal detective, were not mentioned in the list.

-Thursday 2d July 1863
--Bluegrass Confederate: The Headquarters Diary of Edward O. Guerrant By Edward O. Guerrant

Came on to Mr Hortons for dinner—found him in a tornado furiosus-against Virginians, who fed his grass &c. and in ecstatic panegyrics of all Kentuckians—”all of whom were “interesting” gentlemen”—& no “malungens”. ...
(1/2 b & 1/2 w) [2 ]

From Our Own Correspondent Fredericksburg,
 January 10, 1864
"the "Government organ," however, announces that the observed of all observers were four negroes, "of genteel exteriour, and with the manners "of gentlemen, who joined in the throng that 'crowded the Executive Mansion, and were coridaly received by the President of the Untied State,'' The Molungeon Chronicle adds; -- We are not aware that anybody was hurt on the occasion, and we rejoice that we have a President who is a democrat in fact, as well as by nature."

Utica Weekly Herald [New York]

March 29, 1864

 

The "Richmond Whig" makes the following comments on the last call for men.

 

It is certain, therefore, that the "rebels" will now back down.  Twenty millions of mongrels have undertaken to whip them.  The Yankees soon got sick of the fight, and levied on the Dutch and Irish. The resident Irish and Dutch began to flag and 75,000 Paddies were recruited in Ireland, with the approval and assistance of Earl Russel.  Then 100,000 n****** were enlisted.  And now 200,000 n******, Yankees, and other molungeons, half breeds, mestizoes, and Yaboes [Yaboes—a Davis coinage for the 70,000 Yank hoboes in the armed services] are to be drafted.  What wonder that the "rebels" are completely broken hearted?  Who blames the European by-standers for advising the "rebels" to give the cause up?

 

For ourselves, we are free to say that we are for peace.  We want peace. We will have it.  We must have it, on any terms?  Yes, on any terms -- which General Lee, standing in Faneuil HHall, may choose to dictate to the base born wretches who have sought to enslave us.  The game is a very pretty one as it stands.  Our enemies must be conquered by us, or conquered by Lincoln. They must make terms with gentlemen or they must make terms with a blackguard and a baboon.  Take your choice, O Yankees.

Staunton Spectator
May 25, 1869

The Duties of Election Day
(Column 01)

Summary: Declared that all eligible voters have the duty to vote on election day to ensure the defeat of certain sections of the Underwood constitution and to elect Walker as Governor. Wanted to ensure at least some form of control for white Virginians in the state.

Full Text of Article:

The election which will take place on the 6th day of July next, by appointment of the President, will decide whether the people of this State are to be cursed with the Underwood abomination, called a Constitution, as it came from the hands of the Molungeon Convention, or whether it will be modified by having the test-oath and disfranchising clauses stricken out -- whether Walker or Wells will be our Governor, and whether proper men will be elected to represent the State in the Legislature.

Brownlow and Ross

 

Parson William G. Brownlow ~ Frederick A. Ross
And the Malungeons

It has been reported many times over the years that the first time the word Malungin was used was at the Stony Creek Church minutes in what is now Scott County, Virginia in 1813, however it is based only on a 'transcript of a transcript' and whether the original even exists is debatable.  It is possible a member of the church was 'harboring a Malungin' but it is just as possible they may have been harboring a member of the Malugin or Mclaglin family. I think we all know the headaches that bad transcriptions can cause, especially those pesky census takers.

This church record is essential in establishing the true and correct story of the Melungeons. Without it we are left wondering if it was in fact first time Melungin was  used in 1813 or was it used first in 1840 by Parson William G. Brownlow, editor of The Whig.  In that piece Brownlow wrote of the Malungeon of Washington City which is of course no where near Newman's Ridge.  [ See  Brownlow's Whig]

William G. Brownlow, after becoming a Methodist Minister in 1826,  first appointment was the Black Mountain circuit in Western North Carolina [Buncombe] in the year 1826, he spent the next year on the French Broad circuit above Ashville, North Carolina and in 1828 was appointed to travel in charge of Washington Circuit, a small circuit in the lower end of East Tennessee. He visited an uncle residing at the head of Muscle Shoals in Alabama and traveled through the Cherokee Nation where he spent the night.

In 1829 he was appointed to the Athens circuit and 1830 to Tellico in Hiwassee District and 1831 he was back in Western North Carolina, the Franklin circuit.  He attended the conference in Philadelphia in 1832 traveling through Abingdon, Fincastle, Staunton, Frederick,  Baltimore and Washington City where he spent a week.  That year he was appointed to Tugaloo circuit in District of Pickens County, South Carolina.

The 1833 conference was held in Kingsport and he was appointed to the Dandridge circuit on the fork between Holston and French Broad. His last year on the traveling circuit took him to Scott County, Virginia.  Did Brownlow pick up this word in South Carolina, North Carolina, Washington, Richmond, or any of the other cities and take it to Scott County?  [See Andrew Jackson and Early Tennessee History  Chapters 9 & 10 for more on Brownlow]



In 1856 Parson William G. Brownlow wrote in his book " The great iron wheel examined: --", page 161

  ''You have alluded, classically enough, to the "sable leader" of the Athens Synod, in this work of falsehood and     detraction. The fact of the copper color, the woolly head, and other similar appendages of the negro, which cling to this Rev. Malungeon, notwithstanding his Caucasian features, in the general, should be kept prominently before the proud, spirited, and high-minded Virginian. Let the distinction of color be kept up, and let our identity as a race of white men be preserved. Let the Presbyterians of Marion trample upon marriage relations, despise the distinction between white and colored people, and bid defiance to the powers of enlightened society, if they choose; but let us, my friends, have more self-respect than to imitate their example.'' 

Who is this "Rev. Malungeon" that Brownlow is writing about?  Frederick Augustus Ross, Presbyterian and arch enemy of Parson Brownlow. He was the son of  David Ross and 'according to Brownlow' his mother was a slave of Governor Page that David bought and set free. David Ross was one of the largest land holders in Virginia when he died owning land in some twelve counties and several other states.  He also owned the Oxford Iron Works at Lynchburg, Virginia and over 400 slaves as well as 1000s of acres in Sullivan and Hawkins County, Tennessee where he built the iron furnace in 1790.  When David Ross died in 1818 his son Frederick moved to the Hawkins County area where he had inherited the Tennessee lands of his father.


Christopher Humble the Presbyterian Minister who visited the Melungeons at Newman's Ridge in 1890 wrote;

A writer says:

"One night in June, many years ago, Dr. Frederick A. Ross, a noted Presbyterian minister, of Eastern Tennessee, was traveling through the Blackwater country. He accidentally came upon "Uncle" Vard's house and asked if he could stay all night. 

"The old mountaineer told him he could, and after he had fed his horse and the guest had eaten supper the old man asked him his business. He told him he was a preacher. The old man told him he would like to hear him preach. ' Where is your congregation?" asked the minister. 'I'll get one in a few minutes,' replied 'Uncle' Vard. He took a long dinner horn from its rack over the door and going outdoors blew several shrill blasts. Within an hour fifty people had assembled, and Dr. Ross said that he never preached to an audience which showed greater appreciation and deeper religious feeling than did that little band of copper- colored mountaineers on Black water."

"Uncle" Yard is Varday Collins, the chief of the first settlers who came to this valley as early as 1789. He lived to be 101 years old, and the springs, post-office and hotel are called by his name. (2)

David Ross is listed in the estate sale of Gilbert Gibson in Louisa County, Viriginia in 1763  and in Pittsylvania County during the Revolution David Ross was accused of instigating the Indians in the area to attack the white settlers but was later proved to be not guilty. (3)

In 1791 Thomas Gibson aka Mingo Jackson won his freedom from this same David Ross in Richmond, proving he descended from an Indian woman of Charles City County, Jane Gibson. Other members of this family belonging to George and Jane Gibson [brother and sister] of Charles City County, some living in Louisa County, also won their freedom. (4)

    May 7, 1805

    Deposition of Robert Wills in the suit Thomas Gibson alias Mingo Jackson
    plt. against David Ross deft. taken in presence of the plt & Mr. Vannerson
    agent for Mr. Ross by consent, at the house of the said Wills this 25th day of
    June 1791, who being first duly sworn deposeth and saith; That about seventy
    years ago he was well acquainted with Jane Gibson and George Gibson her
    brother who were dark mulattoes who lived in the County of Charles City and      were free people; that the said Jane Gibson had two children named Jane          and George Gibson and they were also free; That the said Jane Gibson the        younger intermarried with a certain ---- Evans of the said county, by whom        she had several  children on of whom named Francis Evans granddaughter        of the Jane Gibson above named, that the said Francis Evans removed to          New Kent county, where she lived and had several children, two of whom, as        Francis Evans informed this deponent were named Tom and Francis Evans        who were bound to one Lightfoot of New Kent. This information was made to      this Depont. by the said Frances Evans the elder when she was on a visit to        her friends in this County, who were  neighbours to this deponent. This              deponent further saith that after the great grandchildren viz; Tom and              Francis were bound to the said Lightfoot he never heard anything more            relative to them. That many of the descendants of the said Gibsons and            Evans now in this deponents knowledge are alive, and enjoying their
    freedom unmolested and have remained so since this deponents first
    with the first Jane Gibson the elder; that some of them are black, some
    nearly white, and others dark mulattoes which this deponent supposes              proceeded from a promiscuous intercourse with different colours. . . .  
    [Petition of the Slaves Held by Lewis Allen to the Superior     Court of                Richmond, Virginia May 7, 1805]

(1) Parson William G. Brownlow -  The Great Iron Wheel     Examined   Published 1856
'' At the close of this Address, the following resolutions were offered for adoption by J. W. Schoolfield; and being seconded, Rev. Gr. K. Snapp took the vote of the audience:
Resolved, That the thanks of the Methodists, and the friends of Methodism, now assembled at this camp-ground, be and they are hereby tendered to Rev. W. G. Brownlow, for his able defence of our much-loved doctrines, and of the venerated memory of our sainted founder, and of our yet more cherished and highly-prized characters, against the vile and ribald aspersions of Frederick A. Ross, and his endorsers—the members of the East Tennessee Synod—who have willingly become the tools or partners in the slanders of their more sable, yet still more able and accomplished leader, in sophistry, falsehood, and detraction.

Resolved, That the editors of the Methodist Episcopalian, the Jones- borough Whig, and Jonesborough Review, be requested to give the foregoing resolution an insertion in their respective publications.
Staley's Creek C. G., Smythe co., Va., July 9th, 1848.

REPLY.
I thank the gentlemen who have moved and seconded the adoption of the resolution just read, and for the compliment paid me therein—all of which has been without agency of mine, or previous knowledge of such an intention. But I thank this large assemblage of ladies and gentlemen still more sincerely, for the unanimity and alacrity with which they have adopted them. Their adoption has been like that of the endorsement of what I have this day made war upon, by the Athens Synod—it has been " with absolute unanimity !" I will not disguise the fact, although I am not a very vain man. that this compliment is acceptable to me; and the more gratifying, coming, as it does, from so many ladies and gentlemen of the first respectability in our county.

I beg, however, to state to the members and friends of the Methodist Church present, that they are under no sort of obligations to me for any services they may have supposed me to render the Church, here or elsewhere. I have done nothing more than my duty—nothing more than I am prepared to do at all times, in all places, and at all hazards, under like circumstances of offence, and against any combination of wicked men and devils! What I have said and done, it is the duty of every Methodist preacher to do—a duty they owe to the ashes of the venerable dead—a Wesley, an Asbury, and a host of others—whose souls are at peace with God, while their reputations are assailed by these hell-hounds of sectarian malice! Were I to sit quietly by my fireside, at home, or look tamely on at all this abuse of my female relatives and acquaintances, I should be ashamed to look one of them in the face when I might chance to meet with them!

The speech you have just responded to, is substantially the same which I have been delivering for the last two years, to so many thousand persons, in Tennessee and Virginia. And I remark, with gratitude to God, that during all that time I have been but once interrupted by rain, (at Greenville, Tenn.,) and never have had so much as a bad cold to prevent my speaking.
You have alluded, classically enough, to the "sable leader" of the Athens Synod, in this work of falsehood and detraction. The fact of the copper color, the woolly head, and other similar appendages of the negro, which cling to this Rev. Malungeon, notwithstanding his Caucasian features, in the general, should be kept prominently before the proud, spirited, and high-minded Virginian. Let the distinction of color be kept up, and let our identity as a race of white men be preserved. Let the Presbyterians of Marion trample upon marriage relations, despise the distinction between white and colored people, and bid defiance to the powers of enlightened society, if they choose; but let us, my friends, have more self-respect than to imitate their example.

Peace is desirable; and if our Presbyterian friends want it, let them choke off, and choke down, this "sable leader'' of theirs, and cease to uphold him in his outrageous course Then, and not till then, can they have peace, unless they conquer a peace, which they can never do! You will hear much said about my abuse on this occasion. I have been severe, and I intended to be severe; because I have been replying to publications which teem with the most vulgar and abusive language, and with the vilest and meanest insinuations against our entire ministry and membership. I have been replying to a slanderer, who delights in fishing up from the sewers of all the corrupt writers against Methodism, every vile slander and false insinuation that they have set afloat. This is the natural aliment on which Ross lives. His language is that of a peculiar dialect, used by the bar-room bully and street loafer. He is the embodied personification of all my conceptions of a villain. He is the living picture of moral death—a travelling monument of the wrath of an offended God, and a fearful witness to the truth of the words of inspiration, which assert that the heart of man is desperately wicked! Yes! his heart, like his complexion, is bronzed and burnt to blackness by crime; and can now be seen in his wild and fierce black eye, glowing with a fire approaching to ferocity! His voice, everywhere raised to a pitch of deadly passion, is constantly heard, like the hoarse croaking of some bird of ill-omen !

(2)Church at Home and Abroad‎ - Page 403
by Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work, Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. General Assembly - Presbyterian Church - 1897 A SECOND VISIT TO THE MELUNGEONS - REV. C. HUMBLE, M.D., SYNODICAL, SABBATH-SCHOOL MISSIONARY  http://www.geocities.com/ourmelungeons/humble.html

(3)13 Jul 1763 Louisa County, Book: 2, Page: 310, Gilbert Gibson, Type: Acct, Date: 13-Jul-1763
Account of sale of Gilbert Gibson dec'd. 13 Jul 1763 David Ross one bed 2# 3s David Ross one trunk 0# 5s David Ross total due 2# 8s

(4)  Gibson Notes

Legend of the Melungeons

 

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Littell's Living AgeMarch 1849

"THE MELUNGENS"
Unknown Journalist

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Newspapers on slow newsdays  tend to print or reprint stories their readers may be interested in. This article while it appears in the Knoxville Register in September of 1848 it is quoting from the Louisville Examiner.  So as we have no clue who the journalist was we also have no idea if this was originally  printed in 1818 or in 1848.  It was copied to other newspapers around the country at various times, appearing in Wisconsin paper in 1848, New Jersey papers in 1894, and Ohio papers in 1898, with no mention of the origin of the article.  You would have thought it was a journalist from 1894 who had visited with the Melungeons on Newman's Ridge.  
Joanne Pezzullo

---

It was reprinted from the Knoxville Register September 6, 1848 quoting from the Louisville Examiner. (We are sorry to have lost the name of the southern paper from which this is taken.)

We give to-day another amusing and characteristic sketch from a letter of our intelligent and sprightly correspondent, sojourning at present in one of the seldom-visited nooks hid away in our mountains.

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.

The legend of their history, which they carefully preserve, is this. A great many years ago, these mountains were settled by a society of Portuguese Adventurers, men and women--who came from the long-shore parts of Virginia, that they might be freed from the restraints and drawbacks imposed on them by any form of government. These people made themselves friendly with the Indians and freed, as they were from every kind of social government, they uprooted all conventional forms of society and lived in a delightful Utopia of their own creation, trampling on the marriage relation, despising all forms of religion, and subsisting upon corn (the only possible product of the soil) and wild game of the woods.

These intermixed with the Indians, and subsequently their descendants (after the advances of the whites into this part of the state) with the negros and the whites, thus forming the present race of Melungens.

They are tall, straight, well- formed people, of a dark copper color, with Circassian features, but wooly heads and other similar appendages of our negro. They are privileged voters in the state in which they live and thus, you will perceive, are accredited citizens of the commonwealth. They are brave, but quarrelsome; and are hospitable and generous to strangers. They have no preachers among them and are almost without any knowledge of a Supreme Being. They are married by the established forms, but husband and wife separate at pleasure, without meeting any reproach or disgrace from their friends. They are remarkably unchaste, and want of chastity on the part of females is no bar to their marrying. They have but little association with their neighbors, carefully preserving their race, or class, or whatever you may call it: and are in every respect, save they are under the state government, a separate and distinct people. Now this is no traveller's story.

They are really what I tell you, without abating or setting down in aught in malice. They are behind their neighbors in the arts. They use oxen instead of horses in their agricultural attempts, and their implements of husbandry are chiefly made by themselves of wood. They are, without exception, poor and ignorant, but apparently happy. Having thus given you a correct geographical and scientific history of the people, I will proceed with my own adventures.

Brownlows Whig

 

 

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In this contemporary political cartoon,
"true Whigs" (left) enjoy their hard cider,
while "ruffled shirt Matty" (center) loses
himself in the "feminine pleasures" of opium.
Meanwhile, the undecided voter (right)
 is taking a leak for some reason

                                      

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Historians say the 1840
campaign is the first 'modern
day' election.  It was the  first
election for buttons, pins, fireworks,
name calling and political caricatures.

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Brownlow's Whig

Jonesboro, Tennessee

Oct., 7, 1840

NEGRO SPEAKING! (Click Here for original scan)

We have just learned, upon undoubtedle authority, that Gen. Combs, in his attempt to address the citizens of Sullivan County, on yesterday, was insulted, contradicted repeatedly, limited to one hour and a half, and most shamefully treated, and withall an effort was made, to get an impudent Malungeon from Washington City, a scoundrel who is half Negro and half Indian, and who has actually been speaking in Sullivan, in reply to Combs!  Gen. Combs, however, declined the honor of contending with Negroes and Indians - said he had fought against the latter, but never met them in debate!

This is the party, reader, who are opposed to the gag-law, and to abolition! Bigotry and democracy in Sullivan county, well knowing that their days on earth are numbered, are rolling together their clouds of blackness and darkness, in the person of a free negroe, with the forlorn hope of obscuring the light that is beaming in glory, and a gladness, upon this country, through the able and eloquent speeches of Whig orators. David Shaver replied to Gen. Combs, we are informed. This is the same Davy, Mr. Netherland gave an account of, some time since, and who, Col. James gave us the history of, in an address, at our late convention. When Davy had finished, the big Democratic Negro came forward, and entertained the brethren. These two last speakers were an entertaining pair!

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Brownlow's Whig
October 21, 1840

Well when the hour arrived, Hall  and the Indian Negro rode up together, and behind them, a short distance, was McClellan and ''Show Miller" Shaver -- the Locos did not say which of these four worthies were to speak.  Senter spoke, and handled the 'Negro,' who it seemed, had been eating, sleeping, and riding with these, his brethern, "his kinsman according to politics!"

Brownlow's Whig
October 28
Reprinted from the Tennessee Mirror

With astonishment we have understood that a half Negro, and half Indian has been speaking to the citizens of Sullivan on the subject of politics! This surely is  a great insult, and ought not to be tolerated, by any honest man in the Union.  Surely this is exaggeration, and cannot be!  What!  A NEGRO lecture on enlightened community!  It cannot be!


Brownlow's Whig

We can assure the editor of the "Mirror," that an infamous Negro has been speaking in Sullivan County -- no mistake, for we have seen and conversed with several gentlemen who seen and heard the vile scamp.  And he was put up by the DEMOCRATIC party, and by that party sustained, and now apologized for, on the ground of his having some Indian blood in him, and having been raised by JACKSON!


"Finally, on November 4, and as the election neared, Brownlow printed his last attack, "Keep It Before The People," drawn from this incident.  In the two paragraph column, the malicious slanders directed toward the poor fellow, and thereby the Democrtatic Party, are unrelenting and included "an impudent FREE NEGRO," "this infamous and dissipated MULATTO," this vile NEGRO  -- this KINKY HEADED villian," "an infamous, insulting, and strange free Negro, or runaway slave?"  as well as others.  Adding a touch of ridicule with reprimand, Brownlow concluded by noting that Democratic gentlemen in the southern parts of Virginia had driven this mixed-breed from the region."

Brownlow's Whig
November 4, 1840

In Sullivan, however, he met with a hearty welcome!  There, they ate, rode, and slept with him; and one of the leaders of that party, furnished him with ARMS to defend himself against the insults of WHITE MEN who might chance to prove so refractory, as not to hear him speak!  Shame on the leaders of this party in old Sullivan.


SOURCE: "THE MYSTEROUS MELUNGEONS:  A CRITIQUE OF THE MYTHICAL IMAGE"
Melanie Sovine
1982

Remnant of an Indian Race  -- John B. Brownlow   1911

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Political Cartoon
Uncyclopedia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Goins Bass Gibson & Indians

 

I have been researching the Goins-Gowen etc., for many years since I found the record of Phillis Goeing (Gowen) 1745 Charles City County -  petitioned George Gibson  concerning her children, but he failed to answer the petition so the court ordered the churchwardens to bind them out.  George Gibson was the son or grandson of Gibby Gibson, brother/nephew of Gilbert Gibson of Louisa County. George and Thomas Gibson appear in Louisa County about this time then move on to Granville/Orange County North Carolina. The Gibsons in Charles City County descended from Native Americans according to 1790 Court Records. 

These are some of the notes I have found over the years but have just recently tried putting them together, I have more and will post later.  

Feel free to share the link - I was recently told since  wasn't a Goins and I had no business researching them and was removed from the Facebook page, perhaps this might help some of those members. 

 
In the name of God amen I John Bass being sick and weak of body Butt of Sound Senses and memory Thanks be to God Do make and Ordain this to be my Last will in manner and form following -- First and Imprimis I give and Bequeath to my son Edward Bass my manor plantation whereon I now live to him and the heirs of his body lawfully begotten for Ever But except that the use and liberty of said plantation for my loving wife Mary for her lifetime for use in bringing up my small children. I give William Bass my land at ye Beaver Dam south through the swamp __ to a dividing line. Item I give to my Grandson Aaron Johnsone one hundred acres of land more or less north side of Uriah Swamp if it is not (?Pote ye Broad wock north Jake in away of ye swamp?)  Item I give unto my Loving Daughter Joudath Canady 100 acres of land more or less lying on ye south side of Urah Swamp adjoining James Hutchisons line to her and he heirs of her body lawfully to be begotten forever.  Item I give to my loving friend Daniel Wharten Burbogg fifty acres of land lying on ye north side of ye Quater Swamp and Beginning at Toneys path south down ye said swamp across the first Branch to him and his heirs forever.  Item I give unto my loving daughter Sarah Anderson one hundred acres of land more or less lying on ye north side of Uriah Swamp the most convenient land to the plantation whereon she now lives but not any part of ye said swamp but only ye tract toward Hutchinson line for ye  complement as far as ye Branch to her and ye hears of her obdy Lawfully begotten forever.  Item I give to my loving Daughter Loucy Bass one hundred acres of land more or less lying on the north side of Uriah Swamp bounded by Nowsoms line and so down betwixt  Two Branch to ye said swamp but not into ye said swamp.  Item I give to my loving daughter Mary one hundred acres of land more or less lying on North side of Uriah Swamp bound by my own line Newsoms and down a branch to ye said Swamp including a island on the lower side of ye said swamp.  Item I give unto my son Aaron Bass my plantation on ye south side of Baird Swamp whereon he lives and all ye high Land from my uper line and to down to the Great pine Branch.  Item I give unto my Daughter Patience Bass my plantation on the south side of Baire Swamp that I bought of William Johnston and all the land for the Great Branch above ye plantations down to ye lower line to her and the heirs of her body lawfully to be begotten for ever.  Item I give unto my son Moses Bass all my land that lyoth on the north side of Baire Swamp which is ajoining to my brother Edward's line including all the swamp to my son.  My will is further that if my loving wife should again marry and my son disturbed then my sons Edward and William Bass to have half the benefir of my orchards on my manor plantations.  Item I give unto my loving son John Bass my ould Square mosled gun.  Item I give unto my loving wife the third of my movables and all the remainder of my estates both within and without to be equally divided amongst my last wife's children and lastly I do nominate and appoint my loving sons John Bass and Edward to be my executors together with my loving wife as a co executor during her widowhood.  In witness whereof I have here into set my hand this 18th Day of June 1732. Signed with his mark which was a reversed capital "B" Witness Tho Bryant Edward Bass and James Guie Bertie Precint February Ct. 1732 Proved by oath of Capt Thomas Bryant James Quie Edward Bass Bertie County, N.C. Wills Vol. II p. 48  1663-1789

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9 Nov 1785. Will of Moses Bass of Prince Georges Parish, George Town Dist, Province of SC, being indisposed in Body.... to MOURNING GOING, dau of JACOB GOING, one cow marked with a cross & over bit & undr bit in one ear and cross & whole under nick in the other ear; to SARAH GOING, dau of JACOB GOING, one cow marked in the above mentioned mark; to ELIZABETH GOING, dau of JACOB GOING, one cow marked with a cross & undr bit & over bit in each ear and branded ME; to ANNE GOING, dau of JACOB GOING, one heifer marked with a cross and under bit & over bit in each ear branded ME; to CYNTHA GOING, dau of JACOB GOING, one heifer yearling marked with a cross & over bit & under bit in each ear & branded ME; to my beloved cousin Jeremiah Bass, [nephew] tract of 100 ac granted to John Smith, and one negro named Peter, one negro woman named Fann, one negro boy named Jack with their increase; my wife Elizabeth Bass to have the use of said plantation & tract of land granted to John Smith her lifetime and the use of negroes Peter, Fann & Jack & their increase her life time; to my beloved cousin Wright Bass, [Nephew] the plantation, mill, & tract of land containing 444 ac that I now live on, one negro woman Jane, my wife Elizabeth Bass to have the use of the plantation, mill & tract of land and negro woman her lifetime; to Henry Harison, son of James Harison, one negro woman Cate & increase, my wife to have the use of the negro woman her lifetime; to JOSEPH GOING, JUNR, one negro girl named Judah & increase, my wife to have the use her life time; to my beloved wife Elizabeth Bass, one negro man named Jack, one woman named Florah, one woman named Nan, one boy named Isum, one boy named Roger, and my cattle, about 110 head, branded ME, all my stock of horses & mares, all my household furniture & plantation tools, 26 head of sheep, and my hogs, also negro girl Violet; to JACOB GOING, a plantation of 50 ac granted to John Crawford; I appoint my wife Elizabeth Bass and my friend Luke Whitefield and James Harison, executors, dated 28 Feb 1777. Moses Bass (M) (LS), Wit: Malachi Murfee, Jeremiah Bass (x), Right Bass. A true copy taken from the original and examined by Hugh Horry, Ordinary G Town Dist. Whereas I, the within named Right Bass, am the eldest son of Edward Bass deceased, who was eldest brother of the within named Testator Moses Bass, which said Moses Bass departed this life without issue, whereby I, said Right Bass became his heir at law, and I am willing that all the several devises & bequests in the said will should have full effect, for the memory of my deceased uncle Moses Bass and for the several devisees in the within will, and five shillings, I confirm all the devises, legacies and bequests, 9 Nov 1785. Right Bass (LS), Wit: Chas Cotesworth Pinckney, Wm Smith. Proved in Charleston Dist by the oath of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney 28 Jun 1786 before Dl. Mazyck, JP. Rec 28 Jun 1786. S-5, 283-284. (Holcomb, SC Deed Abstracts, 1783-1788, Bks I-5 thru Z-

 30 July 1799

Wright Bass and Nancy his wife to Levi Gibson 140 acres fro 35 pounds on Gum Swamp part of 500 acres known as the Mill Tract sold by Daniel Laroach Esq to James Owens and by him to Moses Bas and bequeathed in his will to Right Bass, Sr and bequeathed by him to Right Bass Jr.

See Bass Nansemond Lineage
https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/bass/5241/-

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In 1788, "Thomas Goin" applied to the County Court of Greene County for the administration of the estate of Elizabeth Bass, according to "Bulletin of the Watauga Association," Volume 10: "August 1788.

On motion of W. Avery, Esqr. atto. for Thomas Going for obtaining letter of administration on the Estate of Elizabeth Bass, decd. ordered that the same be laid over until next term, for proof of sanguinity [kinship, blood relationship] & that a dedimus potestatem [a commission to take testimony] issue in favour of said Thomas Going to Anson & Richmond Counties & to the State of South Carolina by giving fifteen days notice to Jeremiah Bass of the time & place where such testimony will be taken, ditto for Levi Bass to South Carolina giving Thos. Going fifteen days notice at least."

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Edward Gowen of Granville County, North Carolina, regarded as a kinsman of Thomas Goin, was also named an heir of Elizabeth Bass. On October 14, 1788 he conveyed his interest in her estate to "his nephew, Thomas Gowen," according to Granville County Will Book 2, page 79.

"October 14, 1788. Know all men by these presents that I Edward Gowen of the County of Granville for divers good causes and considerations thereunto [me] moving more especially for the sum of A25 to me in hand paid, the receipt of which I do hereby acknowledge, hath bar? gained, sold & made over, and by these presents, do bargain, sell and make over to my nephew, Thomas Gowen all the estate, right and interest I have or hereafter may have to the estate of Elizabeth Bass, deceased, or any part thereof, and do hereby make over the same to the said Thomas Gowin, his heirs and assigns from the claim of me, the said Edward Gowen or any other person whatever claiming under me. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand & seal the 15th day of October, 1786.

Edward Going

Witnesses:
Henry Meghe
Allin Hudson
Jhn. [X] Simmons..

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In 1787, "Thomas Goin" received Grant No. 2015 for 300 acres of land on Licking Creek, "including his improvements" in Greene County, Tennessee. This grant was paid for in cash. Greene County had been formed in 1783 with land taken from Washington County.

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In 1784 plat records show Michael Gowin living adjacent to Hayes Swamp in Georgetown District, South Carolina adjacent to Stephen Gibson – near where Moses Bass and his wife Elizabeth Bass (Going) were living on Gum Swamp – shown in plat records.

In 1789 a Lucy Gowin is shown in a plat with land adjacent to Stephen Gibson in Georgetown District, SC. She is likely the widow of Michael Gowin who disappears from records.

In 1792 Thomas Gowen is shown in two plats owning land on Hayes Swamp and adjacent to Stephen Gibson in Georgetown District, SC.

In 1796 John Gowing is shown in a plat owning land on Hayes Swamp adjacent to Stephen Gibson in Georgetown District, SC.

Stephen Gibson is a witness to a deed in 1807 conveying land once owned by Moses Bass that was left to a Right Bass. The Gibson family shows up in most of the Moses Bass & Elizabeth Bass probate paperwork – along with the Going family.

Researchers believe John Goin accompanied his brother Thomas Goin b. abt 1750-55 to Claiborne Co, TN where John is shown being received in 1800 to the Big Spring Primitive Baptist Church

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"MONDAY, MAY 23, 1757: A petition from Andrew Hampton was read in the North Carolina House at Newbern, the petition praying for an allowance for the provisions furnished 160 Indians was placed under consideration. Earlier the North Carolina Assembly in 1753, had appointed Commishioners in Granville and three other frontier communities to furnish provisions for the Indians allied with the Province against the French and the Cherokee Indians. The allied Indians were probably Tuscarora and Saponi. In 1753-58, some thirty Saponi lived north of present Henderson, North Carolina on land of Colonel William Eaton, who acted as their interpreter. The first Court of Granville in 1746 was held in Colonel Eaton's house, he served as Public Registar for the County and was Commander of the Regiment of eight Companies of the Militia."

The following served under Col. Eaton, in Capt.Andrew Hampton's company:

James Bolling
William Bolling
Benjamin Bolling
John Bolling

William Saunders in the “Colonial Records of North Carolina” report that in 1754 a group of 30-40 Saponi had settled on the lands of William Eaton in Granville County, NC. 

Eaton's Muster Roll 1754

• Edward Harris, negro Husband of Sarah Chavers, daughter of William and Frances
• William Chavers, negro   Married Frances Gibson widow of George Smith
• William Chavers Jun., Mul.
• Gilberth Chavers, Mulatto
• John Smith   Nut Bush  Probably son of Frances, he administered her estate
• Thomas Gowen, mulatto
• Mickael Gowen, mulatto
• Edward Gowen, mulatto

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''At the Rockdale mills, there lived some free mulattoes by the name of Turner, who were Tories and very wicked. The troops engaged in this expedition, having been disbanded, and Captain Culp having gone home, some of these mulattoes followed him to his own house, called him out at night, and accused him of whipping one of their brothers. He refused at first to come out, and they threatened to burn the house; but still he refused, until they began to apply the fire; then he came out between two young men, one on each side, holding them by the arms, and begging for his life; but the Turners told the young men that, If they did not wish to share the same fate with Culp, they must leave him. They did so; and he was Immediately shot down in his own yard. It is said that they not only murdered him, but his family also, and then burned his house, which stood about a mile below Hunt's Bluff. Old Major Pouncey's wife was Culp's daughter...."

''After remaining a short time in North Carolina Captain Baxter marched back to South Carolina and joined Colonel Culp who joined General Francis Marion. After a few months service under Colonel Culp, he Colonel Culp, returned home and was killed by the Tories said to be commanded by Mike Gowen and Thomas Gibson. Captain Baxter  immediately went in pursuit of them, we found Mike Gowen at Cade's Mill in Robeson County in this State & he was shot.''

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1804 Sumter County Deed... S.C. Marion Dist. Levi Gibson appeared, saith that he was personally acquainted with a certain elderly woman by the name of Franky Going or Taylor. That from her appearances he had cause to believe that she was not of Ethiopian extraction. She was generally reputed to have proceeded from the Indian. He was also acquainted with a certain Gowen Taylor who was said to be the son of aforesaid Franky Taylor and he never was considered in any other way than to have derived from the Indian extraction. Hardy Crawford attested to oath.

Hardy Crawford was married to Rhoda Gibson

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John Gowen Sr. of SC to Solomon Page of Marion Dist.. 3 parties of land containing 250ac on Ashpole Swamp one tract 150 ac being granted to Ignatious Flowers 14 Ap 1774, one other tract 50ac granted to Archable Odom 6 June 1785--Line runs up *Ashpole Swamp to ....... the three tracts near of adj each other and include where John Gowen SR. lives. John Gowen Sr. [His mark] Wit; John Ford, Benj Rawls, proved before Robert Moody Qu 9 Jan 1808 Nancy Gowing [her mark] rdr 12 Oct 1804 before Jesse Bethea JQ .. Rec 7 June 1810

Some of this research was found at this site -  Goyen, Gowing, Going, Goyne, Goin, etc. sources from 1740 to 1775  - Where you will find much more records.

https://goyengoinggowengoyneandgone.com/goyen-gowing-going-goyne-goin-etc-sources-from-1740-to-1775/