Here is what Brent had to say: This article is a follow-up of
sorts to a speech I made at the Melungeon Fifth Union in
Kingsport, Tennessee in June of 2004. In that speech I talked of
Melungeon origins, kinship and genetics findings in my own
family. For those interested in the background for this
commentary, here’s a link to the text of that presentation: First,
a note of importance: for the purpose of the discussion here I
am putting aside any family connections I have to those
wonderful people known as “Melungeons.” I do not, nor can I
speak for all Melungeon related families. Other Melungeon
descendants may show vastly different “origins” than I do –
that’s the nature of admixture over time. Some will be more
European, others more Native American, or Mediterranean, or
African, or what have you. Every human being is truly
special…related to all other human beings, but a unique
individual in every aspect. So please bear in mind that what I
write here relates to my specific family and to my
specific heritage as an Appalachian whose most recent Old World
ancestors arrived here in the late 1700s (a fact which,
according to some, should consequently make me almost
exclusively “northern European”).
In fact, I was harshly criticized by one major reviewer in the
mid-1990s for questioning what she considered to be impeccable
records indicating an exclusive northern and/or western European
heritage for all my family lines. My work - and the
theories I proposed of Portuguese and Turkish and East Indian
origins - in her own words, “belied” my true ancestry. This was
a pretty serious charge and, in essence, laid the groundwork for
a decade of animosity, hurt feelings, and needless bickering
that could have been avoided. One can be of many heritages and
postulating a Portuguese or Turkish or East Indian possibility
does not automatically exclude all others, at least in my way of
thinking. Human beings can be, and generally are, a mix. Also,
the written record, as crucial as it is, is subject to error
because (1) the winners write history, and (2) people make
mistakes, sometimes accidentally and sometimes not. Oral
tradition, physical phenotypes, and genetic traits and
conditions should also be taken into account, with or without
supportive historical documentation explaining the presence of
those traits (but all too often have not been - just ask Native
Americans).
n short, common sense ought to play at least some part in
drawing conclusions about both populations and historical
events. To me this was common sense, but the fact that
the official records didn’t spell out these ancestries in a
traditional, easily accessible format proved an insurmountable
obstacle for this particular reviewer.
Following that review, I wrote in reply that I remained
convinced of what my family – and my eyes - were telling me, and
that the major point of my book was to make people aware of the
occasional discrepancies between the written record and
real-life experience. And, again, that common sense ought to be
a part of the research equation. I closed that response with
these words: “I will not go away.” Nearly a decade later, as
promised, I have not gone away and the truth, at least for my
family, is rapidly unfolding. The genetics trail as presented in
my first “Ties That Bind” presentation, and the evidence that
follows here, provide increasingly powerful proof that this
particular critic – and not me - was the one “belying” my
family’s ancestry. The people whom she “reinvented” to suit her
academic expectations were human beings, real people who lived,
worked, had children and did their best to survive. They were
not stick figures, nor simply faceless names on a yellowed page
that could be treated as academic fodder. The day I read that
“review” I made a promise to myself that I would not allow their
lives – and their true identities - to be erased. I have paid a
price for that promise, as most of you know, but I would
absolutely do it again. They deserved no less.
I also pledged several years ago to continue to share my
personal genetic discoveries whenever possible, as evidenced in
my first “Ties That Bind” (referenced above), as well as in
other articles and List posts I’ve made. Today I want to share
just one more fascinating discovery. This trek isn’t over by a
long shot, but bit by bit it unravels itself, just as similar
stories are unraveling themselves for thousands of others on
similar journeys. Through the capability of DNA Print Genomics
to analyze the human body’s entire genetic “book” via the
Ancestrybydna 2.5 and EURODNA 1.0 tests (as opposed to singular
Y or mtDNA lines), my brother and I now have an even stronger
grasp of who we are. In addition to the genetics evidence of
non-northern European ancestry which I presented in the original
“Ties That Bind,” we now possess new data - data that once again
runs contrary to the exclusive “northern Euro-centric” origins
assigned to my family by outsiders. But data, nonetheless, that
fits perfectly well with the other genetic results we’ve
gathered, and certainly with the physical appearance and
on-the-ground experience of so many of our family members.
In short, I asked my brother to volunteer his cheek cells for
this new analysis, trying to incorporate both of us into the
genetics testing arena. Since we share the same parents (and
verifiably the same mtDNA and Y sequences), his results would be
just as reflective of our ancestry as mine. Richard agreed, we
swabbed his inner cheeks, sent off the sample, and waited two
months. Here are the results:
From the DNAPrint 2.5: 2% sub-Saharan African; 98%
Indo-European
From the Euro-DNA 1.0 breaking down the 98%
Indo-European): 50% Northern European; 25% South Asian
(India-Pakistan, etc.); 10% Middle Eastern; 15% Southeastern
European (Turkish-Greek/Aegean region)
In
other words, we are approximately 49 % northern European, with
the other 51% consisting of a mix of south Asian, Turkish-Greek,
Middle Eastern, and sub-Saharan African. A far cry from the 100%
northern European argued for by this early critic (and a
percentage that may be significantly lower than what might
have been found in my late mother. In fact, as follow-up we
are having both my and my father’s DNA analyzed as well to see
if we can better establish the sources of our various heritages.
I plan on releasing those results, as well).
To further appreciate my brother’s results, and for comparative
purposes, DNAPrint Genomics (http://www.ancestrybydna.com)
provides the following “average results” for northern Europeans:
And this is an average for modern Europeans: several
centuries back one would expect the more “southerly” ethnic
admixtures to be even less significant than they are today, with
“northern European” genes having been even more dominant then.
Too, many modern northern Europeans, including some examples at
the above website, test out in the 90% to 95% Northern European
range, with generally no south Asian. In fact, here are results
of the same test provided to me in confidence from a Turkish
friend (both parents from the Anatolian region) and a British
friend (now living in the D.C. area):
The “average” northern European is: 82% Northern
European; 05.5% Greek-Turkish (now termed; southeastern
European); 01.5% South Asian (India-Pakistan); 11% Middle
Eastern
Turkish Friend Northwestern Europe 21%;
Turkish-Greek/southeastern European 35%; South Asian 32%
Middle Eastern 12%
British Friend Northwestern Europe 91%;
Turkish-Greek/southeastern European 5%; South Asian 0%
Middle Eastern 4%
I also received the following results from an Appalachian cousin
who had her father’s DNA analyzed, a gentleman who is related to
my mother via a half dozen or more lines and also has no recent
(i.e., post-1500s) Old World ancestors to “explain away” his
results. This gentleman, now is his late eighties, showed the
following: Native American/east Asian: 35%; Indo-European: 65%.
His 65% Indo-European broke down as follows: Northern European
40%; Middle Eastern 0%; South Asian 5%;
Turkish-Greek/Southeastern European 55%.
In short, the genetic northern Europeanism of this gentleman
constitutes less than one third of who he is. Whatever
the case, my brother’s percentages, coupled with the variety of
non-northern European mtDNA and Y sequences discovered in our
family (ranging from Middle Eastern to Native American to
central Asian to African), should convince even the most
die-hard northern Euro-centric proponent that something else has
been going on in the southern Appalachians, and likely along the
eastern seaboard, for quite some time. I remain absolutely
convinced that significant numbers of people of Mediterranean,
Middle Eastern and South Asian heritage came to this nation
under the flags of northern and western European nations,
intermarried not only with other, more “traditional” Europeans,
but with Native and African Americans as well. They then carried
their combined genes and cultures from coast to coast, most
becoming lost to “history” as it would be written.
While the DNAPrint and the Euro-DNA are still being refined and
will undoubtedly become even more accurate in the future, my
brother’s results do not surprise me and, in fact, generally
align with what I had expected based on real-life experience.
However, had I “bought” into what I have been taught by
outsiders all my life (i.e., that Turks and Greeks and Middle
Easterners and south Asians were likely never on these shores,
or at least hadn’t married into MY family), I probably would be
questioning the accuracy of this test. But I stopped buying into
it a long, long time ago and I do believe this analysis to be
generally on target. Incidentally, to be sure of my conclusions,
I asked Dr. Tony Frudakis of DNAPrint Genomics to review my data
and general conclusions before posting this article. While I
take full responsibility for the article, he did have this to
say: "I found that Mr. Kennedy responsibly and soundly
interpreted the significance and bearing of his autosomal
admixture results, and he demonstrated a solid understanding on
what autosomal tests can and cannot do and how they should and
should not be interpreted."
Of course, from a “records” standpoint we cannot prove with
absolute certainty how these ancestors arrived. For example,
does our south Asian come from the Asian Indian wives of
Portuguese settlers, or seventeenth century Tidewater Virginia
servants with English surnames, or Romany Gypsies, or the
self-proclaimed “Portuguese-Indian” ancestors in my family
(Reeves, Roberson, Mullins, etc.)? Can this finally explain the
eccentric, long standing south Asian names we have in our family
(such as “Canara,” the original name for the Indian region known
today as Karnataka?). Does our Greek-Turkish/southeastern
European/Middle Eastern come from converted Ottomans sent as
Spanish and Portuguese settlers, or Jamestown’s textile workers,
or Sir Francis Drake’s abandoned Turkish and Greek sailors? The
answer to all of the above questions is, I don’t know, and I may
never know. But not knowing how they arrived is not proof
that they didn’t arrive. They DID come: my brother and I,
and undoubtedly others, are living testimony to this fact.
Finally, and importantly, it’s critical to remember that DNA
testing can only confirm what you have inherited – it
cannot discount or disprove any heritage. For example, with
an acceptable level of confidence, I know via privately obtained
DNA sequencing that I have Native American ancestry through
three of my four grandparents (Native American mtDNA haplotypes).
The family oral traditions through these three grandparents,
unproved through the official written records, turn out via DNA
analysis to have a probable basis in fact. Yet, the Native
American DNA found via DNAPrints in my older relatives is absent
in my brother and me. Why? Because the percentage of any
heritage is cut in half with each succeeding generation. Unlike
the analysis of mtDNA or Y-chromosomes (which maintain their
basic integrity/haplotype generation after generation), a
DNAPrint, or a Euro-DNA Print, cannot always pick up those
ancestries, particularly after a certain number of generations
have passed. Typically six or seven generations will erase their
presence in these tests. My great aunts show their Native
American heritage via mtDNA sequences, and also in the DNAPrint
in percentages ranging from 2% to 23%. But three generations
later and that heritage is no longer traceable in Richard or me.
But this does not mean we aren’t descended from Native Americans
– we are. Again, we can validate what we have via these tests,
but not finding a particular heritage does not necessarily
invalidate its existence, and this is important to remember.
What is also important for us, that is, my family in particular,
is that our combined south Asian, Middle Eastern and
Greek-Turkish ancestors apparently outnumbered the Native
Americans and Africans, and at least matched the northern
Europeans in our specific ancestral lines. So much so that in
2005 their combined genes still comprise a bit more than half of
what we are. In essence, my brother and I are more than 50%
non-northern European, and just as closely linked
genetically to the people of the Aegean, Anatolia, the Middle
East, and India and Pakistan as we are to Ireland and England.
And our Mother and her family were likely even more closely
linked. Yet, throughout our lives we have been taught – rigidly
taught – that in spite of what our eyes could see, this was not
true. In the heart of Appalachia, in front of the very noses of
academia, an incredible story has been waiting, indeed begging,
to be told, but those who could have helped in the telling were
either unable, or unwilling, to do so. Who we were and who we
are even today – our basic human identity - had already been
assigned to us by the outside world, the winners, in effect,
engaged in the traditional writing of “history.”
For more than a century the Melungeons (and other mixed race
peoples) have been told that their traditions and their beliefs
have little or no merit. History books long ago dismissed and
excluded any significant Portuguese, East Indian/south Asian,
Ottoman Turkish, Greek, or general Mediterranean genes from
their ancestral pools. In clinging to Portuguese or other
non-northern European Old World origins, according to this
stance, Melungeons were simply harboring a deep-seated
psychological need for an “exotic ancestry,” clinging to “myth”
in order to make themselves feel special. But the truth is, in
my opinion, that the Melungeons were doing nothing more than
expressing the basic human need – and right - to preserve and
to celebrate one’s full ancestry. Just as the northern
European side of me is permitted, even encouraged, to celebrate
its heritage (which I gleefully do on each and every Saint
Patrick’s Day), so should the south Asian and the Turkish or
Middle Eastern or African sides of me be permitted to do
likewise. There is no such thing as an “exotic” ancestry and I
find it offensive to have that term thrown out again and again
in the manner that it has been. In India and Pakistan and
Turkey, “English” could be considered “exotic.” This
terminology, and the argument it supposedly supports, has grown
wearisome, offensive and, as growing DNA and archival evidence
increasingly demonstrates, erroneous.
The bottom line remains as it did in my original “Ties That
Bind” presentation: We are all human beings, comprised and
composed of all those who came before us, creations of God,
Children of Abraham. Nothing more, nothing less. Not exotic, not
mundane. Simply people wanting to know more about those that
came before them, so that they might teach those that come after
them. My brother’s and my search for origins is confirming for
us who we are, but it should not be viewed as a shortcut
to the solution of the mystery of the Melungeons: it is not. A
great deal more archival research and further
refinements/advancements in DNA sleuthing lie ahead before that
day arrives, if it ever does. But, perhaps a little selfishly, I
do take joy in the fact that I at least know a bit more about my
family’s specific ancestry and the cultural and genetic forces
that shaped them, and ultimately me.
In closing, the photographs included in this article may better
illustrate why I might have questioned my family being so
adamantly labeled by a modern researcher as exclusively northern
European.
With appreciation for all those engaged in family research,
Melungeon or otherwise.
Brent Kennedy
Below are some of members of Brent's Family:
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Melungeon - Portuguese Forum - The most recent email and answer is on the top.
Dear Manuel Mira, I just looked at your web site. I grew up in Louisiana. My grandfather's grandfather Francis Sylvester came from Portugal about 1820. He worked on whaling ships in the North Atlantic. I live in Marshall County, TN. Years ago, I saw something on PBS TV about Portuguese in TN. I sure would like to see more on this State. On that program, it showed a canopy of sorts in an area and it was said to be for the early Portuguese in TN.
It could have been where a church was held outdoors. I haven't a job but soon as I can I sure would like to buy a copy of your book. Are there any places to visit, today that has something about the early Portuguese in TN? I am nearing 51 years of age and this excites me to want to learn more. In my family, we know that Francis left behind his widow mother and older sister. Both were named, Ontee.
I have prayed to connect with the descendents of his sister but the time and season has not come. They could have relocated to another country, too. My dad is taking care of his wife, my mom who is very ill. He is caring for his 96 year old mother, too. He could share lots of information with you if he was able. I know that my ancestor and his wife are buried in Louisiana.
The grandsons started having a family reunion at the old homestead near the family graves. They hold it the last Sunday in October, every year. It isn't fancy. Just a gathering with a worship service under trees and a picnic. Family pictures of generations and that sort of thing. I haven't been in years. I know a person who was born in Portugal would be very welcomed. If you are interested in going to the reunion let me know and I will contact whoever is in charge for this year's reunion.
My financial needs will change soon as my health is better. I have high blood pressure and they tested and found out that my thyroid is the reason my blood pressure is up. I am doing well in spirit. I was baptized on the 31st of August and my daughter was baptized on Sept. 7th of this year. My husband says he isn't ready to get baptized. I am beginning to see good changes take place in him. We had marriage problems from the debts. I bought a Van, used and got my teeth worked on so as to be ready to job search. My health will be better. I am going to ask the Deacons of the church we go to, to pray and anoint me with oil.
I am believing in being healed. I pray you are doing well in body as well in spirit, Manuel. Two Sylvester men came from Portugal. My ancestor and his friend Emmanuel Sylvester. Emmanuel's descendents have a family reunion at a church. I haven't been. Genealogy interest me, more today. Family is family and you are part of my family just by being created by God. I will close, for now. God Bless you.
With kindness,
Mrs. Galilee Mills
P 0 Box 2296
Lewisburg,TN 37091-1296
***
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a term used to describe a group of lung
diseases that cause scarring and loss of lung function. They are of
unknown cause and are called by any number of different names including
IPF,UIP, non-specific interstitial pneumonitis and cryptogenic fibrosing
alveolitis to name an few.
They are unrelated to sarcoidosis which would be classified as a "known"
cause of PF because the course, treatment and prognosis are different
even thought the cause of sarcoidosis is unknown. BK
Sarcoidosis :
Dear Sir, I have just read you treatise. It was excellent. I do have one
question for you. Sarcoidosis is a form of Pulmonary Fibrosis. I have a
form of PF. It is called Non-Specific Interstitial Pneumonitis. My
mother died of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis 4 years ago. Are the IPF
and NSIPS being classified in this same group of lung disorders for the
purpose of the DNA study? I may not have asked the question
correctly, but I think you will understand what I am trying to ask. Thank
you for your expertise.
Catherine Russell Davidson
Machado-Joseph Disease, in Portuguese
Minha família tem essa doença, meu Pai
tinha e tenho irmãos que tem essa doença, inclusive já perdi irmãos
por causa dessa doença, e agora meu irmão que tem 42 anos, também está
ficando inválido, pois já não consegue andar sozinho, ele tem 1 uma
filha de 14 anos e um filho de 10 anos que são sabemos se também tem a
doença pois nunca fizeram exame para saber. Srs. peço pelo amor de Deus, assim que tiverem algum remédio para melhoria da doença favor nos comunicar através do email ou telefone: (055)11 67216345 / (055)11 97870049. Cidade: São Paulo / SP, País: Brasil
Meu nome é: Alexandre Correia de Siqueira
* * *
Any ideas on how
the “Quadrule” Indians of Kentucky got their name? Perhaps there is a
Portuguese connection? Below is some correspondence with Penny for
background. She’s researching these people. BK
Quadrules are very close to where a
Shawnee village is and the French were there too. So it possibly
could be French? Beats the heck out of me, I haven't found out for
sure yet. I have met Manuel and spoken with him, but it was at a Union
and he won't remember me, I'm sure. Yes I'd love to see what he thinks
about this word. Thanks so much. Penny
Take a look at the attached link. The term "quatru" (which sounds a great deal like "quadrule") was used by Sardinians, Spaniards, and Portuguese (and Brazilian Portuguese) to mean either one-quarter or mixed. If our Kentucky Quadrules were mixed Inidan/Portuguese, this would suddenly make great sense. Anyway, thought I'd throw it out to you and see what you can do with it. I can connect you with Manuel Mira, the Portuguese researcher, if you'd like. I haven't mentioned it to him as this is your project. But I find this increasingly intriguing. Me
Sooo.... if my
grandparents came here from the Azores, am I considered Melungeon?
Or do we need to have passed through the south? Deborah Carvalho
In my opinion, since I
accept the Portuguese infusion as a part of who we are, she is our
cousin. To be Melungeon, one needs to have been be descended from
the people referred to as Melungeon living in the Appalachians in
the early 1800s. We would be her cousin since she (and Melungeons)
are likely descended from the same Old World people. In other
words, some Native American tribes are our cousins as well, but they
are not “Melungeon.” Hope this helps – am running it by Wayne for
any comments he may have. You may share my thoughts with her. I
hope her sarcoid is in remission. BK
DNA Study Update, Kingsport, TN (MHA)
- December 1st, 2001- On behalf of the Melungeon Heritage Association, I
would like to update everyone who is interested on the progress of the
DNA study now being undertaken under the direction of Dr. Kevin Jones at
the University of Virginia's College at Wise. This study is intended to
show genetic origins of people from identified Melungeon families, and
to compare those samples with other population groups. Each of the
samples must be accompanied by an accurate and verifiable genealogy, and
must be painstakingly cross-checked to insure accuracy. While the
project is taking longer than originally anticipated, we want to make
sure the results are valid. Dr. Kevin Jones, who is conducting the
study, has increased the number of samples taken in order to give a more
valid picture of the population. For too many years, certain scientists
have insisted that if anyone is to challenge the commonly accepted
beliefs about Melungeons, that person or persons would need to come up
with verifiable evidence. That is what is being undertaken with this
study. Naturally, we want the results to be accepted by the scientific
community, and that's worth waiting for. We've been waiting over 200
years; a few more months won't matter if we finally have some solid
answers at the end of the day. For more information, visit the MHA
website at www.melungeon.org.
Wayne Winkler President Melungeon Heritage Association.
DNA Study Update, September 26, 2001 - UVA Wise professor Dr. Kevin
Jones has announced that the anticipated Melungeon DNA study will take
about six weeks longer than originally planned. Dr. Jones
continues to sequence both Mitochondrial and Y-Chromosome samples, but
the most recent samples were not available for sequencing until
mid-September. Likewise, additional British genetics data banks
will also soon be made available, thus permitting an even more accurate
study report. Jones indicated that the gathering of more relevant
samples and having a more extensive world data bank for comparisons
makes the wait worthwhile. "It is imperative that we present
the most accurate and reliable study report possible," said Jones.
"Our professionalism and accuracy continue to be more important than
speed of delivery. I believe
this is what the Melungeon descendants both want and deserve and it's
what I, as a professional, demand of myself. Nevertheless, I do
anticipate results by the end of October."
Dr. Brent Kennedy added, "Like everyone else, I'm also eager to know
more, and to know it sooner than later. But I respect Dr. Jones'
approach to the subject and I know that in the end we'll all be better
served by this more deliberate and impartial procedure. The worst
thing Dr. Jones could do would be to release the results in a piecemeal
fashion. We've waited several centuries, so I think a few
additional months won't be a problem."
VARDY, Tenn. (AP) - The hundreds who came here in search of their
past listened with rapt attention, responding with knowing nods as Brent
Kennedy told a tale that has become all too familiar in these hills. "I was always told we were Scotch-Irish," he said, holding up a yellowed photo of his mother, an olive-skinned woman with wavy, jet-black hair and deep brown eyes. "Now does she look white to you?"
For 14 years, Kennedy has been trying to convince scientists and historians and anyone else who would listen that Appalachian families are much more exotic - that they're the children of lost Indian tribes, or Spanish conquistadors, or most tantalizing of all, Mediterranean immigrants who fled their Anglo neighbors during colonial times. It's a claim that DNA evidence only now is beginning to substantiate. Genetic testing conducted this summer affirms that the people who settled here are not as white as they had thought - or wished.
Along with American Indian and European DNA, researchers are finding traces of a Middle Eastern blood line, centuries old in the Appalachian Mountains. "I had always known there was something different about us," said the 50-year-old Kennedy, who now proudly describes himself with an old Appalachian pejorative: Melungeon. Nobody really knows what the word means. "Melungeon" was what some called the darkest kids in school, the ones with questionable upbringing. Just saying it was sure to start fights.
W.C. "Claude" Collins, 74, a retired high school teacher from Vardy, once asked his mother what a Melungeon was. "She said, 'Claude, don't you ever say that word again."' Collins didn't for 30 years. Rick Goins, 47, of Kingsport, Tenn., remembers similar conversations with his parents. "My family never wanted to be 'one of them.' Back in the day, it wasn't good to be a person of color."So Goins left it alone. Likewise, Kennedy didn't really pay attention to the M-word. He also wasn't alarmed by his family's dark features - traits that seemed foreign among his Anglo neighbors.
But in his mid-20s, Kennedy's bones began to ache. His legs became swollen. He could barely breathe. Doctors told him he was suffering from sarcoidosis and familial Mediterranean fever - ailments more common in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Was it possible for a white boy from Wise, Va., to have Mediterranean blood? "It dawned on me that I really needed to know who I was," Kennedy said. So he started asking around. Kennedy questioned his parents about their past. He searched out old photographs and dug into genealogies.
He read about Spanish and Portuguese soldiers who were abandoned in what is now Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina. He read about Sir Francis Drake, an Englishman who dropped off about 1,500 Turkish and Mediterranean captives on Roanoke Island in the late 1500s. "Clearly, there is a potential for some of these people to have survived, married Indians and perhaps became a source for the Melungeons," said Chester DePratter, an expert on Spanish colonial archaeology at the University of South Carolina. The Appalachian Mountains, Kennedy became convinced, was one of America's first melting pots. It was a refuge for all the darker immigrants, the mixed whites and the American Indians, who were pushed out of colonial towns by Anglos.
After centuries in the mountains, Kennedy thinks the community of outcasts formed a culture all their own, like the Basques in Europe. They became a mixed race that today is believed to number in the thousands, with a heritage that's still evident in the twang of bluegrass music. If Melungeons were a unique group, it might explain the diseases that Kennedy and others like him were getting. Dr. Christopher Morris, a Kingsport rheumatologist, first guessed that Kennedy suffered from FMF, a malady that is rare in whites. "I told him, we have this thing called familial Mediterranean fever, and I showed him the book with all the symptoms, and he said, 'My gosh, that's what I have,"' Morris said.
The National Institutes of Health later confirmed the diagnosis. Morris has since diagnosed 13 other people in the area with FMF. "Many of them don't know they're Melungeons beforehand," Morris said. "Then they start checking their family histories and indeed they are." Morris said that many of his patients were previously misdiagnosed as suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome or other maladies more common in the West. But as soon as they began taking Colchicine, a drug given to FMF patients, their symptoms started going away almost immediately, Morris said. Still, the academic world would have none of it. Secondhand stories and spotty historical records were hardly a way to build a case for a new culture.
"They're increasing their own self-esteem by claiming some exotic heritage," said David Henige, an expert in oral tradition at the University of Wisconsin. "Which is fine, but it's based on bad history. Really, it's meaningless." Henige believes that Appalachian people got their darker traits as whites, blacks and American Indians interbred along Appalachia's ridges during the 18th century. Any Mediterranean or Turkish or Spanish settlers would have been absorbed into American culture fairly quickly, he said. The reaction from academics was disappointing, Kennedy said. It was as if they considered Appalachian history a done deal, with no need for revision. "A lot of people told me, to prove this, you need DNA evidence," he said. "Well, now we're doing that." Two years ago, Kennedy began sending University of Virginia botanist Kevin Jones locks of hair from 80 Melungeon women and swabs of cheek cells from 40 Melungeon men. Jones began analyzing their DNA at GenBank, NIH's encyclopedia of genetic sequences from around the world.
Jones expects the tests to be finished
in August. But already, he has detected DNA from several people that can
be classified only as northern Indian or Middle Eastern*. Because participants were chosen with well-researched genealogies, Jones said the exotic DNA didn't come from recent relatives. Moreover, Jones said his research is showing that Melungeons are genetically similar, which could explain the incidence of sarcoidosis and FMF, and other diseases that are unknown among their Anglo neighbors. "The Melungeons reflect a wide range of ethnic input. But I think genealogically they are distinct as a result of them being isolated for so long," Jones said. This gets no argument from residents of Vardy, a farming community about 30 miles east of the Cumberland Gap. A majority of the 80-some families who live here now say they have Melungeon blood. "We always knew it," said DruAnna Williams Overbay, 59, whose family was one of the first in these hills. "We just never discussed it in public because of the stigma attached to being a Melungeon."
At the town's invitation,
about 300 visitors toured the old Melungeon "haunt" in June. Many came
to swap genealogies, looking for kin. Booksellers peddled an increasing
canon of Melungeon titles, from family histories to fictional detective
stories. Everywhere, people who would never admit it a generation ago
were calling themselves Melungeon. "This really was the dream for me,"
said Kennedy, whose family has since come to accept the word Melungeon -
some with pride. "Hopefully, we can all settle back down 10 years from
now, and say this is no big deal. We come from a mixed heritage, that's
all."
Copyright 1998-2006 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. * The researcher Manuel Mira has made public this discovery in 1996. Northern India was settled in the 1500's by Portuguese.
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