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Friday, March 4, 2011
Watch Who Do You Think You Are? Lionel Richie TONIGHT 8/7c
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Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Big Sale at Family Tree DNA Ending in 20 Hours
Family Tree DNA currently has an offer via their Facebook page for 40% off a range of DNA tests for 24 hours* only in celebration of the company receiving 5000 likes on their fan page. The offer applies to NEW kits only.
Full details are on their Facebook page.
You do not have to join Facebook or "like" the page to qualify for the discount.
*20 hours left
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Wednesday, February 9, 2011
23andMe to Attend FDA Public Advisory Committee Meeting on Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Tests
Cont. here:
23andMe to Attend FDA Public Advisory Committee Meeting on Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Tests
Monday, February 7, 2011
Cumberland Gap Homecoming
Cumberland Gap Homecoming
All events will be held in the Holiday Inn Express in Middlesboro, Kentucky (1252 N. 12th St.), right on the main drag just north of the Cumberland Gap. These sessions are sponsored by the Cumberland Gap Yahoo internet group who has a shared interest in how DNA can help with genealogy research. Sessions are free, but seating is limited, so first folks there get to sit down.
A few rooms at a discounted rate are still available at the Holiday Inn for this group by calling the hotel directly at 606-248-6860 and telling them you are with the Cumberland Gap Homecoming. After the Holiday Inn fills up, the Sleep Inn next door may have rooms available.
Bring your research and genealogy, a pedigree chart and be prepared to share. Come and sit a spell.
Sessions are only scheduled for the mornings so participants will have time to enjoy the rest of the events being held at the Cumberland Gap Jamboree. http://www.wil-syl.com/jamboree3/
Each evening, companionship time will be offered in the meeting room for visiting and discussing the events of the day.
For updates to this schedule, I recommend subscribing to the Historical Melungeons, Native Americans and Appalachians Blog at http://historical-melungeons.blogspot.com/ or subscribing to our Yahoo group by sending an e-mail to: CumberlandGap-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
If you are interested in the Cumberland Gap DNA project, we have two projects, one for paternal (yline) DNA that follows the male last name, and one for maternal (mitochondrial) DNA which follows the maternal (mother, mother’s mother, etc.) DNA and genealogical lines.
They can be viewed at www.familytreedna.com/public/Cumberlandgap-mtdna and www.familytreedna.com/public/CumberlandGap-ydna.
You can also e-mail me or my co-administrators for the project FAQ - Roberta Estes, robertajestes@att.net, Penny Ferguson pennyferguson@windstream.net or Janet Crain ljcrain2@pgrb.com
This schedule is not cast in concrete and is subject to change. Hope to see you in June.
Cumberland Gap Homecoming Schedule
Wednesday, June 8th - Welcome Reception - 7 PM - Holiday Inn Meeting Room (all events are in the meeting room)
Welcome to this informal reception. Please grab a munchie (Walmart is across the street) and bring along to share. Bring your own nonalcoholic drink.
Thursday, June 9th, 2011
8:30 - 9:30 DNA and Genealogy Introduction - Roberta Estes
Come and learn about how DNA can be used for genealogical research. You’ll learn about how DNA testing works for both males and females. We’ll make science understandable, and by the end of this lecture, you’ll be putting together your own genealogical DNA test plan. Bring your pedigree chart along for quick reference.
9:30-9:45 - Break
9:45 - 10:45 Pennsylvania Connection to the Cumberland Gap - Arnold McClure
How Pennsylvania ties into the migrations through the Cumberland Gap, down the Shenandoah Valley and down the Ohio Valley to Kentucky. Mr. McClure will offer a timeline for the migrations and answer questions you may have about your own ancestry that may help with your research.
10:45 - 11:00 - Break
11:00 - 12:00 - Twists and Turns in the Rocky Road - Roberta Estes
This fun filled lecture uses case studies of both Y-line (paternal) and mitochondrial (maternal) DNA testing to show how DNA can be used to both prove and disprove relationships between people. Be prepared for surprises. This is our most entertaining and most requested presentation and makes a few family skeletons dance.
7:00 - Sit a Spell
Just come and visit, exchange info, share stories....and well....just sit a spell.
Friday, June 10th, 2011
8:30 - 9:30 Yikes, My Results are Back! Now What??? - Roberta Estes
Have DNA results but aren’t sure what to do with them? This session walks you through how to interpret your results and how to get the most out them. This presentation is for both Y-line and mitochondrial DNA.
9:30-9:45 - Break
9:45 - 10:15 Women Who Spied for the Confederacy - Connie Lawson
Eleven women of various social and economic backgrounds who spied for the Confederacy during the Civil War
10:15 - 10:30 Break
10:30 - 12:00 Where Have all the Indians Gone? - Roberta Estes
This presentation uses the information presented in Roberta’s most recent academic publication titled “Where Have All the Indians Gone?" This unique approach combines long buried historical data about the Native American tribes that inhabited the area between the Atlantic seaboard and the Appalachian Mountains with DNA information to provide both answers and new questions. Where are the descendants of the Indians today? Who are they? Where are they? What happened?
7:00 Sit a Spell
Saturday, June 11, 2011
8:30 - 9:30 The Melungeons - Jack Goins
Who were the Melungeons? Where did they come from? Who were their ancestors? Are you descended from a Melungeon family? Learn about these fascinating people from the premier Melungeon researcher and Hawkins County Archivist.
9:30 - 9:45 Break
9:45 - 10:45 Melungeons and DNA, the Untold Story - Roberta Estes
This presentation combines history, genealogy and DNA to address the mystery and myth of the Melungeons of Hancock and Hawkins County, Tennessee, their ancestors and descendants.
10:45 - 11:00 Break
11:00 - 12:00 Cumberland Gap Migrations - Roberta Estes
Who were the pioneers who settled in the Cumberland Gap area? Where did they come from? Who stayed and who used the Gap as a gateway to the west? What does the DNA of the members of the Cumberland Gap group tell us about those hearty pioneers, where they came from, and who they really were??? Join us on our journey along the Wilderness Road to discover their history.
7:00 - Sit A Spell
__._,_.___
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Saturday, February 5, 2011
John Powell, his own worst enemy and everyone else's
by Janet Crain
What do Margaret Sanger, Marie Stopes, H. G. Wells, Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, Emile Zola, George Bernard Shaw, John Maynard Keynes, John Harvey Kellogg, Linus Pauling, Sidney Webb and many other prominent Americans have in common with Hitler? Eugenics; an idea conceived with good intentions, but nourished in bigotry, class-ism, condescending paternalism, and finally inhuman solutions. Its most infamous proponent and practitioner was Adolf Hitler who praised and incorporated eugenic ideas in Mein Kampf and emulated Eugenic legislation for the sterilization of ‘defectives’ that had been pioneered in the United States.” Who were those pioneers?
Eugenics would have been so much bizarre parlor talk had it not been for extensive financing by corporate philanthropies, specifically the Carnegie Institution, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Harriman railroad fortune. They were all in league with some of America's most respected scientists hailing from such prestigious universities as Stamford, Yale, Harvard, and Princeton. These academicians espoused race theory and race science, and then faked and twisted data to serve eugenics' racist aims.
In addition to those named above; Virginia white supremists who committed horrendous acts of prejudice; Walter Plecker and John Powell were until recently little known outside their home state. If the Melungeon awakening had not occurred these two men may not have as yet, become as well known as they now are.
And even so, John Powell's name is just now being removed from the music building, Powell Hall, at Radford University in spite of the findings of students who researched him and asked for this removal in 2005.
It is interesting to note that this damning information was well known for many years previously and John Powell was a popular subject on the Rootsweb Melungeon mailing list prior to 2005.
It is tragic that a person with John Powell's enormous gifts of intellect and talent was blindsided and hindered by his own prejudices. He believed Anglo Saxon music superior to any other music including German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Jewish, Oriental, and of course American Indian or African. And just as he sought to keep the "Anglo Saxon race" pure, he strove to keep music pure from any of these polluting influences. Apparently his extensive education had not imparted to him that the Anglo Saxons were a Germanic people originally and in any case, a small part of England's over all genetic make up.
One is tempted to hope that Hell for him is to spend an eternity being laughed at for his insufferable, pompous, pseud-intellectual, ignorance. But I digress.
Here is his story:
http://www.biu.ac.il/HU/mu/min-ad/06/John_Powell.pdf
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What do Margaret Sanger, Marie Stopes, H. G. Wells, Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, Emile Zola, George Bernard Shaw, John Maynard Keynes, John Harvey Kellogg, Linus Pauling, Sidney Webb and many other prominent Americans have in common with Hitler? Eugenics; an idea conceived with good intentions, but nourished in bigotry, class-ism, condescending paternalism, and finally inhuman solutions. Its most infamous proponent and practitioner was Adolf Hitler who praised and incorporated eugenic ideas in Mein Kampf and emulated Eugenic legislation for the sterilization of ‘defectives’ that had been pioneered in the United States.” Who were those pioneers?
Eugenics would have been so much bizarre parlor talk had it not been for extensive financing by corporate philanthropies, specifically the Carnegie Institution, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Harriman railroad fortune. They were all in league with some of America's most respected scientists hailing from such prestigious universities as Stamford, Yale, Harvard, and Princeton. These academicians espoused race theory and race science, and then faked and twisted data to serve eugenics' racist aims.
In addition to those named above; Virginia white supremists who committed horrendous acts of prejudice; Walter Plecker and John Powell were until recently little known outside their home state. If the Melungeon awakening had not occurred these two men may not have as yet, become as well known as they now are.
And even so, John Powell's name is just now being removed from the music building, Powell Hall, at Radford University in spite of the findings of students who researched him and asked for this removal in 2005.
It is interesting to note that this damning information was well known for many years previously and John Powell was a popular subject on the Rootsweb Melungeon mailing list prior to 2005.
It is tragic that a person with John Powell's enormous gifts of intellect and talent was blindsided and hindered by his own prejudices. He believed Anglo Saxon music superior to any other music including German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Jewish, Oriental, and of course American Indian or African. And just as he sought to keep the "Anglo Saxon race" pure, he strove to keep music pure from any of these polluting influences. Apparently his extensive education had not imparted to him that the Anglo Saxons were a Germanic people originally and in any case, a small part of England's over all genetic make up.
One is tempted to hope that Hell for him is to spend an eternity being laughed at for his insufferable, pompous, pseud-intellectual, ignorance. But I digress.
Here is his story:
http://www.biu.ac.il/HU/mu/min-ad/06/John_Powell.pdf
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Friday, February 4, 2011
Documentary Genocide: Families Surnames on Racial Hit List
As despicable as Walter A. Plecker was, he did not operate alone. There were others whose wealth, high position and influence destroyed many lives. Tomorrow we will meet one of them.
Documentary Genocide: Families Surnames on Racial Hit List
By Peter Hardin, Times-Dispatch Washington Correspondent
Sunday,March 5, 2000 A1
Long before the Indian woman gave birth to a baby boy, Virginia branded him with a race other than his own.
The young Monacan Indian mother delivered her son at Lynchburg General Hospital in 1971. Proud of her Indian heritage, the woman was dismayed when hospital officials designated him as black on his birth certificate. They threatened to bar his discharge unless she acquiesced. The original orders came from Richmond generations ago.
Virginia’s former longtime registrar of the Bureau of Vital Statistics, Dr. Walter Ashby Plecker, believed there were no real native-born Indians in Virginia and anybody claiming to be Indian had a mix of black blood.
In aggressively policing the color line, he classified “pseudo-Indians” as black and even issued in 1943 a hit list of surnames belonging to “mongrel” or mixed-blood families suspected of having Negro ancestry who must not be allowed to pass as Indian or white.
With hateful language, he denounced their tactics.
” . . . Like rats when you are not watching, [they] have been `sneaking’ in their birth certificates through their own midwives, giving either Indian or white racial classification,” Plecker wrote.
Twenty-eight years later, the Monacan mother’s surname still was on Plecker’s list. She argued forcefully with hospital officials. She lost.
Today, the woman’s eyes reveal her lingering pain. She consulted with civil rights lawyers and eventually won a correction on her son’s birth certificate.
“I don’t think the prejudice will ever stop,” said the woman, who agreed to talk to a reporter only on condition of anonymity.
She waged a personal battle in modern times against the bitter legacy of Plecker, who ran the bureau from 1912 to 1946. A racial supremacist, Plecker and his influential allies helped shape one of the darkest chapters of Virginia’s history. It was an epoch of Virginia-sponsored racism.
A physician born just before the Civil War, Plecker embraced the now-discredited eugenics movement as a scientific rationale for preserving Caucasian racial purity. He saw only two races, Caucasian and non-Caucasian, and staunchly opposed their “amalgamation.”
After helping win passage in 1924 of a strict race classification and anti-miscegenation law called the Racial Integrity Act, Plecker engaged in a zealous campaign to prevent what he considered “destruction of the white or higher civilization.”
When he perceived Indians as threats to enforcing the color line, he used the tools of his office to endeavor to crush them and deny their existence.
Many Western tribes experienced government neglect during the 20th century, but the Virginia story was different: The Indians were consciously targeted for mistreatment.
Plecker changed racial labels on vital records to classify Indians as “colored,” investigated the pedigrees of racially “suspect” citizens, and provided information to block or annul interracial marriages with whites. He testified against Indians who challenged the law.
Virginia’s Indians refused to die out, although untold numbers moved away or assumed a low profile.
Now, eight surviving tribes recognized by Virginia in the 1980s are preparing to seek sovereign status from the U.S. government through an act of Congress. About 3,000 of the 15,000 Indians counted in Virginia in the 1990 census were indigenous to the state, experts say.
As they bid for federal recognition, more Indian leaders are talking openly about the injustice of Plecker’s era. They gave a copy of his 1943 “hit list” to Virginia members of Congress along with other data in support of their bid.
Modern scholars have studied Plecker and the racial integrity era. Their findings contributed to this article. Yet he’s not widely known today.
“It’s an untold story,” said Oliver Perry, chief emeritus of the Nansemond Tribe.
“It’s not that we’re trying to dig him up and re-inter him again,” said Gene Adkins, assistant chief of the Eastern Chickahominy Tribe.
“We want people to know that he did damage the Indian population here in the state. And it’s taken us years, even up to now, to try to get out from under what he did. It’s a sad situation, really sad.”
Said Chief William P. Miles of the Pamunkey Tribe: “He came very close to committing statistical genocide on Native Americans in Virginia.”
Chief G. Anne Richardson of the Rappahannock Tribe spoke bluntly: “Devastation. Holocaust. Genocide.
“Those are the words I would use to describe what he did to us,” she said. “It was obvious his goal was the demise of all Native Americans in Virginia. . . . We were not allowed to be who we are in our own country, by officials in the government.”
For people of Indian heritage, Plecker’s name “brings to mind a feeling that a Jew would have for the name of Hitler,” said Russell E. Booker Jr., Virginia registrar from 1982 to 1995. That view “certainly is justified.”
Indeed, one of Plecker’s most chilling letters mentioned Adolf Hitler - and not unfavorably.
“Our own indexed birth and marriage records showing race reach back to 1853,” Plecker wrote U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier in 1943. “Such a study has probably never been made before.
“Your staff member is probably correct in his surmise that Hitler’s genealogical study of the Jews is not more complete.”
Plecker also used haunting rhetoric in publishing a brochure on “Virginia’s Vanished Race” a month before his death in 1947. He asked, “Is the integrity of the master race, with our Indians as a demonstration, also to pass by the mongrelizations route?”
Cont. here:
http://peterhardin.com/?p=97
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Documentary Genocide: Families Surnames on Racial Hit List
By Peter Hardin, Times-Dispatch Washington Correspondent
Sunday,March 5, 2000 A1
Long before the Indian woman gave birth to a baby boy, Virginia branded him with a race other than his own.
The young Monacan Indian mother delivered her son at Lynchburg General Hospital in 1971. Proud of her Indian heritage, the woman was dismayed when hospital officials designated him as black on his birth certificate. They threatened to bar his discharge unless she acquiesced. The original orders came from Richmond generations ago.
Virginia’s former longtime registrar of the Bureau of Vital Statistics, Dr. Walter Ashby Plecker, believed there were no real native-born Indians in Virginia and anybody claiming to be Indian had a mix of black blood.
In aggressively policing the color line, he classified “pseudo-Indians” as black and even issued in 1943 a hit list of surnames belonging to “mongrel” or mixed-blood families suspected of having Negro ancestry who must not be allowed to pass as Indian or white.
With hateful language, he denounced their tactics.
” . . . Like rats when you are not watching, [they] have been `sneaking’ in their birth certificates through their own midwives, giving either Indian or white racial classification,” Plecker wrote.
Twenty-eight years later, the Monacan mother’s surname still was on Plecker’s list. She argued forcefully with hospital officials. She lost.
Today, the woman’s eyes reveal her lingering pain. She consulted with civil rights lawyers and eventually won a correction on her son’s birth certificate.
“I don’t think the prejudice will ever stop,” said the woman, who agreed to talk to a reporter only on condition of anonymity.
She waged a personal battle in modern times against the bitter legacy of Plecker, who ran the bureau from 1912 to 1946. A racial supremacist, Plecker and his influential allies helped shape one of the darkest chapters of Virginia’s history. It was an epoch of Virginia-sponsored racism.
A physician born just before the Civil War, Plecker embraced the now-discredited eugenics movement as a scientific rationale for preserving Caucasian racial purity. He saw only two races, Caucasian and non-Caucasian, and staunchly opposed their “amalgamation.”
After helping win passage in 1924 of a strict race classification and anti-miscegenation law called the Racial Integrity Act, Plecker engaged in a zealous campaign to prevent what he considered “destruction of the white or higher civilization.”
When he perceived Indians as threats to enforcing the color line, he used the tools of his office to endeavor to crush them and deny their existence.
Many Western tribes experienced government neglect during the 20th century, but the Virginia story was different: The Indians were consciously targeted for mistreatment.
Plecker changed racial labels on vital records to classify Indians as “colored,” investigated the pedigrees of racially “suspect” citizens, and provided information to block or annul interracial marriages with whites. He testified against Indians who challenged the law.
Virginia’s Indians refused to die out, although untold numbers moved away or assumed a low profile.
Now, eight surviving tribes recognized by Virginia in the 1980s are preparing to seek sovereign status from the U.S. government through an act of Congress. About 3,000 of the 15,000 Indians counted in Virginia in the 1990 census were indigenous to the state, experts say.
As they bid for federal recognition, more Indian leaders are talking openly about the injustice of Plecker’s era. They gave a copy of his 1943 “hit list” to Virginia members of Congress along with other data in support of their bid.
Modern scholars have studied Plecker and the racial integrity era. Their findings contributed to this article. Yet he’s not widely known today.
“It’s an untold story,” said Oliver Perry, chief emeritus of the Nansemond Tribe.
“It’s not that we’re trying to dig him up and re-inter him again,” said Gene Adkins, assistant chief of the Eastern Chickahominy Tribe.
“We want people to know that he did damage the Indian population here in the state. And it’s taken us years, even up to now, to try to get out from under what he did. It’s a sad situation, really sad.”
Said Chief William P. Miles of the Pamunkey Tribe: “He came very close to committing statistical genocide on Native Americans in Virginia.”
Chief G. Anne Richardson of the Rappahannock Tribe spoke bluntly: “Devastation. Holocaust. Genocide.
“Those are the words I would use to describe what he did to us,” she said. “It was obvious his goal was the demise of all Native Americans in Virginia. . . . We were not allowed to be who we are in our own country, by officials in the government.”
For people of Indian heritage, Plecker’s name “brings to mind a feeling that a Jew would have for the name of Hitler,” said Russell E. Booker Jr., Virginia registrar from 1982 to 1995. That view “certainly is justified.”
Indeed, one of Plecker’s most chilling letters mentioned Adolf Hitler - and not unfavorably.
“Our own indexed birth and marriage records showing race reach back to 1853,” Plecker wrote U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier in 1943. “Such a study has probably never been made before.
“Your staff member is probably correct in his surmise that Hitler’s genealogical study of the Jews is not more complete.”
Plecker also used haunting rhetoric in publishing a brochure on “Virginia’s Vanished Race” a month before his death in 1947. He asked, “Is the integrity of the master race, with our Indians as a demonstration, also to pass by the mongrelizations route?”
Cont. here:
http://peterhardin.com/?p=97
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Thursday, February 3, 2011
You could win $20,000 and a journey to your family's homeland.
Ancestry.com is partnering with NBC to help celebrities discover their family stories in Season 2 of Who Do You Think You Are? And giving you a chance to win an amazing experience of your own.
NBC's acclaimed alternative series "Who Do You Think You Are?" follows some of today's most beloved and iconic celebrities as they embark on personal journeys of self-discovery to trace their family trees. From the trenches of the Civil War to the shores of the Caribbean, and from the valleys of Virginia to the island nations of Australia and Ireland, each episode will reveal surprising, inspiring and sometimes tragic stories that are often linked to events in American and international history.
The celebrities featured in the second season are Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw, Rosie O’Donnell, Steve Buscemi, Kim Cattrall, Lionel Richie, Vanessa Williams and Ashley Judd.
Each week, a different celebrity is taken on a quest into his or her family history. The search is one of surprising and deeply emotional encounters, resulting in one of the most compelling reality formats of recent years. During each episode, viewers will be taken on a personal and often mysterious quest following some of America's best-known celebrities into their ancestral pasts, as they uncover stories of heroism and tragedy, love and betrayal, secrets and intrigue, that lie at the heart of their family history.
Cont. here:
http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/
Be sure and watch tomorrow night. Check local listings.
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http://www.nbc.ancestry.com/sweeps
NBC's acclaimed alternative series "Who Do You Think You Are?" follows some of today's most beloved and iconic celebrities as they embark on personal journeys of self-discovery to trace their family trees. From the trenches of the Civil War to the shores of the Caribbean, and from the valleys of Virginia to the island nations of Australia and Ireland, each episode will reveal surprising, inspiring and sometimes tragic stories that are often linked to events in American and international history.
The celebrities featured in the second season are Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw, Rosie O’Donnell, Steve Buscemi, Kim Cattrall, Lionel Richie, Vanessa Williams and Ashley Judd.
Each week, a different celebrity is taken on a quest into his or her family history. The search is one of surprising and deeply emotional encounters, resulting in one of the most compelling reality formats of recent years. During each episode, viewers will be taken on a personal and often mysterious quest following some of America's best-known celebrities into their ancestral pasts, as they uncover stories of heroism and tragedy, love and betrayal, secrets and intrigue, that lie at the heart of their family history.
Cont. here:
http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/
Be sure and watch tomorrow night. Check local listings.
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Wednesday, February 2, 2011
The Ghosts of Duffy's Cut
Even the Ghosts of Duffy's Cut are no match for DNA. They will soon give up their secrets after almost 200 years.
In 1832, fifty-seven Irish Catholic workers were brought to the United States to lay one of the most difficult miles of American railway, the Duffy's Cut of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The entire work crew disappeared without a trace, and their families in Ireland were never told what had happened to them. Uncover the conspiracy to hide the fate of the men as a team of DNA experts, archaeologists, and forensic scientists join in the hunt for the missing men and the solution to an age-old mystery.
http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=131088#video
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Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Walk Toward the Sunset Again
I'm glad to see this play running once again, but would like some documentation for the statement that Melungeons couldn't own land or get an education in the mid-1900's. And for the statement that Chief Atakullakulla was a good friend to the Melungeons. JC
Walters State Community College brings a regional favorite to a new generation with the drama “Walk Towards the Sunset.” The play, written by Kermit Hunter, tells the story of the Melungeon people, a disenfranchised group centered in Hancock County.
Melungeons are a mixed-race group, which, even in the mid-1900s, were denied the right to own property or obtain an education.
The play ran as an outdoor drama for from 1969-1975 in Sneedville. Historian and author Wayne Winkler credits the play with creating a sense of pride among the Melungeon people.
“Even today, there are Melungeons who don’t want to admit or discuss their heritage. But those who do talk, do so openly and often loudly,” Winkler said.
Bringing the play back to life has been a welcome challenge for Walters State students, according to director Jerry Maloy, associate professor of music and theatre at Walters State. The cast includes several proud Melungeons (some of whom are cast as an angry mob) and many students have embraced the mystery surrounding the people.
“Every day, a student comes into class eager to share something new learned about the group or that someone they know has Melungeon roots,” Maloy shared. Maloy also has special praise for Adele McDonald, music director of the “Walk Toward the Sunset.”
The play is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 3, 8 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 5 and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 6. Saturday night’s performance is part of “The Mildred Haun Festival: A Celebration of Appalachian Literature, Culture and Scholarship.” Hunter and Winkler, author of “Walking Toward the Sunset” will both be part of a panel discussion following this performance and tickets will be on a space-available basis. That performance begins at 8 p.m.
Tickets for other performances are $5. Reservations may be made by calling the Division of Humanities at (423) 585-6947.
http://www.ws.edu/frontstories/web-walk.asp
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Emily Myers and Jesse Reed struggle with life in post-Civil War
Hancock County during “Walk Toward the Sunset.”
Walters State Community College brings a regional favorite to a new generation with the drama “Walk Towards the Sunset.” The play, written by Kermit Hunter, tells the story of the Melungeon people, a disenfranchised group centered in Hancock County.
Melungeons are a mixed-race group, which, even in the mid-1900s, were denied the right to own property or obtain an education.
The play ran as an outdoor drama for from 1969-1975 in Sneedville. Historian and author Wayne Winkler credits the play with creating a sense of pride among the Melungeon people.
“Even today, there are Melungeons who don’t want to admit or discuss their heritage. But those who do talk, do so openly and often loudly,” Winkler said.
Bringing the play back to life has been a welcome challenge for Walters State students, according to director Jerry Maloy, associate professor of music and theatre at Walters State. The cast includes several proud Melungeons (some of whom are cast as an angry mob) and many students have embraced the mystery surrounding the people.
“Every day, a student comes into class eager to share something new learned about the group or that someone they know has Melungeon roots,” Maloy shared. Maloy also has special praise for Adele McDonald, music director of the “Walk Toward the Sunset.”
The play has exposed students to the Melungeon world, but it has also given them a glimpse into the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indian Nation. Native American Fred Bradley appears as Chief Atakullakulla, a friend of the Melungeon people.
The play is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 3, 8 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 5 and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 6. Saturday night’s performance is part of “The Mildred Haun Festival: A Celebration of Appalachian Literature, Culture and Scholarship.” Hunter and Winkler, author of “Walking Toward the Sunset” will both be part of a panel discussion following this performance and tickets will be on a space-available basis. That performance begins at 8 p.m.
Tickets for other performances are $5. Reservations may be made by calling the Division of Humanities at (423) 585-6947.
http://www.ws.edu/frontstories/web-walk.asp
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Monday, January 31, 2011
*** Genetic Genealogy for Beginners: DNA is the "Gene" in Genealogy! ***
Genealogy webinar that was posted about a couple weeks ago:
*** Genetic Genealogy for Beginners: DNA is the "Gene" in Genealogy! ***
What is Genetic Genealogy? What tests are available and which one should I
order? How much does a Genetic Genealogy test cost? Do I need to be a
geneticist to understand my results?
If you're a complete beginner to Genetic Genealogy and want the answers to
those questions and more, then this webinar is for you! Attendees will
learn about the history of genetic genealogy, be introduced to DNA basics
and inheritance paths, learn about the different types of DNA tests
available for genealogy, and learn about resources that will help you make
the most of your Genetic Genealogy experience.
Two sessions are scheduled to accommodate different time zones:
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
6pm GMT (1pm Eastern, 10am Pacific)
Thursday, February 3, 2011
8pm Eastern (5pm Pacific)
Free registration is required for these webinars. To register, please visit
the Relative Roots Webinars webpage and click the registration link next to
the date/time that you wish to attend:
http://www.relativeroots.net/webinars/
Also visit the Relative Roots Webinars webpage to learn about other upcoming
webinars and sign up to receive email announcements about future webinars.
As long as there is demand for it, I hope to repeat the beginner webinar
during the first week of every month. I'm also currently working on
scheduling intermediate and advanced genetic genealogy webinars.
At this time, webinars are only available live during the scheduled dates
and times.
Regards,
Elise Friedman
PS. If you have your own blog or website, please feel free to re-post this
announcement, or link to this blog post:
http://relativeroots.net/blog/2011/01/february-genetic-genealogy-for-beginners/
------------------------------------
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Monday, January 24, 2011
Lunch Time at the Museum of Appalachia
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Museum of Appalachia is open and so is their Museum Cafe! Today (Monday) Aileen is cooking Turkey & Dressing, Chili, White Beans, assortment of veggies, potato patties plus good ol' Pinto Beans and Corn Bread. To top it off indulge in homemeade Fresh Apple Cake, Cherry Cobbler or Peanut Butter Cake! Lunch is served Monday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday from about 11:30-2:00 during Jan. & Feb. then everyday starting in March. The cafe is right in the Gift Shop so if you don't have pay for the Museum tour to enjoy lunch! Eat, Shop and warm by the fire!
Museum of Appalachia is now observing winter hours. They will be open Fri, Sat, Sun & Monday from 10:00am-5:00am January & February. (closed Tues-Thurs) Come in with a non-perishable food item for the local Norris Food Bank and receive $3.00 off regular adult admission. There will be a fire going in the Gift Shop waiting for you!
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Friday, January 21, 2011
Will Allen Dromgoole
Will Allen Dromgoole wrote the following articles about the Melungeons.
Land of the Malungeons
A Strange People
The Malungeons
The Malungeon Tree and It's Four Branches
Mysterious Tribe Known as the Malungeons
THE LAST OF THE MALUNGEONS
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dromgoole's parents sent her to the Clarksville Female Academy, where she graduated in 1876. She studied law with her father, but women were not allowed to become lawyers. She was appointed as staff to the state legislature, where she started working in 1883.
She first published a story in Youth's Companion in 1887. It was about the Tennessee governor, Bob Taylor. She had a best-selling novel in 1911, The Island of the Beautiful.
Dromgoole taught school in Tennessee one year, and one year in Temple, Texas. There she founded the Waco Women's Press Club.[2] During World War I, Dromgoole was a warrant officer in the United States Naval Reserve. She lectured to sailors on patriotic topics.
Dromgoole wrote a series of articles on the Southeastern ethnic group known as the Melungeons, published in the Nashville Daily American (1890) and the Boston Arena (1891).[1][3] This historically mixed-race group was then living mostly in southeastern Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Her derogatory comments about them, while based more on hearsay than fact, expressed the biases about mountain people typical of her society and the period in which she was writing. Since the early 20th century, Melungeons have increasingly intermarried with European Americans and integrated into mainstream white society.[4]
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Land of the Malungeons
A Strange People
The Malungeons
The Malungeon Tree and It's Four Branches
Mysterious Tribe Known as the Malungeons
THE LAST OF THE MALUNGEONS
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Early life and background
Will Allen Dromgoole was the last of several children born to Rebecca Mildred (Blanche) and John Easter Dromgoole in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.[1] Her paternal grandparents were Rev. Thomas and Mary Dromgoole. Her great-grandparents were Edward Dromgoole, a Scots-Irish trader from Sligo, Ireland, and his Cherokee wife Rebecca Walton. He married her after immigrating to the North American colonies.Dromgoole's parents sent her to the Clarksville Female Academy, where she graduated in 1876. She studied law with her father, but women were not allowed to become lawyers. She was appointed as staff to the state legislature, where she started working in 1883.
Career
Dromgoole was a prolific writer, publishing both prose and poetry. She was also a journalist for the Nashville American, a newspaper based in the Middle Tennessee city.She first published a story in Youth's Companion in 1887. It was about the Tennessee governor, Bob Taylor. She had a best-selling novel in 1911, The Island of the Beautiful.
Dromgoole taught school in Tennessee one year, and one year in Temple, Texas. There she founded the Waco Women's Press Club.[2] During World War I, Dromgoole was a warrant officer in the United States Naval Reserve. She lectured to sailors on patriotic topics.
Dromgoole wrote a series of articles on the Southeastern ethnic group known as the Melungeons, published in the Nashville Daily American (1890) and the Boston Arena (1891).[1][3] This historically mixed-race group was then living mostly in southeastern Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Her derogatory comments about them, while based more on hearsay than fact, expressed the biases about mountain people typical of her society and the period in which she was writing. Since the early 20th century, Melungeons have increasingly intermarried with European Americans and integrated into mainstream white society.[4]
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Indian Mounds of Loudoun County
Hat Tip Laree
by Eugene Scheel
A Waterford historian and mapmaker.
Many years ago, at the Purcellville Library, which was then the only public library in Loudoun County, I came across a set of small scrapbooks filled with undated clippings from unidentified newspapers. One told of a battle in the county between the Catawba and Delaware tribes. But because I didn't think either tribe lived in the area, I dismissed the article as legend.
Through the years, however, certain archaeological sites have almost convinced me that some battle took place sometime during the 1500s or 1600s in what is now the Route 15 corridor. During this period of initial European exploration and settlement of America's East Coast, anthropologists think there were upheavals of Indian groupings, caused in part by uncertainty as to which tribes were allied with the whites who came in large ships.
In my 1975 book, The Guide to Loudoun, I briefly mentioned an Indian mound seven-tenths of a mile south of Route 15 and Gleedsville Road (Virts Corner) [at the intersection of Foxfield lane and Route 15]. I called the mound "legendary," and using information from the newspaper clipping, I added that it was purportedly a "Delaware Indian burial mound, erected by that tribe after their defeat in battle by the Catawba."
Subsequent investigations of the mound by then-state archaeologist Howard McCord found no bodies, although he did not explore the ground underneath the mound or close to it.
I was tantalized by reports of people who lived within sight of the mound. They said that as far back as they could recall, people who appeared to be Native Americans would come to the mound in early morning or late evening and leave feathers, trinkets and arrows. Those visits continue today.
I assumed the mound was of Tuscarora origin, as there were several similar mounds in Loudoun and Fauquier counties along the Tuscarora migration route north, which followed present day Route 15. The Tuscarora had been defeated in North Carolina by the British, who guaranteed the tribe safe passage during the 1710s and early 1720s to join their Iroquois allies in central New York.
Frequently, as I drove south on Route 15, the mound and the purported battle prompting it were never far from my thoughts. They became paramount some months ago when I received the following message on my answering service: "My name is John Rocca. I'm a Tuscarora Indian." He had read my article, Indians Left Their Mark in Naming Landmarks, on the origin of Indian names in Loudoun and Fauquier and was curious that I had mentioned place names with Tuscarora origins.
I called Rocca, and we got together for breakfast. I learned that his grandfather, a full-blooded Tuscarora, farmed near Lovettsville during the early 20th century. Rocca alluded to a great Indian battle that had taken place near his grandfather's farm, in the vicinity of Oatlands and Courtland Farm, a few miles south of the mound near Virts Corner.
Rocca told me the site came to him "in a sweat on an Ojibway Indian reservation" inhabited by the Kettle and Stony Point band on the shores of Lake Huron in Ontario, Canada. The Ojibway, an Algonquin tribe that at times lived in eastern Loudoun, were friendly with the Tuscarora.
A few days later, I had a doctor's appointment, and my physician, John H. Cook III, began talking about area Native Americans. His son, Harrison "Ted" Cook, is an anthropologist and expert on digitizing map and geographic data. Cook told me his son spoke of an Indian battle or village at the spot where Little River flows into Goose Creek -- the same area Rocca mentioned.
Ted Cook and I spoke over the phone, and he remembered the meeting place of the two streams as a site where builders of the Dulles Greenway had to preserve wetlands in exchange for wetlands destroyed during construction of the privately operated toll road. He recalled that the site was large, laden with artifacts and had the potential to be named a national historic landmark, the highest honor accorded to an archaeological or historic site.
I began to hunt for the scrapbooks I had seen 30 years ago but couldn't find them. I did come across an article titled History and Traditions of "Greenway" in a 1903 edition of The Record, a short-lived Leesburg newspaper.
Greenway, I remembered, once encompassed the reported Delaware Indian mound. The farm, now a few acres with an early-19th-century brick house and pristine frame and brick barn, a mile south of the Leesburg bypass, was initially a 640-acre grant from Thomas, 6th Lord Fairfax to William Mead.
Mead, a Quaker, took out his grant in 1746 and named it for a Capt. Greenway who had piloted his grandfather, also William Mead, from England to Philadelphia in the late 1600s. The detailed article bore no author's name, but its emphasis on genealogy and on events that took place at Greenway led me to believe it was by a Mead. The family owned Greenway into the 1880s.
More here:
http://www.loudounhistory.org/history/indian-mounds-loudoun.htm
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by Eugene ScheelA Waterford historian and mapmaker.
 |
Through the years, however, certain archaeological sites have almost convinced me that some battle took place sometime during the 1500s or 1600s in what is now the Route 15 corridor. During this period of initial European exploration and settlement of America's East Coast, anthropologists think there were upheavals of Indian groupings, caused in part by uncertainty as to which tribes were allied with the whites who came in large ships.
In my 1975 book, The Guide to Loudoun, I briefly mentioned an Indian mound seven-tenths of a mile south of Route 15 and Gleedsville Road (Virts Corner) [at the intersection of Foxfield lane and Route 15]. I called the mound "legendary," and using information from the newspaper clipping, I added that it was purportedly a "Delaware Indian burial mound, erected by that tribe after their defeat in battle by the Catawba."
Subsequent investigations of the mound by then-state archaeologist Howard McCord found no bodies, although he did not explore the ground underneath the mound or close to it.
I was tantalized by reports of people who lived within sight of the mound. They said that as far back as they could recall, people who appeared to be Native Americans would come to the mound in early morning or late evening and leave feathers, trinkets and arrows. Those visits continue today.
I assumed the mound was of Tuscarora origin, as there were several similar mounds in Loudoun and Fauquier counties along the Tuscarora migration route north, which followed present day Route 15. The Tuscarora had been defeated in North Carolina by the British, who guaranteed the tribe safe passage during the 1710s and early 1720s to join their Iroquois allies in central New York.
Frequently, as I drove south on Route 15, the mound and the purported battle prompting it were never far from my thoughts. They became paramount some months ago when I received the following message on my answering service: "My name is John Rocca. I'm a Tuscarora Indian." He had read my article, Indians Left Their Mark in Naming Landmarks, on the origin of Indian names in Loudoun and Fauquier and was curious that I had mentioned place names with Tuscarora origins.
I called Rocca, and we got together for breakfast. I learned that his grandfather, a full-blooded Tuscarora, farmed near Lovettsville during the early 20th century. Rocca alluded to a great Indian battle that had taken place near his grandfather's farm, in the vicinity of Oatlands and Courtland Farm, a few miles south of the mound near Virts Corner.
Rocca told me the site came to him "in a sweat on an Ojibway Indian reservation" inhabited by the Kettle and Stony Point band on the shores of Lake Huron in Ontario, Canada. The Ojibway, an Algonquin tribe that at times lived in eastern Loudoun, were friendly with the Tuscarora.
A few days later, I had a doctor's appointment, and my physician, John H. Cook III, began talking about area Native Americans. His son, Harrison "Ted" Cook, is an anthropologist and expert on digitizing map and geographic data. Cook told me his son spoke of an Indian battle or village at the spot where Little River flows into Goose Creek -- the same area Rocca mentioned.
Ted Cook and I spoke over the phone, and he remembered the meeting place of the two streams as a site where builders of the Dulles Greenway had to preserve wetlands in exchange for wetlands destroyed during construction of the privately operated toll road. He recalled that the site was large, laden with artifacts and had the potential to be named a national historic landmark, the highest honor accorded to an archaeological or historic site.
I began to hunt for the scrapbooks I had seen 30 years ago but couldn't find them. I did come across an article titled History and Traditions of "Greenway" in a 1903 edition of The Record, a short-lived Leesburg newspaper.
Greenway, I remembered, once encompassed the reported Delaware Indian mound. The farm, now a few acres with an early-19th-century brick house and pristine frame and brick barn, a mile south of the Leesburg bypass, was initially a 640-acre grant from Thomas, 6th Lord Fairfax to William Mead.
Mead, a Quaker, took out his grant in 1746 and named it for a Capt. Greenway who had piloted his grandfather, also William Mead, from England to Philadelphia in the late 1600s. The detailed article bore no author's name, but its emphasis on genealogy and on events that took place at Greenway led me to believe it was by a Mead. The family owned Greenway into the 1880s.
More here:
http://www.loudounhistory.org/history/indian-mounds-loudoun.htm
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Thursday, January 20, 2011
Prince Among Slaves
Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the film, see Prince Among Slaves (film).
Abdu-l-Rahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori (a.k.a. Abdul-Rahman) was a prince from West Africa who was made a slave in the United States. In 1828, he was freed after spending 40 years in slavery by the order of President John Quincy Adams and Secretary of State Henry Clay after the Sultan of Morocco requested his release.
Life
He was born in 1762 in Timbo, West Africa, (in present day Guinea, Fouta Djallon). He was known as the "Prince of Slaves" or "Prince." He was a Fulbe or Fulani, (Fula) of the land of Fouta Djallon. Ibrahim left Futa in 1774 to study in Mali at Timbuktu. Ibrahim was leader of one of his father's army divisions. After winning a battle against a warring nation, he took with him a few soldiers to report back to his father, when he was ambushed, captured, and sold to slave traders in 1788 at the age of 26. He was bought by a Natchez, Mississippi cotton plantation owner, and eventually became the overseer of the plantation of Thomas Foster. In 1794 he married Isabella, another slave of Foster’s, and eventually fathered a large family: five sons and four daughters.[1]By using his knowledge of growing cotton in Fouta Djallon, Abd al-Rahman Ibrahim rose to a position of authority on the plantation and became the de facto foreman. This granted him the opportunity to grow his own vegetable garden and sell at the local market. During this time, he met an old acquaintance, Dr. John Cox. Dr. Cox was an Irish surgeon who had served on an English ship. He was the first white man to reach Timbo after being stranded by his ship and falling ill. Cox stayed ashore for six months and was taken in by the Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima family. Cox appealed to Foster to sell him "Prince" so he could return to Africa. However, Foster would not budge, since he viewed Abd al-Rahman Ibrahim as indispensable to the Foster farm (among other reasons). Dr. Cox continued, until his death in 1816, to seek Ibrahim's freedom, to no avail. After Cox died, Ibrahim continued the cause.
In 1826, Abd al-Rahman Ibrahim wrote a letter to his relatives in Africa. A local newspaperman, Andrew Marschalk, who was originally from New York, sent a copy to Senator Thomas Reed in Washington, who forwarded it to the U.S. Consulate in Morocco. Since Abdal-Rhaman Ibrahim wrote in Arabic, Marschalk and the U.S. government assumed that he was a Moor. After the Sultan of Morocco Abderrahmane read the letter, he asked President Adams and Secretary of State Henry Clay to release Abd al-Rahman Ibrahim. In 1828, Thomas Foster agreed to the release of Ibrahim, without payment, with the stipulation that Ibrahim return to Africa and not live as a free man in America.
Before leaving the U.S., Ibrahim and his wife went to various states and Washington, D.C. He solicited donations, through the press, personal appearances, the American Colonization Society and politicians, to free his family back in Mississippi. Word got back to Foster, who considered this a breach of the agreement. Abdul-Rahman's actions and freedom were also used against President John Quincy Adams by future president Andrew Jackson during the presidential election.
After ten months, Abd al-Rahman Ibrahim and Isabella had raised only half the funds to free their children. They made arrangements to leave America. He went to Monrovia, Liberia with his wife. Abd al-Rahman Ibrahim lived for four months before he contracted a fever and died at the age of 67. He never saw Fouta Djallon or his children again.
Legacy
The funds that Abdul-Rahman and Isabella raised bought the freedom of two sons and their families. They were reunited with Isabella in Monrovia. Thomas Foster died the same year as Abdul-Rahman. Foster's estate, including Abdul-Rahman's other children and grandchildren, was divided among Foster's heirs and scattered across Mississippi and the South. Abdul-Rahman's descendants still reside in Monrovia and the United States. In 2006, Abdul-Rahman's descendants gathered for a family reunion at Foster's Field.He wrote two autobiographies. A drawing of him is displayed in the Library of Congress.
In 1977, history professor Terry Alford documented the life of Ibn Sori in Prince Among Slaves, the first full account of his life, pieced together from first-person accounts and historical documents. In Prince Among Slaves, Alford writes:
Among Henry Clay's documents, for the year 1829 we find the January 1 entry, "Prince Ibrahima, an Islamic prince sold into slavery 40 years ago, and freed with the stipulation that he return (in this case the word "return" makes sense) to Africa, joined the black citizens of Philadelphia as an honored guest in their New Year's Day parade, up Lombard and Walnut, and down Chestnut and Spruce streets."
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