Thursday, September 21, 2017

Breaks of Sandy Melungeon Tales 2017




                            In search of the Lost Tribe in Ohio...

                           They lived near the Great Serpent Mound

                            In search of the Lost Tribe in Ohio

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2) Capt'n Tobias Thorne -the only ever mythical melungeon sea captain




The word "Melungeon" itself is a derogatory, inflammatory term. It has been used through the years to create anger, dissension, and discrimination, indicating a lower type of human being. In fact Melungeons are American Indians who graciously have accepted others into their families.
                                    

                             O them melungeons, they'll get you too

The Hellboy cartoon below illustrates how Melungeons have been portrayed in popular culture.The defamation lives on.



This is a US Government Document, clearly states the 'Melungeans" were a branch of the Croatan/Lumbee Indians.

Indians of North Carolina. Letter from the Secretary of the Interior transmitting, in response to a Senate resolution of June 30, 1914, a report on the condition and tribal rights of the Indians of Robeson and adjoining counties of North Carolina. January 5, 1915. -- Referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs and ordered to be printed. January 13, 1915. -- Accompanying illustrations ordered printed.

             Melungeans were a branch of the Croatan-Lumbee Indians--govt doc


                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

San Miguel de Gualdape Slave Rebellion of 1526

San Miguel de Gualdape was the first European settlement in
what is now the continental United States, founded by Spaniard
Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón in 1526. It was to last only
three months of winter before being abandoned in early 1527.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

History
Records show that in 1521, Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón
a wealthy sugar planter of Santo Domingo, had sent
Francisco Gordillo northward to explore the continent. 
Upon reaching the Bahamas, he ran into his cousin,
slave trader Pedro de Quexos (Pedro de Quejo), and the two of
them set out together. They landed at the “River of St. John the
Baptist”, possibly the Pee Dee River, where they kidnapped 70
natives to sell in Hispaniola, including one, given the name
Francisco de Chicora, who provided some ethnological
information about his province, Chicora, and the neighboring
provinces. Chicora was evidently one of several Carolina Siouan
territories subject to their king, Datha of Duahe (Duarhe).
The Siouan captives were described as white, dressed in skins,
and larger than the average Spaniard.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake:
1577-1580
By Samuel Bawlf

"So, on October 7, 1568, Hawkins ordered ashore those of his
men "such as were willing to land" and sailed for England with
those who "were moft desirous to goe homewardes." Aiming to
reach the French Huguenot colony in Florida, about thirty of
those left behind banded together and set off on the 1,500-mile
walk around the Gulf of Mexico. Five months later they
reached Florida but were unable to find the French colonists
because they had been massacred by the Spaniards three years
earlier.
The sailors turned north, following Indian trails from one tribal
territory to another, invariably being greeted hospitably.
As more of them elected to remain with their native hosts,
the party steadily diminished. Those who chose not to stay in
New Spain dispersed themselves in many directions.
Many were never heard from again.

Those who chose to follow the lead of David Ingram, Richard
Brown and Richard Twide, marched northward hoping to
find passage home on English or French fishing vessels that
frequented the coast of New England and New Brunswick.
For the next 11 months of 1568-69, Ingram, Brown and Twide
stayed together and walked more than 3,000 miles up the
east coast of America, passing through Maine, to their eventual
destination in St. John, New Brunswick. Once in St. John,
Ingram persuaded a French fishing boat captain, Captain
Champlaine, to give him passage to France aboard the ship
Gargarine. Sailing from St. John, the Gargarine made France
in only twenty days, and Ingram found himself back in England
near the end of September in 1569."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Douglas Summers Brown
The Catawba Indians:
The People of the River
p46-47

No one knows what became of the men and the fortifications
along Pardo's thousand-mile trail. Henry Savage says ,
"Some men were killed, some drifted back down the trail
when the captain failed to return."

Others, including a fifer with his wife and children, stayed
and threw in their lot with their Indian hosts. Boyana himself
returned to Santa Elena only to be tomahawked by an
Edisto Indian.

In the Holston Valley of southwestern Virginia and of eastern
Tennessee, just across the mountains from the region of Old Fort and
Marion, North Carolina, is an ethnic group whose origins have
aroused much speculation but who stoutly insist that they are
Portuguese. They are called "Melungeons," (also
Melungeans, Malungeons,") a term whose meaning is
unknown.

Local historians believe they are the descendants of mixed
marriages between Indian women and the Spaniards who
had a post near Old Fort, North Carolina. (19) .

(19) - Information came from my father, historian *Lewis
Preston Summers (See below). This group has been
described, though somewhat inaccurately, by W.L. Worden,
"Sons of the Legend," The Saturday Evening Post,
Oct. 18, 1947; also, in "The Melungeons, the Mystery People
of Tennessee,"
The Tennessee Conservationist, August, 1959.

These articles were called to my attention by W. P. Grohse of
Sneedville, Tenn., a student of the Melungeons' origin. A
connection between these people and the "Turks" near
Sumter, S.C. who may or may not have Catawba blood, has
been suggested. The Melungeons are said by some to have
stopped over in South Carolina enroute to Tennessee.

*Lewis Preston Summers b.1868 d.1943 m. in 1897 Annie

Katherine Barbee. Lewis was the author of "Summers
History of Southwest Virginia." Lewis was the Abingdon Post
Master from 1890-1894. He began his legal practice in 1895.
He was appointed U.S. district attorney by President
Harding in 1922. He was a member of the Virginia State Bar
Association and the Presbyterian Church. Summers was
also chairman of the Walnut Grove Cemetery Association,
Washington Co., VA. The land for this cemetery was
originally owned by Robert Preston, Sr., whose wife
Margaret Rhea Preston, and mother, Eleanor Fairman
Preston, established the cemetery. Lewis and Annie had
7 children.
                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Will Allen Dromgoole wrote in 1890:

"Old Jim Mullins, the father of the branch, was an
Englishman, a trader, it is supposed, with Indians. He was
of a roving, daring disposition, and rather fond of the free
abandon which characterized the Indian. He was much
given to sports, and was always "cheek to fowl" with the
Cherokees and other Indian tribes he like to mingle. What
brought him to Newman's Ridge must have been, as it is
said, his love for freedom and sport, and that careless
existence known only to the Indians.

He stumbled upon the Ridge settlement, fell in with the
Ridgemanites, and never left them. He took for a wife
one of their women, a descendant of old Sol Collins, and
reared a family known as the MULLINS tribe. This is
said to be the first white blood that mingled with the blood of
the dusky Ridgemanites."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Callaway Collins is an Indian~~"


 reprinted from the Knoxville Register September 6, 1848 quoting from the Louisville Examiner~~ 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~~~

 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.

                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Court deposition - 3/9/1887, Rockhouse, Letcher Co Ky

“He also stated there was a large family of Collins on Colly, generally illiterate and weak minded and contrary to the theory of {Cotton}Mathers? they hold undisputed sway in the Valley of Colley. They are below their surrounding neighbors in social standing and hence, there is but little commingling in a social way.”
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The Malungeons According to Joanne

The Malungeons were in fact Portuguese Adventurers
who intermixed with the local Indians in the Carolinas.
These families were reported along the Pee Dee River
as early as 1725, they may have joined Christian Priber's
'Paradice', his Utiopa in the Cherokee Indian Town. They
were likely ejected after his arrest in 1743 when Chief
Attacullaculla signed an agreement in Charleston to
trade only with the British, return runaway slaves and
expel Non-English whites from their territory. In return
they received guns, ammunition, and red paint.

From court records found in North Carolina, Arkansas,Tennessee,
Indiana, Missouri, Illinois:
These families from the Pee Dee declared they were
Portuguese and in most cases they succeeded. The Ivey,
Halls, Chavis, Shoemake, Bolton, Perkins, Goins, Collins,
Nickens, Dungee, and others have all been identified as
Portuguese in courts, county histories, etc.

In 1848 a journalist from Louisville, Kentucky visited
Newman's Ridge where he stayed at the Vardy Inn
and wrote the 'legend of their history' -- and it would
appear that Vardy Collins and/or his wife 'Spanish Peggy
Gibson' were possibly the source. Most researchers
assume Vardy was giving the history of his Collins family
but it is likely his ancestors were merely Indians as were
many of the other early settlers on Newman's Ridge. The
little Portuguese community on the border of the Carolinas
appears to have started breaking up around 1800 and many
had moved west after the War of 1812.


The Lowery of the Lumbee families according to history have
Portuguese ancestors and Tobias Gibson, son of Jordan is
also said to have had Portuguese ancestry. It seems
fairly clear to me that the Portuguese settlers who
intermixed with one tribe, most likely the Cheraw or
Saura, became the 'Lumbee' while just across the line
those same families who intermixed with the other tribes, possibly
the Catawba, Pee Dee, etc., became known as Redbones. As
they moved intoTennessee and intermixed with the
Saponi-Occaneechi families of Gibsons, Collins, etc., they became what was
described in 1848 as the 'present race of Melungens.'

No Author
1754
Volume 05, Pages 161-163
[From MSS. Records in Office of Secretary of State.]
Abstracts of returns from the several counties in
response to circular from Governor Dobbs. [See ante,
page 144.—Editor.]
~~~ Drowning Creek on the head of Little Pedee, 50
families a mixt Crew, a lawless People, possess the
Lands without patent or paying quit rents; shot a
Surveyor for coming to view vacant lands being inclosed in
great swamps, Quakers to attend musters or pay as in
the Northern Counties; fines not high enough to oblige
the Militia to attend musters

When this mixed race was first observed by the early
settlers of the upper Cape Fear [2] about 1735, it is said
that they spoke English, cultivated land, lived in
substantial houses, and otherwise practised the arts of
civilized life, being in these respects different from any
Indians tribe. [3]


A 1725 map by John Herbert shows the Cheraw/Sarah
tribe on the Pedee River not far from Drowning Creek
where these settlers were recorded ten years later. Also
in the South Carolina Gazette October 3, 1771 it was
reported that one Winsler Drigger had been captured
near Drowning Creek in the Charraw settlement.’‘
The above records show that there were people living in
this area as early as 1725 and as late as 1771 identified
as Cheraw/Saura Indians yet in 1754 they were called a
mixed crew’ and not marked down as Indians?
Did the Portuguese arrive in the twenty years between
1725 and 1754, mixing with this tribe and living as white
people and speaking English?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Robert K Thomas

Around 1750, several tribes further east --- the Nansemond,
Yeopin, and Poroskite --- lost their lands and began to
fragment into individual family groups. These Indian families
began to migrate to the frontier and settle near the Saponi.
In 1760, Eaton died and The Saponi lost their land base.the frontier had changed thenThe Saponi also began to
fragment into individual families, and move west. In 1760’s,
I can pick up the Collins in Orange County, on the frontier,
west of Hendersonville, N.C.




                  1755 Edition of the Fry-Jefferson map shows the location of  Occaneechi

By 1790, many of these Indian families, including the Collinses, had “bunched up”
 in the counties of extreme northeastern North Carolina. Then in the 1790’s, they spread all over Northeastern Tennessee, Southwestern Virginia, and over into 
what is now Letcher and Knott Counties, Kentucky. Many of them , like the 
Bollings of Wise Wise County, became prominent families in their areas.

Then, in the 1830s, Virginia became one of the more
consciously racist and deliberately elitist states in the Union.
First, most poor whites were disenfranchised by a property
value requirement; most Virginians west of the Blue Ridge,
as well as the poor further east, could not legally vote in
Virginia. Further, a new legal category included citizen
Indians, free blacks, and all non-whites. These “free colored”
could not vote, bear arms, travel freely, etc. In southwest
Virginia and neighboring parts of Tennessee, the more
established Indian families “weathered the storm”.

The Bollings in Wise County redefined their status as being
descendants of Pocahontas and John Rolfe, thus escaping
the free colored category. Other families who were less
wealthy, darker, and concentrated in one area, got caught
in the free colored category; and, thus the Melungeons of
southern Wise County came into existence.

By 1840, the situation became intolerable for some Indians
in Southwest Virginia, and they began to head for Kentucky,
a less repressive social and legal atmosphere. In the 1840s,
three Collins families moved into into Perry (became)
Letcher County, Kentucky.

In the 1850s, two Collins families moved to Johnson County,
just south of Paintsville (Grandpap William Collins and
brother). {Frankie’s Blackburn note here: This is where my
2nd great grandparents Griffin and Rachael Collins went
also, and were listed as Mulatto on Johnson County census
records}
These Collinses were very Indian looking and dark.
They must have been almost full-blood Indians.

Not all the Collinses headed west in 1760 after Colonel
Eaton died. Some few went south to what is now Robeson
County, North Carolina, and became part of the modern
Lumbee Indians in that region. The history of the Collins
family is both remarkable and fascinating. They are almost
an “ethnic group” all by themselves. There are Seneca
Cayuga Collinses in New York [Again we need to find these
Collins families], White and Melungeon Collinses in east
Tennessee and Southeast Virginia, part-Indian Collinses all
down the Big Sandy and into Southern Ohio, Lumbee Indian
Collinses in North Carolina --- all, at least distantly, related, and 
all descended from two or three households of Saponi Indians in 1740.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The Martha Simmerman story: Her family was Portuguese
and English and Native American. The Supreme Court ruled
in HER FAVOR; so did the state court. The Bolton' DNA
haplogroups are not African, they are the same haplogroups
found in Spain and Portugal. The courts stated she never
lied.

Excerpt From:
Pioneer Families

Bolton Was A Melungeon Who Farmed Moccasin Bend Land 
Byline: John Wilson
2/10/1998

Solomon Bolton was a Melungeon, a people who were a mixture of Indian, black and white ancestry, and was a soldier in the War of 1812. His lovely daughter, Jemima, had a tragic story. Another Bolton pioneer in Hamilton County was Robert Bolton, whose father was among the state's earliest settlers.  Solomon Bolton was born in North Carolina just before 1800 and was living in South Carolina when he enlisted for the War of 1812. His wife, Rachel, was from South Carolina.  They moved to Tennessee at Blount County, then at Marion County prior to moving to Hamilton County in the 1840s. Solomon Bolton was a tenant on the large farm of the Simmermans at Moccasin Bend. 

 The Bolton children included Elizabeth, Sarah, Hiram, Solomon Jr., Eliza and Martha, in addition to Jemima. The latter daughter "was famed for her beauty, her grace of manner and modesty. She was a dark brunette. She had a suit of black hair, which was coveted by all the girls who knew her. Her form was petite, and yet, withal was so plump and so well developed as to make her an irresistibly charming young woman. 

She was most beautiful of face, and had a rich black eye, in whose depths the sunbeams seemed to gather. When she loosed her locks, they fell almost reaching the ground, and shone in the sunlight, or quivered like the glamour which the full moon throws on the placid water. She was the essence of grace and loveliness."  One of the young Simmermans, Jerome C., fell in love with Jemima. His Bivans step-mother and step-sisters opposed the marriage, fearing to lose a share of the large Simmerman estate.  With the aid of Ab Carroll and John Cummings, Jerome and Jemima made their way across the river and eloped to Trenton, Ga. That marriage occurred June 14, 1856. 

 The couple had a son, who died as an infant. Then a daughter, Martha, was born in the latter part of 1858. Eight days later, Jemima Bolton Simmerman died. That event "was such an overpowering shock to the father that he went violently insane, and had to be taken into custody and kept under guard for a long time." 

 The Bivans family later filed suit seeking the inheritance. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Bolton secreted young Martha Simmerman away for her safekeeping. The suit claimed the marriage was void because a Tennessee law prohibited the marriage of a white person with a person of Negro blood to the sixth degree.  

The Jerome Simmerman side finally won the suit after it was proven the Boltons were Melungeons. It was pointed out that Solomon Bolton could not have served in the War of 1812 had he been a Negro or mulatto. He proved his service because he was still able to recall the roll of his company from the captain down to the last private on the list.  The exact date of the marriage was also proven during the trial. Joel Cross said he could remember it because also that day a Baptist preacher leading a revival in Dade County got drunk, some horses broke loose and tore up several acres of his corn, and he had a baby girl born.  When Elizabeth Bolton died at the age of 78 in 1908, she was living in North Chattanooga with her niece, Martha, who had married James M. Carter. 

http://www.historical-melungeons.com/bolton.html

Love without borders:
The Martha Simmerman story

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCDgeV9mlc4

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Avoiding Pitfalls in Melungeon Research
by Pat Spurlock Part 2

As you research, you may have to settle for the fact that
perhaps your family really isn't Melungeon. I like to tell
folks that if anyone ever wanted to be a Melungeon I do,
but I have never found a direct ancestor who qualifies.
My maiden name is Spurlock. My father's paternal
ancestry is traditionally French and Indian, and
specifically Algonquin and Cherokee. I can trace the
Spurlock family back to New Kent County, Virginia--
which was the wrong side of the tracks in the 1600s.
In addition, their land there adjoined the Saponi Indians.
My greatest pleasure is in knowing my maiden name made 
W.A.Plecker's "Mongrel" list. Unfortunately, all this doesn't 
make me a Melungeon although I wish it did. I just can't prove my
connection and to my knowledge, my family was never
considered Melungeon. The key is that something made
certain families uniquely Melungeon while others were
not. It's our job to discover those differences.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~``

Collins from Reed Island
Joanne Pezzullo
Herald and Tribune (Jonesborough, Tennessee)
27 Jan 1876, Thu Page 2

HANCOCK COUNTY, Tennessee
Sneedville is situated not far from Clinch River, in a beautiful valley at the foot of Newmans Ridge. It contains a population of about one hundred and fifty souls, one log church, one Academy, a Court House and Jail. The original name of the place was "Greasy Rock," so called because on a certain hedge of flat rocks near the town, the Indians are said to have skinned their bears. Hancock county was organized from a part of Hawkins County in 1848. It contains some very good farming lands, though most of the county is very rough and mountainous. It is by nature well adapted to the growing of the grasses, and could be made one of the best counties for raising sheep and cattle in the State. But the people grow mostly corn, oats and wheat and boat their surplus down the Clinch River to Chattanooga in flat-boats. The county has a varied population-- a great many of the people are industrious, enterprising and intelligent, while some are groveling, vicious and indigent. A race of people mostly by the name of Collins and Mullins live on the top, and along the spurs of Newmans Ridge, and some of them in a fertile valley called "Blackwater," "history tells not of their origin," but as far as I can learn from the oldest ones among them, their ancestors came there from "Reed Island"about the beginning of the present century. They claim to be of Welsh extraction some of them are quite dark in complexion others of a deep copper color. They all have straight hair, generally dark eyes, sharp noses, thin lips, and some of them very peculiar physiognomies. They have none of the peculiar marks of the African about them, and I have no idea that they have any African blood in them. The lands cleared out and cultivated by them on Newman's Ridge are said to be rich and productive. These people were all loyal to the Unites States Government in the late war and many of them served in the Union army and made good soldiers. ..................


"VIATOR."

Rogersville, Tenn. January 1876
Fincastle County 1773 Delinquent Tax Lists:
David Collens, Elisha Collens, Ambrus Collens, Samuel Collens, John Collens, Lewis Collens, John Collens Junr., George Collens, Charles Collens. On James McGavock's List of Delinquents. At a Court held for Fincastle Decr 6 1774 "This List of delinquents on New River & Reed Creek was received by the Court containing 213 Tithables and is that ought to be Received by the Vestry of the Parish of Botetourt. W. Ingles"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

October 27, 1993 the federal government recognizes the Collins, Austins, and Gibsons who moved to the Catawba reservation as Native Americans: The following is the final base membership roll of the Catawba Indian Nation of South Carolina and is final for purposes of the distribution of funds from the Per Capita Trust Fund established under Section 11(h) of the Act of October 27, 1993 (Pub. L. 103116; 107 Stat. 1124).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Blackwater Valley lies between Mulberry and Newman’s Ridges, and is from half a mile to mile wide. Twenty years ago it was still a wilderness, but is now under good cultivation, and divided into small farms upon which are rather poor dwellings and outbuildings. In this valley and along Newman’s Ridge, reaching into Lee County, Virginia, are settled the people called Melungeons. Some have gone into Kentucky, chiefly into Pike County, others are scattered in adjacent territory.The first settlers here were the great grand parents, Varday Collins, Shephard Gibson, and Charley Williams, who came from Virginia it is said, though other say from North Carolina. They have marked Indians resemblances in color, feature, hair, carriage, and disposition. 
A Visit To The Melungeons 1897

             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

James H. Nickens Reconsidered:
The Indian Ancestry of Melungeons

The ethnic identity and origins of the Melungeon people have perplexed investigators of every stripe for more than a century. Imaginative theories have suggested Phoenician, Carthaginian, Portuguese, Turkish, and early Welsh origins. Others believed the Melungeons were a lost tribe of Israel or survivors of the Roanoke Colony. Speculation grew that Melungeons were descended from Spanish explorers, shipwrecked Portuguese sailors, or Turkish Pirates.

Court cases established Melungeon as a distinct yet problematic racial identity - that of a relatively darker people classified as white, then Free People of Color but later reclassified as white or “Portuguese”. By the end of the 19th century the entire population of the Bell’s Bend people had “White” stricken in the census and “Portuguese” inserted. Melungeons thus became the stuff of legend.

JUST REGULAR FOLKS

Many and varied physical descriptions have been recorded of the Melungeons. Among those recorded descriptions are “Indian “, “not as dark as the Indian “, “a race of light skinned Indians”, and an “Indian-like people”.

Nevertheless, the recurrent theme in Malungeon Town lore has been that of Indian ancestry. It is this aspect of the Melungeons which commands the attention of the Virginia Indian Heritage Association.

The uninformed assumption was made that these populations were some ill-defined mixture of the three perceived races, presumably Indian, white and Negro.The conclusions of the Tri-Racial Isolate theorists are marred in four critical areas:


1. Lack of sufficient knowledge of Indian
history

2. Lack of familiarity with Indian genealogy

3. Failure to identify Indian people outside of a
historical tribal context

4. A paradigm driven by a pathological
fascination with perceived racial constructs
rather than ethnicity.

In short – Insufficient Research layered upon a misguided and erroneous foundation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Walter Ashby Plecker:
the first registrar of Virginia’s Bureau of Vital Statistics, starting in 1912, forced Indians to classify themselves as black. The tribes, he said, had become a “mongrel” mixture.

"I thought Plecker was a devil," she says. "Still do."

Walter Ashby Plecker was the first registrar of Virginia's Bureau of Vital Statistics, which records births, marriages and deaths. He accepted the job in 1912. For the next 34 years, he led the effort to purify the white race in Virginia by forcing Indians and other nonwhites to classify themselves as blacks. It amounted to bureaucratic genocide.
He worked with a vengeance.

Plecker was a white supremacist and a zealous advocate of eugenics - a now discredited movement to preserve the integrity of white blood by preventing interracial breeding. "Unless this can be done," he once wrote, "we have little to hope for, but may expect in the future decline or complete destruction of our civilization."
Plecker's icy efficiency as racial gatekeeper drew international attention, including that of Nazi Germany. In 1943, he boasted: "Hitler's genealogical study of the Jews is not more complete."

Plecker retired in 1946 at the age of 85 and died the following year. The damage lives on.~~ Plecker was a devout Presbyterian. He helped establish churches around the state and supported fundamentalist missionaries. Plecker belonged to a conservative Southern branch of the church that believed the Bible was infallible and condone d segregation. Members of Plecker's branch maintained that God flooded the earth and destroyed Sodom to express his anger at racial interbreeding.
"Let us turn a deaf ear to those who would interpret Christian brotherhood as racial equality," Plecker wrote in a 1925 essay.~~

The term "eugenics" was coined in 1883 by English scientist Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin, a year after Darwin's death. Galton defined it as the science of "race improvement." It was viewed as a practical application of Darwin's theories of evolution and natural selection.

The early aim of Galton and his followers was to promote selective marriages to eliminate hereditary disorders. It wasn't long, however, before they focused on perpetuating a superior class of humans.

As the science swept across the Atlantic, it picked up more ominous tones. Eugenicists began espousing mandatory sterilization of "wicked" and mentally retarded people to eliminate their bloodlines.
All the major colleges, including the University of Virginia, taught the science. It was embraced by such great minds as Alexander Graham Bell, George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells. Margaret Sanger won support for legalizing contraception by arguing it would lower the birth rate of undesirables. Winston Churchill unsuccessfully proposed sterilization laws for Great Britain in 1910. As governor of New Jersey, Woodrow Wilson signed that state's first sterilization law in 1911. The next year, he was elected president.

Virginia's gentry embraced the fad. Eugenics was the perfect way to deal with race and the underclass.

The Racial Integrity Act essentially narrowed race classifications on birth and marriage certificates to two choices: "white person" or "colored." The law defined a white as one with no trace of black blood. A white person could have no more than a
1/16th trace of Indian blood - an exception, much to Plecker's regret, legislators made to appease the descendants of Pocahontas and John Rolfe, who were considered among Virginia's first families.
The act forbade interracial marriage and lying about race on registration forms. Violators faced felony convictions and a year in prison.

Plecker strongly supported sterilization laws, arguing that feeble-minded whites were prone to mate with Indians and blacks

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"While DNA can prove direct ancestry or lineage,

it can’t prove race or ethnicity.

The reason for this is that human beings are so much

alike, and have had genetic mixtures for so long even

the most defining racial or ethnic traits are found in

almost every human family. Skin color, facial structure,

hair and eye color, all things that are used to define race

or ethnicity lose definition when traced as part of a

DNA analysis. There is no gene that can accurately

define an American Indian for instance, many of the

so-called defining characteristics are genetically

identical to many Asians and African Americans."

---Written by Charles Grimmett - © 2002 Pagewise

http://www.essortment.com/all/humangenomepro_rcaf.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~``


Deborah A. Bolnick PhD is a Geneticist of the University of Texas at Austin

The Legitimacy of Genetic Ancestry Tests”
TONY FRUDAKIS

Bolnick et al. also allege that genomic ancestry panels
present a biased picture of nonneutral mutations, which is
not the case (2, 3). They then imply that genomic ancestry
methods rely on imperfect—i.e., insufficiently large—
databases and thus produce misleading results. However,
the onus on the database developer is not to build a perfect
database, but rather to quantify how imperfect the
database is.

Generalizing about individuals on group membership in this
way is the intellectual equivalent of bigotry. Bolnick et al.
believe that anyone who says they belong to a group should
belong to that group—regardless of whether or not their
deep ancestors (as reported by DNA tests) were part of the
parental population associated with that group. The irony is
that we do not disagree. In some cases, genetic testing is
simply not relevant—not because it is flawed, but because it
reports only one aspect of “race” or “ethnicity.” Genomic
ancestry tests demonstrate that admixture is the rule rather
than the exception and hence support that idea that human-
derived notions of “race” are based on the subjective and
ever-changing concepts of social and political identity.”

and%20population%20genetics/Frudakis-LegitAncestryTests_
Science2008.pdf
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Cherokee Grandsons of Valentine Collins 

Indian roll Application
Benjamin---Fieldon Collins brother cert of Benjamin Collins
Eastern Cherokee App.
Sons of John Collins- Louisa Cole,









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compiled by
D.S.Collins


Saturday, September 16, 2017

Collins part 1 Joanne Pezzullo




Thursday, September 14, 2017

Collins Part I


Hezekiah and John Collins 




"In 1773 at the Treaty of Augusta (Augusta, GA), the Cherokees and Creeks ceded over 2 million acres of land in return for cancelling 40,000 Pounds indebtedness to the Indian Traders. The two murdered Cherokees were members of the surveying expedition led by Col. Edward Barnard to map the land cession. The surveyors and other members of the expedition included the naturalist William Bartram.

There were already hundreds of trespassers in the new land. They had migrated into the upcountry hills of the Carolinas before the Revolution and on into the backcountry of Georgia. And in general they viewed the Indians with hatred -- while at the same time desiring the land.

Two young Cherokees, who were with Barnard's boundary-marking expedition, called at Collins's cabin on the Broad River for some refreshment. They were not armed and were not looking for trouble. Collins' wife invited them in and gave them some milk and something to eat. When Collins returned to his cabin and found them there, he killed the first with his rifle and the second with an ax. John Collins, father of the murderer, arrived to drag the bodies to the river and sink them.

Later when the Cherokees were reported missing, Barnard's men searched the Broad River area. Under questioning Mrs. Collins related the sad story. Barnard's men found the bodies in the shallows of the river and returned them to their people.

John Collins, the father, was arrested for his part in the affair. Hezekiah fled to South Carolina where he was arrested, but then escaped. There is no record of him ever being brought to justice for his crime."


1752 Hezekiah was located on Cane Creek and the Haw River. 
6194 Zachariah Martin plat 27 May 1752, 573a Orange, on N side of Haw Rv on Cain Ck above the Piney Mountain. CB John Daniel, Hezekiah Collins; Richd Caswell Jr Survr 


Nathan Melton  Survey 25 October 1759
391 acres on north side Haw R.; Robert Patterson, John Collins*: CC (chain carrier)  Entered 4 November 1756

John West Born about 1707 (in Virginia?). In 1725 when John was 18, he married Mary Madden, in Granville District, Orange County, North Carolina--- John was appointed constable in Orange County, North Carolina, in March of 1753. Two daughters of John West married two Collins brothers.  Hezekiah Collins m. Mary West [born 1742] and bought land from his father in law in 1755 Orange County, NC. 

John and Hezekiah Collins remove to York County, SC?


State of South Carolina, York County, Deed Book F, No. 20, Page 26-27, March 14, 1791. This Indenture made the fourteenth day of March in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven Hundred and ninety one. Between Hezekiah Collins of the County of York & State of South Carolina planter of the one part and James Donally of the County and State aforesaid planter of the other part. Witnesseth that for and in consideration of the sum of eight pounds Sterling to the said Hezekiah Collins in hand paid by the said James Donally at and before the ensealing & delivery of these presents the receipt and payment whereof is hereby Acknowledged hath granted Bargained sold aliened  conveyed and confirmed and by these presents doth grant Bargain Sell alien enfeoff convey & confirm unto the said James Donally his Heirs & assigns forever, a Certain piece Tract or piece of landContaining by computation one Hundred & fifty acres being a part of a Tract of Land granted to John Collins in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Sixty eight lying and being on the East side of Kings Creek. Beginning at a red oak Marked H. C upon the first Spring Branch below the mouth of the Gum Branch from thence down the said Spring Branch to a white oak Tree on the Branch of Kings Creek marked H.C. _ _ _ _ from thence up Kings Creek to the upper line of said Tract & from thence runs the Courses of said Tract of Land upon the east side of said Creek to the beginning. Black oak marked as aforesaid H.C. with the appurtenances situate lying and being as aforesaid with their and every of their rights members and appurtenances whatsoever and the reversion and reversions, Remainders & remainders of all and Singular the lands Tenements Hereditaments and premises is hereby Granted or intended to be granted and of every part and parcel thereof of all __ Services and profits to them or any of them or any part and parcel of them or any of them J____ belonging or appertaining. And __ all of every the Said Lands Tenements Hereditaments & Premises whatsoever hereby granted or mentioned to be granted or any of them or any part or parcel thereof. To have & to Hold the said Lands Tenements Hereditamnets & premises hereby granted with their appurtenances to the said James Donally his heirs and assigns to the only proper use behoof of the said James Donally his Heirs & assigns forever and the said Hezekiah Collins for himself his heirs Executors & Administrators doth hereby promise Covenant & agree that he the said Hezekiah Collins his Heirs Extr Adminisrs shall & will at all times Warrant forever defend the said premises to the said James Donally his heirs and assigns against all lawful claims or demands whatsoever whereof the above Mentioned premises might or maybe affected or encumbered contrary to the True Intent and meaning of these presents. In Witness whereof the said Hezekiah Collins hath hereunto set his Hand & seal the day & Year first above written. Hezekiah “his H mark” Collins (Seal) Mary “her __ mark” Collins.Signed Sealed & Delivered in presence of us John Hood, Massey (x) Sandlin.

Records are confusing but the earliest records say John is the father and Hezekiah was the son who killed the Cherokees.

"There were many settlers who had lost loved ones to the Indians, and had a deep hatred for them. Not only were the Indians at fault, but the white people themselves committed many crimes against the Indians.

The first blow came at the end of June during the expedition to mark the boundary line in Georgia. A family named Collins had settled high up Broad River at the edge of the line. The survey party had camped across the river in site of the house. Two young Cherokee lads of eighteen and twenty years old, who were near relations of Eccuy the Good Warrior and Big Swanny, decided to go unarmed over to pay a visit, and ask for a drink of milk. At that time the owner John Collins, and his son Hezekia, were away. The two lads went to the house. Mrs. Collins gave them milk, and also a well portion of victuals for each. While they were in the yard sitting and eating, the son Hezekia returned. He leveled his rifle with the intent to kill both. He fired and killed one, and struck the other on the neck with the stock of the rifle, which shattered it to pieces. The Indian began thrashing about on the ground, and the wicked Hezekia finished him off with an Ax. About this time the father returned, and seeing what had happened, they threw the bodies into the river.

When the story went out of the possible murders, the white people began a search to find the bodies as proof. After nine days they were found. Knowing of the consequences, Hezekia left the country. John was arrested in South Carolina, but made an escape. A circular was distributed throughout the other colonies, with a large reward for the apprehension and arrest of Hezekia.


Watagua Records
Aug. 27, 1778
Benjamin Rodgers vs. Peter Ford.
Caveat returned by the Sheriff, settled and agreed. All fees paid. 
Val Sevier, Abraham Sevier, Julius Robinson, Zachriah White, Dempsey Ward, Andrew Thompson, Gideon Morris, Robert Sevier, Jermiah Duncan, came into court and took the oath of Allegiance.

Ordered that the sheriff make the sale of six head of Creatures taken by John Sevier from Joseph Box called the property of Zekiah Collins, wheel right, and make return of money arising from the sale thereof to the Treasurer.

Ord. that Pheba Collins have three creatures returned to her that was ord. by the court to be sold by the Sheriff, the creatures supposed to belong to Hezekiah Collins.

There are two sources that may indicate the John and Hezekiah descendants did end up in Hawkins County, Tennessee area;
I came upon some old notes I had taken from a film at a LDS library. It was
an interview in 1936 with a Berry Collins, a son of Griffin. He says that
these Collinses came from GA to TN & that Griffin was first in the line to
settle in the county-Grainger Co., TN. I know GA became a state in 1788 but
Griffin was b. 1773. GA was also Indian lands. [ Email to Brenda Dillon 2002] 

''Old Griffith Collins who died in Grainger county some forty years ago once approached 'Squire Gill' of Bean Station, who was an Englishman by birth, on this subject. 

"Squire Gill" he asked, "what is convicts?" I've often heard my grandfather say we's come down from convicts." [Varney]

Griffin Collins has a history of coming from Georgia.  Solomon Collins born in what was Johnston County, North Carolina at the time enlisted from Caswell County, North Carolina in 1778, formed the following year from Orange, removed to Georgia after the war.  He is found in same areas of Georgia as Seaborn Collins, a perfect DNA match to Vardy, David, and Amos, etc.

SEABORN COLLINS

Cherokee Application - Deposition of Seaborn Hagan, son of Zilpha Collins and Coleston Hagan.




Seaborn's daughter, Zilpha Collins was married in Appling, Georgia to Coleston Hagan.  While Seaborn Hagan states in the application his father didn't have any Indian blood I believe he is represented in the Hagan DNA project in the Q - Native American group.  



Coleston and Zilpha Hagan were apparently in Jefferson Co., Tennessee by 1845 and in Grainger County by the 1850 census;

Birth Year: abt 1798 Birthplace:South Carolina Home in 1850:District 10, Grainger, Tennessee Family Number:1120Household Members:
NameAge
Coleson Hagen52
Zilphia Hagen41
Selim Hagen20
Peter Hagen17
James Hagen15
Laurence Hagen13
Matilda Hagen11
Christley G. Hagen5
Mahala Hagen2

SOLOMON COLLINS

Solomon enlisted from Caswell County, North Carolina in 1778. The Caswell County tax list for 1777 shows Paul, Martin, Charles and Milleton Collins on lands in St. James District, they are most likely related these four Collins who later remove to Wythe/Giles Co., Virginia and also Hawkins/Hancock County, Tennessee.


From Carolina to Virginia to Tennessee

Paul Collins found in the 1777 tax in Caswell County was in Granville/Orange County, NC as early as 1751 with Thomas Collins. 
1752 Granville County, NC  Thomas Collins received a land grant on the Flatt River on Dials Creek. Witnesses: Paul Collins, George Gibson and Moses Riddle
1761  700 acres to Thomas Collins on Dials Creek of the Flatt River. Chainbearers: George Collins and Paul Collins (mulattoes)”
1782 Montgomery Co Va Tax list
tithes slaves horses cattle land
Ambrose Collins 1 0 1 1 Yes
Daniel Collins 1 0 4 9 Yes
David Collins 1 0 0 2 Yes
George Collins 1 0 0 4 Yes
John Collins 1 0 1 2 Yes
Lewis Collins 1 0 1 2 Yes
Martin Collins 1 0 1 0
Millinton Collins 1 0 1 0 

Millton Collins 1783 Montgomery Co Va

Millinton Collins 5-10-1783 80 acres Big Reed Island Pine & Snake Cr[in modern Carroll Co] & New River Grants 29-325
1789 NE Part of Wilkes Co. NC
Samuel Collins ( 0 poll means he was under 16 yrs)
Volentine Collins (1 poll)
Benjamin Collins (1 Poll....first appearance)
1793 Wythe Co, VA (formed 1793 from the lower western part of Montgomery  Co...1793] List for New River District
Lewis CollinsBenjamin CollinsAbsolem Collins
Joseph Collins
John Collins Sr
John Collins Jr
Mahlon Collins
Millitent CollinsDavid Collins
Jonathan Collins
1800 Grayson Co Va Tax List
George Collins 1 wm over 21
Paul Collins 1 wm over 21
Jacob Collins 1 wm over 21
Jonathan Collins 1 wm over 21, 1 horse
Malin Collins 2 wm over 21, 5 horses
John Collins 1 wm over 21, 2 horses
Milliner [Milliton] Collins 2 wm over 21, 1 horse
Benjamin Collins 2 wm over 21, 2 horses

Moses Collins 1 wm over 21
 1802 Montgomery Co Va
Millenton and Avy Collins of Grayson Co Va sold 80 acres on Big Reed Island to James Bobbit for 34 pds. DB 1-480 22 Feb 1802
 All of these families have ties from Granville/Orange/Caswell to Georgia, Wilkes Co., NC.  Grayson, Wythe, Montgomery Co., Va., and Newman's Ridge. 
The previous blog shows "Old Benjamin Collins with Milleton in Virginia to Tennessee.  Milleton had land on Big Reed Island and the newspaper clipping from 1876 shows that the "Young Benjamin Collins" came from Reed Island.

A race of people mostly by the name of Collins and Mullins live on the top, and along the spurs of Newmans Ridge, and some of them in a fertile valley called, "Blackwater," "history tells not of their origin," but as far as I can learn from the oldest ones among them, their ancestors came there from "Reed Island"about the beginning of the present century.  
 Herald and Tribune (Jonesborough, Tennessee)27 Jan 1876, Thu Page 2  HANCOCK COUNTY

The Collins of Newman's Ridge are not genetically related but it certainly appears they are at least 'tribally related'  --