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Archiver > Melungeon > 2002-06 > 1024572767


From: "Dennis Maggard" <>
Subject: Re: [Melungeon] Melungeon DNA Study Results
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 07:32:47 -0400
References: <000a01c21810$874e6380$21417d3f@oemcomputer>


From: "J & C Denham" <>

> I'm no brain, but it's my contention that to really have a "study"
> there should be a control group comprised of those who had ancestors in
> the same
> area and the same era of the test subjects.

I would have liked to have seen that too, and perhaps one day that will be
done. None the less, it's hard to imagine that everyone in Southern
Appalachia has Turkish/Indic ancestry and tri-racial ancestry. If they do,
that would be quite a story, and quite a mystery, in its own right.

> This control group would
> also help
> define the term Melungeon. If the genetic makeup of a group of
> individuals that
> were not given the label Melungeon was the same as those individuals
> labeled Melungeon, then to me
> it would indicate that "Melungeon" stems from a social situation and had
> nothing to
> do with genetic origins.

Being a Melungeon stemmed from a socio-economic status in any event, a
status which people and families could acquire and could shed as time went
by and their circumstances changed -- indeed it was a status most Melungeons
wanted to shed if they could. However, there were early founding groups and
it was to investigate the ethnic and geographical origins of those founding
groups that Dr. Jones conducted his study. He probably didn't detect all
the origins, but if he did his work properly -- which will be subject to
peer review -- the origins he did detect are undeniable.

Dennis

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