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Archiver > Melungeon > 2002-10 > 1033778389


From: "Pat Elder" <>
Subject: RE: [Melungeon] Re: DNA website I found
Date: Fri, 4 Oct 2002 20:46:01 -0400
In-Reply-To: <001601c26bfc$a74f06e0$1ecb4341@greybird7>


Hi B.E. -

I don't think it is proved that the word "Melungeon" means a mixture of
races but if you can point to the evidence that proves it I'll gladly take a
look. Would LOVE to take a look! <G>)

Until someone can prove what made Vardy Collins a Melungeon then we can not
use DNA testing to prove or disprove whether he was or wasn't a Melungeon.
Extant evidence and family traditions indicate Vardy was from a North
American Indian family. There isn't enough evidence to know whether or not
he was mixed, if "a mixture of races" is how you personally define
Melungeon.

Hate to bow out but we will be in Sneedville all weekend and I'll be away
from the computer. Gotta get my beauty rest. <G> Hope to see many of you
there.

Best wishes,
Pat Elder
"I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better
for it." Abraham Lincoln

http://ContinuityPress.com - Specializing in Melungeons,
Appalachian/Cumberland, Jackson County Tennessee, and Civil War Genealogy
and History Books

-----Original Message-----
From: Barbara Ellison [mailto:]
Sent: Friday, October 04, 2002 7:21 PM
To:
Subject: Re: [Melungeon] Re: DNA website I found


I am following what you have said, and agreeing all the way up to where you
said:
"they still can't tell where his Melungeon genes
> came from."
What would be a Melungeon gene? Melungeon isn't a race, it's a mixture of
races...So do you mean finding where his line went from being one race to
mixed?
B.E.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Pat Elder" <>
To: <>
Sent: Friday, October 04, 2002 3:37 PM
Subject: RE: [Melungeon] Re: DNA website I found


> Kathy - in forensics, the test shows whether the person's DNA is
consistent
> or not consistent between two known people. Like in an illegitimacy trial,
> it shows that a baby's DNA is consistent or not consistent with the DNA of
> the named father. When consistent, the probabilities are so high for a
case
> of paternity that the piece of evidence is used to prove the likelihood of
> paternity.
>
> In forensics, DNA testing is limited to proving or disproving between two
> DNA samples from two known people or at least two samples whose history is
> known. In that sense, it is individual to individual but that's not what
the
> so-called Melungeon DNA testing is doing or the Daughters of Eve thing
> either.
>
> If ten men who claimed kin to Vardy Collins, for example, got together and
> had their Y-chromosome DNA tested and compared, it would show that they
> either were or were not kin to each other. If they have the documentation
to
> show their descent from Vardy plus the DNA evidence, then it is almost for
> sure they are related to Vardy, but perhaps they all come from Vardy's
> brother instead of Vardy. It still wouldn't show whether they were lineal
> descendants of Vardy but lineal descendants of a common Collins ancestor.
In
> so-called Melungeon research, the problem is, until they also know where
> Vardy's Melungeoness began, they still can't tell where his Melungeon
genes
> came from.
>
> I used Vardy Collins as an example since I think (I hope) most people
agree
> that Vardy was a Melungeon.
>
> Best wishes,
> Pat Elder
> "I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better
> for it." Abraham Lincoln
>
> http://ContinuityPress.com - Specializing in Melungeons,
> Appalachian/Cumberland, Jackson County Tennessee, and Civil War Genealogy
> and History Books
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kathy and Glenn [mailto:]
> Sent: Friday, October 04, 2002 4:16 PM
> To: ;
> Subject: Re: [Melungeon] Re: DNA website I found
>
>
>
> > They can link individuals to a common family group but not one
individual
> to another individual.
>
> I don't know much about DNA and now I'm more confused.
> If DNA doesn't link one individual to another individual, then why/how
do
> they use it in court in paternatiy suits?
>
> thanks
> Kathy R
>
>
>
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