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Archiver > Melungeon > 2002-12 > 1040959075


From:
Subject: Re: [Melungeon] I think I got it
Date: Thu, 26 Dec 2002 22:17:55 EST


In a message dated 12/26/2002 10:00:55 PM Eastern Standard Time,
writes:

> don't believe the Melungeons "began" in 1813. Did they pull the term out
> of the air in 1813 (?) - "I thiiiiiiiiinnnnnnk, I'll call you a Melungeon!
> That's it!" :-) Of course not. The term must
> have been used earlier, but not written down. Or maybe it was written down,
> but not preserved

I have to respectfully disagree here. It is much more likely they "pulled the
term" out of a book in 1813 and called them malengines because they came from
the "inaccesible ridge" just as the malengines in Spenser's FAIRE QUEENE
lived in the "inacessible rocks"---- than to think after over a hundred years
with all the people looking the word has never surfaced. In no historical
documents, no oral histories, etc.

Are we to believe this group of people "called malengines" moved around
Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Kentucky and left no trace of the
word? From 1600 to 1813 the word has not been found, from 1813 to 1890 it is
found a couple of more times and in 1890 when Ms Dromgoole wanted to find
them she says it took her six months to track them down AFTER the New York
Times failed.



Peace
:-)
Joanne Pezzullo
<A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/ourmelungeons/front.html">http://www.geocities.com/ourmelungeons/front.html</A>;


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