Melungeon-L Archives

Archiver > Melungeon > 2003-02 > 1044894641


From: "Pat Elder" <>
Subject: RE: [Melungeon] Swan Burnett
Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 11:30:41 -0500
In-Reply-To: <C5FA5FEED6F0884E9EB90BB3C010F1EF03BE186A@etsuex1.etsu.edu>


Great, I am very glad to hear you say you are not taking that position. I
was hoping that you don't settle for anecdotal evidence. There is a plethora
of evidence out there in the way of original documents. It takes a lot more
work to find but it is there. The journalistic articles of the past are easy
to find.

Be wary of any of that stuff about Melungeons in Middle Tennessee. There
were many Hawkins/Hancock families that ended up in what is now around
Jackson, Overton, Smith and other contiguous counties but the idea that they
were thought of as "Melungeons" is precarious at best. Politics had more to
do with. Middle Tennessee used to be a big "democrat" area as opposed to
East Tennessee being "republican" in politics. I have found several court
documents saying that the Middle Tennessee neighbors thought of them as
Portuguese (in various mis-spellings) but nothing on the word "Melungeon"
until Dromgoole popularized the topic as a Tennessee attraction in the
1890s.

Pat

-----Original Message-----
From: Winkler, Wayne [mailto:]
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2003 10:11 AM
To:
Subject: RE: [Melungeon] Swan Burnett


Pat wrote: "Wayne, do you know the date on the article you cited below?
I am from the Wilson/Smith County area and I never ever heard of
"Malungeon Town.""

The article is posted on the "Our Melungeons" site; it's a 1924
Nashville banner article which recounts some of the letters resulting
form Dromgoole's 1890 Nashville American articles. I've seen the
microfilm copies of the original letters in the American. Of course,
it's anecdotal evidence, but then, so much of what we "know" about the
Melungeons from 19th century articles is anecdotal and second-hand.

I don't think anyone is arguing that the Melungeons in other locations
didn't migrate from the Hancock County region -- at least, I know I'm
not taking that position.

Wayne



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