New DNA Study of Melungeons

Great minds think alike, Justin. I just came here to add the same article.

Last year Roberta Estes, et al. published a peer reviewed paper in the Journal of Genetic Genealogy (http://www.dnaexplain.com/Publications/PDFs/MelungeonsMulti-EthnicP...)

"Many people expected to discover that the Melungeons were primarily Native American, but this was not the outcome of the DNA project. In fact, many of the direct paternal male lines were African and all of the direct maternal female lines tested were European."

That study is once again in the news, DNA testing continues to show that the Melungeons are an African / Anglo mix, with very little Native American and no identifiable Portuguese.

Jack Goins (co-author of the study) did a detailed review of the available records recently. This is a apparently the first time anyone has looked at the entire set of records rather than focusing on single lines. Goins concludes, "The written land, tax, census and court records agrees [sic] with the DNA results."

http://jackgoins.blogspot.com/2013/10/written-records-agree-with-me...

Roberta Estes explains more about the records:

http://dna-explained.com/2013/10/16/correlating-historical-facts-to...

Bottom line: the ongoing research continues to show that the Melungeons are neither Indian nor Portuguese. Basically, those were just ways to explain away being a little darker than the neighbors.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/24/melungeon-dna-study-origin...

This 2012 article explains more about the results of the DNA study, as well as reasons early Americans denied any links to an African heritage.

Very interesting. Thanks, Maria!

I just joined the Project and am reading the older posts. I find trying to define what a Melungeon is very challenging.

I only recently discovered:

1) I have a line of Redbone ancestors
2) I have confirmed Melungeon DNA
3) Portuguese ranks high among my top population matches
4) I have confirmed Romany / Gypsy DNA
5) I have confirmed Jewish DNA
6) My highest Romany match comes from indigenous Russia

Now ALL those things show up in my Redbone / Melungeon research and my Romany and Jewish DNA matches.

I don't know who the Romany or Jewish ancestors were in this mix. I do know I have Portuguese before America. My son also tested almost 21% Iberian on his My Heritage test.

So if I had an indigenous Russian ancestor who married a Jewish Gypsy and they had a descendant who married someone Portuguese and they had a descendant who came to America and married a Redbone indian and I could identify all those players, I could tie it all up with a pretty bow. lol

Just sharing this because I'm still processing the fact that Melungeon showed up in my DNA results so shortly after finding I have Redbone ancestry. I'd come across the Redbone connection while researching Romany lines. Anyway, reading how people have tried to rule out the Portuguese connection, I have some feedback:

1. Romany folks tend to say their people only married other Romany folks, but clearly that's not always the case since I have Romany DNA and many others do as well. Obviously there was some across-the-lines mingling.

2. We know Melungeon and Redbone and similar groups like Lumbee were very mixed groups of people.

3. So it stand to reason to me, that some of those lines may have actually had Portuguese in them and some not. And just like some Native Americans used to claim to be anything but indian to keep from losing land, having their children taken, or being removed...there were probably some indians or blacks who claimed to be Portuguese because that made life easier for them. People did that kind of thing for survival back in the day. That doesn't mean there wasn't actually some truth to Portuguese being in some of the lines and I seem to be proof of that.

So, my thought 'at this time' in this process of mine is that this is why it's so challenging to nail down what Melungeon means. I don't think there is just one clear-cut definitive definition because there were too many variables to the way people were intermingling back then.

https://dnaconsultants.com/melungeon-population/?fbclid=IwAR0Lx02gU...

Like I told someone earlier today, I don't think it was a case of "It was this OR this". I think it was a case of "It could have been this AND this" in some cases. I seem to be in the latter category. In my 20s I was asked by someone if I was a Gypsy. I thought that was so odd. Iin my 30s someone asked me if I was Hispanic, again I thought that was so odd. In my 40s someone asked me if I was Mediterranean. Again...so odd. Thing is, I grew up before everyone was doing genealogy (I'm old) much less had DNA results to give them a clue, so I just thought I was a 'white girl' from Mississippi and didn't 'get' why people looked at me and would ask those questions. DNA has been a real eye-opener! lol But my tree work and the DNA support each other, which is a beautiful thing. I love it when it comes together like that.

Hi Debbie Gambrell,

I would love to chat more about any of the Melungeon line you have! I'm working on my maternal line (Goins) and sometimes find it tough to weed through the number of "William" ancestors to make sure I have the correct path (especially in the 1700s with the William from Bedford and the William from Goochland) for my ancestry tree.

What specifically in your DNA confirms Melungeon? I've had mine analyzed via 23andMe (and my mother's as well). I have a smidgen of Angolan & Congolese (0.3%). My mother has a larger smidgen of Angolan & Congolese (0.4%) and a titch of Indigenous American (0.1%).

I uploaded both of ours to GEDMatch (mine: UA8146161; my mother's: WR1024390; my 1st cousin, 2x removed, Ralph: FN7766192).

Would love to connect and talk trees, if you'd like!

Keegan

Hi Keegan, I just got back from a trip and am still settling back in. I'll get back to you in a few days when I get more time to respond. Just wanted to touch base so you don't think I'm ignoring your post.