Avoiding Pitfalls in Melungeon Research

A talk presented by Pat Spurlock in 1998.
It is reprinted here with her permission.

Good morning everybody.

I'll be talking to you this morning about how to avoid some of the pitfalls you may find while researching Melungeons. First, I want to warn you this is my very first public talk unless you count teaching high-school Sunday school class. I'm a researcher and a writer, so if you want to leave...you've been warned. I do promise not to preach, but I HAVE wanted to convert Bill Fields for several years.

How many of you think you MAY have Melungeon ancestry? How many of you positively are Melungeon descendants? How many are here only because they have to be?

Seriously, I understand some genealogy classes were taught on Thursday and Friday, so I hope I don't bore you folks who attended those. My talk will likely touch on some of the same things. Those of you who did attend the classes-I know you're already tired of hearing the word "documentation" but I'm going to use it several times today.

OK ... let's get down to business.

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Note: This is a transcript of the first of two talks given by the noted Melungeon researcher Pat Spurlock. The second follows tomorrow.