Sons of the Legend

By William L. Worden
THE SATURDAY EVENING POST
October 18, 1947

Surrounded by mystery and fantastic legends, the Malungeons live on Newman’s Ridge, deep in the Tennessee mountains. The story of a colony whose background is lost in antiquity.

About the people of Newman’s Ridge and Blackwater Swamp just one fact is indisputable: There are such strange people. Beyond that, fact gives way to legendary mystery, and written history is supplanted by garbled stories told a long time ago and half forgotten.

Today, even the legend is in the process of being forgotten, the strange stories are seldom remembered and the people are slipping away to cities and to better farms, there to tell anyone who asks them, all they can about where they came from, but never to tell who they are. Because they do not know.

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Free Persons of Color in the 1830 Hawkins County Census

Many Melungeon core families were listed as free persons of color in the 1830 Hawkins County, Tennessee census, Hancock County and Newmans Ridge then being part of Hawkins County.

To see the transcribed census entries for all such families: Click Here.

For the entire 1830 Hawkins County census: Click Here.

Library of Congress Digital Map Collection

The Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress holds more than 4.5 million items, of which Map Collections represents only a small fraction, those that have been converted to digital form.

The focus of Map Collections is Americana and Cartographic Treasures of the Library of Congress. These images were created from maps and atlases and, in general, are restricted to items that are not covered by copyright protection.

To visit: Click Here.

1667 Map of Virginia (Click to Enlarge)

More on the First Annual MHS Conference

Revised and Expanded MHS Press Release

The weekend of June 12-13 will feature two events focusing on the Melungeons, the multi-ethnic people that have been a part of Appalachia folklore for over generations, and the subject of scientific research for the last half-century. The Melungeon Historical Society will hold their first annual conference on Friday, June 12, in Rogersville, Tennessee, while the Vardy Community Historical Society holds their Spring Fling at their museum on Vardy Road in Hancock County, Tennessee.

History, genealogy, and the latest DNA technology will come together at the first annual Melungeon Historical Society conference o June 12. "For nearly two hundred years, writers and researchers have speculated about the origins of the Melungeons," says Wayne Winkler, president of MHS. "For the most part, the story of the Melungeons has been told through myths and legends. The Melungeon Historical Society believes that answers will be found through scholarly research."

The public is invited to this event, which will be held at the Hawkins County Rescue Squad meeting room, 955 East McKinney Avenue, Rogersville, Tennessee. Registration begins at 9:30 am, and the conference will run until about 8:30 pm, with lunch and dinner breaks.

Presentations at the MHS conference will begin at 10 a.m. and will cover topics such as the origin and historical uses of the term "Melungeon," DNA research on Melungeon families, and other topics related to the multi-ethnic people first documented in the Clinch River region in the early 19th century. The use of DNA technology in genealogy will be covered by Roberta Estes, founder of DNAExplain, a Michigan company that analyzes and interprets individual DNA tests.

Other presenters include Jack Goins, Hawkins County Archivist and author of Melungeons and Other Pioneer Families; Kathy Lyday-Lee, a professor at Elon University who taught a course on Melungeons; and Kathy James, who will present DNA information on the Gibson and Collins families.

"This conference is of special interest to those who want to learn more about the Melungeons," said Winkler, "but it is also designed to benefit anyone interested in genealogy and especially in the use of DNA technology to trace family lines." The conference is free, but donations are suggested to help promote the work of the Melungeon Historical Society.

On Saturday, June 13, the Vardy Historical Society will hold its Spring Fling from 10 am until 2 pm. The location is the Vardy Church Museum, which features displays from the Presbyterian mission which provide education opportunities for Melungeon children from 1899 to the early 1970s.

The Spring Fling features Appalachian crafts such as basket and chair weaving, apple butter making, corn grinding, shuck dolls, hominy making, a tractor show, and plenty of music.

For more information on the MHS conference, contact Winkler at 423.439.6441 or winklerw@etsu.edu. For more information on the VCHS Spring Fling, contact Claude Collins at claudefreeda@aol.com or 423.733.2305.

The Valley of the Shadow

Two Communities in the American Civil War

The Valley Project details life in two American communities, one Northern and one Southern, from the time of John Brown's Raid through the era of Reconstruction. In this digital archive you may explore thousands of original letters and diaries, newspapers and speeches, census and church records, left by men and women in Augusta County, Virginia, and Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Giving voice to hundreds of individual people, the Valley Project tells forgotten stories of life during the era of the Civil War.

To enter the Valley Project: Click Here.

The Appalachian Trail

The Appalachian Trail, a continuous marked footpath that goes from Mt. Katahdin in Maine to Springer Mountain in Georgia, needs no introduction. Here are some web site that will tell you all about it:

To visit the Appalachian National Scenic Trail web site: Click Here.

To visit the Appalachian Trail Conservancy's web site: Click Here.

To visit a less sophisticated but very informative web site styling itself the Appalachian Trail's home page: Click Here.

Through the Cumberland Gap

Thomas Walker, a Virginia physician, explored the Cumberland Gap region in 1750. Keeping a journal along the way, his entry for April 13, 1750 reads:

"We went four miles to large Creek, which we called Cedar (Indian) Creek, being a branch of Bear Grass, (Powell's) and from thence six miles to Cave (Cumberland) Gap the land being levil. On the north side of the gap is a large Spring, which falls very fast, and just above the Spring is a small entrance to a large Cave, which the Spring runs through, and there is a constant Stream of cool air issuing out. The Spring is sufficient to turn a Mill. Just at the foot of the Hill is a Laurel Thicket, and the Spring Water runs through it. On the South side is a plain Indian Road. On the top of the Ridge are Laurel Trees marked with crosses, others blazed and several figures on them. As I went down on the other side, I soon came to some Laurel in the head of a Branch. A Beech stands on the left hand, on which I cut my name. This Gap may be seen at a considerable distance, and there is no other, that I know of, except one about two miles to the North of it, which does not appear to be so low as the other. The mountain on the North Side of the Gap is very Steep and Rocky, but on the South side it is not so. e called it Steep Ridge. At the foot of the hill on the North West side we came to a Branch, that made a great deal of flat Land. We kept down it 2 miles, several other branches coming in to make it a large Creek, and we called it Flat (Yellow) Creek. We camped on the Bank where we found very good Coal. I did not see any Lime Stone beyond this Ridge. We rode 13 miles this day."

Given the outlandish claims so commonly made about the Melungeons being found by early European explorers already living in the mountains of Southern Appalachia speaking Elizabethan English, it may be worth noting that Thomas Walker did not find any Melungeons living on or around Newmans Ridge in 1750.

To read the entire journal: Click Here.