Poor Ellen Smith

The 19th century popular murder ballad, Poor Ellen Smith, recounts the tale of a woman named Ellen Smith, who was shot through the heart by a former lover. When Ellen was found, her ragged clothes were scattered all about the ground around her body. A group of townspeople got together and began a murder hunt which led to the apprehension of the murderer, Peter DeGraff, who was captured while he was loafing around the area.

As is the case with many Appalachian Mountain Ballads, "Poor Ellen Smith" is based on real events. In this case, the locale was Mount Airy, North Carolina.

For more of the story and two versions of the ballad: Click Here.

Mount Airy has, unfortunately, just recently been the scene of a contemporary murder tragedy.

Historical Society of Southwest Virginia

Founded in 1961, the Historical Society of Southwest Virginia has published seventeen pamphlets composed mostly of speeches made at the regular meetings by area historians. They include episodes of history that are, in many cases, not found elsewhere and should definitely be preserved in the form of a large, permanently bound, book.

Furthermore, the society has contributed to a number of projects in the preservation of Southwest Virginia Heritage. Among these are donations to the Southwest Virginia Museum at Big Stone Gap, the society s archives at Clinch Valley College, Wise, Va., and the Fort Houston Marker on Clinch River near Nickelsville in Scott County. The organization has also acquired a large volume of historical material for its archives in the John Cook Wylie Library at Clinch Valley College, including the James Taylor Adams Papers, reams of material collected by E. J. Sutherland as well as hundreds of published volumes from his library.

The area covered by the society consists of Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott and Wise Counties, Virginia, but it has members in many other counties and states. Interested visitors are always welcome to it s meetings held three times a year on the last Saturdays of March, June and September.

To visit the Society's web site: Click Here.

Scott County HIstory and Genealogy

Scott County, Virginia, formed in 1814 from parts of Lee, Russell and Washington counties, can, along with Lee County, lay claim to Fort Blackmore and the Stony Creek Baptist Church, both originally in Lee County. That along with other Melungeon connections makes Scott County of great importance to Melungeon studies.

To visit the Scott County USGenWeb site: Click Here.

To visit the Scott County Historical Society: Click Here.

Important Melungeon Web Resource Changes Address

Joanne Pezzullo's excellent Melungeon web site has changed hosts and names and has acquired its own domain name. Previously known as the "Our Melungeons" web site, it is now known as the "Documenting the Melungeons" web site with a domain name of historical-melungeons.com, not to be confused with the Historical Melungeons Blog at historical-melungeons.blogspot.com

To visit Joanne's site at its new location: Click Here.

Unfortunately, this change has had the effect of breaking every link to Joanne's site in the MHS Blog, of which there are a large number. I have updated both the name and the link to her site on the "Links of Interest" page and have updated the link in the last MHS Blog entry referencing her site; however, scores remain and finding and updating them all will take some time. Until that happens, following such links will not take you to the intended page but will take you to her front page; from there you should, hopefully, be able to find the intended target by using the search function at the bottom of the page. I do apologize for the inconvenience!

Sizemore DNA Project

The “Ancient” Indian Ancestry
By MHS Board Member Joy King

Origin of the surname:

SIZEMORE (Eng.) Descendant of Sigmar (victory, great) dweller on the Saxon's wasteland.

When I checked the LDS IGI for England (Jan/Feb 1988) many years ago, I found numerous pages of records. There were 44 spelling variants of SIZEMORE. The earliest record was dated 1556 and largest concentration of the surname was in the county of Gloucester.

However, we do have a mixed bag of results that does need explaining. The largest group in our DNA test results is Haplogroup Q. This haplogroup designation has been confirmed with SNP tests of several of our participants. It is found in Native Americans and in Europe. In addition to our main Q group, we have received results for three of our participants that also have SNP confirmed Hg Q but do not match the main group.

In order to be sure our markers are consistent with the Native American markers, our main group participants were joined to the FTDNA Q3 Native American project. The three non matching participants and a few of the main group participants were joined to the FTDNA Q project.4 The administrators of both projects have concluded our participant’s markers are most consistent with the Native American markers, which means they are all descendants of a MALE Native American, but not the same Most Recent Common Ancestor.

The continue reading this fine example of how DNA testing and traditional genealogy can, and should, complement each other: Click Here.

To go the the Sizemore DNA Project's home page: Click Here.

Note: The name Sizemore is historically found in proximity to some Melungeon core families and thus of interest to Melungeon studies; however, Sizemore is not considered to be a Melungeon core family name by most authorities.

Virginia and Tennessee Cemetery Records

Though by no means covering all graves in all cemeteries in the two states, these records do record the graves in a large number of old cemeteries in both Virginia and Tennessee. Cemeteries are listed by county.

For Virginia: Click Here.

For Tennessee: Click Here.

Another page at the same site contains records from a few cemeteries in Southeast Kentucky. To see those: Click Here.

AppLit

Resources for Readers and Teachers
Of Appalachian Literature
For Children and Young Adults

AppLit is a web site containing Resources for Readers and Teachers of Appalachian Literature for Children and Young Adults. Although the focus is not primarily on literature for adults, some sections contain material on literature for adults that may be taught in high school or college. We believe strongly that picture books and other literature for children can be enjoyed by people of all ages and taught at all levels through college.

AppLit was created by Tina L. Hanlon and Judy A. Teaford in 2000 with support from the Appalachian College Association, Ferrum College, and a Humanities Focus Grant from the Division of Education of the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2000-2001.

AppLit received the e-Appalachia award from the Appalachian Studies Association for 2002.

To visit AppLit: Click Here.