Melungeon-L Archives

Archiver > Melungeon > 2002-06 > 1024546007


From: "J & C Denham" <>
Subject: Re: [Melungeon] Melungeon DNA Study Results
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2002 23:10:52 -0500


I'm no brain, but it's my contention that to really have a "study"
there should be a control group comprised of those who had ancestors in
the same
area and the same era of the test subjects. This control group would
also help
define the term Melungeon. If the genetic makeup of a group of
individuals that
were not given the label Melungeon was the same as those individuals
labeled Melungeon, then to me
it would indicate that "Melungeon" stems from a social situation and had
nothing to
do with genetic origins.

Chris



-----Original Message-----
From: Karlton Douglas <>
To: <>
Date: Wednesday, June 19, 2002 10:28 PM
Subject: Re: [Melungeon] Melungeon DNA Study Results


>I can't honestly say I am disappointed it got released early, though I
can
>understand the doctor and those going to the Union being a bit
disappointed.
> I hope Mike will be able to give us his thoughts on the DNA when he
gets
>a chance.
> I will say from what I understand of it I am very pleased. It looks
like
>many of us are vindicated in our belief that there was a
tri-racial/ethnic
>mix, along with some exotic as well.
> I covered how some of this mixing may have taken place in my Remnant
>Indians article:
>http://www.angelfire.com/tn3/youngeagle/index2.html
>
> I can honestly say I would not change anything in the article except
for
>including that the females that were in those Spanish colonies must have
>contributed to the mix. I was focused on males as there appeared to have
>been more males via soldiers and missionaries. Of course the males won't
>show in the mtDNA. I am very impressed that we got so much info just
from
>the one side: mtDNA. And that for the group tested it appears to show
what
>many have believed. It confirms my own thoughts as far as the genetic
mix.
> Well, what do the rest of you think?
> Blessings.
> Karlton
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Dennis Maggard" <>
>To: <>
>Sent: Wednesday, June 19, 2002 9:07 PM
>Subject: [Melungeon] Melungeon DNA Study Results
>
>
>> The Associated Press having mistakenly released a story about the
>> Melungeon DNA study results a day early, I have received permission
>> to go ahead and post the results of the study here, see below,
preceded
>> by a statement correcting the Associated Press story.
>>
>> Dennis Maggard
>>
>>
>> Statement by Wayne Winkler,
>> President of the Melungeon Heritage Association................
>>
>> The Associated Press mistakenly released the story of the DNA study a
day
>> early. We regret that, after two years of hard work, Dr. Kevin Jones
was
>not
>> permitted to break the news of his study himself. The story by Chris
Kahn
>> also
>> contained a few inaccuracies. First, the hair samples taken to study
>> mitochondrial DNA, tracing the maternal lines, were taken from men as
well
>> as
>> women, contrary to the statement in the story. Secondly, Brent Kennedy
was
>> quoted out of context in saying that Melungeons weren't much different
>from
>> other Americans. In context, he was saying that ALL Americans are
mixed to
>> some
>> degree, although not necessarily as much as are Melungeons. And
finally, I
>> think the story missed the important news: that women were a part of
the
>> original Turkish, Mediterranean, and northern Indian population that
came
>to
>> America. We've always heard the stories about shipwrecked sailors or
>> explorers
>> being the source of our overseas genes; it's now obvious that these
genes
>> came,
>> at least in part, from family units of men and women who were
attempting
>to
>> establish themselves in a new land. As the DNA study shows, they
>succeeded.
>>
>>
>> Press release of the Melungeon Heritage Association..................
>>
>> Kingsport, Tennessee, June 20, 2002 - Some of the veil of mystery
>> surrounding the "mysterious" Melungeons was lifted today when the
results
>of
>> a two-year DNA study were announced. New questions have been raised,
>> however, concerning females potentially from Turkey and northern India
who
>> are a part of the Melungeon ancestry.
>>
>> The Melungeons are a group of people of unknown origin first
documented in
>> the mountains of Appalachia in the early 19th century. Many believed
they
>> were of mixed racial ancestry and the Melungeons faced legal and
social
>> discrimination. As a result, they tended to live in remote areas, most
>> notably Newman's Ridge in Hancock County, Tennessee. In the 1940's and
>1950'
>> s, sociologists and anthropologists labeled the Melungeons and other
>similar
>> groups as "tri-racial isolates."
>>
>> Over the years, numerous myths, legends, and theories evolved to
explain
>> the Melungeons' mysterious origins. These legends often involved
sailors
>and
>> explorers from Spain, Portugal, Carthage, or Phoenicia who were
stranded
>on
>> the American continent and intermarried with Indians. The Melungeons
>> themselves often claimed to be "Portyghee." Most researchers believed
they
>> were a product of intermarriage between English and Scots-Irish
settlers,
>> Indians, and free African-Americans, and discounted their claims of
>> Mediterranean origin.
>>
>> The DNA results announced today confirmed that the Melungeons have
>> European, African, and Native American ancestry, as well as genetic
>> similarities with populations in Turkey and northern India. More
>surprising,
>> however, is the fact that some of these Turkish- and northern Indian-
like
>> sequences have been passed through the Melungeons' maternal lines,
>> indicating that their overseas ancestors included not only male
sailors
>and
>> explorers, but females as well.
>>
>> The results were announced today at Fourth Union, a Melungeon
conference
>in
>> Kingsport, Tennessee sponsored by the Melungeon Heritage Association
>(MHA).
>> MHA is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting research and
>> understanding about Melungeons and other multi-racial groups in the
United
>> States. Dr. Kevin Jones, a biologist at the University of Virginia's
>College
>> at Wise, conducted the study.
>>
>> The presence of Turkish and northern Indian haplotypes within the
>> mitochondrial DNA samples taken from modern-day Melungeons indicates
that
>> women of European/Asian origin were a part of the original mixture
that
>made
>>
>> up the Melungeon ancestry. Mitochondrial DNA comes from the female
side of
>> an individual's ancestry. Previous researchers had assumed that
European
>> males intermarried with Native Americans and African-Americans to
produce
>> the Melungeons. Although Native and African genes are definitely a
part of
>> the Melungeon genetic mix, women were among the overseas settlers who
>> contributed to the Melungeon gene pool.
>>
>> Dr. N. Brent Kennedy speculated that the Melungeons were of
Mediterranean
>> and Middle Eastern ancestry and published his theories in a book
entitled
>> The Melungeons: The Resurrection of a Proud People, published in 1994
by
>> Mercer University Press.
>>
>> Dr. Jones, a native of London, England, studied at the University of
>> Reading, and did post-doctoral research at Louisiana State University.
He
>is
>> currently a professor of biology at UVA-Wise, teaching courses
including
>> cell biology and genetics. Dr. Jones undertook this DNA study in 2000
at
>the
>> suggestion of Dr. Kennedy, then vice-chancellor at the University of
>> Virginia's College at Wise. Kennedy asked Jones to analyze DNA samples
>taken
>> from members of known Melungeon families. Such a study would utilize
>> technology not available to earlier researchers.
>>
>> "Brent Kennedy... explained the controversy that surrounded the
origins of
>> the Melungeons [and] realized that I had the DNA expertise to look at
>that,"
>> Jones related in an interview with Wayne Winkler, president of the
>Melungeon
>> Heritage Association and author of an upcoming book about the
Melungeons.
>> "The subjects were largely chosen by Brent Kennedy on the basis of
>pursuing
>> as many of the known Melungeon lineages that existed in the area and
>taking
>> advantage of his genealogical expertise. People were then asked to
donate
>> samples to the study, and in the majority of cases they kindly did
so."
>> Single hairs were taken to study the mitochondrial DNA which traces
the
>> maternal lines of the subject. In other words, the samples represented
>DNA,
>> which could be traced to the subject's mother, grandmother,
>> great-grandmother, and so on. "We also have a smaller number of
samples
>> which are cheek cells for looking at male inheritance," said Jones.
>> "What we get from those is a DNA sequence which we can think of as
being
>> about an 600-long letter code, and we can take that string of 600
letters
>> and compare those to what now is literally thousands of samples from
>around
>> the world. We're interested both in the number of different sequences
that
>> we get from the population and also how they appear to relate to other
>> samples worldwide."
>>
>> About 100 hair samples were studied for mitochondrial, or maternal,
DNA,
>> and about 30 samples of cheek cells were taken to study the
Y-chromosome,
>or
>> male, DNA. While more samples might have been taken, Jones said,
"That's
>the
>> beauty of science: one can always subsequently refine and extend the
>> analyses." The technology available to Jones allowed him to study only
the
>> mitochondrial DNA samples; the Y-chromosome samples were sent to
>University
>> College in London, England, for study. "The 'Y' is technically far
harder
>to
>> do, and indeed, relies on expertise in some other labs in the world to
do
>> it, so we're partly dependent on their cooperation and collaboration."
>> Such testing is not perfect, of course, and does not tell researchers
>> everything about an individual's inheritance. For example, neither
test
>will
>> give genetic information about a subject's paternal grandmother.
However,
>> the study was not particularly concerned with individual genealogies.
>"We're
>> looking for patterns that exist in the population as a whole,"
according
>to
>> Jones. "Now, obviously, each individual sample contributes to that,
but I
>> think that for an individual you can say relatively little. Looking at
the
>> patterns that occur throughout the population becomes important. And
that
>> means the number of samples that are looked at is also significant,
and
>> we've tried to do as many as is reasonably possible."
>>
>> Jones compared these samples to the thousands available through
GenBank,
>an
>> international genetics database, published scientific literature and
the
>> Mitochondrial DNA Concordance, databases containing DNA sequence
>> information. Looking at the maternal lines of the Melungeons who were
>> tested, Jones found considerable variation in ethnicity among the
samples.
>> "It's comparatively straightforward to link particular sequences to
>> particular ethnic groups and different Continental areas of the
world," he
>> noted, "and the majority of those Melungeon-derived sequences were
>European
>> in origin. Within those European samples, though, there is significant
>> diversity, and some seem to reflect areas outside the traditional
northern
>> European sphere.
>>
>> "The ability to tie a sequence to a particular area is dependent upon
the
>> historical occurrence of any given haplotype somewhere, and the places
>that
>> are easy to track are where we've had populations existing for a long
>time,
>> and not being affected by a lot of different people coming in. So
some,
>> perhaps more isolated, areas of Europe are easier to track than more
>> cosmopolitan [areas]."
>>
>> While the Melungeons are predominantly European in their genetic
>> backgrounds, they are indeed tri-racial. "The appears to be a small
>> percentage of both Native American and African-American sequences in
>there,
>> too," Jones stated, "although they are certainly both in the minority.
>They'
>> re both in there in about equal levels of representation as well."
>> The long-held belief that the Melungeons originated in Portugal is
neither
>> borne out nor negated by Jones' research. "To date we've found no
>sequences
>> that can be definitively traced back to uniquely Portuguese sequences.
>That
>> doesn't mean that they don't exist. A large number of the European
>sequences
>> are now widely spread throughout Europe, and if one of those genetic
>> sequences happened to come from Portugal we would not detect that. We
>can't
>> dismiss that theory at the moment, but we can't provide additional
support
>> for it."
>>
>> Jones finds a stronger possibility for a Turkish or Middle Eastern
>ancestry
>> for the Melungeons. "The relatively unusual European -type sequences
seem
>to
>> reflect, perhaps, areas around northern India. It's very hard to say,
back
>> in time, what that would have been classified as, and I think one of
the
>> problems here is that we tend to think of 'Turkish' in terms of the
>> dimensions of modern Turkey, not of the original scale of people of
>Turkish
>> origin who, in essence, were spread throughout the European world.
Perhaps
>> the best I can say is that some of those sequences are a little more
>'exotic
>> ' than Anglo-Irish sequences, and some of those could reflect,
perhaps,
>> populations that were associated with or moved through Turkey."
>>
>> The Portuguese and Spanish explorers and early American settlers may
well
>> be the key to discovering how these people wound up in America. The
>> Portuguese, in particular, were involved in wide-ranging trade in the
15th
>> and 16th centuries, and had many interests in places such as northern
>India
>> and the area occupied by present-day Turkey. Both Spain and Portugal
had
>> very cosmopolitan populations, with large numbers of people from many
>parts
>> of the world living within their borders. And Dr. Kennedy and others
have
>> suggested the Spanish and Portuguese fort at Santa Elena (in
present-day
>> South Carolina), along with a series of frontier outposts, as a
possible
>> source for Melungeon ancestry.
>>
>> With regard to the male lineage's investigated, the Y chromosome data
also
>> suggests a multiracial origin, including Sub-Saharan African and
European
>> components. Of particular interest are Y haplotypes of established
>Melungeon
>> male lines that possibly reflect Mediterranean and/or Near Eastern
>> populations. This finding indicates that the overseas ancestors of the
>> Melungeons may have come to these shores as part of a male-female
family
>> unit, or formed such family units shortly after arrival. Such family
units
>> came to America as part of a Spanish/Portuguese colony at Santa Elena
in
>> present-day South Carolina.
>>
>> Theories about when people with this genetic background first came to
>> America are speculative at this point. "Dr. Jones' work has answered
many
>> questions," said Wayne Winkler, president of MHA, "but those answers
have
>> raised many more questions. These questions will keep historians busy
for
>> some time to come, and we may never have definite answers. The
Melungeons
>> may remain one of the mysteries of history."
>>
>
>
>==== Melungeon Mailing List ====
>MELUNGEON CENTRAL..... a new GenConnect Board for Melungeon Research
>http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/Special/Melungeon
>---------------------------------
>Battles in Red, Black and White
>Virginia Racial Integrity Law 1924
>http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/POCA/POC_law.html
>

This thread: