The original meaning of the word "Melungeon" is obscure. Vardy Collins and Shep Gibson had settled in Hancock County, and they and other Melungeons are documented by land deeds, slave sales, and marriage licenses. The English surname Gibson and Irish surname Collins appear frequently, and the genealogist Pat Elder calls them "core" surnames. Scholars and commentators do not agree on who should be included under the term "Melungeon." Contemporary authors identify differing lists of surnames to be included as families associated with Melungeons. They have tended to "marry white" since the 19th century. Other Melungeon individuals and families are accepted and identify as white, particularly since the mid-20th century. In the 19th century, free people of color sometimes identified as Portuguese or Native American to avoid being classified as black in the segregated slave societies. In the 19th and the early 20th centuries, they were sometimes identified as " Portuguese," Native American, or light-skinned African American. Descriptions of Melungeons have varied widely over time. Most modern-day descendants of Appalachian families that are traditionally regarded as Melungeon are generally European American in appearance and often (though not always) have dark hair and eyes and a swarthy or olive complexion. They did not exhibit characteristics that could be classified as those of a single racial phenotype. Melungeons have been defined and documented as having multiracial ancestry. They were largely endogamous through the 19th century and married primarily within their community until about 1900. Their ancestors can usually be traced back to colonial Virginia and the Carolinas. They might accurately be described as a loose collection of families of diverse ethnic origins that migrated to frontier areas settled near one another and intermarried, mostly in Hancock and Hawkins Counties in Tennessee nearby areas of Kentucky and Lee County, Virginia. Secondary sources disagree as to their ethnic, linguistic, cultural, and geographic origins and identity. The ancestry and identity of Melungeons has been a highly controversial subject. Although there is no consensus on how many such groups exist, estimates range as high as 200. Tri-racial describes populations who claim to be of mixed European, African and Native American ancestry. Historically, the Melungeons were associated with settlements in the Cumberland Gap area of central Appalachia, which includes portions of East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, and eastern Kentucky. Melungeons ( / m ə ˈ l ʌ n dʒ ən z/ mə- LUN-jənz) are an ethnicity from the Southeastern United States who descend from Europeans, Native American, and sub-Saharan Africans brought to America as slaves and indentured servants in the mid-17th century, before slavery, and is an example of early race-mixing. Originally in upper ( East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, and Eastern Kentucky later migrations throughout the United States) Arch Goins and family, Melungeons from Graysville, Tennessee, c.
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