The Melungeon DNA Project is a genetic study by the private company Family Tree DNA of people with identified Melungeon ancestors (according to historic records), mostly residing in Hancock County, Tennessee and nearby areas of Kentucky. The study was started in 2005. Researchers published an article in 2012 summarizing their results. The female ancestors were shown to have had European DNA, while the male ancestors were shown to have had DNA from both African and European haplogroups.
Contents
Background
The term "Melungeon" was used by others from the early 19th century to describe a group of people living in Hancock County, Tennessee, and nearby areas. It was originally a pejorative. Vardy Collins is considered the patriarch of the Melungeons. Author Roberta Estes states that the first mention of Melungeons was in 1810, listing them as neither Negro nor Indian, but as "foreigners" or "Portuguese".
Marriage between Whites, Blacks, and Native Americans (including free people of color) was prohibited or taboo in many parts of the Thirteen colonies from the mid-18th century onwards. In the mid-to-late 19th century, some Melungeons were viewed as legally White by their neighbors and by the law, as evidenced by some Melungeons serving in the military, voting, and carrying arms—all of which obligations and rights reserved for White male citizens.
While the communities remained largely endogamous until c. 1900, Melungeons have since then increasingly been marrying into the general population of White Americans.
Project organization
Jack Goins, the project coordinator, is also the Hawkins County archivist. Of proven Melungeon ancestry himself, Goins has been researching the group for years and is the author of Melungeon and Other Pioneer Families and Melungeons Footprints From the Past. Additional project administrators have included Roberta Estes, Janet Crain, Penny Ferguson, and Kathy James. Estes had founded DNA-explained in 2004.
Participant identification
Melungeon researchers determined participants' genealogical suitability for inclusion in the study based on historical documentation. The project was initiated in 2005 and is on-going. Participants must descend in a direct paternal line for Y chromosome (Y-DNA) testing, or in a direct female line for Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) testing.
Study subjects
The project organizers designated the following as core families, based on historical documentation:
Bunch, Goins, Gibson, Minor, Collins, Williams, Goodman, Denham, Bowlin, Mullins, Moore, Shumake, Boltons, Perkins, Mornings, Menleys, Breedlove, Hopkins and Mallett; including name variations.
If the above names are in the participant's family, but are not in a direct line to enable Y-DNA or mtDNA testing, participants are placed in the Melungeon Related group.
More surnames may be added as this is an ongoing project.
Some initial results
Results of the Melungeon Core DNA Project were summarized in Melungeons, A Multi-Ethnic Population, published in the Journal of Genetic Genealogy, April 2012.
The few women tested all belonged to haplogroup H in their direct female lines. Tested males belonged to African, European, and Native American haplogroups. Only one person in the project (from the Freeman line) tested as having Native American ancestry on the Y side. Eight lines were found to have African Y chromosome haplogroups, while 12 were European. There is no single mtDNA maternal line for all Melungeons tested.
One result of the Melungeon DNA project shows participant breakdown by haplogroup as follows: R1b (38 people) 47.5%, E1b1a (27 people) 33.75%, R1a (6 people) 7.5%, I1 (3 people) 3.75%, A (2 people) 2.5%, E1b1b1 (2 people) 2.5%, Q1a3a1 (1 person) 1.25%, I2 (1 person) 1.25%.
The results-by-surnames-tested are not shown on the public website for the project, but it is reported that all the mtDNA of subjects tested was found to be of European origin.
Conclusions
There is no proof regarding the parentage of Vardy Collins, considered the patriarch of the Melungeons. Vardy Collins' DNA belonged to the R1a1a (European) haplogroup. His wife, Margaret Gibson, nicknamed "Spanish Peggy," showed positive for maternal haplogroup H. Gibson is thought to be the daughter of Andrew Gibson (R1b1b2 group)."
The DNA test shows the regional origin of the original ancestors of direct male or female lines, but not which culture their descendants may have identified with in succeeding years. Neither does it indicate how far back the admixture occurred.