The Mystery of the Melungeons

From Family Tree newsletter.  

Typically, the term Melungeon refers to people from eastern Kentucky, southwestern Virginia, eastern Tennessee and southern West Virginia.

The Melungeons’ origins are still being debated. Some researchers believe they descend from the lost colony of Roanoke, and ended up marrying into American Indian families. Others say the Melungeons descend from the legendary Welsh explorer Madoc, who supposedly explored the southern Appalachian region in the 1100s. Still others theorize that the Melungeons are merely a tri-racial mix of Caucasian Europeans, escaped African-American slaves and American Indians.

Watch the video here. Caveat - this may not work in Safari.  And a more historical view here.

Want more genealogy this summer?

With a slowdown of genealogy classes and events this summer, you may be feeling bored. (Is that possible?) To fill the gap, we have assembled a list of events in our area for the coming month. Check them out!  ALL VIA ZOOM


Thursday June 2  ZOOM Meeting 1:30 p.m

Genealogy Society of Vallejo-Benicia

From DNA to Genetic Genealogy: Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask with Stephen Morse.  

https://www.gsvb.org

Jun 7 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Creating a Location Resource Guide for Reasonably Exhaustive Research – Pennsylvania Example
Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz County
https://scgensoc.org/event-calendar/

8 June @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm GMT (11:30 - 1PM PDT)
The Cotswold Canals: past present and future
Gloucestershire Family History Society
https://gfhs.org.uk/event/new-talk-5/

Tuesday, June 21, 2022, 10:00 a.m.

San Ramon Valley Genealogical Society
Madeline Yanov
"The Taxman Cometh: How not to be Frightened of Using Tax Records"
https://srvgensoc.org

Tuesday, June 21, 2022, 6:30 - 8:30 pm 

Santa Clara County Historical & Genealogical Society
“Using DNA to Find Birth Parents” Online meeting
Member meeting at 6:30 pm. Speaker at 6:45 pm
https://scchgs.org/

June 11th - Online  10am-11:30am
Silicon Valley Computer Genealogy Group
Digging into Finding Aids: California Manuscript Collections
by Melissa Barker
https://svcgg.org/meetings.html

Or visit the National Archives at Kew without leaving home!

See their list of webinars here

New SIG! Genealogical Problem Solving🛠

We've added a new Special Interest Group to our lineup! 💃💃

This new SIG is our first evening meeting.  We hope it will allow more people to attend our SIGs at times that are convenient for them.

To start, we plan to meet the second Wednesday of each month from 7PM - 8:30.

The focus of the group will be how to approach your genealogical problems and some of the tools you can use.  We'll look at examples from the group as well, and learn from each other. 

 

You must be an SMCGS member to join the group, but we allow one visit for non-members.  To join, contact Maggie at publications@smcgs.org.