Early in my Roberson research, I investigated the possibility my ancestors were Melungeons.
Strictly speaking, the term Melungeon applies to a group of families who lived in and around Newmans Ridge in Hawkins County, Tennessee. My Robersons, in contrast, lived at Wallens Ridge in neighboring Lee County, Virginia.
“Beginning in the early 1800s, or possibly before, the term Melungeon (meh-LUN’-jun) was applied as a slur to a group of about 40 families along the Tennessee-Virginia border. But it has since become a catch-all phrase for a number of groups of mysterious mixed-race ancestry.” (Loller 2021)
“Claims of Portuguese ancestry likely were a ruse they used in order to remain free and retain other privileges that came with being considered white, according to the study’s authors” (Loller, 2021).
- Roberta J. Estes, et al., “Melungeons, A Multi-Ethnic Population,” Journal of Genetic Genealogy, April 2012, retrieved Sept. 24, 2021.
- FamilySearch, “Melungeons,” FamilySearch.org, retrieved Sept. 24, 2021, https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Melungeons (doubts the conclusions of the Estes study).
- Travis Loller, “‘A whole lot of people upset by this study’: DNA & the truth about Appalachia’s Melungeons,” News Leader, March 8, 2021 (reports the Estes study as “recent”)
