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Kevin, I posted another response from Tim to another of your posts on a similar topic BUT THIS ONE IS NOT THE SAME as the other one. He asked me to post this one instead, but I had already posted the other one before reading this one. Tim appreciates the tone of your comments and has been motivated to take the time to respond--in spite of already having committed to taking a break from discussing these issues to work on another book. CCC
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"Curtis, if you want, please post the following response to Kevin.
Kevin, since you present only anecdotal comparisons and no primary documentation for how you think the word "Melungeon" may have been used in a political sense in the 19th century, I take it you are merely offering an opinion. Therefore, no reply is necessary beyond, "I disagree."
As to the other issue you raised:
Though common in rural areas of the South, the African word "jook" (dance) was audible but invisible not for 200 years but for 300 years in America before it was first written down in 1934. That's more than a century AFTER the word "Melungeon" first appeared in writing.
See:
http://www.oberlin.edu/library/papers/honorshistory/2001-Gorman/jookjoints/allaboutjooks/whatisjook.html
Yet today more people know what a "jukebox" is than know what a Melungeon is. This is just one of countless examples of oral expressions, commonly used, for example, in rural and often illiterate regions, successfully evading the scholar for centuries.
Obviously, therefore, someone can't convincingly argue that the word "Melungeon" that describes rural people of color on the frontier, cannot have originated in frontier 17th century Jamestown simply because it didn't appear in writing until the 19th century. The ancestors of the Melungeons were overwhelmingly farmers and ranchers who chased the advancing frontier for cheap available land. When some Melungeons settled permanently around the Cumberland Gap shortly after the American Revolution, by which time the easy land between Appalachia and the Atlantic had disappeared, they were discovered and documented in records. As far as we know right now, the record keepers and writers first caught up with them in Eastern Tennessee in the early 19th century. That's all we can really say for sure.
Because of time restraints, I'm presenting no argue for the Jamestown connection here and now. I'm simply refuting your particular line of reasoning. You may or may not be right, but perhaps you will consider another reason to be skeptical. The 200 silent years bit doesn't work, is all I'm saying.
You raise interesting issues that warrant a worthy studied response, especially in light of the recent appearance of new records. I'm contemplating posting a series of essays to present a fuller more detailed scenario of Melungeon history beyond what I have described even in my two books. Additionally, this series may or may not clear up some obvious misperceptions about my so- called "theory" which is not a theory but rather a defense of someone else's theory, namely Virginia DeMarce's, with which I mostly agree.
I hope you will appreciate that I am under the gun to meet other contract obligations and I can't say when exactly I will post, but hopefully within a reasonable time. Possibly another forum may be preferred to this one.
The proposed future series, forum permitting, is in large part due to appreciation for the reasonable and non-antagonistic tone of posts such as yourself and others. Disagreements over the origin of names and people can be amicable.
Tim Hashaw
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