Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
I've seen some discussion in a variety of places about possible Crypto- or Converso-Jewish ancestry among the so-called Melungeon people, including on this forum, and I have a few thoughts.
First, let me say that I am, by no means, a scholar of the history of the Jews of Europe, but I have delved a bit.I am a native New Mexican, and there is a strong Crypto-Jewish presence among the early colonists of the mountains of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado -- as well as in several communities in 'old' Mexico, including Monterrey and parts of Chihuahua state (among others, I'm sure).
These families were part of the exodus of Sephardic Jews from the Iberian Peninsula after the Edict of Expulsion issued by the Spanish crown in 1492, which stated that all Jews must leave the country.
A little background on this chapter of Spanish history, as put forth in the Cryptojew.org website[http://www.cryptojew.org/the_history_of_the_beni_anusim.html]:
A hundred years earlier, in the 1390s, as CatholicSpaniards consolidated their rule over Spain after 500+ years of Arab/Moorish rule, the Spanish/Sephardic Jews suffered widespread pogroms that resulted in the deaths of 50,000 Jews, and the conversion to Catholicism of tens of thousands more.The converted people were known as Conversos, or converts, and continued to face widespread persecution along with those Jews who had not converted.
“Hard-pressed to survive, many Jews, perhaps as many as 600,000, converted to Christianity by the end of the fifteenth century.Many of the New Christians were in reality Crypto Jews, outwardly Christians, but tenaciously and secretly practicing Judaism.
The Spanish Edict of Expulsion of 1492 stated that all Jews must leave the country. Those who stayed faced the Inquisition. A small number fled to Italy, Amsterdam, and the Americas, but most went to neighboring Portugal. When the Inquisition came to Portugal in 1496, the Jews were forced to leave, convert, or die. Of those Conversos who opted not to emigrate, many, if not most, were murdered by the "Holy" Inquisition. By 1500, estimates of as few as 40,000 and of more than 200,000 Jews were forced to leave the Iberian Peninsula. Exact numbers are not available because many of the Crypto Jewish family names had been changed after the pogroms of the 1300s in anticipation of future persecution. …
Of those Jews and Crypto Jews who chose to not leave, or could not afford to leave the Iberian Peninsula, many later bought passage or a commission on a sailing ship bound for safer destinations, preferably as far as possible from the nearest Office of the Inquisition.”
I find this history interesting in light of the mysterious ‘Portuguese’ origins of the people who later became known as Melungeons.Is it possible that some group of these Converso-Jewish refugees found their way to the shores of what would become Virginia, possibly by accident, and settled there with the natives they found there?This could possibly explain the Portuguese identity claims, the DNA evidence, the traditional Melungeon phenotype, and the culture of living somewhat apart from their neighbors.
For example, perhaps a Portuguese ship, manned by at least some Conversos, could have been blown off course and deposited its crew in Virginia.Perhaps there were some ‘Portuguese’ soldiers with the Spanish expeditions that penetrated into North Carolina and Tennessee.I know this has been proposed before by other researchers.Further, the fact that the Melungeons are associated with the Siouan tribes who lived in the Piedmont, such as the Saponi, would suggest that these theoretical Jewish immigrants were happy to move further inland, thus hiding themselves more thoroughly.
I have seen other discussions about possible Jewish ancestry for this group, but these have mostly focused on later immigrants who came to the English colonies, and while they are certainly interesting, and offer further insight into the European colonization of the US, I don’t know if these later people answer the questions of possible early immigrants to Virginia from Europe, before the establishment of the Virginia colony, and I don’t believe they can accurately be termed Crypto-Jews, as they seem to have practiced their Jewish culture more openly.
Those Converso families who went to New Mexico, for example, came early, in the 1500s, and settled in the most remote, undesirable locations, and practiced their religions in great secrecy, often forgetting their ethnic identity as the generations passed, but retaining certain distinctive cultural patterns that gave clues to 20th century descendants who began to unearth their families’ past.These were not people who lived openly as Jews in the New World.
Perhaps, (a BIG, theoretical maybe) a group of Jews, living either openly or as Conversos, found their way to Virginia.If this group was comprised of mostly or entirely men, as the crew of a ship would probably be, it is highly likely that their culture, already compromised by their Converso status, would be nearly entirely lost as they and their children made their lives with the Indians.Generations later, the descendants of such a group would plausibly be somewhat phenotypically distinct from other native groups, but would probably self-identify as say, Saponi Indians, as they met and mixed with the newer European colonists in the area.There would be little evidence that they had ever been Jews, but perhaps they might still remember that they were descended from “Portuguese” people.An immigrant group consisting of men and women might be more likely to retain some cultural identity, which could possibly explain some of the naming patterns found among the Melungeons.
I’d like to reiterate that these are just my thoughts, of course there is little or no proof, but I thought this might make for some good discussion here.
I look forward to any comments.
More Replies:
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
Ace Maupin 5/25/11
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
J Friedman 5/28/11
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
Mary Price 5/29/11
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
J Friedman 5/29/11
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
Mary Price 5/30/11
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
J Friedman 5/30/11
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
Mary Price 5/30/11
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
J Friedman 5/30/11
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
Mary Price 5/30/11
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
J Friedman 5/30/11
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
Mary Price 5/30/11
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Re: Slavery
J Friedman 5/30/11
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
J Friedman 5/30/11
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
Mary Price 5/29/11
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
J Friedman 5/29/11
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
Ace Maupin 5/30/11
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
J Friedman 5/29/11
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
J Friedman 5/29/11
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
Ace Maupin 5/29/11
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
J Friedman 5/29/11
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
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Re: Possible Converso Jewish ancestry among the Melungeons
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Re: Pearis and Pepper
Ace Maupin 7/26/11
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Re: Pearis and Pepper
Barbara Adair Bauer 7/27/11
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Re: Pearis and Pepper
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Re: Pearis and Pepper
Ace Maupin 7/26/11
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Re: Pearis and Pepper
Barbara Adair Bauer 7/27/11
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Re: Pearis and Pepper