34 Responses to “Part X Sephardic Jews and the LDS Connection: Sephardic Names and What to Look For”

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   Geoff B says:
   

   December 10th 2009 at 3:24 pm  

   Hmmm “Hale.” Emma Hale. Harris. Martin Harris. They ALL were Sephardic Jews!!

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   JA Benson says:
   

   December 10th 2009 at 3:54 pm  

   Ok Geoff. Like I said before you sure are a smart one. I am glad you brought up the HALE name. I took a quick look at the HALE line I see: a surname of LEWIS; the TUTTLE line inter-marries twice in the 1500′s and there is a Simon and Anthony, they use Esther more than once. The Sephardim regard Esther as a hero and they used the tactic of marrying their gorgeous daughters to Christian individuals, with power, as a way of protection.
   Emma has a direct ancestor named Eliphalet, a Sephardic name. BTW my favorite Sephardic name. Someday a cat at our house will be named Eliphalet.

   One big clue for me was one of the objections Emma’s father Isaac had to Joseph was he was a “Stranger”. This is a code word used over and over again in regards to the Sephardim. They call themselves “strangers in a strange land” and others “strangers”. Joseph’s family definitely has Sephardic possibilities, but his would have been the unchurched lost their way type of descendant of Sephardic Jews.

   My kids are screaming for dinner I will look at Martin Harris later. Actually I have never looked at his genealogy, so this will be interesting.

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   JA Benson says:
   

   December 11th 2009 at 8:53 am  

   I got to thinking last night and I checked TUTTLE, it is in a related line in my BENSON line. Same TUTTLES.

   Quick look at more names in the HALE line:

   JOURDAINE/JORDAN is a Jewish name. The JOURDAINE line is found early 1500′s in England. Judith, another Jewish name, found a few times is the female for Judah. Emma has an ancestor named Giovani DE ANGELO aka George DENSLOW (see how clever they are to change names) a name found in Sicily. De Angelo is an Italian Sephardic name.

   BOONELL, Thomas married to Jacque Marie BYGOTE, They are from Flanders. Flanders had a large population of French Jews and the Sephardim. Emigrated to England in early 1600′s. Their children are: Daniel, David, Thomas, ELizabeth, Isaac, Abraham, Benjamin, and Judye (Judith name). Radical, Thomas and Marie, giving their children such telling names in England.

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   JA Benson says:
   

   December 11th 2009 at 9:42 am  

   Geoff-part 2 Martin HARRIS. HARRIS is a broad name used by people who “pass” You will find HARRIS in Gypsy, Jewish, and Melungeon families.

   Not as easy as the HALE line. What I found was a brother to Martin by the name of Seville. Perhaps a Converso reminder of the past. I found PAINE (Melungeon surname), ARNOLD (Ashkenazi surname); also Sephardic surnames of ARNOLD in the spanish form of ARNALDEZ, ARNEDO, ARNALEZ, and ARNAU; INMAN (Melungeon surname), MOWERY, which is sometimes MAURICE, a French form of MOSES and DURRANT, the Spanish form is DURANTE or DUART both Sephardic. So maybe.

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   A Nony Mouse says:
   

   December 13th 2009 at 11:09 am  

   All but one of my children has a “Sephardic” name. And my ancestry has no Sephardic Jewish influence, well past 1492 when Coverso/Cryptic Sephardim started…

   It is a well known fact, among those who follow such things, that Biblical names were very popular among the colonists. Why assume that the Biblical names used show Sephardic influence rather than a Puritan Biblican influence?

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   JA Benson says:
   

   December 13th 2009 at 8:38 pm  

   A Nony Mouse- Thanks for stopping by to read and to comment. Perhaps you had genetic memory when you named your children.

   Has all your genealogy been done past 1492 on every line? Wow, if that is the case. I have many cousins who work diligently on our lines. A couple of lines go waaay back to the time of Christ and before. A few others only go to the early 1800′s and 1700′s. Quite a few lines end in the late 1500′s. Several end 10-20 years after 1492 in England.

   Names can be a witness. Safe Biblical names like Samuel, Isaac, Sarah are not as strong as say Elikim, Mordacai and Keziah. What is more curious are Spanish names such as Alva, Carlos, Alphonzo, and Alonzo paired with a English surname with anti-Catholic Protestant or Mormon people. Also even more curious are Eliphalet, Elam and Zerina. People at that time in England were named Henry, Roger and Anne. Perhaps the radicals that colonized the American Colonies were English, who copied Hebrews, or maybe some were Sephardim who had escaped Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Italy as the Inquisition spread. It is estimated that 200-500 thousand individuals fled the Inquisition; Moors and Jews, Converso and Crypto, over several hundreds of years 1300′s-1700′s. Where did these people go? England is a good place. Nice Protestant place with a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in-regards to the Jews and Moors. Many landed in South America. Why would North America be any different?

   You say you have no Sephardic influence. Perhaps you do and do not realize it. Have you had a DNA test? A DNA test can be a witness. DNA tests do not always show the Sephardim as they are not a stationery population. My DNA test and my parents and my husband all show strong Mediterranean, Levantine, Eastern Europe, Scandinavian, and Asian influences. Only a small amount of Western European showed up. These are markers of people who migrated a lot and gathered up others from those areas as they moved. All of my ancestors on paper are English, Danish and French. My husband on paper is Swiss, English, and German.

   A third witness can be some kind of left over practices or memory in one’s family. I will not go in detail, but both sides of my family have left over practices and memory. Remember all of my lines (and my husbands) have been in the Church since the early 1870′s. We have thousands of cousins in the LDS, Community of Christ, and FLDS organizations.

   Another witness can be inherited illnesses. The Sephardim have couple. We will get to that later as well.

   For more information please see:

   Our pioneer names and DNA. THe rest of the posts explain how this happened
   part 1- http://www.millennialstar.org/rising-out-of-obscurity-sephardic-jews-and-the-lds-connection/

   What happened in Spain
   part 2- http://www.millennialstar.org/part-ii-sephardic-jews-and-the-lds-connection-a-history-of-the-sephardim-in-spain/

   Some went to Turkey
   part 3- http://www.millennialstar.org/ew/

   Some went to Western Europe
   part 4- http://www.millennialstar.org/part-iv-lds-and-the-sephardic-connection-western-europe/

   Sephardic Influences
   part 5- http://www.millennialstar.org/part-v-lds-and-the-sephardic-connection-seeding-the-protestant-reformation/

   England and Spain were at war. The Western Europe Converso and Crypto Jews fled even farther west in fear of Spain
   part 6- http://www.millennialstar.org/part-vi-lds-and-the-sephardic-connection-braving-the-new-world-the-lost-colony-of-roanoke/
   part 7- http://www.millennialstar.org/part-vii-sephardic-jews-and-the-lds-connection-the-first-thanksgiving-or-sukkoth-in-america/

   Some Sephardic Jews were part of the tri-isolate communities in America
   part 8- http://www.millennialstar.org/part-viii-sephardic-jews-and-the-lds-connection-what-the-heck-is-a-melungeon/

   Sephardic descendants preferred to be out on the wilderness
   part 9- http://www.millennialstar.org/part-ix-sephardic-jews-and-the-lds-connection-the-great-melungeon-migration/

   Sephardim altered or adapted their surnames, but often kept a few Sephardic given names
   part 10- http://www.millennialstar.org/part-x-sephardic-jews-and-the-lds-connection-sephardic-names-and-what-to-look-for/

   Sephardic Jews had unique illnesses:
   http://www.millennialstar.org/family-history-can-save-your-life/

   Evidence of Orson Hyde’s Jewish ancestry using the Hirschman model
   http://www.millennialstar.org/sephardic-jews-and-the-lds-connection-utah-history-encyclopedia-is-wrong-joseph-smith-was-right-orson-hyde-is-of-jewish-ancestry/

   We are all gathered
   http://www.millennialstar.org/sephardic-jews-and-the-lds-connection-the-gathering/

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   Kathryn Halliday says:
   

   March 26th 2010 at 10:12 pm  

   Very interesting! I have an ancestor by the name of Ishmael Vineyard. He or an ancestor may have come from Stuttgardt, Germany—early 1700s. There are Vin(e)yards whose name from Germany was Weinert. First generation in America changed it to Vineyard or Vinyard. Supposedly the same meaning. It was passed down through some of the families that they were Sephardic Jews.
   However, the name Ishmael has puzzled us. Could they have been descended from Moors?

   Thank you for any help.

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   JA Benson says:
   

   March 27th 2010 at 11:17 am  

   Hi Kathryn,

   Thanks for stopping by to comment. I looked into the name Ishmael in relation to the Sephardim and it is a Jewish name see: http://ha-historion.blogspot.com/2009/11/hows-nimrod-for-nice-jewish-name-how.html

   Moorish is also another possibility. The Moors and the Jews were often allies. Often Muslims would convert to Judaism or visa versa.

   Good luck on the journey and let us know if you find something.

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   Dana Reynolds says:
   

   June 5th 2010 at 1:37 pm  

   I am writing from the standpoint of one who is aware of the heritage of her people a mixed colored people whose descendants mixed with other mixed people and whose direct ancestors were listed as mulatto or “colored” and “black”. I am thus not a descendant of white people with some mixed blood now claiming to have “discovered” they are part “Indian” or claiming they have Melungeon blood that was of Mediterranean or “Sephardic” descent with little or no African blood. Finally I am writing as a person either directly descended from people with the name Hale, listed as people of color married to other families of color named Yates, Reynolds, Cannady, Benning, Mullins, Whitehead, Carter, Sheffey, Harris, Boone, Lewis, and Hendrix almost all listed as melungeon related.

   They are all ancestors within the last 4 to 5 generations of not only my family but millions of other light skinned black Americans who are descended from free-people of color in America. Born in the 1800s, their photos show very light skinned people that were listed as either black, free people of color or mulatto at one time or another in censuses. I know from family genealogy and tradition that my direct ancestors were of black, Native American, East Indian and white origin. Today their descendants who have not passed into the majority white population are called Blacks, and I know for a fact that some of their death certificates say white simply because the coroner believed they were. The photographs that I and other people who descend from such people show that though very light in complexion most of these people nevertheless didn’t look like olive-skinned Western European-looking people with black wavy or curly hair as Hirschberg and others pretend or rather wish earliest Melungeons were.

   Anyone really interested in the Jewish and “Mediterranean” ancestry in the Melungeons needs to look into the African and Moorish influences in the Souian or Blackfoot population. Except for possibly the name “Whitehead” which comprised some of my great aunts and uncles through marriage, I have not found that European cryptojews made up a significant portion of the Melungeon or “free-colored” ancestors in the U.S.. And even these Whiteheads appear to have been Jewish before mixing with Europeans.

   There are some definite problems with Dr. Hirschman’s book and the dna study of Donald Yates – the main one being many of the names are not originally “Melungeon” and those names that are were as much European and Muslim as they are Jewish. Several of the names listed in her book that she claims were Melungeon and Jewish including her Hale line are my immediate and direct ancestors. These part Indian or “black-Indian” and describes as dark mulatto and then mainly bright mulatto” ancestors moved from Amherst and Franklin County, Virginia into Kentucky and Tennessee in the early 1800s who were part Indian, African and European in origin. The ones who were descended from the Branham Hale group that were descended from the bright mulattos living in the area of Kentucky – from one photo I received from a distant Hale cousin – looked like half-white and half Indian people.

   I know for a fact it was definitely not the Hale line that was Jewish or “Turkish” or Indian. It was the people they married or intermixed with after arriving in America that were in fact of “Melungeon” or mixed ancestry. Some of these were of the Souian i.e. “Blackfoot” stock who themselves were “mixed” or Indians with a large percent of black and possibly Spanish or Portuguese in them they brought up from the Carolinas. Some Hales married Monacan Indians (Souian) that claimed “Portuguee” connections from the earliest Webb, Gowan and Branham which was of part African and Mulatto ancestry. The Indian ancestors of mine that lived on a reservation not long ago in my own Hale line claim to have come up originally from South Carolina where of course the “Indians” like the Lumbee have had a significant African and possibly Mediterranean connection. The Hales however were not from the Portuguese.

   These “Portuguese” connections in the Monacan Hales were mostly derived from African or “Angolan” ancestry in the Webb-Gowan family and not from Jewish ancestry. Tim Hashaw has shown the early Africans at times used the term Portuguese for themselves. Many black Africans were called Portuguese long before coming to America due to Portuguese colonizations and the fact they were also living in Portugal. So it is no wonder that some of the early Melungeons including my lines of Hales have names like Ferdinand, Silva, , etc.

   Genealogical evidence also suggests that many of the names listed such as Perry or Berry in the Melungeons, were probably brought in by the Arabized or Muslim Africans, rather than “crypto-Jews” from Europe. Other names such as Mullins, Canady (Kennedy) and Saunders, Hale are definitely NOT the names of Sephardic or Ashkenazic jews that came to America but are for the most part traced to Irish and British folk and possibly (French or Hugenot in the Mullins case. However, if they were crypto-Jews before they left Europe they certainly were never listed as other than “white” unless they mixed with people of color in the U.S. later – as some of them did.

   In fact the Hale family comes from of Christian people of European descent that can be shown to have mixed with Indians or rather black Indians (Souian), which most Indians in the east coast of Americans became by the 1800s, according to Paul Heinegg, Ira Berlin, Hashaw and others.

   The ancestors of the Hales that came through Virginia are demonstrably (thru genealogy ) related to those of New England that came from the towns Kent- and Hrtfordshire. This is why some Hale’s even with an “Indian” or “Cherokee” ancestor that claimed their ancestors said they were related to Nathan Hale the Revolutionary, which they were through ancestor their British Hale ancestors. The Hale families were in fact part of the Baronnage of England and were never described as anything but white when they came to America until mixed with people that weren’t. The name goes back to the crusader or Templar and brother of Robert de Hales a Lord Treasure of England that was beheaded around the 12th century.
   Other Melungeons may show a “Mediterranean” dna through the intermarriage with people like the French -Huguenots and “black Irish” like the Leffew, Parish who became mixed with “free people of color” mainly after mixing with Indians. These families are known to have been either of black Indian ancestry Souian ancestory. But in the case of the Parris and Neely families and a few other families dna has been studied and has been demonstrated to be related to Tuareg “Black” or “Moorish” people. This leaves the possiblity that the Mediterranean dna found in early free people of color was in fact due to Africans again.

   See Southwest Virginia project
   http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Notebook3:George_Teater_(1)

   It should be noted here that many of the Tuareg (camel nomads of Mali, Niger Chad and Algeria) who are the true “Berber” ancestors of the Moors of Portugal (Almuwahhid and Alurabidun) were said in African manuscripts to have been :”mixed with Turks and Tartars” before settling southward in the Sahara and Sahel (Mali and Niger). The Fulani another large Muslim black African population originally nomads in North and the Sahara that came to America was already mixed with the black Arab descendants of the Sulaym-Hilal group who had settled North Africa. Although some Fulani were and are Jews.
   The descendants of the Banu Sulaym are now called Hassaniyya and Trarza “Moors” in the western Sahara and were largely responsible along with other Africans for bringing millions of Europeans as far away as the Caucasus into Morocco Tunisia and Algeria during the Ottoman period. The word Slav and slave are derived from the same root and it is not impossible that some of the latter or their mixed descendants could have come with the African Portuguese and the Afro-Arab people to America. These Slavs could have in fact contributed to early American Indian populations in terms of complexion as well as stature. Early paintings of the Cherokees come to mind as well as some of the Croatan.

   As for the Tuareg or Moorish Africans, there is every indication that a large portion of them were still Jewish, and in fact Tuareg nobles a very tall people still claim descent from Canaanites or the Phoenicians and Phillistines, whom should not be confused with modern Lebanese or white Syrian people. It is Tuareg smith caste of vassals that claims “Hebraic” origin.

   As most historians of the Ottoman period know, the name “Turk” as used in America, could conceivably refer to anybody that became a Muslim in general fighting against the Americans and Europeans in the 19th century, hence there was a phrase “to turn Turk”. As for the name “Portugee” or Portuguese for early Melungeons like the Mallory Johns, Hashaw found documents testifying this was used by Central Africans (Bantu) and Muslim Africans (“Moors”) coming with the Portuguese to early America. He also found that these Bantu were also already Catholicized.

   I know for a fact that the Whitehead in the free people of color references were Jews. This family from very early period were a mulatto looking people who were clearly part African or Moorish and Indian (probably Seminole) in ancestry. Many Whitehead African Americans in my lines are very light in color. The names Levi, Moses, Ramie, Irvie, Moselle, Sophia or Sophie, Joseph seem to run in this family. However, these names are not found so much in the southern Whitehead families whose they lived near and probably got their white blood from .

   My Hale line from Franklin County were cousins of the mulatto Turners one of whom named Giles lived in the household of a white Saunders family, another name listed as crypto-Jewish by DonaldYates and Hirschman, before moving in with my great grandmother and father Hale. My Hales also lived virtually next door to people John Hale Saunders.
   She also claims the Saunders were one of the groups with Sephardic, Moorish and Melungeon first names.

   The white Saunders- Hale lines in Franklin County Virginia were a closely intermarried population in the 17 and 1800s and hence if the Saunders were indeed crypto-Jews of French origin that could, of course, be another reason for Mediterranean or Jewish blood in the Hale family. But, again that would have nothing to do with why the Melungeons were dark-skinned or considered an exotic looking Mulattos or free people of color.

   Was Hirschman’s book written before Tim Hashaws work . Frankly, I found her book disgraceful and self-aggrandizing that she should do so little research on the people she was writing about and make the “free-people of color” that may have been Jewish or Muslim listed in my family and ancestral to millions of other black American families as well into some non-sensical European conglomeration that probably had little to do with early Melungeons. Some of t Hirschman’s claims like making the name Cowan or Gowan into Cohen are rather silly especially when there are documents showing early people named Gowan are called “Negroes” – in which case there would probably have been nothing “cryptic” in their appearance. The name Cohen is probably no more related to Gowan than it is to Guinea which is likely the root of Gowan. .
   Yes – we know our ancestors married white people- but the descriptions leave no doubt that the early Melungeon people – Jewish, Muslim or gentile – would not have looked like the people she has obviously European-looking people photographed in her book or put on many other melungeon sites for that matter.

   Lastly, all people who have some kind of fear of having black blood should not be looking into their Melungeon roots or even Indian roots, because you might be, in the end, very sorry for what you will find!

   Thank you!

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    JA Benson says:
    

    June 6th 2010 at 9:02 pm  

    Dana- Thank you for stopping by with such an informative comment. I appreciate you taking the time to contribute to this conversation. It is an honor for me to have one of the Melungeon community in this conversation. I will attempt to address some of your ideas.

    Was Hirschman’s book written before Tim Hashaws work?

    No

    Here are the published dates for the major Melungeon publications:
    The Melungeons: The Resurrection of a Proud People : An Untold Story of Ethnic Cleansing in America by N Brent Kennedy 1997
    Melungeons: The Last Lost Tribe In America by Elizabeth C. Hirschman 2004
    Walking Toward The Sunset: The Melungeons Of Appalachia by Wayne Winkler 2005
    Children of Perdition: Melungeons and the Struggle of Mixed America by Tim Hashaw 2007

    “Frankly, I found her book disgraceful and self-aggrandizing that she should do so little research on the people she was writing about and make the “free-people of color” that may have been Jewish or Muslim listed in my family and ancestral to millions of other black American families as well into some non-sensical European conglomeration that probably had little to do with early Melungeons.”

    Consider that Dr. Hirschman is Melungeon in ancestry, she did DNA research along with Donald P Yates, and she did extensive historical research. Because she is an early pioneer in Melungeon research, not all of her information is accurate, but much of it is. The end result is, there is a decidedly Jewish side to Melungeon history. Dr Hirschman has been invited to speak at Melungeon gatherings and her research is accepted by many in Melungeon studies as valid. The argument you have with her book, is a matter of interruption of data. Hirschman includes as Melungeons a wider area outside of East Tennessee. SHe also includes communities in Northern Georgia, West Virginia, VIrginia, Kentucky. With her Sephardic background she is able to identify Crypto Sephardic practices as marrying cousins, religious practices, and especially names as Sephardic in nature. Her focus is decidedly more Jewish and white. She does not discount the black/Native American ancestry of Melungeons

    Tim Hashaw does a marvelous job of telling the Melungeon story with a Free Black slant. I do not see either of these works in conflict with one another. Rather they each describe their part of the elephant, which makes up the Melungeon communities.

    You are right that the Goins/Gowan are a early colonial free African family. For whatever, reason Cowan/Gowen/Goin are often interchangeable. Please see the following link for Cowan/Cohanim DNA in Ireland: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cohanim_DNA_migration_.jpg

    “Lastly, all people who have some kind of fear of having black blood should not be looking into their Melungeon roots or even Indian roots, because you might be, in the end, very sorry for what you will find!”

    I am confused by this statement. No one here is sorry for discovering African or Native American ancestors. Instead we honor those brave forbearers ( of any ethnic group) who contributed to our own colorful and diverse DNA soup.

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    Dana Reynolds says:
    

    June 10th 2010 at 4:18 pm  

    First of all I am not a Melungeon. I am only interested in the history of Melungeons o the point that peoples research impinges on those of my much mixed ancestors. My point was the Jewish blood in the Melungeons if anything was not of European derivation but probably of Tuareg or other derivation as the presence of silversmithing in American Jewish community of early free people of color shows. If these people later mixed with white Jews or other whites fine. But it is memory of who they were that had other whites up in arms not the fact that they had dark hair.

    The word Kohanim comes from a Afro-Asiatic root meaning rainmaker or priest in the region of Arabia and the Near East and Ethiopia where the original semitic dialects came from according to linguists.
    That word, however, probably has little to do with the word Gowan or Guinea or Gwanin are probably related from which was most slightly derived the name for the Malungu or Melungeons. Just as it is very likely not related to Goans or Portuguese related Africans.
    If there were European Jewish influences in the earliest Melungeons that would have possibly been related to people that were brought over with the earliest Portuguese related groups which were predominantly Moorish, Angolan African perhaps with some Slavic and/or Turkish influence.

    Joanne Pezullo posted an illuminating article linked to her site.

    http://www.historical-melungeons.com/ac1899.html

    “Atlanta Constitution
    March 11, 1889
    The Melungeons

    Meridian, Miss.,
    March 11– Editors Constitution

    Near a month ago an article appeared in The CONSTITUTION named Melungeons. I laid it aside in order to correspond with the writer, but the paper got destroyed and the name and address had not been noticed with care, and are forgotten. Excuse me then for addressing him through the same medium.

    His name Melungeons is a local designation for this small peculiar race. Their own claim to be Portuguese is more generally known. Their original site is on the Pedee river in South and North Carolina . They were once especially strong in Georgetown and Darlington districts of the latter. Though called Portuguese – this does not indicate their true origin. I have no doubt local traditions, and the records still to be found in the Charleston library will give the true account. As dimly recollected, for I never made search with a purpose in view, it was thus in the primary colonial times of the Carolinas, Winyaw Bay was the best and most frequented harbor on the coast, and Georgetown more accessible, was more of a commercial town than old Charlestown., to that port British cruisers sometimes brought prizes.

    Among these once was a Salee Rover, (*See Below) which was sold for the distribution of the proceeds as prize money. The crew consisting mostly of Moors, with a sprinkling of Arabs and negroes, were turned ashore free. Their complexion and religion prevented immediate absorption by the white race, and they found wives among Indians, negroes and cast off white women at a time when many of these last were sold by immigrant ships for their passage money. They became a peculiar people. They were the free people of color of the Pedee region so true to Marion during our revolutionary struggle and no other race in America retained such traditionary hatred of the British.

    Your correspondent [whose name I am sorry to have forgotten] having a taste for ethnological studies will confer a favor upon that branch of early post-colonial record and legislative proceedings of South Carolina. He will find it sustained by the appearance of these people if he can find a few pure specimens–their physical structure, their hair, their teeth, and general features, though every trace of their Moslem religion and north African dialect may have long been lost.

    Very respectfully,

    Laurence C. Johnson’”

    In the lighte of such statements I’m wondering what does the dna show about people with Core Melungeon names that did not look like Irish or English with dark hair.
    One has to remember most of these families have already been traced thanks to the work of Heinegg and Hashaw.
    Another question I had was and remains how does putting decidedly European-looking people on a posting about melungeons relate to the fact that many of these early groups were decidely African/Indian in appearance from their description. If the first families as you suggest were derived from white Irish or Dutch with some way back Jewish genes how does relate to how the people became Melungeons noted for their different or unique dark and half “Negroid”/half Indian appearance as has been shown by Hashaw, Joanne Pezzulo, Barbara Ellison, Heinegg, Virginia De Marce etc.
    Furthermore remember it is the names such as Cowan who were free people of color that were considered the Melungeons and not people that were white with dark hair called Cowan or Yates. I think logic would have it that if such people that are white dark hair as are millions of Irish in America are “Jewish” then that still would not have anything to do with why the Melungeons were called what they were and more importantly treated as they were. In fact it would mean most or millions of Irish or Scottish people in the U.S. have Sephardic blood and not just Melungeons.
    I don’t know why you would be confused with last statement. One can also say noone here was also born yesterday either. And if you do not have the same prejudices half of America still does, I am talking to people that might read this webpages assuming – or more likely – hoping that they can find an Indian or Melungeon ancestor without an African one.

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    Dana Reynolds says:
    

    June 10th 2010 at 4:55 pm  

    In the above article I made a statement about Goans and Portuguese related Africans. I meant “East Indians”.

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    JA Benson says:
    

    June 13th 2010 at 4:49 pm  

    Dana-

    “My point was the Jewish blood in the Melungeons if anything was not of European derivation but probably of Tuareg or other derivation as the presence of silversmithing in American Jewish community of early free people of color shows. If these people later mixed with white Jews or other whites fine.”

    There are three major Jewish groups. Ashkenazi, who are the European Jews, Mizrahi, who are the Asian and MIddle Eastern Jews, and the Sephardim who are the Mediterranean Jews. THe Sephardim is who we are talking about. THe Sephardim are not “Fiddler on the Roof” Jews. THe Sephardim who originated in Spain, include the North Africa, Turkey, Greece etc…

    “If there were European Jewish influences in the earliest Melungeons that would have possibly been related to people that were brought over with the earliest Portuguese related groups which were predominantly Moorish, Angolan African perhaps with some Slavic and/or Turkish influence.”

    Very possible along with the Sephardim fleeing the Inquisition from Holland, England, and France.

    “Another question I had was and remains how does putting decidedly European-looking people on a posting about melungeons relate to the fact that many of these early groups were decidedly African/Indian in appearance from their description. If the first families as you suggest were derived from white Irish or Dutch with some way back Jewish genes how does relate to how the people became Melungeons noted for their different or unique dark and half “Negroid”/half Indian appearance as has been shown by Hashaw, Joanne Pezzulo, Barbara Ellison, Heinegg, Virginia De Marce etc.”

    I assume you are referring to the pictures of my relatives. They are not Melungeons, but suspected Sephardic Jews. This post is about Sephardic naming clues described by Hirschman. Photographs do not tell the whole story. SInce photography is a relatively new invention, we do not know what “color” our ancestors were say in the 1600′s, 1700′s etc…Ethnicity is not just skin pigmentation and it changes thru the generations. Ancestral DNA/ethnicity can be reflected in bone structure, hair texture, ethnic disease etc… For example, I am 95% MORE North African than the average American and I am pretty white. North Africa comes out in my hair and in my Sephardic Jewish disease’s symptoms of the North African variety.

    “In the light of such statements I’m wondering what does the dna show about people with Core Melungeon names that did not look like Irish or English with dark hair.”

    This is the only DNA testing I am familiar with.
    http://www.melungeons.com/articles/melungeondnaproject.htm#Surname%20Index
    Family Tree DNA probably has more information.

    “I think logic would have it that if such people that are white dark hair as are millions of Irish in America are “Jewish” then that still would not have anything to do with why the Melungeons were called what they were and more importantly treated as they were. In fact it would mean most or millions of Irish or Scottish people in the U.S. have Sephardic blood and not just Melungeons.”

    Exactly the point of the my 13 point series.

    I suspect Melungeons were treated so badly was they were clannish, poor, and most importantly were suspected to be black or Native American, no matter what the tint of their skin. Certain family names were considered Indian/Black no matter what the appearance of the person. Darker complexed Melungeons married into African American families or Native American families. Others married other lighter complexed Melungeons or left the area and “passed” elsewhere.

    In the late 1700′s to the 20th century, white America was paranoid of “race mixing”. Quite laughable when you consider all the “race mixing” that went on during slavery.

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    Dana Reynolds says:
    

    June 18th 2010 at 7:02 pm  

    I agree with much of what you said except that i would add. Although race mixing was part of slavery most of it according tto researchers probably came in the eariest colonial period.

    Accordint to Tim Hashaw who wrote Malungu, “Marriage between blacks, whites and Indians was legal in Virginia for most of the 17th century. Genealogist Paul Heinegg found that 99% of all mixed children in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and the Carolinas before 1810 came from intermarriages of free blacks with whites. Cases of white masters having children by black slaves were virtually non-existence, making up only one percent of the mixed mulatto population…”

    The other thing is that Hirschman or Yates whoever edited Hirshmans book didn’t seem to care that her photographs were in basic conflict with how most known descriptions of the Melungeons. Her book Title also reflects this misleading and erroneous thesis. The fact remains the Melungeons were influenced by Jews but genealogy points more to African Jews oprobably belonging to Tuareg smiths and related African stock. It would interested to see what relationship the Tuareg smith caste and so called Sephardim of European derivation.

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    JA Benson says:
    

    June 20th 2010 at 9:53 pm  

    Little something on the North African Jews of Tunisia. http://www.harissa.com/eng/objectifeng.htm#WHO
    Interesting article on Berber Jews: http://www.tau.ac.il/dayancenter/articles/JewsandBerbers.pdf
    Sephardim with Inner African Ancestry: http://www.fortunecity.com/millenium/zebedee/67/hist.htm

    Hirschman’s Melungeons look like my ancestors from Melungeon-like communities in Kentucky and North Georgia. Most likely our Melungeon type ancestry were Mediterranean, Native American with African ancestry (a 100-200 years before). Both my late husband’s and my mother’s Africans are from the Angolan area. My theory is: this DNA came from ancestors who were the early Africans brought to Massachusetts as indentured servants and were later the free Africans who married the servant-class of Europeans. Then these blended families moved south and his family lived in East Tennessee and mine went from North Carolina to Northern Georgia. At some point they married Native Americans and Sephardic Jews.

    Given the fact Melungeons are a ti-isolate group, the range of skin color/pigmentation will vary. It was easier for those with lighter complexions to “pass”.

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    Dana Reynolds says:
    

    June 25th 2010 at 7:10 pm  

    Thanks for posting the articles and for your well rounded view of Melungeons. I had actually viewed the third one previously.

    You say your relatives are from N. Georgia. I am wondering about the origins of my ancestors born in the 1800s who may have come from the early Melungeons of South Carolina and Virginia to Georgia. Their surnames were Mullins, Copeland, Jarrett, Reynolds, Brown, and married people named Stalworth, Haley, Whitehead, Neale, Farley. Some of them were at times classified as Indians. In photos they all look like Mulattos and included some East Indian ancestry.
    If you know anything about the origins of these people and the relationship to Melungeon people in Northern Georgia please let me know. I am curious as to whether they came from North Carolina or from Virginia.

    I think the original Melungeons may have been of European and African, East Indian, Native American with some Mediterranean, but judging from the descriptions of early Melungeons, todays Melungeons are obviously the result of early mulatto people intermarrying more recently with Europeans rather than with other mulattos. In other words they are not as multi-racial as the early Melungeons harassed by other Americans for so long for the way they looked.
    As for Berbers they share some genes but for the most part they are not a biological populaton. Those in the far north of North Africa share much more matrilineal dna connection with Eurasians according to geneticists due to more recent intermixtures. Culturally they share much in common with the Greeks and modern Balkan people especially in their dress, jewelry and patrifocal customs.
    Those of the purer Berbers in the Sahara or souther parts of the North African countries are more East African in their genetics and often strongly matrifocal. Also different waves of people of Jewish origin from the east make up todays Berber jews. Some came from Syria after the Christian era. The darker ones like those found among the Tuareg came as early as 1000 years B.C.

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    JA Benson says:
    

    June 26th 2010 at 1:04 pm  

    Dana Thanks for your great information.

    My North Georgia ancestors were in Warren, Georgia beginning in the mid-1700′s and left in the early 1800′s. The HOOD and WAYMAN lines came from North Carolina. HILL and CARTER families came from Maryland. Later other family lines moved to East Tennessee and Arkansas. My lines went to Kentucky, Illinois, and then later out west to Utah and Nevada. Direct line Georgia family names were HOOD, HILL, CARTER, and WAYMAN. Related lines are ATCHISON, WILKY, COOK, CALDWELL, DAILY, and BURRILL. Multiple marriages with ATCHISON and other HOODS. Later family photos show thick dark wavy hair, tall, broad-shouldered, some darker complexions, and that “Native-American look”. What I mean by this stereotype is: almond eyes, high cheekbones, and wide mouths.

    See: http://lumbeeindiansandgoinsfamily.blogspot.com/2008/03/warren-county-ga-early-records.html

    I am not certain as to where my North Africans came from yet, but I think they went to England and later to the Western US and married into the Melungeon-type ancestors in the west.

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    Dana Reynolds says:
    

    June 30th 2010 at 12:42 pm  

    Although some of your names are supposed to be Melungeon or Lumbee I don’t recognize any names in my family except Carter. My Carter’s were in Virginia.

    I don’t think many people of North African ancestry ended up in England, though dna shows that some of the Tuareg Berber (who mostly live now in the Saharan and Sahel countries) ended up in Ireland and may have been the root of the term black Irish. Tuareg founded the Almoravid and Almuwahid (Almohade) “Moorish” dynasties in Spain and Portugal and their smith castes may have been responsible for some of the “Sephardic” dna.

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    RForeman says:
    

    June 30th 2010 at 3:39 pm  

    I have a realtive that has Oliphant as a last name. Has anyone else with the Oliphant name taken a DNA test and found
    the link between our family and Serpharic Jewry?

20. 20

    

    Patty Robichaud says:
    

    August 10th 2010 at 10:36 am  

    We have “untraceable” relatives, the Steeles. My paternal grandmother’s mother was Margaret Ethel Steele. She named her second daughter Vida.

    I have a couple of photos of Margaret Steele – who was supposedly a Cherokee – but I am beginning to believe she was a Melungeon at least.

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    Barbara Oliphant says:
    

    August 10th 2010 at 7:13 pm  

    Curious about the Eliphalet-Oliphant example. I have suspected the Jewish connection with the Oliphant’s but never found proof however it is mentioned in Elizabeth C. Hirschaman’s book “When Scotland was Jewish” that the Oliphant’s were known to be Sephardic Jews. What evidence is this assumption based on? Eliphalet was one of King David’s sons born in Jerusalem and would have been a part of the southern tribe of Judah. Some researchers in the family are under the opinion derived from the Oliphant DNA Surname project that this family was French/Norman before it was Scottish. Some feel that it is possible that Rolland of the “Song of Rolland” and nephew of Charlemagne could be a possible ancestor taking the surname from his horn as it seems this family traveled with families known to have a connection with Charlemayne. Other researchers think the name came from Holland or Finland…or perhaps all these countries. Would like to know what evidence the Jewish connection is supported by your research. Progenitor of many of the American Oliphant’s named children, David, Jonathan, Ephraim, James, for the next 3 generations they had Biblical names such as Hosea, Isaiah, Ezekiel etc.

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    RForeman says:
    

    August 11th 2010 at 4:51 pm  

    To Barbara-
    I did get get an email from Beth Hirschman one of the authors of the book “When Scotland was Jewish” and she was gracious enough to reply to me. Her response to me was that they believed that the name Oliphant derives from Elephant and that the Oliphants were Jewish Ivory traders and that the Oliphant name was guild name for Jews that moved to Scotland. They talk about in their book that many of the Scotish clan names were guild names for the Jews that moved their in part after the Spanish Explusion. I still don’t know enough but at least I am not alone in wondering whether this is a Jewish name. There is something that is true though and that is we do know this Oliphants in many of the Highland battles in Scotland sided with the Jewish clans such as the Gordons and Forbes and Campbells.

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    JA Benson says:
    

    August 11th 2010 at 6:08 pm  

    RForeman and Barbara Oliphant-Thanks for the additional information.
    Patty Robichaud. My Steeles immigrated to Utah in the 1850′s from Scotland. From their pictures they are dark complexed with deep set dark eyes, long hooked noses, and dark hair. Very easy to imagine they were the Castille/Casteele family originally from Spain.

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    RForeman says:
    

    August 13th 2010 at 5:54 pm  

    Barbara-
    One more thing that makes things very interesting about the Oliphant Clan: They never intermarried with outsiders for the longest time in Scotland. I don’t know if that was typical in Scotland. And one other thing I did not mention was that Mrs. Hirschman that wrote the book told me in an email that Elphinstone and Eliphalet and Oliphant all have the same root.

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    Barbara Oliphant says:
    

    August 15th 2010 at 2:13 pm  

    Thank you For the additional information which gives some direction in my research. We do know that the Oliphant Scottish Arms with three crescent moons are much older than the traceable Oliphant surname which makes this Jewish connection even more interesting.

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    RForeman says:
    

    August 16th 2010 at 5:25 pm  

    Barbara-
    I wish you all the best in your research on the Oliphants. Although I am not a Mormon I think
    Mormons have really great Geneolgists that might have something in their research. One more thing
    that I have discovered on one of my other lines that they desended from Rouen, France in
    the 11th Century. Why is that signifficant? You look at Wikipedia about Rouen, France and
    here is what they say in one of the top paragraphs

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouen

    “In 1150, Rouen received its founding charter which permitted self-government. During the twelfth century, Rouen was maybe the site of a yeshiva. At that time, about 6,000 Jews lived in the town, comprising about 20% of the population. In addition, there were a large number of Jews scattered about another 100 communities in Normandy. The well-preserved remains of the yeshiva were discovered in the 1970s under the Rouen Law Courts and the community has begun a project to restore them.”

    That Yeshiva was found and you should read the comments about it from the French Government.
    http://us.franceguide.com/Yeshiva-the-House-sublime.html?NodeID=1&EditoID=213723

    “This is one of the most extraordinary archaeological discoveries for Rouen and for the world…”
    “Norman Jews. France has always been a melting pot of people. Normandy is similar in many ways. The Jewish population arrived in Normandy before this land was even Christianised. They accompanied the Roman colonisation, which followed the conquests of Julius Cesar. The Romans gave the Jews dispersed in the empire the status of religious legality; in short, these subjects of the empire could practice their religion, their mores and their customs, as well as the Hebrew language. Moreover, they were given the possibility of living in a community and establishing institutions in streets of the city called vicus judaerorum.

    12th century Rouen was built of low, squat stone houses, with monumental walls. Located in the heart of the city, the vicus judaerorum (which did not constitute a ghetto since most of the Jewish population mixed with pagan then Christian populations in the surrounding areas) radiated beyond the Normandy boundaries. The House sublime therefore played an “international” role. All of the texts regulating the community’s spiritual and daily life were drawn up there.”

    To me, all of this renders a complete rethinking of the Clan Oliphant website. The progentitor
    of the clan did not leave a mark such that his desendents could be thought to be from
    Scandinava. This according to DNA evidence The question becomes:Where did the Norman Jews go? I think the crazy theory that
    they went to Scotland has to be looked at and they probably went to England and
    probably sublimated their culture in Masonic lodges. Good luck with your research.

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    JA Benson says:
    

    August 16th 2010 at 6:34 pm  

    Good stuff RForeman. Thanks for letting us know about the Rouen site.

    You probably already know this, but it bears repeating or those who do not. In 1066 William the Conquer beat the English. He brought many Jews with him from France. When the Jews were exiled from England in 1290 it is thought many returned to France. Others stayed in England and converted to Christianity or maintained crypto-status. It is thought that some Jews went to Scotland, England and perhaps to Wales and Ireland.

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    Barbara Oliphant says:
    

    August 16th 2010 at 7:23 pm  

    Thank you RForeman and JA Benson for the informative History of 1150 Rouen and the 1066 invasion. I have studied the William the Conquerer connection and interestingly, my husband’s 12 Marker DNA matches those with the surname Hatcher and Burton whose families also “arrived” in England after the 1066 invasion and his ancestors were obviously married into these families. If I’m recalling History correctly, I believe Charlemagne had connections with William the Conqueror, and that Rolland of “The Song of Roland” was Charlemagne’s newphew who sounded his horn named “olifant” at the Battle of Roncevaux. During William the Conqueror’s invasion of England in 1066 it is said that the “song about Roland” was sung to the Norman troops before battle at Hastings. Legend says that Roland’s friend in the “Song of Roland” was “Oliver”. Also interesting is that my husband’s DNA also matches an Oliver.

29. 29

    

    JA Benson says:
    

    August 16th 2010 at 8:50 pm  

    Wonderful information Barbara, thank you. Oliver is a Sephardic name see: http://www.sephardim.com/namelist.shtml?mode=form&from=O&to=O&Search=Search
    Oliver is from Mt Olivet/Olives in Israel.

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    mike says:
    

    August 19th 2010 at 12:37 pm  

    Hi,

    I find your quite interesting. I enjoy asbsorbing different cultures and the segment referencing Sephardic Jews. Where do you suggest I get intermediate level information?

31. 31

    

    mike says:
    

    August 19th 2010 at 12:41 pm  

    Sorry for the error in my previous post to you. I’m obviously sloppy, but not really that stupid

    I meant to say that “I find your BLOG”…..to be quite interesting.

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    JA Benson says:
    

    August 19th 2010 at 4:32 pm  

    Mike,
    No worries. I knew what you meant. I am the queen of typos Thanks for the compliment.

    I suggest you read ‘The Jews of Spain: A History of the Sephardic Experience’ by Jane S Gerber. If you are interested in the colorful history of the American Sephardi see: ‘The Grandees: America’s Sephardic Elite’ by Stephen Birmingham. Both books are available on Amazon.

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    Daphne says:
    

    August 21st 2010 at 9:58 am  

    Hi J A Benson and followers,

    WE PAUSE TO INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED POSTING FOR THIS OFF TOPIC MESSAGE

    First, I’d like to acknowledge that I am acutely aware that the topic of this post is about “Part X Sephardic Jews and the LDS Connection: Sephardic Names and What to Look For”. Nevertheless, I humbly seek your indulgence for my somewhat off topic reply.

    Sadly and unfortunately, and after much self reflection, it has become incumbent of me to publicly state that Dana Reynolds has made some misrepresentations of “FACTS” regarding our supposedly shared ancestral lines. Most of what she asserts and alleges does not hold true for those of us who are the direct descendants of the enslaved Mullins, Jarrett, Farley or Copeland ancestral lines. “I KNOW FOR A FACT” (to use the often repeated qualifier that is often used by Dana Reynolds), that there is NO EVIDENCE that she is a direct descendant of the MULLINS or FARLEY ancestral lines.

    While I am only responding on behalf of my known family members, I can assure you that they, the elders in particular, are quite perturbed and disgusted by some of the comments posted by Dana Reynolds on what is obvious a faith based blog. We resent the fact that Dana Reynolds would attempt to publicly humiliate, insult, or intimidate other researchers or people such as Elizabeth C. Hirschman and J A Benson, both of whom have done an honorable job of identifying and documenting THEIR ancestors. We sincerely apologize for the hurtful and misguided statements made by Dana Reynolds, and want it to be known, that while none of us “OWN” our ancestors, she obviously does not speak for my family, nor do we ascribed to or share her absurd, arrogant, and racially divisive tones and views. The undocumented assertions posted all over the internet by Dana Reynolds, do not serve to advance the serious research being attempted by novices, family historians, or even advanced genealogists, whom I am sure recognize the difference between spin and hyperbole and solid documented research.

    Dana Reynolds has made it her business to spread ambiguous statements across the internet like a virus without even taking into consideration how it can gravely mislead and discourage novices when posting numerous erroneous, false, undocumented, and/or unproven assertions. Family folklore, traditions, copying and pasting pages from the books of highly regarded scholars is not evidentiary research, neither do these books specifically mention our known ancestors by name. Dana Reynolds obviously is not sure of the ethnic origins of her ancestors, however, in recognition of her desire to know their true origins, she might want to consider Y-DNA or mtDNA genetic counseling and testing amongst her various family members.

    The goal of any serious researcher in the genealogy community is to seek and document TRUTH; not to conduct research to satisfy selfish and self-centered goals solely based on folklore or wishful thinking. In this community, all people should be treated with respect regardless of ethnic origins and social strata. I have found this community to be a kind and benevolent group of individuals who will go out of their way to assist fellow researchers on the drop of dime. I have interfaced with people of all races and creeds; some of whom are well known and respected in this community, such as Jack Goins and Gary Mullins, just to name a few. And many who do not necessarily share my ancestral lines, but who have provided empirical data that has assisted my family greatly with our research. It goes without saying, that my family deeply appreciates the advice, encouragement and assistance we have received over the past years from fellow researchers, some of whom are slaveholding descendants who have helped us tremendously in advancing our research by providing much needed documentation and evidence on several of our ancestral lines, to whom we are truly indebted.

    In the genealogy community, or any community for that matter; cruel, racist, snide and vicious attacks, are unwarranted and have no place amongst civilized people of integrity. Researchers who consider themselves to be people of high ethics; high spiritual and moral standards, do not make make racially insensitive remarks such as the ones made by Dana Reynolds on her post of June 5th, 2010 at 1:37 pm:

    ” Lastly, all people who have some kind of fear of having black blood should not be looking into their Melungeon roots or even Indian roots, because you might be, in the end, very sorry for what you will find!”

    or this one on June 6th, 2010 at 4:18 pm:

    “I don’t know why you would be confused with last statement. One can also say noone here was also born yesterday either. And if you do not have the same prejudices half of America still does, I am talking to people that might read this webpages assuming – or more likely – hoping that they can find an Indian or Melungeon ancestor without an African one”.

    or this one on June 10th, 2010 at 4:18 pm

    “First of all I am not a Melungeon. I am only interested in the history of Melungeons o the point that peoples research impinges on those of my much mixed ancestors”.

    People who consider themselves to be professionals or serious researchers also accept the FACT that a high degree of ethics and responsibility go along with the course of this work and labor of love. They diligently seek to find their answers while following Genealogical Standards of Proof without regards to where it may lead. They don’t try to fraudulently weave their way into those genealogies that have been well researched and documented, nor do they attempt to “cherry pick” their genealogy in an attempt to deny parts of their origins, or claim origins that are not their ancestors by birthright. They realize going into research that truth may not always be pleasant but it is always revealing. The purpose of this journey is to reveal TRUTH and document the history, struggles, and survival of our ancestors based on historical evidence, not “wishful” genealogy. The lives and history of our collective ancestors go beyond just mere ethnic origins or names.

    It is TRUE that my ancestors were once enslaved in Harris County, Georgia, and I am proud to be one of their direct descendants; and make no apologies, nor do I carry any shame or blame for the circumstances they faced which were due to no fault of their own. Whether they were enslaved, indentured servants or free; saint or sinner, rich or poor, Kings or paupers, Melungeons, Sephardic Jews, Africans or Neanderthals, they were my ancestors, all of whom I am so proud to claim because they are in fact, mine!

    This journey is about seeking TRUTH. To deny or ignore the FACT that some of our ancestors were enslaved, owned slaves, claim origins without documented proof, or do anything less than present the TRUTH, is truly a dishonor and indignity to our ancestors both individually and collectively, and at it’s worst, just sheer delusions, lunacy, and a sad and unwise use of ones time and money.

    “History is not history unless it is the TRUTH ~ President Abraham Lincoln”

    Having said that, any serious researcher has to be inclined to question the hidden agenda, motives, research skills and procedures of Dana Reynolds since she has consistently and deceptively misrepresented the origins of my ancestors, her ancestors, and especially those claims she makes regarding Elizabeth C. Hirschman and the Hale ancestors. Dana Reynolds obviously seems to have no problem “muddying the waters” for novice researchers in particular, with undocumented, convoluted assertions that she makes in her posts, again based on her unsubstantiated research and her seemingly awkward attempts as a anthropologist, researcher and historian.

    One has to wonder if Dana Reynolds will ever stop her unproven assertions long enough to even consider the damage she may be doing to fellow researchers, novices in particular, who might be relatively new at researching, or the descendants who will come along 50 or 100 years from now trying to find their kin? Does she really even care? One is also led to wonder if she is doing this in some vain and veiled attempt to “pimp” ancestors for financial gain and notoriety, or trying to make a name (good or bad) for herself in the genealogy community. Could she really be that self-centered, that self-absorbed to the point where her so called research appears to be more about HERSELF, what SHE thinks, how SHE thinks others ought to behave, to the point where she has actually forgotten about the ANCESTORS? After all, they are what our research is suppose to be about.

    And as far as the choice of pictures that various well known Melungeon authors/researchers, such as Elizabeth C. Hirschman place on the cover of their books, or J A Benson places on her blog posts, unless Dana Reynolds holds the copyrights to those pictures, she has no right to question or dictate what type pictures are used, or even how these pictures are used, displayed or reproduced. More importantly, why should any of Hirschman’s or Benson’s ancestors look like Dana Reynolds’ ancestors? Why does it even matter to her who they put on the cover of their books or pages of their blogs?

    Perhaps there are three possible reasons why Dana Reynolds is doing this: 1) She doesn’t have a clue as to what she’s doing in terms of genealogy research; or 2) She is just telling outright fairy tales; or 3) She’s a very narcissistic person. Like a wise old woman told me recently, there are three things that should never intersect in our lives; Ineptness, Ignorance, and Arrogance, because the confluence of the three will always lead to disaster.

    Dana Reynolds only goal, rather intentionally or innocently, seems to be; to publicly and rudely take other researchers to task, while antagonistically attempting to debunk the evidentiary research done by other family historians, or the well researched and published works of many scholars, rather than deciding to do some serious research of her own. The most ironic part of all of this, is that in addition to claiming to be a professional researcher, Dana Reynolds also claims to be a healer and shaman. Interestingly, healing, mutual courtesy and respect are key ingredients that seem to be absent in her interactions with fellow researchers, but instead seem to be filled with the spirit of control, dominance, and manipulation; all being the attributes of a tyrant.

    Here’s just a sampling of Dana Reynolds aka (dmarniche, dana marniche, Namaste) assertions based on nothing more than her family folklore and general information from scholarly works.

    Dana Reynolds asserts that because some of her ancestors had double first names such as Lula Belle, Sallie Mae, Fannie Mae, etc. they are Huguenot (French Dutch)

    http://boards.ancestry.families.aol.com/localities.northam.usa.states.georgia.counties.harris/1285.1.2.1.1.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1/mb.ashx

    http://boards.ancestry.families.aol.com/localities.northam.usa.states.georgia.counties.harris/1285.1.2/mb.ashx

    http://genforum.genealogy.com/melungeon/messages/26998.html

    　
    Here’s a response to Dana Reynolds claims of having Black Dutch ancestry based on family folklore

    http://genforum.genealogy.com/melungeon/messages/27024.html

    　
    Dana Reynolds claims, once again based on nothing more than her family folklore, of ancestors who were Blackfoot, Lumbee, Shawnee and Cherokee Indians, as well as undocumented proof that her Reynolds and Hale ancestors lived on an Indian reservation in Franklin County, Virginia and Kanawha and Mercer County, Virginia.

    http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-bin/pageload.cgi?dana,marniche::melungeon::26999.html

    http://genforum.genealogy.com/melungeon/messages/26976.html

    http://genforum.genealogy.com/melungeon/messages/26996.html

    http://genforum.genealogy.com/melungeon/messages/27007.html

    　
    Claims of ancestors who were East Indians, once again based solely on so called family folklore that also includes the navigation route the ancestors took to the American colonies

    http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.northam.usa.states.georgia.counties.harris/1285.1.2.1.2.1/mb.ashx

    http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-bin/pageload.cgi?dana,marniche::melungeon::27016.html

    　
    　
    Clearly Dana Reynolds is not above telling blatant lies to support her ridiculous and unfound assertions like she exhibited in this post under the pseudo name of “NAMASTE” claiming to have spoken with my grandmother before she died. In addition to appearing to be vicious and somewhat demented, what’s most disturbing about this lie is that both of my grandmothers are very much alive and well. They, nor I, have never spoken to Dana Reynolds, although she clearly tries to deceptively give the impression that we have. Nor have any of us ever met her although our family has had Jarrett, Mullins, Farley and Copeland family reunions for well over 50 years. Interestingly, she suggests that I start attending her family’s Copeland reunions although she has publicly admitted on her posts on Ancestry.com that she hasn’t attended a family reunion in decades. Geez, I wonder why?

    http://genforum.genealogy.com/melungeon/messages/27257.html

    http://genforum.genealogy.com/melungeon/messages/27046.html

    And here’s Dana Reynolds post regarding her Hale ancestor, Jacob/Jake Hale, Franklin, County, Virginia, for whom she gives no date of birth. However, according to the various censuses, her Jacob/Jake is ca. 1845. She “does”, however, indicate the date of birth for Jehu Hale ca. 1844-47, Francis Marion Hale’s son.

    http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.hale/4624/mb.ashx (A must read)

    http://www.indigenouspeople.net/cochise.htm

    http://impurplehawk.com/cochise.html

    There is no “Jehu” in her supposed Hale ancestral line, however, her Hale ancestors can be found consistently enumerated in U. S. Federal Census records, residing in the Maggodee district, Franklin County, Virginia, starting with the 1870 Census; the first census in which enslaved African Americans were enumerated and identified by ethnicity, first and last names, etc. Then in the 1900 Census, her ancestor, Amanda Hale ca. 1847, wife of Jacob/Jake, residing in the Blackwater district (east part), Franklin County, Virginia.

    Dana Reynolds “HALE” ancestors do not appear to have lived on any Indian reservation in the state of Virginia, neither are they enumerated as Indian, but are more or less enumerated as “B” (black), or “M” (mulatto). Based on these records, there is no evidence that her “HALE” ancestors lived on a reservation during the time period mentioned. But then again, perhaps the census takers and I could have our facts wrong.

    These are various HALE family genealogies found on the internet. PLEASE BE FOREWARNED, the owners of these websites had the bold audacity to include documented historical evidence, citations, facts and pictures of their ancestors. (Oh man, why’d they do that? How dare they!)

    http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/h/i/n/Glenda-M-Hinkle/GENE5-0001.html

    http://userpages.bright.net/~tgk/index.htm

    http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jewellfamily/halehistory.html

    　
    Dana Reynolds ancestral ties to Daniel Boone, Hatfields and McCoys claims based on family folklore

    http://genforum.genealogy.com/melungeon/messages/27003.html

    Dana Reynolds thoughts on Tim Hashaw’s assessment of our President’s ancestry, President Barak Obama
    　
    http://ybpguide.com/2007/03/02/obamas-ancestors-possible-slave-owners/

    Dana Reynolds assertions about the origins of Gypsies

    http://mathildasanthropologyblog.wordpress.com/2008/05/02/eurasian-origins-of-the-berbers/

    　

    Dana Reynolds own personal, although not so private, health issues via the internet. Too much information for me.

    http://blogs.cooperhealth.org/stories/2010/07/digestive-health-institute-mount-laurel/

    　

    Joanna, I apologize for posting this somewhat off topic reply on your blog but I am a strong advocate AGAINST any form of racism regardless of where it rears it’s ugly face, and regardless of the relationship. Although much progress has been made in the area of race relations since the founding of our country, so much more still needs to be accomplished before we can truly say we are a great nation. It really saddens me to even think, that here we are in the twenty first century, some 390 years later after the landing of the Mayflower, and 234 years after the founding of this country, still having to have this dialogue. However, the optimist in me really believes and hope, that this can lead to a “teachable moment” and serve a higher purpose for us all.

    My hat off to you for the civil, mature and humble manner in which you handled the racially insensitive comments made by Dana Reynolds. Once again, please accept my family’s heartfelt and sincere apologies; and my personal apologies to you and your followers for my interruption of your “blogcast”. You are truly the epitome of a real lady, researcher and scholar. I’ve read several of your posts and have found them as well as your blog to be very relevant and informative. On behalf of my known family members, we wish you much continued success in these endeavors. Thank you for the graciousness you have extended me by allowing me to come into your home (Blog) to rant, ramble, and yes, set the record straight.

    Whewww!!!! I think that says it all!

    YOU MAY NOW RESUME YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED POSTING

    Best Regards,
    Daphne

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    JA Benson says:
    

    August 22nd 2010 at 6:55 pm  

    Thank you Daphne for your kind words.