GOWEN RESEARCH FOUNDATION NEWSLETTER Volume 8, No. 4 December 1996 Researcher Poses Redbone Link To Mediterranean Ancestors By Evelyn McKinley Orr Chairman, Melungeon Research Team 8310 Emmet, Omaha, Nebraska, 68134 In the 1930s, Webster Talmadge Crawford wrote "The Cherry Winche Country" dealing with the mysterious people of southwest Louisiana known as the Redbones. He concluded, "They appear to bear the stamp of Mediterranean stock." From the Crawford writings we learn that the location of the Redbone settlements were between the Quelqueshoe and Sabine Rivers, not far south of Natchitoches. There were three original Redbone communities within the so called "No Mans Land." The largest was in the Cherry Winche Country lying south of Hinston, west of the Quelqueshoe River. A second one was located in Newton County, Texas, near the Sabine River, and a third was on Bearhead Creek in Western Beauregard and Calcasieu Parishes in Western Louisiana. Data todate suggests that some Redbones of the Carolinas migrated to Western Louisiana between 1790 and the early 1800s. Interested researchers may order "The Cherry Winche Country" [$6.95] from Dogwood Press, Route 2, Box 3270, Woodville, Texas, 75979, 409/837-5519. Dr. Brent Kennedy has developed a list of names in the Southeast that suggest a Turkish derivation: "Powhatan," Indian chieftain, the Turkish word "Poahtan" means "cruel leader;" "Croatoan," name carved on Roanoke Island, the Turkish word "Croatan" refers to the Croatian people; "Satz," old Appalachian term for watch, the Turkish word "saat" means "watch." Dr. Kennedy's most recently discovered linguistic similarities for three Louisiana Redbone terms adds intrigue. The name "Redbone" has an unknown origin. Is there a Turkish connection? The Turkish name "ray dolboni," pronounced "ray-dee-bone" means "lost tribe." "Calcasieu," the parish in southwest Louisiana where the Redbones settled has been re- garded as an Indian term meaning "deep water." The Turkish word "kalkis[sh]," pronounced "kalkisu" is equally appropriate. "Kalkis," meaning "deep" and "su" meaning "water" suggest a possible Turkish source. Cherry Winche, a small stream near the Redbones settlement, may also have a Turkish derivation. The Turkish word "carince," pronounced "carry ince" means narrow little stream. The Turkish government is so convinced of the similarities between the early Ottoman Turks and our Appalachian Melungeons that they have renamed a mountain near the Aegean Sea, "Melungeon," meaning "cursed soul" in Turkish. Many early Turkish Levant "sailors" certainly were cursed souls as they left their homelands to never return. Turkish scholar, Dr. Zakiriya Kursun, was researching similarities between Ottoman Turks and American southeast Indians long before we discovered a possible "Turk" connection. His works have recently been published in Turkish. Sometime in the future an English version may be published. Manuel Mira, Portuguese researcher, an officer of Portuguese- American Society, a member of Gowen Research Foundation and the Melungeon Documentary Committee headed by Dr. Brent Kennedy, has begun to compile some 400 pages of data gathered from the archives of Portugal and Spain. Some 500 historic facts and events are to be included in his book, "The Forgotten Portuguese--The Melungeons and Others" to be published by mid-1997. He writes of royal families as well as sailors and their concubines who sailed away and never returned. He has fascinating charts showing every vessel that left Portugal during this time period. His book will include passenger lists never before published. Manuel Mira feels his book will only scratch he surface of this historic potential and hopes that his pioneering work will draw other historians to this important source. Defining these early Melungeon nationalities is extremely difficult. This becomes more apparent as we learn more about the loosely organized Ottoman Empire which lasted for 650 years and other confederations of small nations during the early 1500s. Melungeons from the Mediterranean area had the opportunity to board these ships and travel to every continent. If some of them landed in the New World and intermingled with the native people, we would never find them in English and American records. Frustrating to genealogists is the fact that no records have yet been found to positively link our descent from a mystery ancestor, yet genetics assure us that he was real and that he was here as an important part of our family. The evidence that Manual Mira and others are developing will lead us to heritages that historians previously denied for Americans. Some of our ancestors trickled in, some in groups and some as individuals. Some came early; some came late. Their genetic makeup and nationalities were widely diverse. There were no early ports of entry, and immigrants landed at hundreds of points in the New World. Colonial social customs and laws would help cloud the identity of heritages listed on our records. One example: "Laws of Virginia," Volume 3, page 252 by William Waller Hening defines who shall be called mulattoes. "Be it enacted and declared, and it is hereby enacted and declared, that the child of an Indian and the child, grandchild, or great-grand child of a Negro shall be deemed, accounted, held and taken to be a mulatto." Scholars in the academic fields, anthropology, history, genetics, medicine, ethnology, archaeology and linguistics are contributing to the research. If we are serious about discovering he truth, then the contributions of these scholars are an essential part of this research. The door has not been closed, and it becomes more intriguing daily. Hugh Goins Jailed in Nashville Penitentiary for Bigamy Hugh Goins had always walked on the wild side, according to Sandy Ratledge, family researcher of Cleveland, Tennessee. By the time he was 20 years old, he was regarded in Rutherford County, North Carolina as a gambler, a moonshiner and a trouble-maker. He had little respect for the law, for the community and for its morality. Hugh Goins, regarded as the son of Obadiah Goins, was born about 1797, and he was different--he was swarthy. Obadiah Goins, who was born about 1777 in Virginia, had dealt with the same problem, and he removed to North Carolina hoping for a better acceptance. He was sometimes enumerated as "white" and sometimes as "free colored." The neighbors considered the family as Melungeon or near-mullatto, and neither was respected in Rutherford County. Obadiah Goins, seeking better conditions for his family on the Tennessee frontier, removed across the state line to Monroe County. He was reported there in the 1830 census, Page 92 as "Obadiah Going, white male, 50-60." He reappeared in the 1840 census of Monroe County, page 189 as "Obadiah Goings, free colored male, 55-100." Hugh Goins had married, wife's name Elizabeth, in Rutherford County April 1, 1820, according to Monroe County Circuit court records. "Hugh Gowen" appeared as the head of a household in the 1820 census of Rutherford County, page 58, according to "Index to the 1820 Census of North Carolina." Hugh Goins was influenced to Monroe County by his father and appeared as the head of a household in the Monroe County census of 1840, page 195, nearby to Obadiah Goins, as "Hugh Goins, white male, 30-40." Obadiah Gowens was enumerated as the head of Household 484-71 in the 1850 census of Monroe County consisting of: "Obadiah Gowens, 73, born in Virginia, farmer, white, $250 real estate and Synthia, 22, born in North Carolina." In September 1848, "Hugh Goings of Monroe County" was tried for "polygamy" at Madisonville, Tennessee by the Monroe County Circuit Court in Case No. 221, "the State of Tennessee vs. Hugh Goins." The prosecutor had [erroneously] chosen the charge "polygamy" for a psychological advantage in the courtroom. Polygamy was a fighting word in Madisonville and all over Tennessee. The Mormons had just arrived in Salt Lake City in July 1847 and had begun to openly practice polygamy, to the consternation and chagrin of Christians in Tennessee. Evidence presented showed that Hugh Goins was married to Elizabeth Goins in Rutherford County, North Carolina April 1, 1820 and "remained so married when on July 5, 1848 in Monroe County, Tennessee he married Peggy Taylor, his wife, Elizabeth, being alive." Two weeks earlier Hugh Goins was married to Margaret "Peggy" Taylor in Monroe County by William Dyer, justice of the peace. The license was obtained June 8, 1848 and the ceremony was performed 18 days later, according to "Monroe County, Tennessee Records, 1820-1850" by Reba Bayless Boyer. The wedding took place June 26, 1848, according to "Monroe County, Tennessee Marriages, 1838-1850." Hugh Goins was tried, convicted and transferred to the state Penitentiary at Nashville. "Hugh Gowens" was enumerated in the state penitentiary in the 1850 census of Davidson County as "Hugh Gowens, 53, laborer, born in TN." He had been jailed that year for bigamy. "Peggy Goins," the "other woman," who was born in Virginia about 1815, stood by her husband and retained her married name. She was named as the head of Household 758-109 in the 1850 census of Monroe County with the younger children of Hugh Goins: "Goins, Peggy 35, born in Virginia Jessee 20, born in Tennessee Alfred 17, born in Tennessee Rody 14, born in Tennessee" Elizabeth Goins was enumerated in the family of Andrew Goins, regarded as her son, in Household 2198-1516 of adjoining McMinn County, Tennessee. William Goins, regarded as the eldest son of Hugh Goins remained loyal to his father and removed to Davidson County to be near and to assist his father. He was born in 1821 in Rutherford County. Apparently he was married about 1841, wife's name Rachel. William Goins appeared as the head of Household 2200-1518 in the 1850 census of McMinn County.