Melungeons, A Multi-Ethnic Population...... Revisited Part Three

When the AP released the news of the Melungeon DNA paper, I was actually surprised at some of the negative reactions.

But after looking at who the major critics were, I wasn’t surprised to see the same old group of Melungin research groupies, Melungin hunters, and pretendians most of whom are not even kin to the mixed bloods that were called Melungeons, same old, same old.

Not a one of these ‘critics’ paid any mind to the fact there were participants in this project. What were we 'Chopped Liver' ? Were we all led down this path like mindless children ? Not even close.

It was the participants who paid for all the testing,in some cases spent a small fortune paying for DNA tests for other descendants. It was the participants who did all the foot work for the genealogies.

Maybe we should all wear these name tags:

I’ll start off with a post by my first cousin once removed Curtis Christy,he hits the nail on the head with this post, to read his opinion click here.

Curtis mentions a "Genocide Watch" article, so lets take a look at that.

I first came across the "Genocide Watch" blog site back in 2012, and couldn't believe what I was reading. You can read my reaction at the time by clicking here. 

 

Here is a comment in that exchange written by the late Aleda Bunch , whose brother was a participant in the project:

"Why is there all of this fuss about the E Haplogroup? I think that Jack
Goins, Penny Ferguson and Roberta Estes are first rate professionals and
that they would not skew their research work or allow anyone else to skew it
in any direction. I am finding some of the comments being traded to be
offensive, childish and unworthy of being included in an intelligent
discussion of facts.

I think my brother Snowden was one of the early matches for Don Collins. I
handled Snowden's DNA account. At no time did I feel that anyone tried to
hijack me into any project. I am not sure how anyone could go about trying
to hijack anyone. I have always felt free to join any project I thought was
appropriate on Family Tree DNA and I also felt free to join any rootsweb.com
email lists that I thought was appropriate.

I am also wondering how anyone other than Jack Goins could say how, if at
all, he reacted to finding out his Haplogroup. I do not appreciate seeing
someone else's analysis of Jack's reactions unless Jack personally agrees
with the analysis. I do not know where anyone made a claim that all of the
Melungeons were Africans or anything else. Most quotes that I have seen
indicate that the Melungeons were probably a mixture of things. Does
anyone have any facts to substantiate a claim that Jack Goins, Roberta
Estes, or Don Collins tried to "assure an African Result in order to hide
Indian Ancestry?"

I am totally perplexed by what I am reading and by what is upsetting some
people."
  

And another.......

"I just do not understand all of the fuss and I have a very high opinion of Jack Goins, Roberta Estes and Penny Ferguson so I do not like to see negative comments about them especially when I believe that the comments are not justified. They have accomplished a lot in furthering the research into our ancestry. I think they deserve a lot of credit for their diligence as well as their scholarship. The Y DNA Test Results are whatever the Y DNA Test Results are.  Aleda "

At the time I first read that "Genocide Watch" article, I had no idea who the author was, but with a little looking into it, I found out who the ‘person’ was.

You would think this person is a Native American, that’s not the case. Here is a screen shot of his/her FTDNA Family Family Finder ethnic makeup:

Maybe if he/she downloads their raw data from FTDNA to GEDmatch, he/she might find some Native American DNA ? But Family Finder shows 'Tonto' as 'Chief White Bread'.

To read the review of "Genocide Watch" by Curtis Christy, click here.

I find the accusations of ‘cherry picking’ and ‘padding ‘ interesting . Can’t be proved. As far as ‘cherry picking’ all DNA Projects ‘cherry pick’, all have qualifications. I belong to a few and each one has it’s own conditions to qualify.

Crazy world we live in, ain't it ?

Next up is an interesting 'critic', click here to read his critical post on his Blog

For what ever reason this blogger can't seem to live with his haplogroup findings which is E1b1a7a

Here he tries to spin the numbers to 'prove' his Haplogroup isn't African, click here. And here.

This man shares the same Haplogroup as Mr. Wright, click his name to see his story JOÃO FLORENTINO . (João is the Portuguese form of the name John)

Click Mr. Florentino’s ethnic groups name to see who his people are: Bamileke.

"Denial is not just a river in Egypt"  No pun intended.                    

                                    

 

The next 'critic' is actually just running off at his mouth. You can read his 'review' here: "Is Half a Melungeon DNA Study Better than None?" 

"At most it demonstrates that there is black ancestry in some Melungeon male lines, which we already knew based on private testing. And the misunderstanding of it by the press does nothing but further muddy already muddy waters."

This 'critic' did get that right. These test results were always open for public view, so why were some so surprised? The press not only misunderstood, but they 'Race-Baited' the whole story.  

"Sharing factual, documented information about the people historically known as Melungeons."

Let's start off with the statement below, which is hardly 'factual' ......

 

"It found no Indian ancestry because it didn't look for any, the DNA testing being almost exclusively confined to male lines when any Indian ancestry would be far more likely to show up in female lines. Why the study's authors had no interest in the female side, I do not know, but it was a most unfortunate omission."

Obviously Mr. Maggard doesn't understand the logistics of said project. I'd like for him to explain how you look for "Indian ancestry'.

It was up to the participants to have their own tests run and to do their own Genealogy.

For instance, I had a Autosomal Markers Panel 3 D9S919 test run in August of 2008, results were 17 /17. There were many who had this marker tested not a one came back with the 'magical' 9-9, that I know of.

"D9S919 is a STR marker located on chromosome 9. It was previously known as D9S1120 and under this name it was reported that an allele value of 9 was only found in the Americas and far eastern Asia. The presence of an allele value of 9 is therefore a strong indication of native american ancestry somewhere within a person's pedigree."

http://www.isogg.org/wiki/D9S919

http://www.isogg.org/newsletter/2008/nov.htm

http://www.dnaexplain.com/Publications/PDFs/AutosomalDNATesting5-20-09.pdf

Here are 2 snips from my FTDNA page:

 

Nobody looked? Everybody 'looked'. Most if not all of us have the family story about Indian ancestry, which as far as I know, is taken seriously. I heard from my Dad and my Uncles all my life that we were 'once Indians'.

"Why the study's authors had no interest in the female side, I do not know, but it was a most unfortunate omission."

Nonsense, pure 100% nonsense. Not only did the 'authors' have an interest, so did all the participants I had contact with. mtDNA is extremely hard to trace, ever tried ?

In my case it was impossibe. I found 2 direct line females that brickwalled with my 2 3rd Great-Grandmother's, the Dale sisters.

At the time I didn't have proof of who my 4th Great-Grandfathers (Valentine Collins) wife was, nor do I know who his parents are or if he had any siblings. Valentine took his mtDNA to the grave with him.So what female cousin do I get tested ? Can you tell me ? Just throw some mud on the wall and hope it sticks ? I'm not the only one that found them-self in this situation.

None of us are doing this for practice.

Mr Maggard, if you are so unhappy with this project, get your own started.

There were other critics, but I'm not gonna pay them no mind.

Stay tuned for the last post of this series, Part Four and the conclusion.

Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. – Romans 12:14

  That's my 2 cents..........