Posts
The Melungeon Historical Society: Goinstown, North Carolina
Monday, July 20, 2009
Goinstown, North Carolina
Rockingham & Stokes Counties
Notes on Goinstown by Professor G.C. Waldrep III
"Goinstown's history appears to begin in the 1770's with families (chiefly Gibsons and Goinses) moving in from what is usually called the "Flat River settlement" in what is now northern Durham Co. (then Orange Co.).
This was a small fragment of that former settlement, most of whose members ultimately wound up in east Tennessee and became the "Melungeons".
"The Goinstown community went from being legally "white" (more or less, up through about 1810) to "free colored" or "mulatto" (through most of the 19th century) to "Black" (circa 1880-1910s) to "Indian" (1910s to 1954) to "white" (finally, with the merging of the "Indian" Goinstown school into the white Stoneville system in 1954).
[Follow link for the rest of this article.]
21 July 2009
11 July 2009
Eugenics-Two New Books Reviewed
H-Net Reviews
Victoria F. Nourse. In Reckless Hands: Skinner v. Oklahoma and the Near-Triumph of American Eugenics. New York: W. W. Norton, 2008. 240 pp. $24.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-393-06529-9.
Paul A. Lombardo. Three Generations, No Imbeciles: Eugenics, the Supreme Court, and Buck v. Bell. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. Photographs. xiv + 365 pp. $29.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-8018-9010-9.
Reviewed by Lynne CurryPublished on H-Law (June, 2009)Commissioned by Christopher R. Waldrep
Intellectual Seduction: The Promise and Perils of Eugenics
In the first half of the twentieth century, a right to control one’s own body did not exist in the same sense that we take rather for granted today. The state enjoyed broad powers to infringe on individual rights in the name of protecting the public’s health and safety. While this application of the state’s “police powers” has a very long history in law, at the turn of the twentieth century changing medical understandings of the etiology of contagious diseases inspired new confidence that law could be employed in the service of preventing deadly epidemics, such as smallpox and diphtheria. In 1905, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Jacobson v. Massachusetts that states can require individuals to be vaccinated, thereby establishing a crucial precedent for public health law and policy. It was within this context that eugenics, a pseudo-scientific movement advocating social control over human reproduction, took root and thrived. “Eugenics” is an umbrella term that covers a wide range of ideas, policies, and programs, within which varying weights were assigned to the relative influences of nature and nurture. Some eugenicists, analogizing from the germ theory of disease, argued that the United States faced an extreme risk of degeneracy due to the unchecked breeding of the physically, mentally, and morally unfit whose defective “germ plasm” threatened to undermine the health and welfare of future generations. Such fears were translated into state laws, founded on the Jacobson precedent, that mandated the sexual sterilization of the reproductively unworthy, with or without their consent--and often without their knowledge. In 1907, Indiana became the first state to mandate sterilization; by 1940, thirty states had enacted laws aimed at preventing criminals and the mentally “defective” from procreating. Legal challenges resulted in two landmark Supreme Court cases, Buck v. Bell (1927) and Skinner v. Oklahoma (1942). Both opinions remain well known and, for differing reasons, controversial today. Given the contemporary resurgence of scientific and popular interest in genetic explanations for a range of physical ailments and human behavior, both rulings are highly relevant as well. It is therefore most fortunate that two excellent and engaging books have arrived bringing renewed attention to these cases. {See rest of review essay at link.}
Victoria F. Nourse. In Reckless Hands: Skinner v. Oklahoma and the Near-Triumph of American Eugenics. New York: W. W. Norton, 2008. 240 pp. $24.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-393-06529-9.
Paul A. Lombardo. Three Generations, No Imbeciles: Eugenics, the Supreme Court, and Buck v. Bell. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. Photographs. xiv + 365 pp. $29.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-8018-9010-9.
Reviewed by Lynne CurryPublished on H-Law (June, 2009)Commissioned by Christopher R. Waldrep
Intellectual Seduction: The Promise and Perils of Eugenics
In the first half of the twentieth century, a right to control one’s own body did not exist in the same sense that we take rather for granted today. The state enjoyed broad powers to infringe on individual rights in the name of protecting the public’s health and safety. While this application of the state’s “police powers” has a very long history in law, at the turn of the twentieth century changing medical understandings of the etiology of contagious diseases inspired new confidence that law could be employed in the service of preventing deadly epidemics, such as smallpox and diphtheria. In 1905, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Jacobson v. Massachusetts that states can require individuals to be vaccinated, thereby establishing a crucial precedent for public health law and policy. It was within this context that eugenics, a pseudo-scientific movement advocating social control over human reproduction, took root and thrived. “Eugenics” is an umbrella term that covers a wide range of ideas, policies, and programs, within which varying weights were assigned to the relative influences of nature and nurture. Some eugenicists, analogizing from the germ theory of disease, argued that the United States faced an extreme risk of degeneracy due to the unchecked breeding of the physically, mentally, and morally unfit whose defective “germ plasm” threatened to undermine the health and welfare of future generations. Such fears were translated into state laws, founded on the Jacobson precedent, that mandated the sexual sterilization of the reproductively unworthy, with or without their consent--and often without their knowledge. In 1907, Indiana became the first state to mandate sterilization; by 1940, thirty states had enacted laws aimed at preventing criminals and the mentally “defective” from procreating. Legal challenges resulted in two landmark Supreme Court cases, Buck v. Bell (1927) and Skinner v. Oklahoma (1942). Both opinions remain well known and, for differing reasons, controversial today. Given the contemporary resurgence of scientific and popular interest in genetic explanations for a range of physical ailments and human behavior, both rulings are highly relevant as well. It is therefore most fortunate that two excellent and engaging books have arrived bringing renewed attention to these cases. {See rest of review essay at link.}
02 July 2009
Native Americans in the Census, 1860-1890
Native Americans in the Census, 1860-1890
If you're interested in which Indians were enumerated on the census, as well as when and where, this article will be of interest to you. It's from the Summer 2006, Vol. 38, No 2 issue of Prologue, published by the National Archives. It was written by James P. Collins. a volunteer staff aide at NARA.
If you're interested in which Indians were enumerated on the census, as well as when and where, this article will be of interest to you. It's from the Summer 2006, Vol. 38, No 2 issue of Prologue, published by the National Archives. It was written by James P. Collins. a volunteer staff aide at NARA.
20 April 2009
History in black and white
History in black and white • Lifestyle (www.HometownAnnapolis.com - The Capital)
Archivist finds Scottish roots
By THERESA WINSLOW, Staff Writer
Published 04/19/09
Chris Haley has always been interested in genealogy. But at least when it came to his father's side of the family, he figured things were pretty much covered thanks to his uncle, "Roots" author Alex Haley.
"It had been done," Chris, 46, said last week. "What would I prove that hadn't been proved before?"
How wrong he was. [Click link for entire story]
Archivist finds Scottish roots
By THERESA WINSLOW, Staff Writer
Published 04/19/09
Chris Haley has always been interested in genealogy. But at least when it came to his father's side of the family, he figured things were pretty much covered thanks to his uncle, "Roots" author Alex Haley.
"It had been done," Chris, 46, said last week. "What would I prove that hadn't been proved before?"
How wrong he was. [Click link for entire story]
15 April 2009
Kin and the Courts: Testimony of Kinship in Lawsuits of Angevin England
Medievalists.net » Kin and the Courts: Testimony of Kinship in Lawsuits of Angevin England
Posted By Peter Konieczny on April 14, 2009
By Nathaniel L. Taylor
Haskins Society Journal, Vol. 15 (2005)
Synopsis: In the secular and ecclesiastical courts of Angevin England one finds, for the first time anywhere in Western Europe, genealogical narrative expressed within an increasingly formalized framework of judicial testimoney. In reviewing the variety of cases and proceedings from the era, one can discern three broard categories of lawsuit which hinge on genealogical testimony: marriage litigation, suits involving the inheritance of property, and suits challenging the inherited legal status of villeins. The present paper is limited to a review of the two more clearly defined types of litigation: marriage and villeinage. This preliminary qualitative study is based on a small sample of published cases from the Curia Regis Rolls in the regin of King John (for suits involving villeinage) and from the Select Please of the Court of Canterbury covering the whole thirteenth century (for marriage litigation), with additional reference to comparative material from other sources. After reviewing each type of case in turn, we will suggest common and divergent elements and note questions and directions for future research.
Read or download PDF of article.
Posted By Peter Konieczny on April 14, 2009
By Nathaniel L. Taylor
Haskins Society Journal, Vol. 15 (2005)
Synopsis: In the secular and ecclesiastical courts of Angevin England one finds, for the first time anywhere in Western Europe, genealogical narrative expressed within an increasingly formalized framework of judicial testimoney. In reviewing the variety of cases and proceedings from the era, one can discern three broard categories of lawsuit which hinge on genealogical testimony: marriage litigation, suits involving the inheritance of property, and suits challenging the inherited legal status of villeins. The present paper is limited to a review of the two more clearly defined types of litigation: marriage and villeinage. This preliminary qualitative study is based on a small sample of published cases from the Curia Regis Rolls in the regin of King John (for suits involving villeinage) and from the Select Please of the Court of Canterbury covering the whole thirteenth century (for marriage litigation), with additional reference to comparative material from other sources. After reviewing each type of case in turn, we will suggest common and divergent elements and note questions and directions for future research.
Read or download PDF of article.
07 April 2009
Kinship and Family Relations [in Ancient Egypt]
By Marcelo Campagno
Source: UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology [via California eScholarship repository]
Full Citation:
Campagno, Marcelo, 2009, Kinship and Family Relations. In Elizabeth Frood, Willeke Wendrich (eds.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, Los Angeles. http://repositories.cdlib.org/nelc/uee/1043
Entry link to PDF article
Excerpt from article:
The existence of terms like these that refer to larger kin groups is significant because it points toward the prominence of kinship in ancient Egyptian social organization (Campagno 2006). Kinship links were likely of great importance in the articulation of social ties both before and after the emergence of the state in the Nile Valley. In accordance with anthropological models of non-state societies, it can be hypothesized that, during Predynastic times, kinship constituted the main axis of social organization in village communities. Archaeological evidence seems to support this assumption: the grouping of tombs in clusters in cemeteries at various sites, such as Badari, Armant, Naqada, and Hierakonpolis, is similar to funerary practices known through ethnographic evidence, where such a distribution of burials reflects contemporaneous descent groups; the parallelism in the shapes of Predynastic tombs and houses (both were oval or rounded from the earliest times but included rectangular shapes from Naqada I on) may reflect a perception of continuity between the two domains, which in turn may suggest the perceived symbolic survival of the dead kin as members of the community; and indeed, the disposition of grave goods around the deceased could reflect notions of reciprocity, which are at the heart of kinship relations (Campagno 2000, 2002, 2003).
In Dynastic times, the state introduced a new mode of social organization based on the monopoly of coercion, but kinship continued to be a decisive factor in many social realms. Some pointers hint at its importance among the peasantry: the organization of agricultural tasks in family units (Eyre 1999: 52), practices involving cooperation (that is reciprocity) in the field labor, such as we see in tomb representations (discussed, for example, by Caminos 1990) or in the management of irrigation (Butzer 1976: 109 - 110), the (likely) prominent role of village elders in local decision-making (Moreno GarcÃa 2001), the scant interference of the state in intra-community matters—all these suggest the importance of kinship logic in the articulation of social dynamics in peasant villages.
Source: UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology [via California eScholarship repository]
Full Citation:
Campagno, Marcelo, 2009, Kinship and Family Relations. In Elizabeth Frood, Willeke Wendrich (eds.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, Los Angeles. http://repositories.cdlib.org/nelc/uee/1043
Entry link to PDF article
Excerpt from article:
The existence of terms like these that refer to larger kin groups is significant because it points toward the prominence of kinship in ancient Egyptian social organization (Campagno 2006). Kinship links were likely of great importance in the articulation of social ties both before and after the emergence of the state in the Nile Valley. In accordance with anthropological models of non-state societies, it can be hypothesized that, during Predynastic times, kinship constituted the main axis of social organization in village communities. Archaeological evidence seems to support this assumption: the grouping of tombs in clusters in cemeteries at various sites, such as Badari, Armant, Naqada, and Hierakonpolis, is similar to funerary practices known through ethnographic evidence, where such a distribution of burials reflects contemporaneous descent groups; the parallelism in the shapes of Predynastic tombs and houses (both were oval or rounded from the earliest times but included rectangular shapes from Naqada I on) may reflect a perception of continuity between the two domains, which in turn may suggest the perceived symbolic survival of the dead kin as members of the community; and indeed, the disposition of grave goods around the deceased could reflect notions of reciprocity, which are at the heart of kinship relations (Campagno 2000, 2002, 2003).
In Dynastic times, the state introduced a new mode of social organization based on the monopoly of coercion, but kinship continued to be a decisive factor in many social realms. Some pointers hint at its importance among the peasantry: the organization of agricultural tasks in family units (Eyre 1999: 52), practices involving cooperation (that is reciprocity) in the field labor, such as we see in tomb representations (discussed, for example, by Caminos 1990) or in the management of irrigation (Butzer 1976: 109 - 110), the (likely) prominent role of village elders in local decision-making (Moreno GarcÃa 2001), the scant interference of the state in intra-community matters—all these suggest the importance of kinship logic in the articulation of social dynamics in peasant villages.
24 January 2009
Alliance theory: Kinship Studies
freesearchzone.com » Blog Archive » Alliance theory
A great summary of Claud Levi-Strauss's influence on kinship studies
A great summary of Claud Levi-Strauss's influence on kinship studies
21 January 2009
Kissing Cousins
Lab Notes : Kissing Cousins by Sharon Begley, posted 30 December 2008.
I keep teaching and lecturing about the fact that there is no good reason not to marry a cousin and, in fact, humankind has obviously been doing it since our origins. As this article mentions, if you want to know more about how this taboo works, read Martin Oppenheimer's Forbidden Realtives. Anybody who raises livestock knows that back-breeding, or breeding back into a common line, accentuates good genes more often than not if the gene line is fairly clear of obvious genetic defects.
I keep teaching and lecturing about the fact that there is no good reason not to marry a cousin and, in fact, humankind has obviously been doing it since our origins. As this article mentions, if you want to know more about how this taboo works, read Martin Oppenheimer's Forbidden Realtives. Anybody who raises livestock knows that back-breeding, or breeding back into a common line, accentuates good genes more often than not if the gene line is fairly clear of obvious genetic defects.
What were Polynesian Mormons doing in 19th-century Utah?
Have you ever heard of a group of Hawaaians converting to Mormonism and moving to Utah? Me neither. But there's a fascinating article about it in Archaeology magaine, November/December 2008,Vol. 61, No. 6: 55-59. The author is David Malakoff and the title of the article is: "Hawaiians of Skill Valley." You can read an abstract of the article at the magazine's site.
18 January 2009
150 years of history - Olympia, Washington
150 years of history - The Olympian
by John Dodge, published 18 January 2009, in The Olympian
Genealogists and historians need to remember that doing the history of a place can be just as significant, and as intriguing, as doing one's family. This is a great example of that.
by John Dodge, published 18 January 2009, in The Olympian
Genealogists and historians need to remember that doing the history of a place can be just as significant, and as intriguing, as doing one's family. This is a great example of that.
Mentally Ill Folks Harder To Research
Mentally Ill Folks Harder To Research
By Sharon Tate Moody, Tampa Tribune Coorespondent, 18 January 2009
I think Sharon was lucky to find the information she did about someone who was institutionalized. This has come up more than once in my own research and quite often seems to be a dead end--so many records for asylums are not available or extant. But you can never assume there is no information; often, as happened to Sharon, researchers are able to find some records on an "insane" person.
Also it helps to remember that the meaning of "insane" was different before modern times. A person who was committed until the middle of the 20th century could be retarded or have Alzheimers or post-partum depression, or be an alcoholic . . . or like my own great-grandfather, have pellegra, which often results in its victims having delusions. I also get the impression that someone, especially a female, who just didn't "act right" (according to her family or husband) might be labeled "insane."
So, as Sharon writes, these people are harder to research, not impossible.
By Sharon Tate Moody, Tampa Tribune Coorespondent, 18 January 2009
I think Sharon was lucky to find the information she did about someone who was institutionalized. This has come up more than once in my own research and quite often seems to be a dead end--so many records for asylums are not available or extant. But you can never assume there is no information; often, as happened to Sharon, researchers are able to find some records on an "insane" person.
Also it helps to remember that the meaning of "insane" was different before modern times. A person who was committed until the middle of the 20th century could be retarded or have Alzheimers or post-partum depression, or be an alcoholic . . . or like my own great-grandfather, have pellegra, which often results in its victims having delusions. I also get the impression that someone, especially a female, who just didn't "act right" (according to her family or husband) might be labeled "insane."
So, as Sharon writes, these people are harder to research, not impossible.
The Year Without Summer
Terre Haute News, Terre Haute, Indiana- TribStar.com by Tamie Dehler.
Most of our ancestors were farmers. When I research my ancestors and their communities, I try to find context for their lives. Try to imagine what life was like for our ancestors, trying to farm, in the growing seasons of 1816 and 1817. I know that about this time one of my family lines migrated further south. Did this crop-killing weather and the financial ramifications have anything to do with their decision to relocate and/or to start over? The article indicates the problems were pretty far south in the US; it would be great to find some comtemporary newspapers or journals to show us exactly where and how this extraordinary weather had an impact.
Most of our ancestors were farmers. When I research my ancestors and their communities, I try to find context for their lives. Try to imagine what life was like for our ancestors, trying to farm, in the growing seasons of 1816 and 1817. I know that about this time one of my family lines migrated further south. Did this crop-killing weather and the financial ramifications have anything to do with their decision to relocate and/or to start over? The article indicates the problems were pretty far south in the US; it would be great to find some comtemporary newspapers or journals to show us exactly where and how this extraordinary weather had an impact.
27 December 2008
SEX AND SOCIETY: AMERICAN LAW
SEX AND SOCIETY: AMERICAN LAW | Onlinepharmanews. Health News
Excerpt:
The bond of marriage is defined by the law and allows the legal reproduction of people in the form of the family. David Schneider, in his study of American kinship as a cultural system, has identified sexual intercourse as the key symbol of American kinship. This is so, in that sexual intercourse combines the two aspects of kinship as it is understood by Americans: "blood" (or substance) and code-for-conduct or law. Through intercourse, the archtypic relation in law, marriage, is expressed and relations in "blood" (child/parent) are created. The duality of relations in blood (or substance) and in code-for-conduct or law is predicated upon more general notions of nature and culture, respectively. In this frame, relations in law include not only those which are the explicit content of legislation but also relations based in lawlike, ordered sets of interactions. Schneider suggests that in American culture a similar structure of relations in "blood" or substance and relations in law underlies the cultural construction of nationality and religion as well as of kinship.
Excerpt:
The bond of marriage is defined by the law and allows the legal reproduction of people in the form of the family. David Schneider, in his study of American kinship as a cultural system, has identified sexual intercourse as the key symbol of American kinship. This is so, in that sexual intercourse combines the two aspects of kinship as it is understood by Americans: "blood" (or substance) and code-for-conduct or law. Through intercourse, the archtypic relation in law, marriage, is expressed and relations in "blood" (child/parent) are created. The duality of relations in blood (or substance) and in code-for-conduct or law is predicated upon more general notions of nature and culture, respectively. In this frame, relations in law include not only those which are the explicit content of legislation but also relations based in lawlike, ordered sets of interactions. Schneider suggests that in American culture a similar structure of relations in "blood" or substance and relations in law underlies the cultural construction of nationality and religion as well as of kinship.
14 December 2008
Know your family's medical history, know your risk
OrlandoSentinel.com:
Linda Shrieves, Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer, December 9, 2008
Read entire article at link.
Excerpt: "The notion is so popular that the government has even gotten into the act. The U.S. Surgeon's General's Office has set up a Web site -- familyhistory.hhs.gov -- that helps people create their own medical family tree and put it in a format (a pedigree chart) that doctors can use."
Linda Shrieves, Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer, December 9, 2008
Read entire article at link.
Excerpt: "The notion is so popular that the government has even gotten into the act. The U.S. Surgeon's General's Office has set up a Web site -- familyhistory.hhs.gov -- that helps people create their own medical family tree and put it in a format (a pedigree chart) that doctors can use."
The mysteries of DNA--Video
MormonTimes - VIdeo: The mysteries of DNA: "In this 16-minute video presentation, Scott R. Woodward, executive director of Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, explains what DNA is, what it can teach us, what its weaknesses are and how it can be used to understand and track relationships between individuals and groups."
A Queer North Carolina Race (1894)
From The Melungeon Historical Society
Read a transcript of an 1894 article in the New York Sun, describing a "queer race" or people in North Carolina--Melungeons.
Read a transcript of an 1894 article in the New York Sun, describing a "queer race" or people in North Carolina--Melungeons.
A black and white connection through common ancestry - Bellevue Reporter
A black and white connection through common ancestry - Bellevue Reporter
By LINDSAY LARIN, Bellevue Reporter Staff Writer, Nov 14 2008
After years of exchanging e-mails and long-distance phone calls, Norman J. Landerman-Moore and Ann Moore Black met face-to-face for the Western Region African American Conference held at the Bellevue South Stake Center building. The two are distant cousins, related through a common great-great-grandfather, Caleb Moore, of Ten-Mile, Meigs County, Tenn.
Sitting side by side, the newly aquatinted relatives share few similarities at first glance, but their connection runs deep, with common ancestry dating back to the 1600s. [Follow link for rest of article; also see photograph]
By LINDSAY LARIN, Bellevue Reporter Staff Writer, Nov 14 2008
After years of exchanging e-mails and long-distance phone calls, Norman J. Landerman-Moore and Ann Moore Black met face-to-face for the Western Region African American Conference held at the Bellevue South Stake Center building. The two are distant cousins, related through a common great-great-grandfather, Caleb Moore, of Ten-Mile, Meigs County, Tenn.
Sitting side by side, the newly aquatinted relatives share few similarities at first glance, but their connection runs deep, with common ancestry dating back to the 1600s. [Follow link for rest of article; also see photograph]
08 December 2008
Definitions, Explanations and Clarifications of Sociological and Anthropological Terms
Professor Peter Landstreet’s Sociology Courses » 2050A (2008-2009): "Definitions, Explanations and Clarifications of Sociological and Anthropological Terms"
Click on the link above (on the linked page from here) to go to 12-page PDF file of the following excellent synopsis of society and kinship terms, explanations, and definitions:
Definitions, Explanations and Clarifications of Sociological and Anthropological Terms
Contents
1. Kinship Terms (and Related)
2. Other Terms, Primarily Anthropological
3. Other Terms, Sociological or Common to Sociology and Anthropology
4. Societal Types
Click on the link above (on the linked page from here) to go to 12-page PDF file of the following excellent synopsis of society and kinship terms, explanations, and definitions:
Definitions, Explanations and Clarifications of Sociological and Anthropological Terms
Contents
1. Kinship Terms (and Related)
2. Other Terms, Primarily Anthropological
3. Other Terms, Sociological or Common to Sociology and Anthropology
4. Societal Types
Tribal Society and Kinship
Professor Peter Landstreet’s Sociology Courses » Some Conceptual Questions In Context of Tribal Society:
Excerpt:
"Let’s look for the social organization of kinship: You’ll find it:
A) in all the role relationships (e.g. husband-wife, mother-son, grandfather-granddaughter, etc.) that exist within families and which, taken together, “constitute” the families.
B) in kin relations of the more “extended” sort — cousin-cousin, aunt-nephew, etc.
C) in the organization of the lineage, and the clan (to use two common cases)."
Read entire article at link.
Excerpt:
"Let’s look for the social organization of kinship: You’ll find it:
A) in all the role relationships (e.g. husband-wife, mother-son, grandfather-granddaughter, etc.) that exist within families and which, taken together, “constitute” the families.
B) in kin relations of the more “extended” sort — cousin-cousin, aunt-nephew, etc.
C) in the organization of the lineage, and the clan (to use two common cases)."
Read entire article at link.
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