The truth has been shown the light. My grandmother's typical family stories.... of Cherokee ancestors, of questionable "highwaymen" accounts of great grandfathers who were "deported" long after deportation from England stopped, and the knowledge that her Evans family is from the Appalachian Mountains in Western North Carolina and North Georgia, coupled with the name Evans being a common MELUNGEON sir name.... It all adds up to a typical hidden MELUNGEON ancestry. I am proud of it. the Melungeon people were ALREADY THERE when the English and Scots got to Western North Carolina. They are apparently mixed Native American, African, and Portuguese. The ancestry is no longer being hidden ( generally) and a pride of this heritage is on the rise in the area. It also finally explains my 2 % African American ancestry on my DNA test ! One can see it clear as day in my grandmother's photograph taken in 1982.
WHEN THE TROUBLE BEGAN. My ancestor James Cunningham of Lunenburg County VA made out his Last Will in 1762. He could not write, so his name was written for him and he "made his mark" ( an X ) on the page. Some researcher about 1980 saw that and thought he had the middle name MARK. NOT SO. I have fought this mistake for 40 years. Now it's on Ancestry and has a life of its own. English law at the time did not allow non-royals to have middle names, with few exceptions. James Cunningham died in the fall of 1762, leaving wife Jane Scott Cunningham, and three sons, William, James, and John. James the son died before reaching adulthood, so his two brothers inherited his part. John joined the Virginia line and was made a Lieutenant during the Revolutionary War. He lived in Lunenburg and Charlotte Counties in Virginia before moving to Wilkes County, North Carolina. His final move was to the area of Coffee and Warren Counties in Tennessee. He died in 1842 and is