03/5/2011

To Ann Davis:

My "Cook" ancestors were Portuguese-Mulatto Indians = "Mulatto-Injuns" which are also called Portuguese-Melungeons.

As I stated to you in response to the e-mail you sent to me,...it has been my observation that when people on a family tree:
(1) appear physically white, ....
(2)start denying that they know the names of relatives as closely-related as their grandmothers...
(3)disappear from all the Census, voting records, school data, etc. ...and/or
(4) move away never to be heard from again.............there is a good chance that they have changed ther surnames,...and are "so-called", "PASSING" as white.

I, personally, believe that they have every right to exercise their freedom in a racially constrained society that practices the bogus, racist, "one drop" theory.

So, if they have "disappeared into whiteness", ...I am the LAST person who would hunt them down and "rat them out".

I have first-hand information from a paternal aunt of mine, that that is exactly what happened in MY family, and that many of them "escaped" to Ohio, Illinois and/or Indiana.

And since I do not believe in the ODR, I feel that they are as "white" as they look, and I just leave them alone,..and I would never give out information about that side of my family.
On my family-tree chart I just write in the words "WHITE", and that is that.

But, if you insist,...as I told you in the e-mail, Brent Kennedy is the best source for information on the Melungeons.

I stopped looking for my Cook ancestors when I met Brent Kennedy about 1998-99, up in Taunton, Massachusetts where many Portuguese families reside.

At that special genealogical seminar he introduced another good research source to me:
the book entitled "The Forgotten Portuguese" by Manuel Mira.

I am Portuguese on both sides of my family; my father's side was Melungeon-Portuguese, and my mother's father was Portuguese from Latin America, so I identitfy with it doubly. But, I regret to tell you that I do not have a great deal of information to give out on my "Cook" side, and therefore, for that reason, would never be able to find a possible connection with yours,.....but I wish you lots of luck in your research.

cpc