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                  APPALACHIAN HERITAGE

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                               Photo courtesy of Tom Thornsbury

Ahh, those beautiful Appalachian Mountains. They comfort, they give a feeling of serenity.. security. They are home...

If only they could speak... oh, what stories they could tell !  They could tell us about the ancestors we so dilligently research. How they laughed and cried, lived and died. Oh yes, the mountains keep the memories, all of them. The warm mountain breeze whispers a legend, and the little rocky streams babble on...they know...........

The above scene is in Floyd County, Kentucky...land of my birth.

Hi y�all, and welcome to Appalachian Heritage. This site will be a work-in-progress for those researching ancestors who roamed these beautiful mountains at some point in time. My site, as well as my friend Brenda Dillon�s site Appalachian Creek History  , are off- shoots of our main site Appalachian Mountain Families. Our entire site will soon be moving to Rootsweb. Combined, our sites represent a huge database for use by fellow researchers. We started our site on a wing and a prayer, in hopes that folks would visit and maybe find a tidbit of information that would benefit their research. It turns out that our humble attempt was quite accepted by many, many visitors. As a matter of fact, over 35,000 visits have been logged on our counter !!  Our webmaster, William Martin, also maintains our email list..which boasts over 400 subscribers ! Now, that is quite a feat for a West Virginia, Kentucky trio !

We have tried to include as many family records as possible, and as I type this, many new family Gedcoms are being uploaded as part of our extensive update. I mainly research the COLLINS and BOWLING families, and inevitibly, the Melungeon topic is used in conjunction with these surnames. I have included as many perspectives as possible on the subject. Noted Historian and past President of the National Genealogical Society, Dr. Virginia E. DeMarce, has graciously given me her Melungeon Research, and permitted me to use it here. I believe her research is an absolute �must� for anyone researching this subject. Paul Heinegg, author of Free African Americans in North Carolina, has also permitted the use of his excellent works. Paul�s work is on several different surnames and is well documented. It is included on our Genealogy page. I hope to soon have permission to use the work of C.S. Everett of Vanderbilt University, who published a fascinating article in the Summer 1999 issue of the Appalachian Journal, which included many of my family photos. Professor Everett believes the so called �Melungeons� are remnant of the Saponi indians. Mr. E. Raymond Evans contributed The Graysville Melungeons article, that appeared in the Tennessee Antropologist.

The University of Tennessee , Knoxville, Special Collections, has copied some of  the works of Will Allen Dromgoole, and permitted me to use them here. Her perception on the Melungeons is , at times, hard to swallow, but nevertheless, a form of research. My own article One More Mountain appeared in the December 1998 issue of The Appalachian Quarterly as a Special Focus on the Collins family. This was done with the help of Brenda Dillion, Joyce Kollenberg, and Cindy Steeley. I was told by the editor that all copies were sold out !!

To all the many wonderful people out there who have contributed to our site, as well as to us personally, we thank you each and every one. We know you have labored many hours, and traveled many miles to gather information for the book you hold dearest to your heart..the book entitled �My Family�.

To this end, all materials used on our sites remain the property of the submitter, and use for any purpose other than genealogical research is strictly prohibited, unless. of course, you have the written consent of the author/owner, or the record is in the public domain. All persons will be given proper credit for their submissions.

I hope you will enjoy your visit to Appalachia, and hopefully, find a missing link in your family tree. Please drop a line in my guestbook, and let me know what you think of the site. Rootsweb has given us unlimited webspace for this endeavor, so if you have family files, stories, memories, photos, records, military...anything pertaining to Appalachian Mountain Families, please email me and we will get your information up there...for all the world to see.

                                                                               Frankie Blackburn

 

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           About Me

      Life in the mountains.....

Daniel & Fanny Bowlin

Photo: Daniel Bowlin & Fanny Halbert Bowlin

Wm. Sherman & Louisa Collins

Photo: Wm. Sherman Collins & Louisa Bowlin Collins

Wm. Nelson & Gypsy Collins

Photo: Wm. Nelson Collins & Gypsy Ann Farmer Collins

Mom & family

Photo: Children of Wm. Nelson Collins & Gypsy Ann Collins

 
My Collins family file

Descendants of Griffin Collins Sr.

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