# 10 REDBONES AND INDIANS!

The majority of Redbones and Melungeon's were Indians -- perhaps, but what else were they?

You see, leaving it at "just Indians" is not enough. There were other ethnicity's involved in the equation. Indians were the easy part to trace, it is the "mix" of other ethnicity's that are still in question -- not which one, but rather "which ones."

Yeah, that's right the "mix of ethnicity's." It is my opinion that you cannot compare the same mix of ethnicity's within each Redbone family or group. I expect there is a number of basic ethnicity's common to the families like maybe Turkish, Portuguese, etc., but again, it's just my opinion. It doesn't have to be Turkish or Portuguese either.

The DNA reports that are showing up on Redbone families run the full range of ethnicity's including American Indian. In some Redbone families, the American Indian is more and in others -- far less.

At the moment, in some Redbone families, Sub-Saharan percentages, if above the static line, still seem small in comparison to other and various European and Middle Eastern percentages. You are not going to find, if I may, "one brand" of Redbone through DNA testing across the board. That brand of Redbone just does not exist.

To say that Redbones were Tri-Racial is a Joke if your thinking is White, Red and Black like in African -- it is far more complex and complicated than that often simplistic view of our world.

As an example, according to TIME Magazine, July 2005, "Brent Kennedy always believed that he was of English and Scotch-Irish descent, just like everyone he knew in his hometown of Wise, Va." And that is the way in which most of us have thought in the past when it comes to our ethnicity -- why complicate things with a long-winded description when you were not really sure, right?

Then, according to TIME, in December of 2004 Brent finally received some answers to a suspicion he had always had. "After taking a DNA test Kennedy was told he was 45% Northern and Western European, 25% Middle Eastern, 25% Turkish-Greek and 5% South Asian."

Now this is what I'm speaking of when I refer to the "mix of ethnicity's." The Redbone mix would follow a similar mix of ethnicity's, and there doesn't have to be an addition of Sub-Saharan or American Indian either.
So the next time you decide to leap off down one hallway or another, because of complexion or high cheekbones, you might want to do a DNA test to better define your mix of Redbone ethnicity.

Leaving it as Indian, or assuming Gypsy, African, is just not enough.

Gary J. Gabehart, Mishiho (Mish-eh-ho)
mailto:Mishiho@aol.,com