People Known as Other

When I first began researching the marginal people known as "Other' in society, I was a freshman at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas. The focus of my research was worthy of the history books, but the story had been recorded falsely as Free People of Color were anonymously lumped together with all non-White cultures in history. African-Americans, Portuguese-Americans, Spanish-Americans, Native Americans, Egyptian-Americans, Turkish-Americans, Arabian-Americans, Indian-Americans and most Mediterranean descent Americans were considered Negroes even though each of these proud peoples are unique in their culture, history and geographies. The history books still read this way, with no differentiation between the diverse populations that make up the beautiful tapestry of America.  In many ways, it is still a Black and White world in our history books.  So what began as misrepresentations in history evolved into an effort to record history more accurately.  As a novice in history in 1990, I focused on primary documents and books. From my little desk in South Texas,  I couldn't relate to the torments, the suffering and loss of human dignity of Free Persons of Color in history. Those shames were hidden from me and I didn't bother to look beyond until years later when  I began interacting with the elders of these clans in Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina.  They related their histories (which is my history too) and for the first time, I truly witnessed the facts from the survivors and the descendants of those who endured.  As a Ronald McNair Scholar at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, I was mentored by Dr. Leslie Hunter who taught methodology. Despite my determination that someone had to write the history correctly, I encountered frustration in 1990 that the previous authors of Texas history, including a member of Texas legislature, considered the story written in stone. It was unthinkable to change what has been written before. It was better to 'not make waves'. But we have to make waves because the books are not correct and too many people are accepting myths as history. . Then, I discovered a community of historians at the Redbone Heritage Foundation and the Melungeon Heritage Association who were just as passionate about the complex, yet true, multi-ethnic heritage which is a vital vein in US history. My own experience has revealed the truth about the history of people known as Redbones, Brass Ankles, Lumbees, Croatans, Melungeons and all such mixed communities. Their suffering due to violence directed toward these clans silenced some of the elders.  They stopped passing their stories down and the heritage was almost lost. Almost. We have found this new release of Carolina Genesis: Beyond the Color Line to be profoundly significant because this history impacts many Americans who have ancestors from the Colonial Period in USA. We insist that multi-ethnic heritage and culture is meaningful and lessons of human dignity endure despite efforts in the past to extinguish the people and the history. Carolina Genesis: Beyond the Colorline could be viewed as a travesty in American history, but the true message is of endurance and preserverence. Victor E Frankl wrote in his Mans Search for Meaning, " I had wanted simply to convey to the reader by way of a concrete example that life holds a potential meaning under any conditions, even the most miserable ones." Those powerful words echo the sentiments of the authors of Carolina Genesis: Beyond the Color Line and we offer these histories in an effort to recognize the ostracization, separatism, denial of rights, violence and even murder of people known as "Other" in American history.  Families known as other in our research:  Ashworth, Bass, Brown, Chavins, Collins, Goings, Goins, Goyens, Hall, Harmon, Lowery, Nash, Oxendine, Perksins, Sweatt, Walden, Willis . . to name a few.  Our mission is to continue to correct the errors in publications so truth and accuracy remains.  My humble contribution to this book is the most accurate biography of William Goyens, Jr of Nacogdoches, TX  to date.  After 20 years of studying the Moore County, North Carolina community, politics, economics, Native American history and migrations to Texas, there is more . . . . much,. much more to come.. And are the things written in stone going to change?  Diligent historians have been working toward that goal..  Since my first meeting with Dr. Archie McDonald of Stephen F. Austin University, Nacogdoches, Texas in 1992, great strides have been made to correct a Texas Centennial Marker commemorating William Goyens, Jr of Nacogdoches.  Mr. Charles Bright,a generous conservator of Nacodgoches history, oversaw the preservation of the marker which was one of 13,000 such markers actually placed on the grave of the Republic of Texas hero.  When previous biographers pondered why Goyens could speak Cherokee, I provided them with the history of the family and their proud Lumbee Indian connections along with the fact that William Goyens fought with the Cherokee as a Cherokee in the Battle of the Horseshoe in 1814.   That is when the stars aligned and Goyens forged a relationship with Sam Houston who would later use Goyens' kinship with the Cherokees to secure the Houston-Forbes Treaty guaranteeing the Cherokees would not side with the Mexican Army during the Texas Revolution.  Now Nacogdoches can celebrate a Portuguese/Native American hero in Republic of Texas history and William Goyens, Jr. will be more accurately portrayed in Texas history.  Sadly, our Spanish/Portuguese and  Native American heroes often do not make the history textbooks either.    
Carolina Genesis: Beyond the Color Line

Slavery in Virginia

Our history books neglect to fully educate on the issue of slavery. All non-white individuals, including our Native American ancestors, were subjected to the slave block. One only has to take a cursory look over the slave lists at New Orleans to see the descriptions and origins of the slaves up for sale as evidence.

"Soon after, [Jamestown], in 1676, Virginia colonists legalized the enslavement of Native people by enacting that 'soldiers who had captured Indians should 'reteyne and keepe all such Indian slaves or other Indian good as they either have taken or hereafter shall take.'" . . ."From this point on, Virginians did not take care to distinguish between Africans and Indians. Indeed, as historian Edmund Morgan notes. . . 'Indians and Negroes were henceforth lumped together in Virginia legislation, and White Virginians treated black, red and intermediate shades of brown as interchangeable . . . Non-white people of any variety were seen as suitable for enslavement because their color was the mark of their difference and, in the view of Whites, their inferiority.'" (page 141, Confounding the Color Line : The Indian Black Experience in North America. ed. James F. Brooks. U of Nebraska Press, Lincoln:2002)

The fact that Virginia refused to distinguish between people of color makes the search for John Harmon more difficult. The affidavit clearly states that John Harmon was a 'native of Portugal' and that he and his sons and grandsons were free men. But in 1750, there wouldn't be an ethnic checkbox for Portuguese. There was only White or Black. It makes the search for this elusive Goings/Goyens/Goins ancestor very difficult.

His grandson, William Goyens, Jr. did know the dangers of being a Free Person of Color as there were two attempts to enslave him. Although he was born free of free parents and free grandparents, there was always the danger from greedy White bondsmen to capture a person of color and send them to auction.

John Harmon, a Portyghee

For over 25 years, my father and I have been researching the William Goings family of Moore County, North Carolina. It has been an adventure because most of the clues we found were not in indexed census records or published books. Instead, they were in abandoned townships and cemeteries deep in the woods or in oral histories from our elders. It would have been difficult to figure things out from a desk at home, so the adventure began as we spent decades visiting every homeplace, every neighborhood, every church our family lived at. With that knowledge and through DNA, we can say we have an accurate record of this family. Still, the trail vanishes with John Harmon, the portuguese progenitor. Some of the Nansemond Indians of the Chesapeake area have prominent Harmon surnames and claim to be mixed descendents of Portuguese sailors and Native American. Will we find the answers to our colonial ancestry there?

document:

The following is the true genealogy of Daniel GOINS & family. His greate grand Mother Elisabeth GOINS was white. His grand father William Goings was mixt his grand mother Patsey PETTY was white his father Sandy MURCHISON was white his mother Leah GOINS slitly mixt making Daniel GOINS verry Slitly mixt past into the whit(e) race to the 3rd generation at least and to all probability to the 4th or 5th.

The following is the true genealogy of Margaret GOINS & her family, her great grandfather Edward GOINS Slitly mixed about an eight her grand mother Celia COFER white her father William GOINS verry slitly mixt her mother Kisiah SINCLARE white making her (Margret GOINS) past into the white race to the 5th generation. The above mentioned Margret GOINS is the wife of Daniel GOINS of Randolph County, N.C.

My Moore County Goings family tree

Leah Goins, born c.a. 1790, was the daughter of William Goings, Sr (1749-1835) and Patsy Petty.  William Goings Sr. was the illigitimate son of John Harmon, a Portuguese in documents, and Elizabeth Goings (1740-?)

Daniel Goins, (1824-1907) was the illigitimate son of Alexander Murchison (b.c.a. 1804) and Leah Goins, a Croatan of NC.  Daniel married Margaret Goins (double Goins line)

Many of these Goinses remained in North Carolina after a mass emigration to Tennessee and Texas in the 1820's-1830's.  The ones who remained clung to their cultural identity.  They have represented the Croatan/Lumbee Indian tribe on the tribal council for many generations and Jimmy Goins former  Chairman of the Tribal Council.


William Goyens, Jr, (1794-1856) is the brother to Leah Goins.  He served as a Cherokee fighting side by side with the Cherokee at the Battle of the Horseshoe in Alabama, 1814 as muster rolls reveal.  It is by no accident that he was tapped as Indian Agent by Sam Houston for negotiation of the Houston-Forbes Treaty.  They had already fought one battle together under Andrew Jackson and knew of each other prior to arriving in Texas. These events were set in motion before any of these people arrived in the Republic of Texas.

Genealogy and Brilliant Compassion

There has been an ongoing debate among 'historians' that somehow a degree makes a person a 'better' historian than a genealogist (who is just a hobbyist).  I strongly disagree with this, especially since I've seen some sloppy biographies of noted heroes.  Genealogists work strictly with primary documentation - the census records, the vital records (birth, death and marriage) while some historians rely solely on what has been published before or what is available in their local archives.  Most genealogists I know make pilgrimages to the places where their ancestors lived.  They locate cemeteries, churches and get a true feel for the community where their family members lived and died.  My father and I have accumulated a treasure of experiences from interviewing people who lived down the street, including a shy elderly woman who merely peeped around a tree to answer my father's questions about one of our great uncles.  She answered concisely and clearly, but preferred to have the tree between him and her.  Can a historian glean that from a book?
And with this experience comes something I can only call brilliant compassion.  Because this elderly woman, along with the grave-digger walking along the side of the road one day in present day Lee County, NC and the old man with the granddaughter who liked to swat visitors with a fly-swatter all bequeathed us something more than answers.  They gave us the culture of our ancestors.  And that is why genealogists get it right and historians get it wrong.  That is why the history books are not accurate.

Must read books about history and compassion:

Murchison Dynasty of Texas and William Goyens, Jr. Tender Ties

Rassie Wicker himself was intrigued by the Moore County Goinses, because he too was a descendent of Kinnith Murchison through Kenneth Wicker who married Isabella Currie, who was the daughter of Malcolm Bethune Currie and Catherine Murchison. Talitha Ann Wicker, born 1863 married Andrew Cole, whose land bordered on William Goings, Sr.’s property in Pocket Creek. Flora Coffer, daughter of Henry Copher and Margaret McIntosh, born in 1839 married Ben Kimball, which is also a family name which appears on Goins’ affidavit of genealogy. The Henry Coffer home was adjacent to Edward Goins’ line. The old white Coffer house was converted into a church before it was removed to the Henry Kimball place.[i] It is the intricate kinship which proves the credibility of the Goins affidavit witnesses and the validity of their testimonies in court including the Goins’ Portuguese/Native American heritage. The Pocket Creek Community was small and families intimately related. Descendants of the Goings/Goyens/Goins family have had Whole DNA tests which revealed Berber, (Asni, Morocco), Spanish, Moroccan, Macedonian, Canary Islands and Scottish among the top ten global population matches in order from highest contribution to lower contributions. The conclusion was 91% European, 9% Native American and 0% Sub-Saharan or East Asian ancestry[ii] proving that all dark-skinned individuals, including Europeans and Native-Americans were subjected to the burden of proof which could result in loss of rights and even enslavement. The blood validates the oral tradition and the historical documentation on the family.

Maps and Migration routes

Carolina Genesis: Beyond the Color Line  contains key migration route maps and boundaries from the Colonial period to the mid 1800's.  The history of the frontier is much more diverse than historians have depicted in the past. 
List of illustrations:

The Carolinas 1780  page 11
Hill Country and Tidewater, page 12
Interconnected Tri-racial Groups, page 16
Colonial Boundaries 1783, page 17
French and English Trade Routes, page 20
Trails and Paths of the Southeast, page 21
Accession of Territories in the U.S., page 24
Georgia Land Lottery, 1805, page 25
Routes into the Mississippi Territory, page 26
Natchez Trace and Three Chopped Way, page 28
Federal Roads to Natchez, page 29
El Camino Real del los Tejas, page 35
Trails West, page 39
Spanish Missions of the Gulf Coast, page 40
Early Trails into Texas, page 42
Spanish Tejas, page 48
The Trail of Tears, page 52
Ladino Chichimeca, page 61
Indians of New Netherlands, 1671, page 63
Ninigret, 1681, page 72
Portion of the Hobcaw Barony Map Showing Sandy Island, page 91
Map of Wee Nee Ya Village and Black Mingo Creek, page 110
The Author in traditional Regalia, Native American Heritage Celebration, NYC 2009, page 112
Goins Family Graveyard, Moore County, NC, page 125
William Goings Tract Survey to Spivey, 1836, page 140
Drowning Creek and Cape Fear River Watershed, page 147
Sadletree Swamp, page 151

Goins Family Musings: Carolina Genesis

http://www.amazon.com/Carolina-Genesis-Beyond-Color-Line/dp/093947932X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274712558&sr=1-1

Carolina Genesis

http://www.amazon.com/Carolina-Genesis-Beyond-Color-Line/dp/093947932X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274712558&sr=1-1

What began as a Texas Humanities Grant funded Redbone Heritage Foundation conference has now evolved into a well-documented and true history of William Goyens, Jr of Nacogdoches and families labeled as Redbones, Mulattoes, Negroes, Brass Ankles, Melungeons, Smilings, and Croatan/Lumbee. The biography of Goyens, originally a Croatan/Lumbee Indian, includes the unusual tombstones in Moore County with etchings showing upright burials, similar to those of the Wampanoag peoples in Massachusetts. What is the Native American connection? Sam Houston and William Goyens, Jr. were acquainted before Goyens' arrival in Texas and War of 1812 records reveal that he was fighting with the Cherokee as a Cherokee in the Battle of the Horseshoe, 1814. This is an amazing book of the 'multi-ethnic' American frontier which includes Spaniards, Portuguese, Native-American and Mediterranean peoples in American history. Also included in this book are maps and descriptions of the migration roads westward - including the Cumberland Road, the Wilderness Road, the Natchez trace, The Trail of Tears and many other migratory paths outlined by Stacy R Webb. These maps and roads, along with the true history of William Goyens, Jr of Nacogdoches, were presented at the East Texas Historical Association Conference 2009 and provide the backbone of Carolina Genesis: Beyond the Colorline as we witness the roads well traveled.


Govinda Sanyal uses astonishing research to present the history of a single female lineage that winds its way through prehistoric Yemen, North Africa, Moorish Spain, the Shephardic disapora, colonial Mexico and assimilation into Native American tribes in America. Steven Pony Hill recounts historic struggles of the South Carolina Cheraws in an essay entitled "Strangers in Their Own Land." Scott Winthrow concentrates on the saga of Joseph Willis who was born in a community of Color in South Carolina but migrated to Louisiana where he was accepted as a White man and became one of the region's best loved ministers. Finally, K. Paul Johnson traces the history of North Carolina's antebellum Quakers. The once-strong Quaker community dissolved as it grew morally opposed to slavery. Those who opposed slavery moved North. The ones who remained slave-owners left the church. Marvin Jones tells the history of the Winton Triangle, a section of North Carolina populated by successful families of mixed ancestry from colonial times until the mid-20th century. They fought for the Union, founded schools, built business and thrived through adversity until the civil rights movement of 1955-65 ended legal segregation.
We wish to thank the Texas Humanities Grant Committee for the launch of this significant research as we work to preserve integrity and historical accuracy in Texas and United States history.

Carolina Genesis: Beyond the Colorline

I'm deeply honored to be one of the authors represented in this new history of the American frontier. Twenty-five years of research, along with new forensic anthropology and DNA results, support historical documents, illuminating the rich multi-ethnic American history. I am proud to present the authoritative biography on William Goyens, Jr of Nacogdoches, TX based on North Carolina records and his life before Texas. Stacy R. Webb illustrates the westward paths, families of color used in western migration including the Wilderness Road, the Natchez Trace and many other famous roads West. S. Pony Hill writes of the South Carolina Cheraws from Strangers in Their Own Land. K. Paul Johnson traces the history of North Carolina's antebellum Quakers. The once strong community dissolved as it grew morally opposed to slavery. Those who stayed true to their faith migrated North. Those who remained slaveowners left the church. The worst stress was the Nat Turner event. In the aftermath, the previously permeable colorline evolved into the harsh endogamous barrier that exists today.



These are only a few excerpts from a book rich in real history. It is a must read for those interested in multi-ethnic families and how their legacy endured.


http://www.amazon.com/Carolina-Genesis-Beyond-Color-Line/dp/093947932X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274665516&sr=1-1