Have you hever heard the story of the Lost State of Franklin? Few know that we once had a state named Franklin; that it existed for a brief time and vanished. And have you ever heard of the mysterious Melungeons, the strange tribe of people who lived in that lost state and whose origin has never been solved?
The State of Franklin occupied generally in what is now eastern Tennessee. It was organized in 1785, lived a brief and turbulent existence and passed out of history in 1798. Few maps show it and few records exist telling of its passing glory.
In the beginning of the push of settlers over the hill, North Carolina's boundaries were not fixed to the westward. Theoretically they extended onward to some distant indefinite point toward the setting sun. Struggling adventurers crossed the mountains. They settled and were far detached, in those days, from the mother state.
The story of the state of Franklin begins in 1784 when the district was thrown open to settlement. Feelings against the tyranny of the royal governor of North Carolina, sent over by England, led to the organization of the setllers along the Watauga river into the Watauga association.
Due to their isolation they were less affected directly by the Revolutionary war than the coastal settlements. Freedom won, however, the settlers orgnized a distinct state governemnt on August 23, 1784. work of organization was fully completed at a second meeting on December 14, of the same year and John Sevier was made governor. The first legislature sat in Jonesboro in 1785.
Factions developed and part of the people wished to revert to the sovereignty of North Carolina. A bloodless revolution was fought out at the polls in May, 1788 and the Franklinites lost. The North Carolina legislature passed an 'act of oblivion."
However, that state ceded the territory to the United States in 1789 and in 1790 the territory of Tennessee was formed. Settlement followed with a rush and in 1796 the territory became a state.
Now the Melungeons. When the settlers came into the mountains of what is today East Tennessee they found a curious tribe of people there. They were obviously not Nordics as the settlers were. Neither did they seem to be Latins. They had no negroid characteristics though they were dark and swarthy and they certainly were not of Indian descent.
Unschooled and primitive they knew little of their origin. Some thought they might be descendants of some detached group of Portuguese while others saw in them trace a of the Moors. In the generations that they had been there in their isolation, their language, whatever it was, had degenerated into a patois.
They lived to themselves exclusively and resented intrusion. For many years they were not recognized as citizens and were denied the right to vote. Suffrage was not given to them until after the downfall of the Confederacy. For generatons in Tennessee the Melungeons were the bugaboos of Tennessee childhood and many a bad little boy has been threatened, " The Malungeons will get you if you don't watch out."
Recognized as gypsylike in their trickiness, they were loyal to their clan. Some clue to their origin may be found in the word "malungo," coming out of northern Africa, which loosely means comrade, mate or companion. But how did that African word get to the mountains of eastern Tennessee generations ahead of the Nordics. That is the mystery?
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)
