Melungeon Silver Mines in Tennessee?

[Rebel - KGC]

Yo! Rebel here: Anyone know about Silver Mines in the mountain areas "worked up" by Melungeons and other mountain people... we got some in Wise County, Va. (according to legends...).

 

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[snake35]

Are you refering to the Swift silver mines?

 

[CWnut]

Where the melungeons got their silver is as much a mystery as their ancestory. I suspect they were intermingled amongst the Cherokee. Perhaps the Melungeons taught the Cherokee about silver, or vice versa. In my area some of the Melungeon names are common names today and you can still notice Native American or Spanish traits in some individuals.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

Yo! Rebel here: 8) (SUNNY out...): I read that the "Indians" (Cherokee) lead the Melungeons to silver mines; Cherokee were made to "work" the mines by Spanish miners earlier on... beale should share HIS research; he knows MORE, than I do. I am currently reading... SWIFT'S SIVER MINES AND RELATED APPALACHIAN TREASURES by Michael S. Steely... and SILVER IN THE UNAKA by Buddy Johnson with James W. Mintz (about the Garland Silver Mine(s). You can ALSO "google" APPALACHIAN TREASURE TALES/STORIES, or BURIED TREASURES IN THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS. 8)

 

[Rebel - KGC]

I'm baaaack! If there are mountains in Hancock County, Tn., that is where I would look for Silver Mines... check these out; http://www.wvc.net/~wil/treasure.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swift's_silver_mine

 

[10pan]

When I was a kid , we would visit my uncle who lived among the Melongeons. There was a cave on his property that we use to explore as kids. We never ventured far into the cave but my uncle said the Melongeons would go in for days at a time. My uncle found everything from arrow points to confederate buttons around the entrance of the cave. I have not been back since I was a kid and my uncle no longer owns the property. Several years ago I ask him if he ever saw carvings on rocks or trees around his property and he said he remembered a flower carved in a bluff not far from the cave. I hope to go back one day.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

Yo! And, the Collins sur-name is Melungeon... if you can, research YOUR family history, oral traditions; I am Melungeon with Bowling/Bowlings family orignating in SW Virginia, with "links" to Pocahontas... (SOMEWHERE, SOMEONE changed sur-name from Bolling to Bowling...).

 

[mikesteely]

Rebel, by most historians the Melungeons are descendants of the Spanish soldiers who came into Appalacian with DeSoto, but more likely with Pardo. Pardo established trading and outpost throughout the Cherokee
lands and left soldiers there. By the time the English began sending traders, trappers, and explorers into
the mountains the Spanish, African, and Arab blood had mingled with the Native American.

Re: The Mullins family legends of Sol Mullins and others who "counterfeited" coins in the area of
Southwest Virginia (Blackwater, Lee County, etc.), extreme upper east Tennessee (Scott, Hawkins,
Campbell and Claiborne Counties) and extreme southeast Kentucky (Bell, Harlan, etc.)

The Melungeon legends interlink with the Cherokee and Shawnee legends and even touch the Swift
legend with some of Swift's journals mentioning "Mecca" Indians. Some Melungeon legends mention
Swift marrying a Melungeon woman.

Most of the "silver mine" legends of these special people involve the Breaks of the Sandy area,
especially when Sol Mullins is the subject.

Hope this helps.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

Yo! THANKS, Mike! And then... there was MA MULLINS!! LAWD GAWD A'MIGHTY!!! THAT woman was BIG!!!!

 

[Bodashuss]

Yo! Rebel here: Anyone know about Silver Mines in the mountain areas "worked up" by Me lungeons and other mountain people... we got some in Wise County, Va. (according to legends...).

I am a new member and this is my first post from East TN. We own a farm in Hancock county Tn just a few miles inside VA. Kyles Ford, and Me lungeons lived all around the farm when I was growing up. I am 54 now. There family name was Mabes from what I remember. No silver that they or we knew of I guess as they all where pretty un wealthey as we still are. Most have moved away now days. I will use my new MXT around there when Turkey season get here in a few weeks...Bodashuss

 

[emtrescue]

Jack Goins did some research on the Melungeons and found a couple of court cases of counterfeiting. One was actually a PAPER bank note. Anywhoooo - http://www.jgoins.com/Union6_speech.htm


Thought it was interesting.

 

[Mitch Dickson]

Look for Lead Mines. There are Tennessee geo maps of lead mines. All lead, and I mean all lead has silver. It's just a matter of percentage. It is a simple thing to part the silver by the parks method. Most lead doesn't have paying quantities of silver, but those that do are pretty good! Some Galena runs 40% silver to lead!!!!! That means a 10 lb. rock has 4 lb. of silver.

 

[smokeythecat]

Mitch Dickson is right on. The Pequea silver mines in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania are actually galena (lead) mines. The natives made lead pipes from them. They do contain a minor amount of silver.

Silver is not a big ore on the East Coast. There is a little in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and the biggest deposit in the "east" is in Ontario, Canada.

Now, did the natives have enough knowledge to get it out? Maybe not.