Donalyn and Friends,

I've been on the Melungeon list for about 4 years, and have learned much about my heritage. This month, through my husband's expert digging--I discovered that Richard Oliver, my GGGGgrandfather in NC, mid l770s--married Hannah Conkwright. They moved to Clark Co. KY not long after Daniel Boone founded Ft. Boonesborough, then on to MO after Boone had been made "commander" (?) of Femme Osage territory.

When I first heard the name "Conkwright" I said, "I'll bet that's Dutch. And I bet they're Jews, too." In looking at the naming patterns, I see many Isaacs, Abrahams. Rachel, Mary, Hannah, Jacob, etc. Richard's sister-in-law married Henry Goldman, and Richard served in Henry's stead in the Rev.War. The Conkwright/Cronkrite/Kronk family had arrived in New Amsterdam, NY by l642 from Holland.

I've heard that Oliver is Sephardic (from "olive" tree) and that Davis is, too. (Sarah Davis m. William Oliver, s/o Richard in l803 KY). Is Conkwright/Cronkite/Kronk/et al Sephardic? I know Holland was a haven for persecuted peoples--Jews, Baptists, etc.--during and after the Inquisition and various pogroms. I've not found MY Conkwrights listed on any Jewish names list but many signs point me that way.

Any help is most helpful. Thanks so much!

Carolyn Funderburk
bamagal50@ec.rr.com

Hey Caroline!

Yes, the Melungeon research is very interesting and I believe we'll be learning much more about the SE USA population as far as being "lily white."

I peeked at the Conkwright/Conkright, Krankheit/Krankheydts a bit on the web. I saw the one who immigrated from the Netherlands to NY and found it interesting that he changed his name. It's also quite interesting that there are quite a few Semitic surnames marrying into the family. The closest thing I could find in a name known to be Jewish was Kenighajt, out of Poland. Others are Kronick and Kenig. It would be quite possible that there was migration from Poland to the Netherlands and the spelling kept changing. Most of the time it is so hard to tell with Sephardi taking on other names, etc. but it does look like it's possible. I would start playing with the spelling and look for more records through LDS in the Netherlands and possibly Poland. Definitely spend some time over at JewishGen--you might get some hints from other researchers there.


Oliver (Olivares or Oliveira) *can be* Sephardic, as can Davis/Tobias and there are lots of them. So you really need to trace them back. Don Panther-Yates and Elizabeth Hirschman's study continues and Beth does post to the Melungeons@Topica list so you might be able to catch up on some of their study there. I don't know how long their book will take, but I know they are working very hard on the research that is going into it.

Do let me know if you find anything, okay? I'm really quite curious about it (smile).

Donalyn

Hey Caroline,

I found some more info that may be of interest to you. As you may know, the Krankheyt name that became Conkwright translates literally from German to mean "illness."

Now, Sephardis *usually* had to buy their new names in Iberia, I'm told, or be assigned them. From a post @ Sephardim.Com detailing how Jews got their names, I quote from post #7131 entitled How Jews Got Their Names: " 5. Assigned names (usually undesirable): Examples:PLOTZ (to die), KLUTZ
(clumsy), BILLIG (cheap)."

This fact, coupled with the similar name known to be Jewish in Poland, the intermixing with those with directly Semitic surnames and the location of Holland may well further your hypothesis about this family.

Hope this helps!

Donalyn

We also have we believe a Sephardic Jewish name, in the Lanier-Bassoni line who also married Davis. However, Davis was originally Welsh(David), although I guess it depends on the family(could also be from house of David) but the Jeff Davis line that comes out of Penn. were orig. David from Wales. Wonder if we are connected in the Da vis lines?