re: Thanks and Hello!

So far as I can tell we're mainly mountain folk on both sides of the border and we go wayyyy back. My mom's side came from NC - and I've found the surname (there's literally only a handful in all the US) listed as far back as the Revolutionary War (a 'colored' soldier was listed in the records for bravery). They were a product of an indentured servant woman and free black man and as slavery and the color line started to harden in NC, they moved to the mountains of TN. It was wild digging that up because not only were they taxed for being together but some of the children were illegally bound out by the courts as punishment. No wonder they got the hell out of dodge. (They moved to melungeon central). And ran what amounted to a distillery during prohibition - running it up through Middlesboro and even supplying Capone.

The Kentucky side is obviously ethnic in some way. My aunts look like they belong on a rez but it also wouldn't surprise me if they too had black heritage. That surname is so common though that it's nearly impossible to trace.

The dead give away for both sides though is they all claim to not know where we came from. I wish I knew more about our history.