110 W. A. PLECKER 



1920 census, and have met with success only where they were able to in- 

 fluence the individual enumerators. Several citizens from that county 

 have described their method of initiation into the "Indian" lodge by the 

 "comb test." In some cases some members of a family can pass the test, 

 while the hair of other members is too kinky to allow the comb to pass 

 through in standard manner. It is possible that the actual comb may not 

 be used, but it is true that the texture of the hair receives greater considera- 

 tion than the family pedigree and greater than color and facial characteristics. 



The marriage of a young woman from this group as an Indian to a white 

 man has been recently annulled by the court, after convincing evidence was 

 presented showing that each line of descent is from true negroes and whites. 

 This large family, the offspring of twelve children from the mulatto con- 

 cubine of a white man, forms a large part of the group, either directly or by 

 admixture with the other families. 



Another Virginia-North Carolina group, known in Virginia as negroes 

 and in North Carolina as Croatan Indians, is said by a reliable man past 

 eighty years of age to be descended in part from a white woman by a negro 

 slave, some of the children taking the negro's name and some the mother's. 

 These two names constitute a large part of the Virginia portion of the group. 

 We have had no occasion to work out their genealogical record, as their 

 position as negroes in Virginia is unquestioned. 



Another group of negro families, whose pedigrees have been traced by 

 our office, were visited a few years ago by a man from the north, who lived a 

 while with them and wrote a report for The Heye Foundation designating 

 them as a tribe of Indians. This man made no inquiry at the office of the 

 Bureau of Vital Statistics where, if his mind was open to conviction, he 

 could have received ample evidence of the negro origin of his so-called 

 Indians. This group in three counties secured for the first time an Indian 

 classification in the 1930 census. One of these negroes went to a northern 

 state and returned with a white wife. 



In the southwestern part of the State are a number of families known 

 locally as "Melungeons," who came from Newman's Ridge, Hancock 

 County, Tennessee, and who are trying to pass as white and send their 

 children to the white schools. Several of them may have married into white 

 families, but they are classed as negroes by the white people amongst 

 whom they live. These families, we believe, are pretty well listed in our 

 office. One of the families moved to a distant part of the State and was 

 reported to us by the school superintendent, who asked for information as 

 to their racial classification. We were able to give him all the information 

 needed. Inquiry was also made by the Superintendent of the Peniten- 



