Everything but the kitchen sink.

Sephardic Jews have lived in the state for more than 300 years,(*) (*) (*) especially in and around Charleston (*). Until about 1830, South Carolina had the largest population of Jews in North America. Many of South Carolina’s Jews have assimilated into Christian society, shrinking Judaism down to less than 1% of the total religious makeup. In addition, Roman Catholicism is growing in South Carolina due to immigration from the North.

[...much MORE]

via South Carolina: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article.

Intrigued with tracing my family lineage online, I was startled one night to stumble upon a supressed chapter of American founders, and for better or for worse, to discover the key to my lifelong struggle with a series of symptoms that had long mystified my doctors.

An amazing new history is emerging of a Mediterranean people, sometimes referred to as Melungeons, who settled American in the 1500′s long before the Northern Europeans first arrived. (The Arabic origin of the name Melungeon–”Melun-Jinn”–means one who has been abandoned by God–a cursed soul.) No, this tale does not begin with the early New Mexican settlers, but begins with a Southeastern lineage that has spread throughout the United States, and the rare and potentially decimating genetic disease traced to these colorful people.

Even more intriguing, this disease parallels some of the symptoms of Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS), fibromyalgia, Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis, and Diabetes. It also includes a group of other symptoms regularly ignored or misdiagnosed by physicians: acute chest pain, pleuritis, appendicitis-like attacks, arthritis–particularly of the feet, ankles, knees and hips, and the symptom for which it is named, a recurring high fever that lasts three to four days and dissipates. The name of this insidious genetic “misspelling” is Familial Meditteranean Fever (FMF). If your family story featured an ancestor called “Black Dutch,” “Black Scot,” or Cherokee, listen up.

Ironically, the story of the Melungeon people has been broken not by the US press, but by the BBC correspondent Richard Lister. He was astonished to find the streets of the Appalachian village he visited filled with Melungeon descendants who “would not look our of place on the Turkish coast with their dark olive skin ad straight black hair.”

Sir Francis Drake brought many of these Portuguese, Armenian, and Ottoman Turks to America after he freed them from the Spanish in 1587. Genetic studies now also indicate Jewish lineage in the Melungeon people as the Portuguese Jews were fleeing persecution.

I suspect Drake was relived to deliver this human cargo and avoid whatever strange malady these people suffered. In an era of mysterious plagues, a shipload of people running high fevers would have terrified any captain.

[...Much MORE]

via Home Page.

COMMON MELUNGEON SURNAMES

Adams, Adkins, Allen, Allmond, Ashworth, Barker, Barnes, Bass, Bean, Beckler, Belcher, Bedgood, Bell, Bennet, Berry, Beverly, Biggs, Blankenship, Bolen, Bolling, Bolton, Boone, Bolin/Bowlin, Boulder, Bunch, Bullion, Burton, Butler, Butters, Buxton, Byrd, Campbell, Carrico, Carter, Casteel, Caudill, Chapman, Chavis/Chavises, Clark, Cloud, Coal/Cole, Coffey,Collins/Colins, Coleman, Coles, Colley, Collier, Collins, Collinsworth, Colyer, Cooper, Corman, Counts, Cox, Coxe, Criel, Croston, Crow, Cumba/Cumbo/ Cumbow/ Curry, Custalow, Dalton, Dare, Davis, Denham, Delp, Dennis, Dial, Dooley, Dorton, Doyle,Driggers, Dula, Dye, Dyess, Ely, Epps, Evans, Fields, Freeman, French, Gallagher, Gann, Garland, Gibson/Gipson, Goen/Goings, Goodman, Gorvens, Gowan/Gowins, Graham, Greene, Gwinn, Hale, Hall, Hammon(d), Harmon, Harris, Harvie/Harvey, Hawkes, Hendricks/Hendrix, Hill, Hillman, Hogge, Holmes, Hopkins, Howe, Hyatt, Jackson, James, Johnson, Jones, Keith(e), Kennedy, Kiser, Langston, Laie, Lawson, Locklear, Lopes, Lowry, Lucas, Maddox, Maggard, Major, Male, Malone(y), Marion, Marsh, Martin, Mayle, Minard, Miner/Minor, Mizer, Moore, Morley, Moseley, Mozingo, Mullins/Melon, Nash, Nelson, Newman, Niccans, Nichols, Noel, Norris, Orr, Osborn(e), Oxendine, Page, Paine , Patterson, Perkins, Perry, Phelps, Phipps, Prinders, Polly, Powell, Powers, Pritchard, Pruitt, Ramey/Remy, Rasnick, Reaves/Reeves, Revels, Rice, Richardson, Riddle, Rivers, Roberson, Robertson, Robinson, Russell, Sammons, Sampson, Sawyer, Scott, Sexton, Shavis, Shephard/Shepherd, Short(t), Sizemore, Smiling, Smith, Stallard, Stanley, Steel, Stevens, Stewart, Strothers, Sweatt/Swett, Swindall, Tally, Tacket, Taylor, Thompson, Tipton, Tolliver, Tuppance, Turner, Vanover, Vicars/Viccars, Vickers, Ware, Watts, Weaver, White, Whited, Wilkins, Williams(on), Willis, Wilson, Wisby, Wise, Wood, Wright, Wyatt, Wynn.

[...MORE]

via Home Page.

From Mackey’s Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry:

Washington was initiated, in 1752, in the Lodge at Fredericksburg, Virginia, and the records of that lodge, still in existence, present the following entries on the subject. The first entry is thus: “Nov. 4th. 1752. This evening Mr. George Washington was initiated as an Entered Apprentice.” …On March 3 in the following year, “Mr. George Washington” is recorded as having been passed a Fellow Craft; and on August 4, same year, 1753, the record of the transactions of the evening states that “Mr. George Washington” and others whose names are mentioned, have been raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason.

via Religion and the Founding Fathers.

[...excerpt...]

Many of the leaders of the French and American revolutions followed this belief system, including John Quincy Adams, Ethan Allen, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison Thomas Paine, and George Washington. Deists played a major role in creating the principle of separation of church and state, and the religious freedom clauses of the 1st Amendment of the Constitution.

We have been unable to find estimates of the number of Deists in North America. Although both the U.S. and Canada census document religious affiliations, many Deists are listed under Freethinkers, Humanists, persons of no religion, etc. Many Deists who feel a need to join a spiritual community of searchers for truth become members of congregations associated with the Unitarian Universalist Association. [...More]

via How is Thomas Jefferson a Diest? What is a Diest? – Yahoo! Answers.

There are many mundane attractions from mountains to the sea, naturally. That can also be said about other states. However, South Carolina is a world of discovery. It’s home to a variety of magnificent gardens that attract visitors from all over the world. The multi-colored azaleas and a plethora of flowering, fragrant species slumber beneath the moss-draped cypress trees of the Lowcountry. They are heaven-sent, pictures of beauty exquisitely framed by the black, still waters around them. Colorful flowers create impressions that linger long after visitors have flown away. Our own Festival of Flowers is a testament to that beauty.

*

History, to be sure, is integral to the state’s rich heritage. From revolutionary times to today, the state’s lineage is evident. It’s the march of time in review, a reminder of who we are. From Fort Moultrie and Fort Sumter, to Star Fort at Ninety Six. From the Mars Bluff Confederate Navy site on the Great Pee Dee River, to the John C. Calhoun Home on the Clemson University campus, to the South Caroliniana Library on the USC campus, history is a consummate teacher. It gives us insights into how the past impacts the present and prepares us to face the future.

Think about Cokesbury College and old Sheldon Church near Yemassee. Native American names reflect the lives and times that have had a lasting influence on this state, the South and the nation.

Historic Abbeville is a jewel. Add Camden, Kings Mountain and on and on and on. There’s a wealth of knowledge, not only for visitors, but especially for our own. There are the obvious signs of history all around. There also are many reminders of our past that we might miss if we don’t pay attention. There are markers along roadsides that point the way to and highlight the significance of many sites tucked away, often in secluded areas. All are worth exploring. They help explain lifetimes long forgotten.

Other cultures provide glimpses into our past that also define who we are. What could be more informational and colorful than Gullah life on the state’s sea islands? It harkens back to West Africa, complete with stories, customs, music, dress and foods.

via Index Journal | Greenwood, SC | Our View > Behind The News.

It’s been so long, I can’t even remember the who, what, when, where or why of the name “The Solomon Key.”

Just that it has always been “reportedly” the title of local author Dan Brown’s third Robert Langdon novel. The loooong-awaited follow-up to both “Angels & Demons” — which was published first, curse you, revisionist Hollywood — and “The Da Vinci Code.”

Related Stories

* Report: Dan Brown has finished his book

* Where the heck is Dan Brown's next book?

But one of Dan Brown’s reps told a British journalist — who then called me — that “The Solomon Key” is “completely out of date” as a title.

Which opens Pandora’s Speculation Box of what else might be out of date.

Is the book no longer about masons? Has it been too long with too many people already filling in the gaps with their own “Solomon Key” freemason stories? Is the book even done?

Poor Ron Howard. When he spoke (out of turn, it seems) to Entertainment Tonight last February, the Dan Brown frenzy picked up.

On the set of “Angels & Demons,” Howard told ET that Brown had not only finished his next book, he was excited about it. That started a whole new slew of speculation about the release date.

Right now, for whatever reason, Dan Brown's Wikipedia page has the next book as “The Solomon Key” with a note reading “late in April is probable.”

via Report: Dan Brown’s next book not ‘The Solomon Key’.

Lost Crusaders' Tunnels Found Near Palace on Malta

James Owen

for National Geographic News

March 25, 2009

For centuries it's been said that the crusading Knights of Malta constructed an underground city on the Mediterranean island of Malta, sparking rumors of secret carriageways and military labyrinths.

Now a tunnel network has been uncovered beneath the historic heart of the Maltese capital of Valletta, researchers say. But the tunnels—likely from an ahead-of-its-time water system—may render previous theories all wet.

The newfound tunnels are said to date back to the 16th and early 17th centuries, when the knights—one of the major Christian military orders of the 11th- to 13th-century Crusades—fortified Valletta against Muslim attack.

The tunnels were uncovered on February 24 during an archaeological survey of the city's Palace Square in advance of an underground-garage project.

“A lot of people say there are passages and a whole new city underground,” said survey leader Claude Borg of the Valletta Rehabilitation Project. “But where are these underground tunnels? Do they exist?

“We've now found some of them, at least.”

via Lost Crusaders’ Tunnels Found Near Palace on Malta.

Full text of “A Huguenot family in the XVI century : the memoirs of Philippe du Mornay, Soeur du Plessis Marly”

via Full text of “A Huguenot family in the XVI century : the memoirs of Philippe du Mornay, Soeur du Plessis Marly”.

Why is Friday the 13th considered unlucky?

It is a long-ago brutal reality that give Friday the 13th it’s ‘unlucky’ status.

It was the date the the Pope declared that all “Knights Templar” (also known later as Huguenots) were to tortured and executed for blasphemy against the Catholic church.

Despite careful planning — there were a few Huguenot Knights who escaped this gruesome fate. Some found sanctuary in Cyprus, and much later made their way to Scotland.

When they reached Scotland, they helped to train Robert Bruce’s men, and teach them the art of being soldiers. If not for this training, Scotland would have fallen to the English, without Robert the Bruce becoming king.

This is just brief summary of the events set in motion by the tortures and executions ordered (by the Pope in Rome) on Friday the 13th.

I will add more post with details. So you can learn for yourself the details that overshadow this ominous date.

– Cathy

weavercat@gmail.com