The Melungeons: What We Know & What We Don’t

Jes Arnold is Founder and Creator of Melungeon Roots and a Melungeon descendant. She is an amateur genealogist and researcher and is passionate about discovering and documenting the stories of her ancestors. Jes considers herself a land steward of the wild place she calls home, and when not working on the Melungeon Roots project, can be found outside tending to the native plant species she cultivates or exploring and experimenting with her two curious sons. Jes calls herself the Gathering Hag because of her propensity for gathering (and bringing inside) various natural treasures such as sticks, stones, feathers, snakeskins, bones, and vines, as well as her tendency to gather data and resources on topics of special interest. Jes lives on a small farm in the Appalachian foothills of central Ohio with her husband Tom and their children. She and her family acknowledge that the lands on which they live, work, celebrate, and heal are the ancestral homelands of the Hopewell, Shawnee, and Ofo peoples, among others.

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