Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
The Louisiana Redbones settled a strip of land that, for about fifteen years, belonged to no country at all; no law, no government, no census taker. That's the Neutral Strip, between Texas and Louisiana, and it's where this story starts. In this one I get into how I found my own Redbone roots, the surnames that keep showing up (Ashworth, Goins, Chavis), what the 1893 Rigmaiden Report actually said, where the name "Redbone" might come from, and how the community is different from the Melungeons and the Creoles I usually cover.
Ashworth. Goins. Perkins. Chavis. Dial. Recognize any of these surnames in your family tree? I put together a FREE surname reference for the Redbone, Melungeon, and Lumbee communities — with the counties and parishes where those families settled. Grab it here → nytonashville.com/shoplola/free-redbone-melungeon-lumbee-surnames
00:00 – Inside the Isolated World of Louisiana’s Redbones
01:31 – The Moment I Discovered My Redbone Roots
02:40 – Why "Redbone" is a Culture, Not Just an Ethnic Group
03:18 – The 1893 Rigmaiden Report: A Racial Mystery Solved?
04:52 – The Ashworths & Goins: Famous Redbone Surnames
06:22 – Inside Privateer Township: The Goins Family’s 1897 Story
08:16 – Life in the "Neutral Strip": America’s Lawless No Man’s Land
09:42 – Pirates & Outlaws: The Legend of Jean Lafitte in Louisiana
10:57 – The Genetic Riddle: Native American, European, & African Roots
12:43 – Where Does the Name "Redbone" Actually Come From?
13:37 – The Nash Family & Their Journey on the El Camino Real
14:59 – Redbone vs. Melungeon vs. Creole: What’s the Difference?
Select sources:
Albert Rigmaiden to McDonald Furman, May 6, 1893 Letter from Albert Rigmaiden, Calcasieu Parish Treasurer, writing from Lake Charles, Louisiana, to McDonald Furman in Ramsey, South Carolina. Held in the Charles James McDonald Furman Papers, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC. Finding aid: researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/collection/data/55692926
McDonald Furman, "The Name of Goins," News and Courier (Charleston, SC), April 29, 1897 Furman's letter to the editor, datelined Ramsey, Privateer Township, April 29, 1897. Transcribed at: redbonenation.com/archives/mc-donald-furman-articles
McDonald Furman, "Jim Smiling a Redbone: An Interesting Patriarch of Unique People in Privateer," The State (Columbia, SC), May 27, 1897 Furman's biographical sketch of James Edward Smiling, then about 77 years old, "the patriarch of the Privateer Redbones." Digital record: https://dsi.appstate.edu/projects/lumbee/furm001
"The Privateer [S.C.] Redbones," Sumter Watchman and Southron, May 27, 1896 Earliest of the Furman newspaper clippings on the Sumter County community. Referenced in the McDonald Furman Papers finding aid.
Neutral Ground Agreement, November 5, 1806 Signed by U.S. General James Wilkinson and Spanish Lieutenant Colonel Simón de Herrera.. Reference: J. Villasana Haggard, "The Neutral Ground between Louisiana and Texas, 1806–1821," Louisiana Historical Quarterly 28, no. 4 (October 1945).
Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, 2 Stat. 426 (1807), effective January 1, 1808 Federal law banning the importation of enslaved people into the United States, which drove the smuggling economies of the Neutral Strip and coastal Louisiana referenced in the video. Full text: loc.gov/resource/llsalvol.llsal_002/?sp=460
Marler, Don C. The Louisiana Redbones. Woodville, TX: Dogwood Press, 2003.
Marler, Don C., ed. Redbones of Louisiana. Woodville, TX: Dogwood Press, 1997.
Redbone Heritage Foundation. Ongoing scholarly and genealogical research on Redbone families, primary source transcriptions, and community history. redbonenation.com
Gilbert, William Harlan Jr. "Memorandum Concerning the Characteristics of the Larger Mixed-Blood Racial Islands of the Eastern United States." Social Forces 24, no. 4 (May 1946): 438–447.
Kennedy, N. Brent, with Robyn Vaughan Kennedy. The Melungeons: The Resurrection of a Proud People. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, revised edition 1997. C
McCallum, Brenda Hornsby. "Charles James McDonald Furman (1863–1904): An Introduction." University of South Carolina, South Caroliniana Library. https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1022&context=scs_anpgm
Haggard, J. Villasana. "The Neutral Ground between Louisiana and Texas, 1806–1821." Louisiana Historical Quarterly 28, no. 4 (October 1945). The foundational scholarly account.
"Neutral Strip." 64 Parishes (Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities). 64parishes.org/entry/neutral-strip-adaptation
Handbook of Texas Online, "Neutral Ground." Texas State Historical Association. tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/neutral-ground
McDonald, Archie P., ed. The Old San Antonio Road and the Caminos Reales: A Tri-Centennial History, 1691–1991. Austin: Texas Department of Transportation, 1991.
The Louisiana Redbones settled a strip of land that, for about fifteen years, belonged to no country at all; no law, no government, no census taker. That's the Neutral Strip, between Texas and Louisiana, and it's where this story starts. In this one I get into how I found my own Redbone roots, the surnames that keep showing up (Ashworth, Goins, Chavis), what the 1893 Rigmaiden Report actually said, where the name "Redbone" might come from, and how the community is different from the Melungeons and the Creoles I usually cover.
Ashworth. Goins. Perkins. Chavis. Dial. Recognize any of these surnames in your family tree? I put together a FREE surname reference for the Redbone, Melungeon, and Lumbee communities — with the counties and parishes where those families settled. Grab it here → nytonashville.com/shoplola/free-redbone-melungeon-lumbee-surnames
00:00 – Inside the Isolated World of Louisiana’s Redbones
01:31 – The Moment I Discovered My Redbone Roots
02:40 – Why "Redbone" is a Culture, Not Just an Ethnic Group
03:18 – The 1893 Rigmaiden Report: A Racial Mystery Solved?
04:52 – The Ashworths & Goins: Famous Redbone Surnames
06:22 – Inside Privateer Township: The Goins Family’s 1897 Story
08:16 – Life in the "Neutral Strip": America’s Lawless No Man’s Land
09:42 – Pirates & Outlaws: The Legend of Jean Lafitte in Louisiana
10:57 – The Genetic Riddle: Native American, European, & African Roots
12:43 – Where Does the Name "Redbone" Actually Come From?
13:37 – The Nash Family & Their Journey on the El Camino Real
14:59 – Redbone vs. Melungeon vs. Creole: What’s the Difference?
Select sources:
Albert Rigmaiden to McDonald Furman, May 6, 1893 Letter from Albert Rigmaiden, Calcasieu Parish Treasurer, writing from Lake Charles, Louisiana, to McDonald Furman in Ramsey, South Carolina. Held in the Charles James McDonald Furman Papers, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC. Finding aid: researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/collection/data/55692926
McDonald Furman, "The Name of Goins," News and Courier (Charleston, SC), April 29, 1897 Furman's letter to the editor, datelined Ramsey, Privateer Township, April 29, 1897. Transcribed at: redbonenation.com/archives/mc-donald-furman-articles
McDonald Furman, "Jim Smiling a Redbone: An Interesting Patriarch of Unique People in Privateer," The State (Columbia, SC), May 27, 1897 Furman's biographical sketch of James Edward Smiling, then about 77 years old, "the patriarch of the Privateer Redbones." Digital record: https://dsi.appstate.edu/projects/lumbee/furm001
"The Privateer [S.C.] Redbones," Sumter Watchman and Southron, May 27, 1896 Earliest of the Furman newspaper clippings on the Sumter County community. Referenced in the McDonald Furman Papers finding aid.
Neutral Ground Agreement, November 5, 1806 Signed by U.S. General James Wilkinson and Spanish Lieutenant Colonel Simón de Herrera.. Reference: J. Villasana Haggard, "The Neutral Ground between Louisiana and Texas, 1806–1821," Louisiana Historical Quarterly 28, no. 4 (October 1945).
Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, 2 Stat. 426 (1807), effective January 1, 1808 Federal law banning the importation of enslaved people into the United States, which drove the smuggling economies of the Neutral Strip and coastal Louisiana referenced in the video. Full text: loc.gov/resource/llsalvol.llsal_002/?sp=460
Marler, Don C. The Louisiana Redbones. Woodville, TX: Dogwood Press, 2003.
Marler, Don C., ed. Redbones of Louisiana. Woodville, TX: Dogwood Press, 1997.
Redbone Heritage Foundation. Ongoing scholarly and genealogical research on Redbone families, primary source transcriptions, and community history. redbonenation.com
Gilbert, William Harlan Jr. "Memorandum Concerning the Characteristics of the Larger Mixed-Blood Racial Islands of the Eastern United States." Social Forces 24, no. 4 (May 1946): 438–447.
Kennedy, N. Brent, with Robyn Vaughan Kennedy. The Melungeons: The Resurrection of a Proud People. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, revised edition 1997. C
McCallum, Brenda Hornsby. "Charles James McDonald Furman (1863–1904): An Introduction." University of South Carolina, South Caroliniana Library. https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1022&context=scs_anpgm
Haggard, J. Villasana. "The Neutral Ground between Louisiana and Texas, 1806–1821." Louisiana Historical Quarterly 28, no. 4 (October 1945). The foundational scholarly account.
"Neutral Strip." 64 Parishes (Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities). 64parishes.org/entry/neutral-strip-adaptation
Handbook of Texas Online, "Neutral Ground." Texas State Historical Association. tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/neutral-ground
McDonald, Archie P., ed. The Old San Antonio Road and the Caminos Reales: A Tri-Centennial History, 1691–1991. Austin: Texas Department of Transportation, 1991.
