Thomas the Melungeon: His Locust Family of Free Persons of Color Civil and Revolutionary War Patriots
by Gigi Best

Gigi’s lively historical and genealogical work, “Thomas the Melungeon,” is written for the enjoyment of youth to adult readers. This book chronicles the Lucas-Locust Melungeon family as they trace their lineage from 1646 in England to 1665 in Colonial America and then to the present day in historical context. Travel along with “Big Meat,” “Robie,” “Lamb,” “Thomas,” and other real-life family members who were Missionaries, Preachers, Teachers, Farmers, Soldiers, Merchants and indentured servants. The subjects engage the reader in a discovery of finding ancestors through military, educational, census and church records, newspapers and other primary sources. Melungeon lineage has been documented through DNA, yet their origin still fosters heated discussions, disputes and claims of Portuguese, Turkish and Native American ancestry. A Free Man of Color, Thomas Locust Fuller, enlisted in North Carolina’s 14th Heavy Artillery U.S.C.T. on his 18th birthday and struggled for years to obtain his military pension. In spite of his limited education, three of his six sons graduated from college prior to 1898 and one son, Reverend Lemuel “Lamb” Fuller received an Advanced Theology Degree from Lincoln University in 1901.