Here is a bit of information about such group of people and the mystery surrounding their origins.
Ramapough Mountain People
Photo credit: Credit Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
30 miles outside New York City, in New Jersey’s Appalachians, exists a mysterious population known as the Ramapough Mountain People. Some describe them as inbred gypsies. Others insist they are albinos sired by a circus sideshow performer. As late as 2015, people still claimed the “Jackson Whites” were an inbred lot of renegade Indians, escaped slaves, Hessian mercenaries, and West Indian prostitutes. The reality is they are the Ramapough Lenape Indians.
Many Ramapough Lenape share surnames like De Groot, De Freiss, Van der Donk, and Mann. Composed of Afro-Dutch runaway slaves and the Lenape Indians, some took their names of their masters. Others adopted the names of prominent New Yorkers to hide their ancestry. They face discrimination from all sides because they do not meet Native American stereotypes. In 1993, Donald Trump claimed “they don’t look like Indians to me.” The Ramapough Lenape even had trouble being accepted by other natives.
I have to agree with the fact that they, as a people, don't look the same as other Native Americans. You do have to wonder just what their complete ancestry is. Another of Mother Natures musteries, I reckon.
Coffee in the kitchen this morning. It's raining out on the patio.
