In 1820, French orphan Martin Fugate and his wife Elizabeth Smith moved onto the banks of Troublesome Creek, a beautiful area in Appalachian Kentucky. He married a red-haired American named Elizabeth Smith with a very pale complexion. This is especially true of the 'Blue People of Kentucky'. The Blue People of Kentucky A Study in Genetics: This is a colorized black and white photo of a family with some of the family members having blue skin. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek: A Novel. The Blue People of Kentucky aren't limited to Benjy and Luna. Deep in the woods of Kentucky, a fiercely private family gave birth to blue-skinned children since the 1800s. One of Martin and Elizabeth Fugate's blue boys, Zachariah, married his mother's sister. Yep, that's right. Many people wondered if there was someone that heard about these people and help them and actually there was. Oh, and they had blue skin. Lexington, Kentucky, USA. Youtube video link - Kentucky Blue People. They were known as the blue Fugates and the blue Combses. The Blue People became objects of ridicule and shame. They were varying shades of blue: Some were pale blue, others a deeper blue, and still others just had blue tinges to their fingernails and lips. 1 The Blue People Of Troublesome Creek: One of their sons, Levy, married a Ritchie girl and had eight children, one of them Luna. Stacy recalls that his father-in-law, Levy Fugate, was, "part of the family that showed blue. The Blue People of Kentucky and the Pack Horse Library Project are both fascinating historical realities that are barely understood today. The blue woman simply walked into the rural health clinic where Ruth was a nurse. The Fugate family of Kentucky has been known for their blue skin color for generations. . For more than a century, these families passed along an exceedingly rare genetic blood condition. Six generations after a French orphan named Martin Fugate settled on the banks of eastern Kentucky's Troublesome Creek with his redheaded American bride, his great-great-great great grandson was born in a modern hospital not far from . For almost two centuries, the "blue skinned people of the Fugate family" lived in the areas of Troublesome Creek and Ball Creek in the hills of eastern Kentucky. They withdrew farther into the landscape. Little did they know that their union would create shades of blue people! 4 of which were blue. Neighbors laughed at the family's blue coloring, and most avoided the Fugates. Modern Fugates Still in Kentucky Unknown to the couple at the time they both carried a recessive methemoglobinemia gene. A 5.5 page activity titled the blue people of troublesome creek focuses on the blue fugates of kentucky. Martin Fugate came to Troublesome Creek (near Hazard) from France in 1820 and… well… he happened to be blue. Blue People. The color of their skin was so shocking for normal people to see, that they chose to stay hidden away from the rest of society in their small community. As the story goes, Martin Fugate, a French orphan, settled on the banks of eastern Kentucky's Troublesome Creek around 1820 to claim a land grant. Blue skin caused by genetics. All them old fellers way back then was blue. The Fugate family of Kentucky once lived in the isolated community of Troublesome Creek. In Irish-Scottish Gaeilge (or Gaelic), people of African descent were historically referred to as the fir gorum, or blue men. Fugate Family: The Blue People of Kentucky The Fugates and the met-H gene they passed for generations can teach us a valuable lesson about genetics and understanding disease. Why the Fugate family has blue skin? Madison Cawein, a hematologist from the University of Kentucky came down to troublesome Creek in the 1960's to cure the blue people, Martin Fugate's descendants had multiplied their recessive genes all over the Cumberland Plateau. by Kim Michele Richardson. In the 1960s, a young doctor named Madison Cawein just moved to Lexington, Kentucky, when he started hearing rumors about people with blue skin living in the. What was the cause of this? Then something happened. Feb. 22, 2012, 11:35 AM EST. Jodie Jantz. Created July 24, 2019 by. Old color photographs of the family clearly show about half of the members to have a distinct cobalt blue skin color, while the other have regular white skin color. The condition is called methemoglobinemia, which is a disorder that reduces the amount of oxygen in the blood and body tissues . Martin Fugate was a French orphan who married a woman named Elizabeth in the year 1820. Students should already be familiar with pedigrees before doing this in class. In fact an entire family from isolated Appalachia were blue. In the isolated hollows of rural Kentucky, they were known as the blue Fugates and the blue Combses. They were like any other 1800s family… except they liked inbreeding. Both of them were carriers of the recessive methemoglobinemia (met-H) gene, and coincidentally, so was a nearby clan who had members that married and had children with Fugate descendants. Sep 10, 2008. . The blue people of Kentucky and the deaf of Martha's Vineyard illustrate the dilution of genetic disease. Yep, that's right. This gene changed the pigmentation of their children's skin making it appear as a blueish hue. Get it as soon as Tue, Feb 1. Settling in the remote and isolated hills of Kentucky, there weren't a lot of other people nearby, and . Background info • In normal blood hemoglobin is an abundant protein that carries oxygen. HowStuffWorks/Library of Congress In the isolated hollows of rural Kentucky, they were known as the blue Fugates and the blue Combses. Meet the Fugates… • Martin Fugate had methemoglobinemia. abcnews.com. There lived a family in the hills of Kentucky, the Fugate family back in the day. He was a stowaway, came over to the United States, and he eventually settled in kind of a really remote area of Appalachia on the banks of Troublesome Creek. Page Contents. The Blue People of Kentucky are still discussed, but less is known about. Address: Troublesome Creek, Kentucky, USA The OIYS Visitor Center legend of the Kentucky blue people Name: Rishab Jain, Date: December 19th, 2020 Kentucky Blue People Pedigree Practice Blue People of Kentucky Ruth had never been as astonished as she was the day she encountered the first of the "blue people" from Troublesome Creek. The best-documented of these is the Blue Fugates of Kentucky. Shame, psychological trauma, and discrimination resulted in the Blue People of Kentucky isolating themselves from the rest of society. The Blue People of Kentucky, also known as the Blue Fugates, have long been of scientific interest. Most stories about the blue people of Kentucky include an eerie, compelling drawing of a family, with the stark faces of 5 of the 9 members a striking bluish-gray, due to an inherited disease. This is a 3-minute video to introduce the phenomena of "Blue" people. They were able to thrive, well into the 20 th Century. The people that have this are simply known as "blue people". But the Fugates' story still offers a window into a . Source: www.pinterest.com. They are widely known as the "Blue People of Kentucky." If you are interested in more oddities or weird places i n Kentucky, we have covered some unique history, theories, and facts over the years. $4.99. Contents 1 Ancestry 2 In popular culture 3 See also Six generations after a French orphan named Martin Fugate settled on the banks of eastern Kentucky's Troublesome Creek with his redheaded American bride, his great-great-great great grandson was born in a modern hospital not far from where the creek still runs. Blue skin. Bizarre Buffet Podcast. There is no official record documenting that Martin was actually blue, but he and his wife both carried a recessive gene that gave their son Zachariah Fugate a startling blue color. This may explain why a particular musical style often associated with an African-American influence is called "the blues.". For nearly 200 years, the Fugates — known as the blue people of Kentucky — remained largely sealed off from the outside world as they passed their blue skin from generation to generation. Supernatural, Folklore. The Blue People of Kentucky are still discussed, but less is known about methemoglobinemia, an extremely rare genetic trait that caused the blue color of their skin. John Stacy still lives on Lick Branch of Ball Creek. In 1936, tucked deep into the woods of Troublesome Creek, KY, lives blue-skinned 19-year-old Cussy Carter, the last living female of the rare Blue People ancestry. Blue skin. 200bluepeople.jpg / 432Walters.jpg / 432agyriawarning.jpg / 432jacobs.jpg / The True Story of the Blue People of Kentucky By: Dave Roos | Nov 8, 2021 The Fugate and Combs families of Kentucky (not pictured) had blue-looking skin thanks to a rare genetic trait. The two got married and settled down in the sleepy town of Troublesome Creek in the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky. At levels of between 10 and 20 percent a person can develop blue . Martin Fugate, a French orphan, married a woman named Elizabeth around 1820. Though Martin was visibly blue, Elizabeth was described to . Luna married John E. Stacy and they had 13 children. He scoured the area around Hazard, Kentucky, trying to find the blue people but to no avail until Patrick and Rachel Ritchie, a brother . For more than a century, these Appalachian families passed along an exceedingly rare genetic blood condition that turned their skin a disarming shade of blue. methemoglobinemia, an extremely rare genetic trait that caused the blue color of their skin. The Blue Fugates. Inspired by the true and historical blue-skinned people of Kentucky and the dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek provides an authentic Appalachian voice to a story of hope, heartbreak and raw courage and shows one woman's strength, despite it all, to push beyond the dark woods of Troublesome Creek Today we will be talking about one of my favorite subjects! Plus, learn about other genetic conditions.. Life for the Blue people of Kentucky was not a dance on roses. $7.99 $ 7. Paperback. Kentucky Blue People - Video. Embarrassed by their bluish hue, the families retreated even further from society, which only exacerbated the problem. From around 1820 through the mid 1900s there were some very unusual-looking people living in an isolated area of Eastern Kentucky. Curing the Kentucky Blues Dr. Madison Cawein was a hematologist at the University of Kentucky Medical Center when he heard stories about the blue people of Troublesome Creek. 99 $15.99 $15.99. Painting by Walt Spitzmiller. Explore this storyboard about Health, University of Kentucky by HowStuffWorks on Flipboard. The story of an Appalachian malady, an inquisitive doctor, and a paradoxical cure. The Fugates, a family that lived in the hills of Kentucky, commonly known as the " Blue Fugates " [1] or the " Blue People of Kentucky ", are notable for having been carriers of a genetic trait that led to the blood disorder methemoglobinemia, which causes the appearance of blue-tinged skin. 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