The "Turks" of Sumter County (shown in blue on the graphic on the right) are a quite distinct group of people.
The following two links cover part of a very very interesting exchange between Steven Pony Hill and Sue New.   Very special thsnks to both, not only for the thought and research behind this most interesting exchange, but for permitting me to put it on the web.  These reveal an aspect of our heritage about which many of us are ignorant.
Clearly many or most of the "Turks of Sumter County" are Indians
The "Turks" of Sumter County are probably dominantly American Indians.
But Joseph Benenhaley was not an American Indian!
Trading Post (paper) "Turks of Sumter"

The "Turks" of Sumter County

Wes D. White, "A History of the Turks Who Live in Sumter County, South Carolina, From 1805-1972." This manuscript paper is available at the South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208.

James W. Hagy, "Muslim Slaves, Abducted Moors, African Jews, Misnamed Turks, & An Asiatic Greek Lady: Some Examples of Non-European Religious & Ethnic Diversity in South Carolina Prior to 1861," CAROLOGUE, Spring 1993. Copies of this article may be obtained by writing the South Carolina Historical Society, 100 Meeting St., Charleston, SC 29401.   Images of this article.  Note, these images are not of high quality, are large, and will load slowly.  I will try to obtain higher quality images, and convert them to faster loading text as time permits.  My OCR software will not read these.

I am a descendant of Joseph Benenhaley. My grandmother is the daughter of Joseph Benenhaley and Polly Lowery. I have the death certificate of Joseph Benenhaley and his death is listed as April 12, 1931. I have information on the Lowery's, also, and would be glad to share any information that I have on the Benenhaleys and Lowery's. I feel that I am a relative of Sue New, but do not know how to get in touch with her. I also have a name of a person who is researching the Benenhaleys.   He was married to a Benenhaley before her death several years ago. Helen Cassady Team  27 March 2005.

The story sounds pretty accurate, but the part about the Jones's being Turks is totally wrong. The Jones, along with a lot of other surnames, are Romanian Gypsies, as I am. You know, like the one that lives on Dallas Hill. In our language, we call ourselves Ludad, or Boyash, not Ludar, as you see online. You see, they just don't know too much about us, and that's the way we like it. We refer to English and Irish Travelers, in our language, as Gudabets. And as far as the Gudabets we're related to English and Irish, alike. And the Turks you spoke of, the ones you see with the palm readers, in our language, we call them Bonaji, or Ragheads. All of the gypsies have told fortunes at one time or another. As far as surnames for the Romanian gypsies go, they are Jones, Stevens, Nichols, Lucas, Westerns, Georges, Morgans, Gilks, Stanleys, and a lot more that I just can't think of at the moment. But it is nice to see an article where someone looks like they know what they're talking about.  Joseph Jones 2/10/2005

We will add to this page as we obtian these records and manuscripts.

Anyone with information on Moors, Turks, Gypsies, or any other ethnic groups in this area please contact me.

References

This page is Copyright ©2002-2006, Frank O. Clark, Ph.D., Sue New, and Pony Hill all rights reserved, and.may not be sold, nor given to anyone who may attempt to derive profit from same.  It may be used in your family history or genealogy, for which purpose it was intended.