 Blue Fugates

The Fugates, a family that lived in the hills of Kentucky, commonly known as the "Blue Fugates" or the "Blue People of Kentucky", are notable for having been carriers of a genetic trait that led to the disease methemoglobinemia, which gives sufferers blue-tinged skin.Martin Fugate and Elizabeth Smith who had married and settled near Hazard, Kentucky, around 1800, were both carriers of the recessive methemoglobinemia (met-H) gene, as was a nearby clan with whom the Fugates descendants intermarried.