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The absence of Native American DNA is not proof that someone has no NA ancestors. Go back enough generations and you have many ancestors from whom you have inherited no DNA at all.
I don't really know much about DNA and how it works . . . so are you saying that over the years and years it gets diluted until there is none at all (starting with x relative to current time)?
And what does that mean in the end? Does it mean the generations of relatives you share no DNA with (because they go back too far) are not really your ancestors anymore? If they are your ancestors, based on what?
I don't really know much about DNA and how it works . . . so are you saying that over the years and years it gets diluted until there is none at all (starting with x relative to current time)?
And what does that mean in the end? Does it mean the generations of relatives you share no DNA with (because they go back too far) are not really your ancestors anymore? If they are your ancestors, based on what?
It has to do with a genetic process called recombination.
Eventually a tiny fraction of your DNA can come from only a few out of a rather large number of many distant ancestors. The DNA from the majority has been sorted out.
Yes, they are still your ancestors, even if you carry none of their DNA. You would not be here without them. They were necessary to produce all those intervening generations that resulted in your birth.
You can even see this with your own chromosomes if you use the chromosome matching feature of one of the DNA testing companies and have a parent to compare with. You can see which parts of each chromosome came from mom and which from dad. You can also see where you and other relatives share a bit of DNA that came from a common ancestor.
Each child gets roughly 50% of his genes from his Father & 50% from his Mother....
so 25% from each grandparent...
which is 12.5% from each greatgrandparent...
that is 6.25% from each greatgreatgrandparent...
which is 3.125% from each greatgreatgreatgrandparent...
which means 1.5625% from each greatgreatgreatgreatgrandparent....
so that's 0.78125% for each greatgreatgreatgreatgreatgrandparent.
Keep in mind that each child probably doesn't get exactly 50% from each parent, this is just an approximation. But it shows one generation beyond the 4 times greatgrandparent the DNA from that person will show up as less than 1% of your total ancestry.
Yes. I was disappointed. I am something like 9% less Italian than I thought I was and all of the rest of my makeup is European - nothing surprising, except the "Iberian" - had not ever heard that before and am not really clear what it means.
The percentages are largely just estimates, please don't take them literally.
I don't really know much about DNA and how it works . . . so are you saying that over the years and years it gets diluted until there is none at all (starting with x relative to current time)?
Not enough to show up on an ethnicity report, no.
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And what does that mean in the end? Does it mean the generations of relatives you share no DNA with (because they go back too far) are not really your ancestors anymore? If they are your ancestors, based on what?
Of course they are. DNA isn't everything. And you still likely have DNA from ancestors that far back, you just may not have inherited segments long enough to show up on an ethnicity report.
Without my brother being tested (same two parents for us), I would be willing to bet that he got a higher "dose" of German ancestry and I got a higher "dose" of British Isles ancestry. For one thing, he just "looks" more Germanic. He's always been interested in all things German - German history, German food, German culture, etc. Meanwhile, I "look" more English or Scottish and I have always been drawn to all things British. I wasn't at all surprised to find that though I have a German maiden name (but I also knew that three of my four grandparents were not at all German and that my other one's German ancestry had been much diluted with British intermarrying) I have predominately British DNA - I mean, like overwhelmingly so. As in, I'm a Viking (British/Scandinavian/Finnish) with a smattering of German and French ancestry.
I wish my brother would get tested so that I could see if he inherited more Germanic DNA than I did.
What evidence do you have of that? Because as far as I know, all evidence suggests there was nothing between them until years after Martha's death. It sounds to me like you've just decided, based on your bias alone, that their relationship began before Martha died.
It's bizarre for us today to think about a relationship between slave and master, but I don't see what difference her being his deceased wife's half sister makes. It's not unusual for two people to come together in their grief over a mutual loved one. Maybe she looked like Martha or reminded him of her and he was drawn to that. You seem intent on demonizing someone when you have no proof or even any evidence that it wasn't a loving, consensual relationship. While I do find the idea of a slave/master relationship unsettling by nature, that doesn't mean it's impossible that there could have been love between them.
Where did I say there was no love between them? I said no such thing. I just find it weird he was with two sisters like that.
He set her children free and provided for them, obviously there was some sort of relationship for them to acknowledge them.
Something similar happened in my family. My great great great grandfather was Jewish, the child he had with his slave/maid/concubine he named after himself (first and last name).
Obviously you didn't just have slavery going on, women's liberation hadn't happened yet and it's not like a white wife could just leave her husband because he had a concubine. I cannot imagine these women were jumping up and down happy (either the wife or the slave mistress).
There was absolutely nothing a white wife could do if her husband took a slave as mistress, and this very commonly happened in the Americas. You're trying to turn Jefferson into some sort of saintly figure who never touched anyone but Martha until she died, and just waited for Sally. Oh please.
Where did I say there was no love between them? I said no such thing. I just find it weird he was with two sisters like that.
Again, it's really not that uncommon throughout history for a man to marry his deceased wife's sister, or for a widow to marry her former husband's brother. I have several cases of it in my tree. It's really not that freaky or weird.
My husband was very disappointed when he received his 90% European 6% Slavic DNA results. His uncle documented in a letter to the family that my husband's GGGrandmother was nomadic Black Foot Indian and was cast out of the tribe when she married a while man. I bought his DNA test kit to verify the percentage of NA in his DNA. All of his family said that the DNA results are incorrect. Additionally, his 5th-6th cousins are African-American. His family denies those results, as well.
I plan to take him on a trip to the areas defined in his DNA results. Mine are similar 80% European (British Isles) and 14% Scandinavian. My relatives on my father's side were originally from Kentucky and I have African-American 5th - 6th cousins, as well. I have no problem with that.
Which is complete BS, and I'm not sure why they would even fantasize about that.
I agree. But people love to claim they're descended from royalty - usually English royal families. I find that bizarre. It reminds me of the people who claim to be descended from a Cherokee princess.
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They were necessary to produce all those intervening generations that resulted in your birth. 
