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Dude, my brother and I are as White physically as any other, and yet we have cards saying we are 1/256 Cherokee. I don't know if these cards prove we have that ancestry, but 1/256 is extremely insignificant and the same as 0.00390625.
I don't know why we have the cards or how. We are White Americans with a European last name.
I'm not sure how they can say that you have cherokee blood in you as many ''races'' share the same haplogroup and i doubt that there are enough subclades produced over the last 500 years from the Native North American haplogroup to destinguish which tribe some one is.
HIstorically there are a couple of different things to consider. The first black slave was living in what was to become the American colonies before 1600, and within 50 years nearly every Dutch farmer on Long Island had slaves that were generally well treated. It was very unlike the South before the Civil War,
Before the Indian Removal Act there was little if any marriages between tribes because the tribal elders didn't believe in it. Even today, those who keep the ond ways, still do not believe in it.
I don't see how any black slave could get free long enough to cohabit with any Indian girl. AFter the Trail of Tears many things changed - the first one being the Indian was forced into the white man's world out of necessity.
I think we have to know a lot more about the who, what, why, where and when before we paint any group with a broad brush.
I don't know why we have the cards or how. We are White Americans with a European last name.
I believe 1/256 means your sixth generation great-grandfather was full blood. It may not be sucn a bad to know as Diabetes is high in persons o of Indian descendt accroding to my Cherokee friend. .DNA is the science of probabilities, it is not proof. There is much to learn about DNA and the human body.
On that note, are there any genetic tests that I could take to actually find out if I carry any Cherokee DNA?
Have a Y-DNA test done to see what haplogroup and subclades you carry.
Native Americans/Amerindians carry the Haplogroup Q/Q3 by over 90% and a tad bit of Haplogroup C in which these are only found in the Americas (North, Central, South) and the far eastern region of Russia and not found in Europe or Caucasian European descendants unless there has been intermixing by your relatives going back several hundred years ago.
So take a Y- DNA haplogroup test and that will tell you for sure .
...I don't see how any black slave could get free long enough to cohabit with any Indian girl. ....
I would think that runaway slaves and black slaves purchased by native Americans would account for it. My recollection is that the Seminoles and the Lumbees were not loathe to assimilate blacks.
are there any genetic tests that I could take to actually find out if I carry any Cherokee DNA?
There are DNA tests you can take but they will not tell you your tribal affiliation.
I've always known that I had ndn heritage but with all the wannabes, I decided to have DNA testing done. My ndn heritage jumps the sex line ~ from me (female) to my father to his mother. So I had what's called ethnology testing done and it gave me a % of ndn blood and I was surprised that it was even more than I thought.
DNA testing will not get you enrolled in a tribe, but it will tell your if your on the right path. Old fashion genealogy is the only proof positive to identify tribal heritage.
I will also tell you that working ndn heritage from the Southeastern tribes that may or may not have been on the Trail of Tears and on the Dawes rolls is very very difficult. My ancestor in question disapears after the 1860 census and dosen't reappear until 1900 bring along an adult illegitimate son his father would have been a full blood indian and his mother a mixed blood. The son was my grt grandfather and his mother my gr gr grandmother. This has been our family's brick wall for generations. I still work on it today, and I will tell you there were many many ndns that hid or returned to the SE and were never enrolled.
And one more thing, many people will say Cherokee but it very well could be another tribe. Examine why you want to know and decide if you want to spend the money. Good Luck
There were many opportunities for mixture betwwen Native-Americans and whites and Blacks east of the Mississippi. Many tribes from New England and south were decimated by wars, white encroachment, and disease and subsequently mixed with free Blacks and whites. Many escaped slaves and free Blacks took Native American spouses.
My Great-great granmother was from one of the eastern tribes and I am African-American.
So, how many times do each of you guys hear from people "Oh, I'm 1/16th cherokee" or something similar. Do you guys actually think its true? I don't honestly. Perhaps it is true for a small number of Americans, but nearly every blonde/blue-eyed person I speak too swears they have a native american great grandmother.
The people saying these things show no signs of that ancestry, and in much of a America, during the 19th century, it was a considered a blight on your social status to marry a native american, which would of course deter whites from breeding with them.
I, too, am part of one of those families that swears that my great great grandmother was a Cherokee......I have done extensive research on all my family lines and have found nothing to indicate that we have any Cherokee ancestry in us. That great great grandmother of mine has a Scottish surname and one of her branches reached back to Germany, though.
On that note, are there any genetic tests that I could take to actually find out if I carry any Cherokee DNA?
I think some people fall in love with a historically recent mystique about being Native American.
Heritage goes a lot deeper than skin tone and being "1/16th cherokee" only provides some clue as to some family ethnic dynamics. If your family history is predominantly German (for ex.) and you find you have a swish of cherokee, this definitely adds to the "drama" of genealogical research.
Being blond and blue eyed does not assure an entirely "white" ethnic background. I think a lot of people are just truly fascinated to learn about the different parts of their heritage and no matter how minute the "blood quantum" they're eager and excited to point it out.
One thing is for sure: no one chooses their ancestry. We are who we are. They were who they were. We have to accept who we find.
People are interested about finding ancestors despite how much or little percentage they are now of us. They link us to the past and bring history alive in our minds.
All the history we learned in school becomes more "real" when we can imagine ordinary people like ourselves living through those times. That's one of the main reasons I do genealogy. It's not about percentages!
My wifes, grandmother was 100% Ojibwa/Cree. She never knew, till one day I was browsing in her family albums and wonder who the female native was. She never met that woman, but knew it was her grandfathers wife. She could recall her grandfather from early child hood.
To look at her you could never tell she wasn't that pale blue the English get to be from no sun. I never bothered to figure out what % she and her sisters are.
If it matters any, this was on her fathers side.
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