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My uncle's DNA test came back with just under 3% Native American.
Family, "lore," was that my great grandmother was part. I always thought it was just the typical family story, but when I started researching her family tree on Ancestry I did indeed find that her great grandmother had a Native American first name and an English one and then I found a forum with other descendants from that line who had her letters, family will, original paperwork for a Native American land claim, etc.
What they were debating was whether she was 1/2 or full. Her, "father," was previously married and there are no records of his, "marriage," to her, or her birth. He also had a white wife. What the other descendants had found is that there was a seasonal camp near the home of this man, and a fire or battle that left children orphaned, so they took her in and raised her as their own, which is why he is listed as her father. The other thought was that he had relations with her mother, but his age would make that more unlikely. Anyways, no one really knew for sure.
Genetically if she was full, then my great grandmother was hypothetically 12%, my grandfather 6%, and his children 3%. Obviously it doesn't work exactly that way, but with my uncle having just under 3%, it seems likely that what the other descendants speculated was correct.
Anyways, this was in 1700's Virginia in a family/families that were farmers and lived there until the 1900's when my great grandmother met my great grandfather. I am not sure about other Americans, but that is my family story confirmed by research/genetics.
My great grandmother did appear just slightly native in the pictures, in more of the way that she doesn't look 100% typically English/NW European. Not in coloring, but more so the eyes and facial shape.
Also, almost all North American Native Americans are heavily mixed with European ancestry and some even with African blood.
Really? Most Native Americans I know are full blooded. I know there are certain tribes that are very mixed though, but not every Native American is Cherokee or Pequod.
I've gone back to the early 1600s on some of my mother's colonial New England side and have found no native American blood. There was a family rumor about having native American blood but how would you even prove it? The names all sound like usual names, nothing native American sounding. No written mention of it either--just an uncle's story.
In my DNA testing by 23andMe I only came out with a tiny fraction of Asian blood and that was under Speculative. Being female, I can't even be sure that it's from the colonial American side.
The instances that I know of where a white settler married a native American occurred in those early kidnappings in which the settlers were marched off to Canada. Some of them assimilated into the tribe and were never ransomed back--often because they preferred the native lifestyle. Their descendants would probably be living in Canada.
I was just trying to help my BIL try to prove the family lore, that they had Native American on the female side of his paternal side. I quickly found out that it is nearly impossible to get this kind of information. Although his paternal side is easily traceable, the females are much harder, and Indian records are not very comprehensive.
As you probably know, the census' back before a certain point don't even list the wife's name.
I was just trying to help my BIL try to prove the family lore, that they had Native American on the female side of his paternal side. I quickly found out that it is nearly impossible to get this kind of information. Although his paternal side is easily traceable, the females are much harder, and Indian records are not very comprehensive.
As you probably know, the census' back before a certain point don't even list the wife's name.
I think it would have to be somewhat recent (whatever "recent" means in genealogical terms) for it to show up in DNA testing. I'm not good at understanding DNA--never was that interested in anything but the results! I'm fortunate that my maternal side has been here a long time and my paternal side has not. Therefore, the results that I got come from my maternal side since it's been Americans' DNA results that ours are being compared to. (My testing was done a few years ago and I don't think the DNA testing was being done by 23andMe or Ancestry overseas at that time, just in the USA.)
The records--they could also easily hide it by just changing their name to something English sounding so even if the records did show a name, you couldn't tell. Her name could be Hannah on the census but who knows if that was her original name unless you can find a birth record.
Seems like most of us will just have to accept the fact that we'll never know.
Not in my direct line, but there is some documentation of the cousin lines in one of my families having a few native american kin. Our family moved from NC to TN and MO when they were territories and native americans still populated those areas in fairly large numbers. So on the family website there are folks who say they can claim NA ancestry.
I never researched those lines deeply, but as I understand it, the census records from that time do mark them as native/Indian.
But those are two scenarios out of a family tree with dozens of branches, even at that time (1790-1820). So certainly not a high incidence in mom's family.
Dad's side: we always thought my grandmother was part native american. She had features that were viewed as similar. Did a DNA study on her and it turned out she was something like 12% middle eastern/arab...and no native. We had no clue, but I think that explains some ambiguous features.
Really? Most Native Americans I know are full blooded. I know there are certain tribes that are very mixed though, but not every Native American is Cherokee or Pequod.
The thing is how do you know they are full blooded? If were are talking about DNA they might not even know. Europeans have been running around and intermixing with a variety of Native American tribes every since Columbus. I wouldn't be surprised is most Native Americans that are believed to be full blooded actually have at least some European DNA.
Unfortunately we don't have that many DNA studies on the topic though.
French colonists tended to intermarry with Native Americans more; and many French colonists were absorbed into the Anglo population in some areas; a lot of French surnames also became Anglicized away from Quebec or Louisiana.
I have multiple members that were on the Mayflower and quite a few generations of people who lived in colonial times in America. I have very little Native American DNA -- .1%! But I'm also testing both of my parents to see if they have more because my mom's side I know did have Native American in there and she looks very NA as opposed to her English/Irish/Danish prominent ancestry. So we'll see.
I also know that Natives in general have been very hesitant to DNA test over the years, so their samples are very low. So likely most of us that think we are more Native just may be, but scientists just haven't been able to study and identify that DNA yet. I have .8% unassigned DNA which I think is at least partially Native American.
I have multiple members that were on the Mayflower and quite a few generations of people who lived in colonial times in America. I have very little Native American DNA -- .1%! But I'm also testing both of my parents to see if they have more because my mom's side I know did have Native American in there and she looks very NA as opposed to her English/Irish/Danish prominent ancestry. So we'll see.
I also know that Natives in general have been very hesitant to DNA test over the years, so their samples are very low. So likely most of us that think we are more Native just may be, but scientists just haven't been able to study and identify that DNA yet. I have .8% unassigned DNA which I think is at least partially Native American.
I need to correct a few things. Many of [us] who are registered with tribes in the US, do test on an individual basis. Even from Canada. We are not all hesitant and members from US and Canadian tribes have submitted DNA to independent studies. Indians can spit into any vial they wish.
When approached by geneticists to have core tribal members tested or the tribe en masse for ancestry testing or some research, tribal governments and elders have warded them away. They need the permission of the tribal counsel for this. After the Havasupai case, did not take long to have an effect in Indian country and a negative view of DNA testing in general.
It is a process to aggregate a groups, or in this instance a tribes DNA to be used on an ancestry panel. In this case, since they are already using Southern Indigenous DNA, more Northern would be ideal.
You have to have access to people who are virtually less than 4% in admixture. Any higher can skew samples or product false results, outliers need to be removed.
In most places the colonists saw the Native Americans as enemies, competing for the same land. They were much more likely to kill Natives than marry them, and vice versa. I had a maternal ancestor who was an English colonist in New Hampshire who was killed by a Native American, and after the Revolution, two paternal 3rd great-grandparents in Georgia who were massacred by Indians along with several of their children.
However I have Native American DNA according to 23andMe inherited from both of my parents, but we do not know what tribes they originated from. It totals just 1.4%.
This is true . At least in my case. I posted way earlier in the thread about my results but I will say one of y xxxx I cannot remember which level great grandmother of mine was the first female colonist killed by native Americans in the state of Virginia . The reason I brought this up is that they actually have what appears to be a MURAL of the incident at a museum there ! I have a copy of it . She had been born in Scotland and followed her husband there . I am not sure of all the circumstances that led up to it but from what I have been able to gather myself she was really not the type to have gone on such a journey as rough as it was in those times .
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I have a copy of it . She had been born in Scotland and followed her husband there . I am not sure of all the circumstances that led up to it but from what I have been able to gather myself she was really not the type to have gone on such a journey as rough as it was in those times .
