Native American Genealogy | DNA Testing for Native American Heritage
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Many families have rumors of it, have heard it said that their mother or their fathers mother was “full blood” native American of one variety or another.
How do you find out whats real and whats fiction?Nearly all Native Americans belong to one of five mitochondrial DNA haplogroups: A, B, C, D or X and all of these are widely distributed throughout America.
Through a series of tragedies, many of the native Americans have no sort of records, or those which were there in the latter parts of the last century were destroyed.
The native Americans themselves were not well treated, and in many cases, herded onto reservations where record keeping was haphazard at best.
Additionally, in many cases, having Native American blood was a thing that was frowned on. In less open minded times, if one were able to pass as a white man or woman, in most cases they did so, leaving their heritage behind.
If you are searching for your native American roots and finding yourself at a brick wall, there are a few things you might want to try.
Several types of DNA testing exist that can assist you in finding your blood quantum and also suggest what your tribal affiliation may be.
A DNA fingerprint test will be helpful if your family history so far as Native American is not known to you at all. This type DNA testing is one of the most sensitive and can help you to find even the smallest amount of Native blood, or the “hidden” variety, when you are not aware of your ancestry.
A new study has said that about 95% of Native Americans can have their lineage traced back to only six women. The “founding mothers” are thought to have lived about 18000-21000 years ago and were part of a group living in Beringia, which is a land bridge that connected Asia and north America, long ago submerged.
If your mother is a direct descendant of another female, that is to say, your mother, and her mother and her mother, etc were native American, and your blood was passed through the female side, Mitochondrial DNA testing can produce good results and may also offer you suggestions on what your tribe may be and where they came from.
Likewise, paternal DNA testing, or Y chromosome testing will be helpful if your Native heritage comes to you from your father.
You will need to have the testing done on a near male relative however, such as a brother.If you want to trace back your Native American roots, and want to identify even a small amount of blood, perhaps DNA testing is right for you.
Learn more about your family history with the Basic Paternal Lineage Test at GeneTree.com!
August 10th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
This link has expired for the DNA testing. Please review it and correct it.
March 14th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
This link is still expired for the DNA testing. Has not been corrected since the last entry of August 10th, 2008! Please update so we can further our knowledge of our ancestors. Thanks.
June 24th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
It sounds as though people who are part Asian would have the same or similar DNA? If so, they might not be able to discern if they have NA blood.
August 2nd, 2009 at 1:10 am
My grandmother and her mom were taken before the DAWES commission back in the early 1900’s. Large group of ominous looking government people who badgered them into saying they were less indian than they were. My great grandmother was half Choctaw and half Chickasaw, but the men at the daws commission wouldn’t let them claim the Chickasaw, and would only let her claim 1/8 Choctaw. Obviously pictures of her and my grandmother show them to be very Native American in appearance. At one time before a house fire I had sworn afidavits from relatives of the great grand father which stated they were of full blood Chickasaw and brothers and cousins of his that stated in sworn afidavits he was full blood Chickasaw. Is there anyway of correcting this misdeed, and getting my family back its true identity and blood quantums? Thanks John
August 2nd, 2009 at 1:13 am
Oh the reason they threw out the blood from the father who was full blood Chickasaw is because he was already dead before the dawes commission started giving out blood quantums. Even thought his wife and her daughter were there. They would not accept information or afidavits proving the girl was actually half Choctaw and half Chickasaw.