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My Native American DNA traces appear using HomeDNA. Historically migrations in the Americas occurred before written history and in my family we have lost our oral history.
Using Home DNA I have some genetic material left but am wondering which is from my Saponi ancestor and which is from my Cherokee ancestor.
2.8% Central American and 1.1% Western South America. I have searched to see if anyone has addressed this issue and have yet to find any information. I have no known ancestors from these regions and I feel this is due to migration patterns.
If anyone knows which DNA is which I would appreciate hearing from you. Thank youTen years ago, the opinion was that it was impossible to differentiate the DNA of one tribe from that of another. There’s a lot more knowledge of haplogroups in various NA populations now. Use Google or AI to find those articles. And take them with a grain of salt. I was told ten years ago I had a trace of Native American DNA, now they’re telling me it’s Coptic Egyptian. All of which does make sense in the Mediterranean side of my family, who were Christian Orthodox, as were the Copts.
Also keep in mind if you’re talking about ancestors six or seven generations ago, any identifying DNA could easily have been lost along the way.
Why do you think you’re from both Cherokee and Saponi people? Family stories? Location?
Also, keep in mind that having what we now call “Latinx” ancestry would readily be something stigmatized in America and kept a secret. Or, a few years from now, the DNA reports will report those traces as something entirely different. The same holds true for records of Native blood in what’s now called America. Just rumors of native blood would be enough to get a family kicked into the ‘white trash can.’ Hence, the destruction of records, also, the prevalence of divided family trees. Schisms occurred among mixed-blooded families for generations between those who could escape the rumors, and those who could not.
Exploring the genealogy of your family, and the history of those tribes present in the areas your family is known to have lived may be more be more enduringly helpful than the DNA companies. They are notorious for telling people what they want to hear.
Thank you for getting back to on this topic. I started doing traditional genealogy research in 1973. When it became available I began using DNA in general and then focusing on my Y DNA, mitochondrial DNA and Autosomal DNA.
I have used a number of DNA tests and there is quite a lot of variation in interpretation.
The granddaughter of Gilbert Deer and Amy Morton claimed to have Native American Ancestry (part of an oral history by multiple lines). This family resided in Pittsylvania Virginia (Saponi lands) in the middle to late 1700’s. After Gilbert,s death Amy married Champness T Austin. Joanna their daughter married Lewis Fletcher Murphy (my line).
My possible Cherokee roots are linked to the marriage of Lewis Graham’s grandson (Arthur Augustus Graham) born in Haywood County NC 1843. He married Cynthia Henderson in Knox County Tennessee.
My most distant ancestor was Lewis Graham whose Y DNA traces back to the Bamileke people of Cameroon. The grandson married a descendent of Nancy Ann Cooksey who some believe was of Cherokee ancestry as she was born in “Indian Lands”. That would be Arthur Augustus Graham who married Cynthia Elizabeth Henderson. Cythia’s mother was a Capps whose mother was a Mary Ann Cooksey.
(Also I am connected to the Overtons of Virginia and my aunt had Senegalese DNA show up on Ancestry (Senegalese DNA).
On the Y chromosome there are on the Big Y test has 700 measures. We have 23 chromosomes with lots of segments to consider. I am in the process of having a distant cousin test with HomeDNA to see which DNA we match on.
My family never acknowledged our African heritage and claimed we descended from a Graham from Scotland. The Cherokee information came from the granddaughter of Arthur J Graham who self declared he was a Cherokee and is backed up by one document so far.
So I have location, oral tradition and possibly DNA to link myself to the above mentioned groups. Now I am looking for Autosomal DNA matches of distant relatives using multiple sites.
Thank you for your post. This starts the discussion I had hoped to begin with my post.Once again there is 2.8% DNA from Central America and 1.1% DNA from Western South America in the HomeDNA analysis of my DNA. My African DNA is down to .9% Bougainville.
My DNA is on a number of sites including Ancestry, FTDNA and MyHeritage. Using these sites I am in the process of looking for segments of DNA from distant relatives starting with Family Finder FTDNA who also believe they have any of the aforementioned ancestry.
If anyone on these sites puts my name in and finds we are distantly related this could lead identifying Native American Ancestry/DNA. Happy HuntingWow. Your work is inspiring. Glad you’ve had the wherewithal to employ all those DNA sites. Which do you think is the most detailed in detecting ethnicity? HomeDNA?
Do you have a sense there were those schisms in your family as a result of those distancing themselves from any hint they failed the one-drop rule?
There seems to be a lot of variation in tests and I am not even 100% convinced HomeDNA is totally accurate. FTDNA uses self reported locations of ancestors which is problematic and there is a lot of variation between Ancestry and FTDNA.
Yes my explanation of why my family migrated west was due to racial prejudice. When S K Graham was murdered, a son of Lewis Graham the shooter was acquitted by the white jury. Guess I could say at least there was a trial.
In 1906 there was a trail concerning a line from Jeffery Graham and attendance to a white school in Buncombe County NC. The children were kicked out of the school. While my relatives prevailed the Klan and others threatened to tar and feather the whole family and run them out of the county. This family relocated to Tennessee shortly thereafter if I remember correctly.
From Arkansas my line went to Colorado and others went to Oklahoma. My great grandmother wanted the children to go to school.
My possible Saponi line had a branch that also ended up in Oklahoma. Some how that line hooked up with the Creeks. The second generation split so that Gilbert Deer’s male surnames used today are Deer, Dear and Deere.
Joanna Deer, my line married into the Murphy line and left Virginia. I just recently had contact with Joanna’s sister’s line and have not processed that information into my thinking.
I am hoping anyone who thinks they are of Saponi origin at least check for an autosomal genetic match to me on FTDNA or ancestry. I have put a half dozen kits into GEDMatch and am working on getting 3 more from Ancestry and 2 or 3 from FTDNA.
I am coming to the end of my trail and I am working to establish as factual a base of my family lines as I can. It is deeply appreciated you have taken time to correspond with me. Thank youDo you know if the children in Buncombe county appeared to be POC, or if it was just rumored that they had that ancestry?
The Buncombe County Graham’s were listed as POC. One son of Lewis was able to pass but the rest were considered FPOC. That included my line. My line would be as follows Lewis Graham FPOC, Marvel or Movell Reaves Graham FPOC and Arthur Augustus Graham 1843-1915 who passed.
Arthurs first wife was a Henderson (Capps to Cooksey) his second was an enrolled Choctaw and his third was white and it appears her family disowned her for marrying my great grandfather. This indicates to me Arthur might not have been considered White by the entire community. Arthur’s youngest son checked white and Native American on his WWI enlistment papers.
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