Why your Great Great Great Grandmother May Not Be Cherokee

So many people believe that they have a (usually) female ancestor who was a member of the Cherokee Tribe. They describe the grandmother as full or half blooded and that this is a story they have been told and has been passed down in the family for generations. I belong to two Facebook groups who do free genealogy for people who believe they are Cherokee by descent. Cherokee Indian Genealogy and Cherokee Indians Research and Genealogy  each are contact daily by people who ask for their help. I would have to guess that 90% of the people who claim they have Cherokee ancestry are proven wrong. Some take the news rather well, but often times the reaction is one of anger as if some important part of them has been ripped away. We have 64 great x 4 grandparents, 128 5x and 256 6x great grandparents, but for some reason that 1 out of 64 or 128 or 256 holds more importance than the other 63, 127 or 255. 

A lot of people are turning to DNA to prove their Native ancestry. But again, the further back you go, you Native DNA is going to be more and more diluted. I have seem many people claim to be related to Pocahontas, she might be their 12x grandmother, that one Native out of 2048 ancestors. That far back it is unlikely that any DNA will show up on your test. 

But what if it does? Does this mean that your family was correct in claiming Grandma was Cherokee? No it doesn't. The video, below, explains why Grandma, who might very well have been a Native American, might not be Cherokee, she might be from some other tribe. Remember DNA cannot pinpoint tribal affiliation, only that your ancestor was native to Americas, including, Middle America, South America and Canada.



This video is by RF Genealogy, and is hosted here with his permission. I found it very insightful and it goes along in explaining why Grandma just might not be Cherokee. See his youtube video channel here.
















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