Elizabeth Warren, was told, like most of us, who begat whom. this is anything but an exact science, even if we TECHNICALLY have the tools to be certain. I don't know why being certain is of such earth shattering import, but certainty seems to be the demand. There is a floating accusation that people try to use ethnicity as illegitimate affirmative action. I knew a lad who used the fact that his father never signed the birth cert, and never claimed him, to declare himself Hispanic, for purposes of entering Berkeley, but that is an isolated incident, that didn't lead to political office. Back to the topic. If your parents didn't tell you, did you test? Without testing, should you repeat what your parents told you? Are your parents rotten liars, if they are wrong on some detail? Why does any of this matter, if it is not used for the same kind of advantage as legacy affirmative action for BIFF? These accusations are in my estimation, data points, in the war to declare that if a minority is in a high place, they got there thru screwing the majority culture. And directly cost some despondent Caucasian, a place they actually deserve.
My father's family is Dutch and English.. My mother's ancestors were Scotch-Irish (Ulstermen) and American Indian.. Our records go way back and are supported by ship's manifests, birth, death and marriage records, land records and wills.
There are rumors of Indian blood in my family, too. I think most Americans have some lore like that in their background. Most of it is probably untrue, but it's hard to blame someone for believing great-grandpa. I'm a northern European mongrel -- a mix of German, English and Scottish. My dad's mom was DAR -- we have an ancestor who fought in the Revolution. So my daughters are eligible for DAR as well.
Funny how white folks have such better access to records, than say a native American, or South American refugee or such. So, the situation is custom fit for calling into question, those from a minority cultures assertions, ethnically. I am a big ole mutt. I have no proof, but what my mammaw, and papaw said. I have a total lack of family lore in general. A big black hole. I have almost no family. Family stories are sparse, and the ones people know, they don't talk about in polite company. There are secrets aplenty. I just don't care enough to test.
I'm Celtic, a real one from west/south Briton, not a fake one (scandanavian) so that means I'm descended from the moors and other north Africans who intermingled with Spaniards French and brits.
German and English. The Earliest records I found of my English side go back to the 1640's, St. Mary's City Maryland. I found a will of my ancestor (can't recall his name), and he evidently owned a sizable amount of land and property. My German side came here in in the 1850's I believe, through New Orleans. The ships manifest listed two men, two women, and a bunch of kids, all from the same family. The profession listed for the men was "economist," and one of the women was a teacher, but I don't know what "economist" meant then. They ultimately settled in south Texas. I also found that I have ancestors who served in both the confederacy and the union. Interestingly enough, one of them was a brigade major who was killed by Indians in Florida lol. If I remember correctly, he served under Andrew Jackson.
Many minorities don't have records because they were either slaves or native Americans, and the native Americans didn't keep written records of genealogy.
I have a record of my family all the way back to the 1500's, but only because I had an over zealous uncle who is so full of himself he absolutely had to document the *******n tree. I couldn't care less. oh btw Swiss German
Has anyone of you taken the 23andme test? Been planning it for about 3 years now but never made it reality. Yet. Just too expensive.
I am African-American. That's all I know and all I will identify as. However there is some obvious mixed ancestry especially on my father's side. I have been told since I was a small boy that my father's paternal Grandmother was of Cherokee descent. My father's mother didn't know her father but it is assumed he was a White man considering how light-skinned she was. There is also speculation he was Jewish considering my Grandma's mother was supposedly a maid for a Jewish family. So I have been raised with the belief that my paternal Grandparents were both biracial, both half-Black and one of Cherokee descent and the other of White and possibly Jewish. This is what I have been telling people online. Well earlier this week I took a visit to my Grandparents old property where three of my Uncles, my Dad's Brothers, were hanging out and all of these myths were questioned. First of all the three of them stated there is no basis whatsoever for claiming that my Great-Grandmother was a Cherokee Indian. They all knew her and none of them ever heard this while she was alive. They gave us a book that was a compilation of family photos including photos of my Great-Grandfather and Great-Grandmother that I was seeing for the first time. Based on my own observation my Great-Grandmother looked like a light-skinned Black woman although the picture was of poor quality. Where did these Native American rumors come from? I don't know. I'm going to have a talk with my father and get to the bottom of this. I was also surprised to see that my Great-Grandfather who I had assumed had two Black parents was listed in the U.S. Census as a mulatto. He was born about 10 years after the Civil War. So I assume his mother was a slave. What about his father? Was he White? My Grandparents lived in the country in rural Alabama where my Grandfather inherited over 200 acres of land. There is a lot of speculation about how that land came in to our family. My Great-Grandfather was a blacksmith, one of the only ones in the area apparently. I asked my Grandfather before he died who was very proud of the land how his family got it. He said he didn't know. So now I find out that not only did my Great-Grandmother have some sort of mixed ancestry my Great-Grandfather may have been biracial himself! My mother was also told that her father, whom she didn't know, was half-Cherokee, half-Black. Now she questions that as well given this revelation by my father's family about their ancestry. All of this information comes in the wake of the recent statements by Henry Louis Gates Jr. that these claims of Native American ancestry in African-Americans are overblown rumors and that such heritage is actually very rare and more likely to simply be White ancestry. Gates had a program on TV where he actually had several Black celebrities take DNA tests that determine racial admixture and it was shown that many of these celebrities had far less Native American ancestry than they thought. Some had no such ancestry at all. [video=youtube;vy11DC37u1Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy11DC37u1Y[/video] I have decided to go on Ancestry.com and take a DNA test to determine my genetic composition and learn more about my ancestors. I would like to know how much Native American ancestry I actually have and which ethnic groups in Africa I am most related to. However I have been advised by Joseph Graves that these ancestry tests are not as reliable as they are being advertised to be. I'm going to take the test. Clearly according to Graves it is not an exact science however it may be informative to a degree and I am interested so it is worth looking in to.
