Friday, October 19, 2018

Elizabeth Warren's - And My Own - DNA Testing

There's a lot of back and forth going on regarding the results of Senator Elizabeth Warren's DNA test results.  I've had my DNA tested by three companies, and there is less than 0.10% report of Asian/Middle Eastern DNA in my findings for all three reports, which might indicate Native American blood, but probably does NOT.  Of course, I am a woman, and my DNA results will have a large preponderance of my Mother's DNA heritage.  - And it is through my Father's maternal line that I found my 7th great-grandmother was a Native American.  The great-grandchildren of Captain James Crews produced enough evidence that they were listed in the Cherokee Tribal register as being 1/8 American Indian.  John Williamson and his siblings were admitted to the tribal rolls; their great-grandmother had been a member of a small tribe near the James River, members of the Powhatan Confederacy, and their tribe was extinct by 1690.  John Williamson was born in Henrico County, Virginia in 1694, and died there in 1762.  His daughter Judith married William Allen Lancaster (Senior), and my paternal grandmother was their direct descendant.
  Due to the quirks of DNA inheritance, and the fact that my ancient Native American blood was from the paternal side of my family, the DNA test in my case really showed that I have very little, to no Native American blood.  But I actually AM 1/1024 Native American.  It's just that in a person's 10th generation of ancestors, there are 1024 different people (unless cousins married cousins recently) - and one out of those people who are my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents was a Native American on my paternal side, from whom I received very little to zero DNA material.
  According to the released report on Elizabeth Warren's DNA, she might have Native American blood more recently than I do, but she has a snippet of complete Native American DNA in her maternal line, which I do not.  Here's an article that explains it well, with an illustration of how DNA is passed on to descendants:   https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/10/18/just-about-everything-youve-read-warren-dna-test-is-wrong/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.dbaaa5c2a466

   Enjoy!

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