#Cherokee Admixed

[dnagenealogy]

Where’s my Native American DNA?

If you're perplexed about the lack of Native American DNA in your ethnicity report, you're certainly not alone! Questions about the inability to find Native American DNA come up frequently.

I’ve put together a compilation of information about Native American DNA. I hope you will follow the links to learn more.

A key point to remember: A lack of Native American DNA does NOT prove that you do not have Native American ancestry!

Question: I recently had my DNA analyzed and was surprised when the results did not show any evidence of my Cherokee connection.

My great-great-grandmother was one-fourth Cherokee (Tiptendille Tribe-TN). Would the traces of the Native American heritage be so minute that they would not be evident anymore?

Answer: The short answer is yes, the traces of Native American DNA in your test may be too small to detect.  Let’s look at why.

Anne Gillespie Mitchell

People often test to find their Native American ancestry and are disappointed when the results don’t reveal Native ancestry. This can be because:

• There is no Native ancestor. • The Native ancestor thought to be 100% was already highly admixed. • The Native ancestor is too far back in the tester’s tree and the ancestor’s DNA “washed out” in subsequent generations. • The testing company failed to pick up what might be arguably a trace amount.

Roberta Estes

I want to talk about the misperception that because Jessica’s DNA ethnicity results showed no Native, that her family story about Native heritage is false. Even worse, Jessica perceived those stories to be lies. Ouch, that’s painful.

Roberta Estes

As you proceed back generations you are less and less likely to have genetic segments from any given ancestor. So if you had an ancestor 200 years ago who was Native American, even if they were 100% Native American, you may not have any genetic segments from that individual.

Razib Khan

The Cherokee nation in the 19th century was already genetically mixed. The great chief John Ross was 1/8th Cherokee by blood quantum. That is, 1/8th of his ancestors were present in the New World in 1492.

Razib Khan

Your "full-blood" Native American ancestor may have lived so far back in time that your NA ancestor's DNA has "washed out" by the time it reached your generation.

TL Dixon

If you did have family members that were considered to be Native American, your DNA test results may not reveal any evidence of it.

TL Dixon

There’s about 5-10% chance that five generations back you wouldn’t inherit any segments from an ancestor at that remove.

Razib Khan

Everyone inherits 50% of their DNA from their parents, but not everyone inherits half of each of their ancestors’ DNA from a parent. Sometimes, the child will inherit all of a segment of DNA from an ancestor, and in other cases, the child will inherit none. In some cases, they will inherit half or a portion of the DNA from an ancestor.

Roberta Estes

Of course, the child can only inherit what the parent has inherited from that ancestor, and if that particular segment was gone in the parent’s generation, or generations before the parent, the child certainly can’t inherit the segment. There is no such thing as “skipping generations.”

Roberta Estes

Seeing examples of how inheritance works helps us understand that there is no “one answer” to the question we want to know about each ancestor – “How much of you is in me?” The answer is, “it depends” and the actual amount would be different for every ancestor except your parents, where the answer is always 50%.

Roberta Estes

DNA testing can confirm Native heritage.  It can also prove Native heritage in a variety of ways depending on how one descends from the Native ancestor(s)...  

Roberta Estes

There are three types of DNA testing that you can do to prove Native Ancestry. Two are very focused on specific family lines, and one is much more general.

Roberta Estes

DNA testing is a wonderful tool. It can connect us with cousins we’d have never found otherwise to help us reconstruct our family histories.

But in terms of “am I Native American?” “what tribe did I come from in Africa?” “am I 25% Irish?” No. No, no, no. That’s the absolute weakest aspect of DNA testing.

Judy G. Russell

I hope the information from the sources above will help you to understand your ethnicity results.

Please note that the concepts that apply to Native American DNA apply to DNA from other groups as well!

[dnagenealogy]

Where’s my Native American DNA?

If you're perplexed about the lack of Native American DNA in your ethnicity report, you're certainly not alone! Questions about Native American DNA come up frequently.

I’ve put together a compilation of information about Native American DNA. I hope you will follow the links to learn more.

A key point to remember: A lack of Native American DNA does NOT prove that you do not have Native American ancestry!

Question: I recently had my DNA analyzed and was surprised when the results did not show any evidence of my Cherokee connection.

My great-great-grandmother was one-fourth Cherokee (Tiptendille Tribe-TN). Would the traces of the Native American heritage be so minute that they would not be evident anymore?

Answer: The short answer is yes, the traces of Native American DNA in your test may be too small to detect.  Let’s look at why.

Anne Gillespie Mitchell 

People often test to find their Native American ancestry and are disappointed when the results don’t reveal Native ancestry. This can be because:

• There is no Native ancestor. • The Native ancestor thought to be 100% was already highly admixed. • The Native ancestor is too far back in the tester’s tree and the ancestor’s DNA “washed out” in subsequent generations. • The testing company failed to pick up what might be arguably a trace amount.

Roberta Estes

I want to talk about the misperception that because Jessica’s DNA ethnicity results showed no Native, that her family story about Native heritage is false. Even worse, Jessica perceived those stories to be lies. Ouch, that’s painful.

Roberta Estes

As you proceed back generations you are less and less likely to have genetic segments from any given ancestor. So if you had an ancestor 200 years ago who was Native American, even if they were 100% Native American, you may not have any genetic segments from that individual.

Razib Khan

The Cherokee nation in the 19th century was already genetically mixed. The great chief John Ross was 1/8th Cherokee by blood quantum. That is, 1/8th of his ancestors were present in the New World in 1492.

Razib Khan

Your "full-blood" Native American ancestor may have lived so far back in time that your NA ancestor's DNA has "washed out" by the time it reached your generation.

TL Dixon

If you did have family members that were considered to be Native American, your DNA test results may not reveal any evidence of it. 

TL Dixon 

There’s about 5-10% chance that five generations back you wouldn’t inherit any segments from an ancestor at that remove.

Razib Khan

Everyone inherits 50% of their DNA from their parents, but not everyone inherits half of each of their ancestors’ DNA from a parent. Sometimes, the child will inherit all of a segment of DNA from an ancestor, and in other cases, the child will inherit none. In some cases, they will inherit half or a portion of the DNA from an ancestor.

Roberta Estes

Of course, the child can only inherit what the parent has inherited from that ancestor, and if that particular segment was gone in the parent’s generation, or generations before the parent, the child certainly can’t inherit the segment. There is no such thing as “skipping generations.”

Roberta Estes

Seeing examples of how inheritance works helps us understand that there is no “one answer” to the question we want to know about each ancestor – “How much of you is in me?” The answer is, “it depends” and the actual amount would be different for every ancestor except your parents, where the answer is always 50%.

Roberta Estes

DNA testing can confirm Native heritage.  It can also prove Native heritage in a variety of ways depending on how one descends from the Native ancestor(s)...  

Roberta Estes

There are three types of DNA testing that you can do to prove Native Ancestry. Two are very focused on specific family lines, and one is much more general.

Roberta Estes

DNA testing is a wonderful tool. It can connect us with cousins we’d have never found otherwise to help us reconstruct our family histories.

But in terms of “am I Native American?” “what tribe did I come from in Africa?” “am I 25% Irish?” No. No, no, no. That’s the absolute weakest aspect of DNA testing.

Judy G. Russell

I hope the information from the sources above will help you to understand your ethnicity results.

Please note that the concepts that apply to Native American DNA apply to DNA from other groups as well!