Family Lore – Do We Have Native American Ancestry?

Stories are passed down from generation to generation, and like the game of telephone, something can be lost or changed in each retelling of a story. We are told that family stories have a kernel of truth, but we have to sift through all the husks to discover that kernel.

When I first began my quest to find out about my mother’s southern family, I had already heard that we had Native American ancestry. It was used to explain why I had darker skin and hair than my siblings (though my German/Irish ancestry father had dark hair, too). My mother wrote her family’s racial origins as Irish, Scots, Indian, and English. She had done no family research, so this was probably just what had been told to her.

I dutifully researched the family backward in time and got to my fourth-great-grandparents, and still no sign of any Native American ancestry. All census records stated these sixteen ancestors were white. My grandmother, Pansy Lancaster, thought her side of the family carried it. Then one day, her sister-in-law, Beryl Johnston, claimed they had Cherokee ancestry, too. If there was Native American ancestry on both sides of my mother’s lines, surely, I would have found some sign.

Enter DNA. I had my grandmother test at Family Tree DNA, first with the mtDNA test as that was all that was available when she tested in 2010. This test is for her mitochondria DNA and references her mother’s mother’s mother, etc. So, this was only a tiny portion of her ancestry. Her haplogroup came back as U5, a very common haplogroup of European ancestry.

In 2013, I ordered the Family Finder test to be run on her sample. Because this autosomal DNA covers all her ancestry, but only back four or five generations, I had hoped we would see a hint of Native American ancestry. Nope, her DNA is all from Western Europe.

Family Tree DNA for Pansy

It is still possible that through recombination the DNA from the one person who might have been Native American has been passed down to a different member of the family.

My maternal grandfather died in 1973 and my mother died in 1992, both before the start of DNA testing, so I tested at Ancestry and my DNA is completely from Europe. Of course, this includes my father’s ancestry.

Ancestry DNA for Lisa

The Lore Continues
Whenever I connect with family (distant cousins) through my blog or on Facebook, they always ask me if I have found any evidence showing Native American ancestry. The story had been passed down through their families, too. What is the cause of that? Is it having darker skin? Is the shape of the nose the cause? I have no idea.

What shall I do with this? When I write the story of the family, I will mention the family lore and then explain the lack of evidence. I do not want to continue the lore without explanation to the possibility it is just that—lore.

#52Ancestors-Week 1: Family Lore

This is my seventh year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/) at Generations Cafe. I write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.


Copyright © 2023 by Lisa S. Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family, All rights reserved.

Comments

  1. Miss MerryJanuary 2, 2024 at 10:35 AM

    We had the Native American "ancestry" in our oral history, too. I found it about 4 generations back where a cousin married a woman who was Native American. So only their children and grandchildren are actually Native American. But it was quite the story.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lisa S. GorrellJanuary 2, 2024 at 1:34 PM

      I haven't found anything like that yet, but I will keep looking.

      Delete

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