Got some very interesting family DNA results: Updated

[backtoblue]

Last edited Tue Apr 30, 2019, 11:46 AM - Edit history (1)

My little sister bought a DNA kit for my grandmother recently.

She has always told us that her grandmother was full blooded Cherokee. All of her siblings have believed the same.

Turns out there is no trace of native american.

There is however...2% middle eastern.

This is awesome because my grandma is the Fox-aholic who sits on the couch and repeats all the racist crap that she hears.

Her reaction was complete and total shock. She got on her iPad and started looking at maps of the region. Her whole demeanor has changed! It's amazing to witness this transformation.

There's still hope for hearts that carry hate. I swear it feels like a ton of weight has been lifted from my family now. Completely different environment in her house!





.........
Update: Some of my grandmother's siblings say there used to be rumors that their grandmother was a Syrian immigrant who pretended to be Cherokee. (Possibily to hide from racism)

I know the test could be wrong but the coincidence is just amazing and almost poetic in irony.

New life adventures are freaking awesome! Thank you all for going down the rabbit hole with me this past year. I hope I'm not driving everyone nuts with my obsessive posting lately.

[femmedem]

1. If she's been judging Elizabeth Warren, this might change how she feels about her, too.

Congratulations on having your family member back!

[chia]

2. + 1000

[backtoblue]

3. Oh absolutely!

That was one of the first conversations we had afterwards.

We have argued over Warren so many times that I gave up trying to get through to her. It's very hard to love someone so much but despise their beliefs.

The hard look in her eyes is a little bit softer.

She's still not the sweet, cookie-making grandmother, but this is a HUGE step for her.

[Kurt V.]

50. +1

[Apollo Zeus]

4. Is this her grandmother on her father's side?

CW is that we get half of our genetic info from each parent but it doesn't really work that way. A woman can't get any of the genetic info / influence that is on the Y chromosome. And the further back you go the greater the number of relatives whose genetics lost out in all the pairings.

[backtoblue]

6. That's interesting

It was her maternal grandmother.

[Apollo Zeus]

16. one of my relatives just did 23andMe

and there were no surprises. It was kind of a let down.

Mapping the human genome has prompted some interesting new theories:

[backtoblue]

18. Will watch in a bit

The desire to be "superior" vs the desire to "belong". Then there's the desire to be unique.

Maybe one day people can stop using their blood links as an excuse to hate each other. We're all cousins.

[backtoblue]

15. I forgot to say welcome to DU!!

[Merlot]

20. Does this mean that your DNA results are only from the maternal side?

there are stories about people who find out their fathers aren't actually their biological fathers. Does it take more than one siblings DNA to come to that conclusion?

For example, if you were told your father was German but there was no German in your DNA, he could still be your father?

[Apollo Zeus]

24. No this is women don't get anything at all from a large section of their father's Y chromosome

so there may be less influence from the father's side.

>>if you were told your father was German but there was no German in your DNA, he could still be your father?

Absolutely yes. Two reasons: 1) tying DNA to modern european geographical boundaries is dubious, and 2) if he passed only DNA that does not get id'd by 23andMe as "Germanic" then they would say 'no German.'

If we think of genetic recombination as being like 23 coin flips with only one gene winning each one then we see why sibilings tend to average around 50% genetic overlap.

>>the chromosomes in cells line up in pairs and exchange bits of genetic material before forming an egg or sperm cell. Each mature egg and sperm then has its own specific combination of genes—which means offspring will inherit a slightly different set of DNA from each parent.<<

From (good overview and answers why sibliings get different results): https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/03/dna-ancestry-test-siblings-different-results-genetics-science/

[Merlot]

33. Got it, and thanks for the link.

There is a missing link in my family tree - my maternal grandfather. I've thought of taking the DNA test to see if I could get a clue about his origins. I would also not be surprised if there was "unexpected" results in my paternal side.

[rusty fender]

58. I'm female

and my brother and I have very close dna pairings, not identical, but very close. So Did we get roughly equal parts dna from both parents

[eShirl]

42. she gets an X chromosome from dad tho

dad gives either X or Y right?

[gopiscrap]

46. welcome to DU

[Brainstormy]

5. EXACTLY the same thing

happened in my family. My sister had always claimed that our grandmother claimed Native American blood. My husband's family always said that his maternal great grandmother was half Cherokee. Neither my kids' nor my own DNA results showed a shred of Native American ancestry. I did turn up a half brother who turned out to be a dick, but his kids seem nice, so there's that.

[backtoblue]

9. I'm thinking about doing one myself

I was firmly against giving my DNA to strangers before. Honestly, I still don't trust that DNA won't be used for nefarious reasons some day.

My sister had hers done first and so their information has been connected together. I figure since they already put it out there that our family line is now in a database. I'll eventually be traced anyways...

[Brainstormy]

44. You pays your money and you takes your chances

there's a risk, as was my case, of turning up some complicated and not entirely happy stuff in the family tree. But I don't worry about the DNA any more than I worry about blood type or fingerprints. I don't intend to do anything that will hold up under appeal.

[barbtries]

30. We've believed for some time

that my older brother and sister (different biological father) were part Cherokee. Their DNA suggests otherwise. HOWEVER, I still believe they have indigenous blood though it may not be Cherokee after all. My (their) grandmother told me herself that she spent part of her childhood at a reservation in Salinas, CA. A quick google search revealed that there were local CA tribes in that area. So what it looks like now is that my brother and sister are part native Americans, whose DNA has not yet been mapped.

The science of DNA is still evolving. Ancestry.com initially reported to me that my DNA indicated a connection to Scandinavian areas of the globe, highlighting Finland on the map. But I knew my maternal grandmother was Swedish. It was sort of discombobulating. Then Ancestry.com updated their algorithm, the database grew, and they sent my updated results. 27% Swedish.

with Helix, the DNA project associated with National Geographic, I learned that I am part Neanderthal, so that was cool. Otherwise no real surprises and disappointingly completely white.

[nocoincidences]

7. An Osage friend of mine

told me White People always seem to claim some Cherokee blood.

NA people hear it all the time.

[MosheFeingold]

11. I live literally on the edge of the Mescalero Apache reservation

My neighbor says he knows someone is telling the truth when they admit Comanche, because the Comanche were apparently assholes to everyone (especially Apache) and no one voluntarily admits to it.

[csziggy]

34. Especially Southerners seem to claim some Cherokee

Considering how the early whites treated the Cherokee, maybe it is some kind of "white man's burden" thing.

Some of my Mom's cousins claimed that they came from a Cherokee great grandmother but that myth was not passed down in Mom's family. When Mom's DNA was tested she showed no Native American at all - but both my sister and I do. So now we're trying to figure out if Dad's side might have had NA ancestry - if there was it had to be way back during the 1600s or 1700s since the family tree has been well documented pretty much back that far other than the lines that came from England and Wales in the 1800s.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. Similar story with my sister's kids.

Their father always said there was a Cherokee grandmother or great grandmother. DNA test shows no such thing. The father still swears there really is the Cherokee ancestor.

All four of my grandparents came from Ireland and the only interesting thing from my DNA test is a tiny amount of Sardinian DNA.

[backtoblue]

12. My sister's results showed 1% Papuan...

That didn't show up in Grandma's.

My sister is so white she glows in the dark and her hair is ridiculously light blond. The remainder of both their DNA is Irish and English.

That was interesting too because Papua is a small tribal island. From what we read, Irish criminals were shipped Australia. Papua is right there so we think thats the link between the two.

I like to imagine that my Irish ancestor fell in love with a Papuan and had some kids. My gut believes that it was probably a forced relationship...

Edit to add:. Holy moly my sister is an alien.

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-26/dna-of-extinct-human-species-pacific-islanders-analysis-suggests/7968950

[skamaria]

48. There's alot of redheaded Paupauans!(per google images)

Those Irish lads must have been very busy boys!

[backtoblue]

49. Lol

I learned about the sent-Irish-troublemakers-to-Australia from a wine bottle. LMAO

19 Crimes

My family tree didn't throw it's apples very far


It sounded better to just say "we read it somewhere".
Better than "I thought the wine bottle instructions all said...Drink me" who knew?

[catrose]

25. I won't swear my math skills are great, but I remember figuring out that 3% NA

meant something like a full-blood great-grandparent. My DNA showed 3% NA, but my son showed none. So it doesn't take that many generations to wipe out a heritage. I'm also 3% Jewish, but my son has none.

[MosheFeingold]

10. Middle Eastern

Hate to break it to you, but unless you are a very recent immigrant, odds are you are still part of a Tribe.

Shalom.

[backtoblue]

13. Probably

Im just so happy at her reaction.

[Mollyann]

14. Love This

My husband always thought he had NA in his line. His DNA test did not show any NA ancestry, but this man from "one drop" Mississippi found he was 4 to 6 percent subsaharan African. It has made him a better person, but still won't tell his Trumper son ( my stepson). Both of our sons think it is cool and would love for their half sibling to find out.

[backtoblue]

17. Ive wondered if the reaction is common

Someone goes their whole life hating a group of people for whatever stupid reason. Then to find out that they are actually part of that same group.

I wonder if anyone ever gets their results back and go "Damn, I hate myself!"

[GeoWilliam750]

21. "Be careful of who you hate, because it might be somebody you love"

[chowder66]

19. Mine showed 1% ashkenazi jewish, then they updated it and it no longer showed that. nt

[DonaldsRump]

29. Ditto for me

I told everyone about having a small percentage of Ashkenazi Jewish DNA, and then 23 and Me changed the results to remove it. They literally had it down to a specific great x 6-grandparent, and then changed the result. That tells me a lot about the accuracy of results of tests like this.

I'm pretty dubious about the accuracy of this. I'm also concerned about the privacy issues with these tests. In some ways, I regret doing it.

[chowder66]

35. I've waffled a bit about doing it but it actually became extremely important that I did take it.

It knocked out some doubt about a family member. I needed to know this more than I did anything else.
And yet It also has led me to verify some genealogy lines I've been working on for years but wasn't sure if I was on the right path.

I think assessing the dna and linking members can be tricky so I view the DNA make up with slight caution because they are always reassessing it as more and more people submit their samples. Also, I think they use the trees of others to see where they say someone is from but the DNA may prove otherwise so it's the tree that is incorrect or the story the ancestor passed down, saying where they were from, that is incorrect or something along those lines.

[QED]

22. Mine, via my sister, was no surprise but I have a "new" cousin!

He found out that who he thought was an aunt was really his mom - I'm not sure how all the rest came about but, he's been welcomed into the fold. The cool thing is that he's gay and progressive - in a family that is mostly evangelical and Trump loving. But he's loved and accepted and someone I can commiserate with about IQ45. And he loves dogs. Am I lucky or what?

[vlyons]

23. The truth is that we are all basically cousins

Our DNA is so close that we homo sapiens are all basically cousins. Humans have been moving around this old planet exchanging DNA for 10s of thousands of years, including a little Neanderthal in out heritage. Except for south Africans, whose ancestors never left Africa. No matter our color, language, culture, or country of origen, we are all 100% plug compatible.

[blm]

26. Families believe the family legends. More people are realizing that

their stories are not so different from Elizabeth Warren’s family experience.

[MaryMagdaline]

31. Yes. We were told fables by our parents, who believed them as much as we did

(Speaking of my family in particular).

[samnsara]

27. we had the same results about the Cherokee Heritage..it made sense tho...my moms family is from

..Oklahoma. WOW your grams family were..... immigrants! GASP.




Congrats on the good news.

[backtoblue]

43. Just had a conversation with my mom

She was talking to one of her uncles (Grandma's brother). He said there were always rumors that their grandmother was from Syria and she pretended to be Cherokee. She never signed up with the tribe, even though she was dirt poor. Never made sense before because she would've gotten help if she did sign up.

This mystery is pretty darn amazing to think about.

A possible scenario:

Syrian immigrant comes to the US and pretends to be NA...Why? to fit in? to escape prejudice?

It's astonishing to see the irony in this.

[SilasSouleII]

28. Does this mean

She's "Woke"?... Seriously, would this be an instance of a good use of this term? It's new to me but maybe just new in general.

[backtoblue]

32. I would say yes

As far as having an experience that changes your learned belief system, I think so.

I hope it sticks whatever it is!

[WePurrsevere]

36. That's great that she's accepting of the results & changing. As for the NA missing...

There's still a chance that there were NA ancestors, they're not showing up in one's DNA.

First of all the ethnicity part of a DNA test isn't a perfect science yet. The DNA matches are but not the ethnicity.

Second the more distantly you're related the less likely it is that you will still have shared DNA. For instance... 10% of 3rd cousins won't share DNA, 50% of 4th cousins won't and it just increases from there. It doesn't mean you're not 'blood' related, it just means that the DNA part hasn't been shared with one of you.

Third... The amount of NAs who have tested is very low because they simply don't trust that their DNA won't be abused in some way.

There's more info on NA DNA results here:
http://www.rootsandrecombinantdna.com/2015/03/native-american-dna-is-just-not-that.html

Here's a good read on ethnicity's challenges...
https://www.legalgenealogist.com/2019/01/27/and-still-not-soup/

Source for percentages I used...
https://thednageek.com/the-limits-of-predicting-relationships-using-dna/

Sorry for the ramble. The DNA companies pushing ethnicity like it's really accurate annoys me a bit since it fuels confusion and detracts from the far more accurate science of DNA for finding 'lost' family (which is what I did as an adoptee) and solving crimes.

[Boomer]

47. This, exactly this

>> The DNA companies pushing ethnicity like it's really accurate annoys me a bit since it fuels confusion and detracts from the far more accurate science of DNA for finding 'lost' family (which is what I did as an adoptee) and solving crimes. <<

I view the Ethnic breakdowns as entertaining fluff (even though my own results pretty much fell in line with my family tree and family stories). The real value is in determining genetic ties to specific individuals, which can help confirm family trees and find lost relatives.

My motivation for getting DNA tests was the long-time expectation that I have some unknown half-siblings out there somewhere. My father was nearly 50 when he married my mother, and there's a few decades of wandering around time before I came on the scene. So far, however, no one has shown up. And given my age, I'm losing hope that any half-siblings would still be alive.

[WePurrsevere]

55. That's great that you did that! Please don't give up hope...

Even if you don't find any half sibs your DNA being out there might very well help others find their missing puzzle pieces.

It was only because some of my natural family members tested that I found them (sadly my parents are both deceased but I knew at my age, late 50s, the odds weren't great that I'd find them alive still). Now my daughter and I try to use what we've learned to help others occasionally find their missing puzzle pieces.

So far my tree on Ancestry doesn't reflect my ethnicity results (on any of the DNA testing sites I'm on) but it's close and some of the areas that don't mesh ATM might just be beyond one of my darn genealogical 'walls'. As I learn even more about genetic genealogy hopefully I'll be able to break those down eventually. Meanwhile I'm just enjoying the learning and journey.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

37. Weren't some Native American groups thought to descend from a lost tribe of Israel?

There are alternative theories to the "Siberian-Alaska land bridge" nonsense.

Your grandmother: living proof.



Doesn't our DNA show that we are all "out of Africa"? Howdy, cuz!

[backtoblue]

41. Wassup cuz!

Man, our family is CRAZY.

This is us......

[progressoid]

38. Well, if it matters, she'll probably get a different result from a different DNA testing company.

https://www.livescience.com/63997-dna-ancestry-test-results-explained.html

[backtoblue]

40. Do they send it automatically?

If so I'm going to have to hack her iPad and delete it....

[Cicada]

39. Same for me with Ancestry

I wish my mother were alive so I could ask her about what she told me, that her grandfather was full blood Choctaw. She told me he died at 86 with jet black hair. These errors about native heritage come mainly from Cherokee claims. Cherokee lived in the confederate south east mainly. My mom grew up in Mississippi. I have a theory about why apparently false claims seem almost always about Cherokees . Why is Unce Bob so dark skinned? Why Uncle Bob’s momma was a Cherokee princess honey.Seriously these questionable claims are almost always Cherokees, living in the heart of the old confederacy.My moms brother was in the ku klux klan. His grandfather being”Choctaw” might have been an excuse for his dark skin.

[backtoblue]

45. You're not gonna believe this coincidence...

There were rumors that her grandmother was a Syrian immigrant pretending to be NA. Possibly to avoid prejudice just like your family member.

My imagination is going crazy thinking about this revelation.

[nolabear]

57. We could be cousins.

My great great grandmother was reputed to be Mississippi Choctaw. My father’s and grandmother’s generation have first hand stories of her practicing root medicine on them and “talking the fire out of a burn,” a surprisingly common claim. She was supposed to pass her knowledge down to my great uncle but he turned Pentecostal and rejected her skills as being from the devil. I know all this first hand.

My DNA test shows no NA blood but that grandmother’s father is the only person in my line that we can find no genealogical record of. It remains an interesting mystery.

[Honeycombe8]

51. Oh, that's too funny! But why does someone have to BE something, to know...

to know how it feels to be in their shoes? Lack of empathy?

[onlyadream]

52. Lucky you!

Maybe I should get a DNA test for my Trump loving, Fox 'News' watching mother. But I think we'll only see Eastern European, but you never know.

[Fla Dem]

53. I understand your enthusiam. I first started tracing my ancestry before there were many on-line

Last edited Thu May 2, 2019, 10:06 AM - Edit history (2)

records. Like your grandmother, my maternal grandmother swore we have Native American ancestry. After 30 years of research and DNA tests from Ancestry.com and 23 & me, not a drop of NA ancestry. Kind of glad my Grandmother's not with us anymore, she would have been so disappointed.

Still working on my ancestry though. It's never ending. Did a great job on my maternal grandmother's, mother's family lineage, but keep hitting brick walls on her father's lineage. Every few years new records go on line and I get a little further.

Good luck!

[backtoblue]

54. I'm not so sure about these tests' reliability

My sister's said she has 1% Papuan. After some digging there is no way that's possible.

The Papuans are one of, if not the most reclusive group of people on earth. Their DNA has been found to have very distinctive markers that suggest a third group of humans.

The idea of such an exclusive DNA group actually scares me a little. I'm going to research some more.

It would be astonishing if true, but i think this one is too far of a stretch. She's going to retake the test and see what happens.


As for my grandmother, we're going to let her believe that she is Syrian no matter what. Too good of a change in her to take it away.

[Fla Dem]

56. I'm sure they aren't 100% accurate, but pretty close.

Captured my family heritage pretty much on point and both were statistically similar.

[PatrickforO]

59. That's really something.

Quite the irony.

And, I've climbed that old family tree as well. Written two small books about a branch of my family and its first two generations here in the United States.

Funny, when I really got serious and pulled old census reports, it felt for a time as if I knew my ancestors personally, as if they were alive. I could almost see their shades around me as I wrote.

Good for you!