Lately I’ve been doing Cherokee related genealogical work and looking into possible DNA testing to determine if there is any Native American genetic code in me. From what I’ve always been able to tell, virtually all of my genes are Scottish, with some Irish, some English, and some German thrown in there for a good mix plus the occasional strange one, like from Switzerland (01/32 Swiss actually).
Recently, it came to my attention per a cousin who had given a picture of a third great-grandmother that she was Cherokee Indian because she had high cheek bones. I’d also heard another story from a different source about another grandfather being 3/4 Native American (which would actually explain why I could never find anything on him). Two different people, two different claims. Where does that leave me but to wonder how much Native American is in me. Not to get political, but I believe that Elizabeth Warren is a close relative to her left-wing dingbat cousin, Nancy Pelosi. (It’s a genealogical joke, they aren’t cousins but after this, who knows what might be possible!) So I come across an article and now this video.
Watch and listen:
Ok, so Elizabeth Warren is taking it at word of mouth that she’s Cherokee. First, let’s break down her words. He “had high cheek bones like all of the Indians do”. First, seriously? If that’s what the woman said “a thousand times”, then it was because little Elizabeth wasn’t listening. The Spanish have black hair, just like the Indians do but that don’t make them any more Native American than the man on the moon. Guess who else has black hair? Asians and Middle Eastern people. They aren’t Native American either. Having black hair does not qualify you as being Native American anymore than having high cheek bones makes you a Cherokee Indian.
Now back to me for a minute.
Admittedly, I was not only surprised when I heard the story about this grandmother being a Cherokee, “full blooded” too, but she really looked it. If you see a picture of her, she does have that look in her facial features. The only problem though is that she is as white as white can be. The other problem with her being “full blooded” is this: she married her second cousin. That means one of her grandparents and both of his grandparents were siblings. This I already knew. If she did have any Cherokee in her, I knew it would be a challenge without a DNA sample to find it. However, I have two alleged sources this could come from, so who knows. We’ll see.
Now, getting back to Elizabeth Warren’s embarrassment, here is the article (Elizabeth Warren’s Genealogical Challenge) I came across while searching for other information. (Isn’t that how it usually goes, though? When you’re looking for one thing you find something else?) This just proves that unless you have the documentation to back it up, you better not say it the first time!
If you’re still interested in Warren’s debacle, so it may be a lesson to us all, here is the Fox News segment with a Cherokee Genealogist, Twila Barnes
Cheers!
