Thread: Elizabeth Warren's DNA Test

So somebody fill me in.
1 - What employment benefit would it be if I could claim Native American heritage - and what percentage needed?
2 - So it sounds like the DNA test itself is not sufficient proof? What is the acceptance criteria?

Originally Posted by Jonathan david

So somebody fill me in.
1 - What employment benefit would it be if I could claim Native American heritage - and what percentage needed?
2 - So it sounds like the DNA test itself is not sufficient proof? What is the acceptance criteria?

Up here, the tribes used to look at family tree info and judged 1/4 blood to be suffient. Then came internet and DNA. Who knows what now.

One thing for certain, Fauxcahontas is making this midterm thing very entertaining.

Originally Posted by Jonathan david

So somebody fill me in.
1 - What employment benefit would it be if I could claim Native American heritage - and what percentage needed?
2 - So it sounds like the DNA test itself is not sufficient proof? What is the acceptance criteria?

Pocahontas derived benefit from college entrance and later on hiring criteria. It's likely without lying about her race she would not have been accepted at Harvard nor would she have been given employment there.

1/1024th Native American. Does that mean that her last Native American ancestor died before the Mayflower arrived ?

I haven't done the math but it doesn't seem entirely unlikely.

I was doing some looking....the way I understand it.....to be put on the rolls for one of the Five Civilized Tribes, you have to have a documented ancestor on the Dawes Commission rolls first. That would be those who were relocated to OK during the Trail of Tears. What the percentages of native blood are I don't know. To list on other tribal rolls, I don't know. We have 38 different tribes in OK.

1/1024 equals 1/(2^10) which means that the ancestor is found 10 generations back. At that time there was 1 (full blooded) Native American ancestor and 1023 who were not. They all combine to produce Elizabeth Warren ten generations later.

The average person has historically been born to a 31.5 year old parent. That's not the age when the average parent has their first child but rather when they have their middle child. That places the birth of the 1024 ancestors on average 315 years before Elisabeth Warren's birth, which would be in 1634. That Native American ancestor is likely to have had a child with a non-native in 1665.

That's 45 years after the Mayflower arrived and it is in fact possible.

Likewise, 1/64 means 6 generations which means that the sole Native American ancestor had a child with a non-native in around 1791.

There doesn't seem to be much point in including even that.

If your mom was none then that would make you 1/8. Likewise I'm 1/8 Swedish - which isn't much of a claim to fame.

My Swedish great grandmother came from somewhere far away from the border with Norway so she was probably close to 100% Swedish. It would be interesting to know how close to 100% Native American your great grandparent really was though. Sometimes it's just a person who was somewhat culturally Native American but the bloodline may be far less than 100%. But seeing that the person must have been born in the 1800s the chances that the person was close to 100% should be fairly large. Unless that particular tribe had a culture for inter-marriage already back then ?

Originally Posted by Smitty

I've always believed I am 1/4 crow Indian because my dad was a 1/4 crow Indian. Does anyone know if that would label me in the category of being part Native American?
One physical aspect I've noticed is that in the summer months I get a really dark brown tan and never burn. Could that be a hint that I have some Indian blood in me?

I’m surprised you havent received a call from the tribal headquarters to sign you up. Seriously. Around here, they pay attention to such things.