Questing for Native American Ancestors
One of the most popular quests in genealogy today is the search for Native American ancestors. There are many number of reasons people so enthusiastically seek out a Native American lineage. These include preserving cultural and religious traditions, obtaining health care, receiving college scholarships, and attaining tribal membership by determining blood quantum.
Researcher Dee Clem has an article on Rootsweb.com which lays out steps you can take to search for Native American Ancestors. In her article, she list a dozen states where people have more than a 50% chance of having at least one Native American line. She also has taken the time to providing several links to online sources for Native American genealogy. A site called Access Genealogy provides free access to articles and other information on Native American history.
The Association on American Indian Affairs also offers helpful links and descriptions of sources for family historians seeking their Native American roots.
My personal quest for Native American ancestors began by following family stories of my third great grandmother, America Atwell, who despite her unusual first name turned out to be simply a white pioneer woman with an interesting name. Then there was my 4th great grandfather, Thompson Wall, who family stories describe as an authentic frontiersman, blazing trails at the time of the forced Cherokee migration along the Trail of Tears. Researchers in our family have discovered several census records which seem to reveal that Thompson kept the Native American custom of simultaneously having multiple wives, at least one of whom is said to have been full-blooded Cherokee.
DNA testing is a good way to get a sense of whether you have Native American ancestry and in which line that ancestry may be found. What a DNA test does not currently tell you, however, is to what Native American tribe you might belong. DNA researchers claim that members of the Cherokee tribe once came from the Middle East. With that consideration, a recent DNA test within my family produced results consistent with having Cherokee lineage on my maternal grandmother’s line. But for now, the paper trail eludes us. The controversy surrounding the origins of the Cherokee people further muddies the waters. Perhaps the origin or existence of my Native American ancestry is a question which will never be answered.
Fortunately, not all quests to find Native American ancestry are as difficult as mine. There is a surprisingly large collection of records available to those doing research on Native American lines. The National Archives and Records Administration has records and rolls dating from 1830-1970. These records are mostly searchable by tribe. The Office of Public Affairs – Indian Affairs has put out a “Guide to Tracing Your American Indian Ancestry” which offers another great starting point for such research. It is important to understand that with genealogy research involving Native Americans, the challenges can be great but so can the rewards. And we find this to be true with many specialty areas in genealogy.
If you need any help with your Native American genealogy research, just click this link to contact us and we will be glad to assist you.
Until Next Time,
Randal
