All about the ancient tribes
www.bia.gov/bia/ois/tgs/genealogy Publishes a downloadable Guide to Tracing Your Indian Ancestry. Has a vast online library, Tracing Native American Family Roots. www.ncai.org/tribal-directory Provides the online tribal directory where contact information for specific tribes can be found.
A DNA test may be able to tell you whether or not you’re Indian, but it will not be able to tell you what tribe or nation your family comes from, and DNA testing is not accepted by any tribe or nation as proof of Indian ancestry.
How to get started tracing your Native American heritage?
Most tribes require a specific percentage of Native “blood,” called blood quantum, in addition to being able to document which tribal member you descend from. Some tribes require as much as 25% Native heritage, and most require at least 1/16th Native heritage, which is one great-great grandparent.
For people researching the potential of a Native American past, you can:
Definition. Indigenous ancestry refers to whether a person has ancestry associated with the Indigenous peoples of Canada, that is, First Nations (North American Indian), Métis, and/or Inuit. A person can have more than one ethnic or cultural origin.
All major ABO blood alleles are found in most populations worldwide, whereas the majority of Native Americans are nearly exclusively in the O group. O allele molecular characterization could aid in elucidating the possible causes of group O predominance in Native American populations.
While 23andMe can reveal genetic evidence of Native American ancestry, it cannot identify specific tribal affiliations. Take a DNA test with 23andMe and get a breakdown of your global ancestry, connect with DNA relatives and more.
FamilyTreeDNA Tests for Native American Ancestry Using the basic FTDNA autosomal test, you can find out whether or not your genes can be correlated with Indigenous American populations. The autosomal test analyzes a large majority of your DNA, and can find genetic variants that originated in indigenous populations.
Autosomal DNA test. An autosomal DNA test is better for ruling out Native American ancestry than it is for proving it. Your autosomal DNA comes from all of your ancestors and gets mixed with every generation. That means you get half of it from your father and half from your mother.
Do Indians pay taxes? All Indians are subject to federal income taxes. As sovereign entities, tribal governments have the power to levy taxes on reservation lands. However, whenever a member of an Indian tribe conducts business off the reservation, that person, like everyone else, pays both state and local taxes.
If you have Indigenous American ancestors, but indigenous American DNA doesn’t appear in your ethnicity results, it may be because DNA is passed down in random combinations. While half a parent’s DNA is passed down, that parent’s ethnicities are not passed down in halves.
The Cherokee Heritage Center has a genealogist available to assist in researching Cherokee ancestry for a fee. Call 918-456-6007 visit www.cherokeeheritage.org. If you need further genealogy assistance at other times, the Muskogee Public Library, 801 West Okmulgee in Muskogee, Okla., may be able to help.
The Cherokee Nation requires the roll number listed under your family member’s name to recognize your family’s Cherokee heritage. While genetic ancestry testing is becoming more advanced, it is still not widely accepted as a method of confirming Cherokee heritage.