UPDATE 2019
The Virginia Tribes are recognized and now we have this! Bring Pocahontas Home To Virginia!
Join the project today:
https://www.familytreedna.com/group-join.aspx?Group=FrenchBroadRiverFamilies
Europeans, brown and white, Asians and Africans, yellow and black, living in America, all must figure out where they are from, and all are quite arrogant to be telling any indigenous peoples who they are and where and what they should be.
As more people have tested, all people know more about their DNA for genealogy. When anyone tests for familial genetic genealogy research we hope there will be people who match us and we will learn more about where we came from. All the databases and testing companies need more minorities, more diversity, more beyond American shores, more from the wide world.
Ten years ago a person whose heritage is from Asia would have had few matches, but today there are many more. Many of the companies that began DNA for genealogy testing were in the USA and in the UK. Naturally the databases had more of one population than another. But, with America being such a melting pot and Americans so good at marketing (add also the British), the databases have expanded and diversified, and the number of testing companies has grown.
Now the world has caught on, DNA for genealogy has become popular worldwide.
This is also a boost to tourism and many of the places need it. But tourism to follow one’s DNA roots to the source might get a bit iffy.
I believe when a country starts planning for tourism they are really interested in peace but until then we might not want to locate genealogy records in Yemen, Somalia, or some Central American countries and so many others.
Every place has/had indigenous populations and many different eras.
In the Americas there are clearly two main groups, two nations, one called the southern and the other northern. And many other pieces of genetics are slipping in to add more groups of first peoples. But all of us recent interlopers beg and cry to find ancestry from the adopted home’s native sons and daughters – needing to belong.
In the middle an Inuit carving from Canada. On the right a clay figure made by a Pamunkey of King William, Virginia. This clay is from 1935 and was made during the Works Projects Administration’s activities with the tribe members (see the biographies below)
Only in the coming months of new admixture programs, coming in all the companies, some sooner rather than later, can we hope we will begin to see an expanded heritage for all populations.
According to CeCe Moore, instructing in GRIP’s (Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh) “Advanced Genetic Genealogy”, recently noted the number of people to compare for admixture in the AncestryDNA reference population will grow from about 3,000 people to about 16,000 people. It cannot even resemble what we have now.
I hope many of these stories of native ancestry might begin to be seen. Just reading census records we know many stories have to be true.
Dai and I visited the ‘Poarch Band of Creek Indians’ home in South Alabama in 1991. The band comprises several Creek tribes. Paw Knight went to his grave saying that great grandmother Philadelphia “Delphia” Ryan Knight had Native American and he claimed Creek. Delphia certainly might be said to have struck the pose, but what? Scotch Irish community mostly.
In lessons at GRIP they talked about not being fooled by photographs for many reasons about many maybes. But for guessing, the only thing I would hazard a guess from this photo, is that she suffered severely from rheumatoid arthritis in her hands. Her great grandson Harry, Paw, Knight, who reared me, also had arthritis in his hands just like her hands. The Ryans were from Virginia
Tribe History Poarch Band of Creek Indians
http://pci-nsn.gov/westminster/tribal_history.html
This is an hour long lecture from you tube about the band
Delphia’s mother-in-law is the mystery to me and there is a known descendant who, barring a non-paternity event carries the mt-DNA of the mother-in-law – that is a test I am still begging for. Mrs Thomas Knight – Mrs Unknown Nee Unknown – is she our part Native American mother who was spoken of?
Native Americans and Artifact DNA
Sadly, in many cases any Native American ancestor is too many generations back to show up in an autosomal test. But now, Artifact DNA testing in starting to push back a few more generations because we will be testing older — and usually deceased — people.
At GRIP we learned about the emerging DNA testing from artifacts such as letters and stamps and other personal items. Hair is also expanding beyond hair roots.
I almost tested my father’s stamps and letters in 2012 – one generation farther back with another generation closer to reach back toward traces of Native American
I sent this message now garbled in transmission of messaging – but fun none the less when I considered testing of those stamps
—–Original Message—–
Message Submited From URL: /contact.User’s Name: Cherie Lynn Knight Jones User’s Phone Number: User’s Kit Number: Are there any plans to include such testing? How much? My father was only son, his father was only son and the possible cousins descending from siblings of my earlier ancestors do not wish to test and their relationship is iffy at best. I have two envelopes each with a stamp and one will fully intact envelope flap still sealed and another with a small section of the flap still sealed. Thank you, Cherie L K Jones
and from a help desk Tue, Apr 10, 2012 12:24 pm
Dear Ms. Jones
We do offer this type of forensic extraction. The fee is $575.00 and the first panel we will attempt will be Y-DNA 12 marker test. We do not guarantee results, nor do we offer refunds, since we do not control the collection. We have about a 25% success rate with this type of sample. If you wish to pursue this, we will provide you with a forensic case number, and an invoice, along with shipping instructions. If the extraction is successful, we will contact you with what tests are available to you, based on the viability of the sample. We will never offer Family Finder with forensic samples, since the quality requirements are very stringent.
But with limited samples of my dad’s letter – I opted to wait until the success rate was better and hopefully the price would come down. And soon after found my cousin again who became my dad’s y-DNA proxy and we tested and matched with au-DNA.
I still have the letters and want more than ever to test them now.
But for the Knight family ancestors I had a flash of memory with this class lesson and the shake awake memory of artifacts I thought of the stamp from the 19th century, 1877, on the claim of Delphia Knight for the Southern Claims Commission. It washed over me, could it be her? Noooo maybe. Her son Richard? And then I thought there must be a standard for who sold and licked those stamps. And almost no matter who it is, realizing we can really sequence granny for genealogy and pop and?
What treasure of genetic family history is held in this stamp? Affixed to the Southern Claims Commission (successful) Application of Delphia Ryan Knight. Who is it? And what would the admixture show?
A new era in testing.
Nothing is safe ~ Nothing is sacred
Visiting the Mattapony community in King William, Virginia, you can, or could, visit a few folks who have shops open almost any day. We have been more than a few times and the lady is June Redwing Langston.
https://www.facebook.com/Riverside-Pottery-Shop-June-Redwing-Langston-119262178089839/
She has a variety of items in the store from vintage collections, some pelts and feather arrangements and clay figurines. A snapping turtle – signed and dated.
Snapping Turtle by Red Wing, Mattapony Tribe, King William, Virginia
Signed, Red Wing. One day I suppose her DNA will still be found in the clay. Mine is there also.
The records for Native Americans are national treasures.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/100592440/marie-j.-custalow
The Mattapony
Artifacts- when the industry opens up- since the industry has opened up – there are countless artifacts that will be used to bring our families’ DNA to today’s genealogy.
In about 1715 or so David Lewis of Hanover, Virginia married Ann Elizabeth “Betty” Terrell. Records say she was born in / from the ‘Pamunkey Freshes”
The place is known — a bend and rocky area of the Pamunkey River which creates white water. A place where you might have walked some boats and might have crossed to the other side of the river.
There were almost no Europeans there at the time and it makes me still wonder were they friends with Native Americans, more? The area was given back many times – and it is all in the hands of the Pamunkey Native Americans today. Their museum is quite nice and their shop has a variety of older items along with new tribe-made items. Like my lady and her baby made via the WPA Works Project Administration.
Pamunkey Native Museum Shop- Made in 1935
A “Travels with Phil” short video of his visit to the community and the museum on the Pamunkey
I wish there were some people who might be given honorary membership into the tribe.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/821/pocahontas
My own admixture only gives about 1% Native American
“The Virginia Indians”
Federally recognized tribes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federally_recognized_tribes
First Nations in Ontario
http://shawanagafirstnation.ca/
Cherie Lynn's Herstory 