"In all of us there is a hunger, marrow deep to know our heritage - to know who we are and where we came from. Without this enriching knowledge there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still a vacuum, an emptiness, and the most disquieting loneliness".



ALEX HALEY, ROOTS



Wednesday, August 22, 2012

My Cherokee Ancestry?

This spring I got an "invite" from Ancestry.com 
to take there new Autosomal DNA Test. I jumped at it.

Like every Genealogist I am interested in my genetic makeup.
I was fairly certain about my Fathers side of the family, but my Moms was more interesting.

Many Americans believe they are descended from the original Americans. The Native Americans. But in my family is wasn't just wishful thinking. It was fact. Well, maybe a little wishful thinking. 

While my Mother was born in Tennessee, she was raised in Chicago, so most of my Mothers family I only saw when we went to Tennessee on vacations.  These trips sometimes included a  day trip to Cherokee North Carolina, more tourist attraction than an actual representation of the Cherokee people. But hey, as kids we loved it!

My Mothers  family is from the Smoky Mountains, which straddles the Tennessee/North Carolina state line. Today there are still many Cherokee people living in this area. So it made perfect sense that we might be "cousins".

 Melvina Gibbs Boling & Shade Boling

However….
When doing research, nothing ever confirmed this family legend. 
The Boling/Bolling/Bowling name can be traced back to Pocahontas, but whether its my "Boling" line, I can't be sure. This would be so far back, that it would be barely traceable in my DNA. 
So, I can't elaborate on that. I only write about my own research. About what I find, or don't find. Not stuff I "heard" or "think". 


This is what I found:

When asked what "color or race" he was my Grandfather, Shade Boling always answered "white".  As did his Mother Joanna "Josie" Brewer, and her Parents Andrew Jackson Brewer, and Nancy Galyean. 
 United States Census Civil District 10, Sevier, Tennessee
                                        

So maybe the Native American Ancestry comes from my Grandmother Martha Melvina Gibbs Boling

Well, when looking over the census my 
Grandmother also gives her "color or race" as "white".  As does her Mother Martha Branton Gibbs, and her Father Thomas John Gibbs.
 1900 United States Census Civil District 13, Blount, Tennessee


Thomas' Parents, James Gibbs and Sarah Good also answer this question with "white" in the 1870 census.

 1870 United States Census Qualla, Jackson North Carolina
So, how far back is my Native American Ancestry? Well, we can assume pretty far, if it exists at all. 

According to my DNA results, 97% of my DNA comes from the British Isles, and 3% is unknown. Perhaps that 3% is it? Who knows?

Am I disappointed? nope. I am proud of all of my Ancestors, people who took the chance to come here and have a better life, or even ones who came west. If I had found Native American Ancestry, I would have been equally proud. I am thankful for the life that I'm able to live now, because of all of the people who came before me. 

One last thing.  Ancestry.com shows you people who took the test who you are genetically linked to. My first cousins daughter took the test, and it came back as 60% British Isles, and 33% Eastern European (likely her fathers side, after looking at her tree), and 7% unknown. 







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