YAQAL (Yet Another Question About Lineage)!

[Jim Barrett]

Roy,

Y-DNA only looks at a males paternal line and mtDNA only looks at a persons maternal line. The problem we all face is finding the right relative to test.

If the Native American line was from your father's mother or from your mother's father it will not show up in your Y-DNA or your mtDNA. Your Y-DNA comes from your father's father and your mtDNA comes from your mother's mother.

Pick the ancestor you believe was Native American. If that person was a male you must test a male line descendant of him. If that person was a female you must test a female line descendant of her.

Ok, have completed the mtDNA (HR1+HR2) tests. My Haplogroup is "J".

My quest is attempting to pin down my Native American blood (if any, LoL), and based on what I know so far, need to know where to go from here?

I know my Paternal line, Haplogroup R1b1b2, has none, but there is strong evidence there "should" be some Native American blood on my maternal side. Here are the details:

My GGGrandmother was listed on "1850 Georgia Cherokee Census" as "half-blood", and the children were listed as "quarter-blood". The father was "none", meaning "not Cherokee". It is unlikely this was just a fabrication, surely.

Of course there are strong and persistent oral family traditions that we indeed were part Cherokee, and that it was through my maternal line to this woman. The other part of the oral tradition was we were related to Will Rogers, who is documented as being part Cherokee through his mother.

So, my thinking is that instead of my GGGM being the "blood" source, could it REALLY BE from her husbands (my GGGF) side, but he wanted to "hide it" perhaps?

If some male descendant of that GGGF line had DNA tests done, would this help me pin anything down on HIS Native American heritage?

Am I wrong in assuming because my mtDNA is "J", that there is absolutely no maternal Native American blood?

So my query: Where to go from here as far as useful "testing" is concerned? Or is it now pretty much a gumshoe genealogy effort alone?

Thanks!

Roy