this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2023
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That was me. Grew up thinking that one of my great grandparents was full blooded Cherokee. Took a DNA test only to find out that my DNA only had like 1 or 2 percent Native American DNA.
To be fair, those kinds of numbers are consistent with a Native ancestor maybe 5 or 6 generations in the past. Blood would be diluted by half each generation.
If you assume 20 years/generation, then that's like 100+ years before you were born. Maybe some time in the 1800s.
Of course that's an idealized scenario, real life is more messy and uncertain. For example if 2 people that were both half native had children, then the children would also genetically appear to be half native.
Also you never get perfect 50% splitting of genes over many generations because of how genetic recombination works when egg & sperm cells reproduce. The result is that there's a chance you contain 0% DNA from a distant ancestor. It's like a 5% chance you have no DNA from a 5x great grandparent. Keep in mind, for an idealized family tree you'll have more than 100 ancestors at the 5x great grandparent level.