Elizabeth Warren's Ancestry

[milliefink]

Thanks – I was already tempted, it’s great info:

@chgoliz

One of my main hobbies (it’s one of the main hobbies in the U.S. in general) is genealogy. Specifically, I work with DNA testing in combination with documentation and other records to help people with brick walls in their family tree.

The quickest way to make a genealogist’s eyes roll is to say “The DNA test is wrong; my great-grandmother was a Cherokee princess and here’s a photo to prove it.”

The truth is, in most cases the claim (many generations ago) came about because someone was trying to explain away their coloring in a racist society, choosing the lesser of two ‘evils’. Both documented descendants of native tribes in the southeastern part of the U.S., and those who have the family lore of being such descendants, discover when doing DNA testing that there is almost always some sub-Saharan African in their genes. Occasionally it’s MENA instead (Middle Eastern/North African…usually Jewish in these cases).

So the funny thing is, were Warren to do a DNA test, she might well discover that part of her heritage is a different minority group that has been on the receiving end of prejudice in this country.

This would be a good time to point out, as well, that in about 5% of cases, DNA testing shows that the person’s family tree ISN’T what they’ve been lead to believe. Usually it’s that one or both parents or grandparents are not biologically related to them, but also oftentimes the ethnic heritage claimed by one or more ancestors turns out to have been more expedient than accurate.

tl;dr…one person’s research into Warren’s apparent family tree neither proves nor disproves her genetic heritage. A real genealogist will tell you that. Someone who goes to that much trouble in trying to prove their point about one particular public figure sounds like they have an axe to grind.