Growing up we were always told we were part Native American and several years ago I was finally able to trace my line back to my 6th great grandmother Katie Pettit Teague Rogers. (My grandmother’s mom was placed in an orphanage in Fort Smith Arkansas and things were pretty hush hush due to the circumstances that I uncovered after some more investigation on my Creekmore line). I have found a 1888 lawsuit that is online that states that their children John C Rodgers (my 5th great Grandfather) “John Rogers and his parents Enoch Rogers and Katie Rogers, nee Pettit, all of whom were Cherokee Indians by blood; that none of these ancestors ever resided within the present limits of the Cherokee Nation, and that they have not been enrolled as citizens thereof since the removal of the Cherokee Nation to its present location, and that none of these applicants have ever been so
enrolled; and further that the claimants reside in the Cherokee Nation, and have so
resided for the past 9 or 10 years, and that they are persons of Cherokee
Blood… ”
Now, I descend through the line (John Rodger m Amy Adams < Nancy Rodger m Edward Chastain < Mary Chastain m Randolph Creekmore < Ulysses Creekmore m Susie Evett < Mildred Creekmore m Miles Sherry < Mildred Doll Sherry m Ernest McCollum < Mackie McCollum m Patricia Kastner =Me)
I took several DNA tests and none of them showed Native American ancestry and this has my living family members quite upset because we were quite proud of this heritage and my grandmother had spent a lot of time trying to find her mothers family.
Hi there! So I know its been awhile since you posted this, so don’t know if you will get my response or not, but thought it was worth a shot!! So we are cousins! Hi nice to meet you! I descent through the line of (John Rogers m. Amy Adams > Jane Caroline Rogers m. John Hardesty White > James White m. Martha E. Dailey > Emily Jane White m. James Lewis Moore > Oma Lee Moore m. Henry Morse > Henry Odell Morse m. Reba Jean Reed > Charles Morse m. Michelle Hubbard = ME)
So I wanted to let you know to not be discouraged about your DNA results not revealing any Native American DNA. It doesn’t mean you don’t have any. We know we do through Catherine Teague. Now Enoch was a white man who married Catherine who was believed to be 1/2 blood Cherokee, but when you married into the Cherokee you were by all intensive purposes Cherokee. Cherokee was a matriarchal society so because Catherine was so were her children Cherokee. Wilma Mankiller who was the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation said “An Indian is an Indian regardless of the degree of Indian blood or which little government card they do or do not possess.” You can also reflect the words of Edmond Lonewolf in “Cherokee Blood”.
Looking at your DNA you have 2 pairs of chromosomes. One pair from Mom and one pair from Dad. How your DNA results come back is all depending on which chromosomes you picked up. Two sibilings will test differently because none will pick up the exact match up of chromosomes unless they were identical twins. You will have genetic markers similar but not exactly the same. Now males pick up their x chromosome from their mom and their y chromosome from their dad; a female will pick up their x chromosome from mom and their x chromosome from dad. So in order to pick up native american blood you’d probably fair better to find native american links by testing a male that would descend from the Rogers line. Now I’m still learning all of this too so I can’t go to in depth. So I posted a link below that will help you understand. Its a book “A Beginners Guide to Genetic Genealogy” by Kelly Wheaton who is a leader in this field. She made her book she wrote free for all who are interested. I hope this helps you.
I’m always excited about making new family connections. My personal e-mail is mkem594@gmail.com if you ever have any questions or I can help in anyway. Good luck on your family journey.
Kelli
https://sites.google.com/site/wheatonsurname/beginners-guide-to-genetic-genealogy/lesson-one-an-overview-of-the-types-of-dna-used-by-genetic-genealogists