Question for the other Americans

[Ras-Xafun]

I don't know if this is true, but I remember hearing that the last full-blooded Native American (in the U.S. that is) died in the early 20th century. Obviously many near full-bloods still exist among NAs, but I'm sure nearly all have a European or African ancestor somewhere down the line.

What a shame, how many were they (aproximatley) before they got absorbed, are there any stats on this?

[buddy]

^Don't know exactly, I could try to find some.

[ndrthl]

[I don't know if this is true, but I remember hearing that the last full-blooded Native American (in the U.S. that is) died in the early 20th century. Obviously many near full-bloods still exist among NAs, but I'm sure nearly all have a European or African ancestor somewhere down the line.[/quote]

If it is true indeed then it only proves how genocidal was the building of the US, ironically the self proclaimed defender of 'human rights, freedom and democracy'.

[Evan1211]

I dont have any. We are recent immigrants (around 1845 for all of my ancestors) and I am familiar with my ancestors. Plus, they all lived in ethnic neighborhoods in Baltimore city up until 1930 or so (Irish and English). I cant be 100% sure though. My dad gets called a NA though jokingly by other family members because he is so ridiculously tanned for an Irishman.

[Jack Reed]

buddy said:

jackreed1 said:

Cool, sounds interesting. I've heard that Melungeons are a mix of these founding Mediterranean groups (with the word "Melungeon" coming from a Turkish word meaning "cursed soul" or something like that), who later intermarried with Native Americans, Scotch-Irish and other European settlers, and runaway African slaves.

This is a link to a page about a genetic study that was conducted in the past. I thought that you might be interested in it. The latest theory that I read said that some Melungeons are descended from Sephardic Jews. A researcher matched the DNA of some of my lines and other lines and found that they were Sephards. This might be a separate group from the Melungeons, though. Anyway, the closest genetic matches to the studied population were found in Libya, Cyprus, Malta, the Canary Islands, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Minnesota (LOL), Ireland, and Sweden. I should point out that closer matches were found in Ireland than in Northern Ireland. Surprisingly, the studied population wasn't genetically close to either African Americans or Native Americans.
homepages.rootsweb.com/~mtnties/genetic.html

[Atreyu]

jackreed1 said:

buddy said:

jackreed1 said:

Cool, sounds interesting. I've heard that Melungeons are a mix of these founding Mediterranean groups (with the word "Melungeon" coming from a Turkish word meaning "cursed soul" or something like that), who later intermarried with Native Americans, Scotch-Irish and other European settlers, and runaway African slaves.

This is a link to a page about a genetic study that was conducted in the past. I thought that you might be interested in it. The latest theory that I read said that some Melungeons are descended from Sephardic Jews. A researcher matched the DNA of some of my lines and other lines and found that they were Sephards. This might be a separate group from the Melungeons, though. Anyway, the closest genetic matches to the studied population were found in Libya, Cyprus, Malta, the Canary Islands, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Minnesota (LOL), Ireland, and Sweden. I should point out that closer matches were found in Ireland than in Northern Ireland. Surprisingly, the studied population wasn't genetically close to either African Americans or Native Americans.
homepages.rootsweb.com/~mtnties/genetic.html

Melungeons are not Sephardic Jews.They are descended from Turks and Gypsies who mixed with English/Irish.

[Jack Reed]

buddy said:

Melungeons are not Sephardic Jews.They are descended from Turks and Gypsies who mixed with English/Irish.

Type "Melungeon" and "Sephardic" in the Google search engine. You'll get over 300 hits. There are many theories that Melungeons have Jewish ancestry. Your theory, although popular in the field, is not written in stone. You don't know that they're *not* descended from Sephardic Jews. I don't know that they are. I have deep and wide connections to the group, so I know what I'm talking about. BTW, the Sephardic ancestry that I mentioned in my previous post was likely separate from the Melungeons.

[Anja]

I have a bunch of lines with unproven Native American ancestry, which helps me none. I'm possibly related to a Piscataway "princess" from Maryland way back, and there are also possible Delaware connections on my dad's side. I also have a missing female ancestor on my mom's side that according to the census would have been born in early 1800s Alabama, in the southwest where there were many Creek Indians. But I have not been able to pick up on any more leads as of yet. Damned old county courthouses always burning down and such.

[Yankel]

Anja, I thought you were German American.

Jack, I wonder how you ended up with Jewish ancestry. Any theories?

[Jack Reed]

prose said:

Anja, I thought you were German American.

Jack, I wonder how you ended up with Jewish ancestry. Any theories?

I have two theories. One is that the Sephardic Jews in my line moved from Iberia to England to Holland from where they migrated to Plymouth with the Puritans. Another theory is that some Melungeons are descended from Sephardic Jews who escaped persecution from Portugal and Spain. I didn't believe that I had any Jewish ancestry until it was proven by DNA tests.

[Anja]

prose said:

Anja, I thought you were German American.

Jack, I wonder how you ended up with Jewish ancestry. Any theories?

Eh, I'm over half German if you add up all the different varieties and don't think about mixing with other populations (French in Alsace and Slavs in Pommern). The majority of the rest of my ancestors were folks that immigrated between the early 1600s and later 1700s; colonial types.