Can you tell me how much Indian blood I have?

Question

My grandfathers grandparents were full blooded Cherokee. Can you tell me if the Indian blood is with me and my children? Thanks for the help.

Answer 1

www.allthingscherokee.com/articles_gene_... :

The way the government defines whether someone is a "real" Indian or not is they measure their blood. They have some arcane way of doing this by dividing the number of generations since all your ancestors were pure-blood by the number of marriages with people who aren't pure-blood. There are four problems with this: (1) it puts pressure on Indians not to marry white people or their children will lose their heritage, and that bothers a lot of people; (2) it means that if some of your ancestors aren't in the records, you can be denied being an Indian; (3) it's wrong for outsiders to tell you if you can or can't belong to an ethnic group. Nobody makes African-Americans prove their entire family line and apply for some governmental Certificate of Degree of African Blood before they can get a scholarship from the NAACP or put "Black-owned" on their business if they want to. And (4) most disturbingly: it guarantees the extinction of the American Indian. By this standard, white is the default, and everyone is approaching whiteness. Someone who is 1/8 Indian is considered white, and that is the end of their Indianness.

www.allthingscherokee.com/articles_gen...    

Blood Quantum - Why It Matters, and Why It Shouldn't

by Christina Berry

"You're an Indian? What part?"

     That's the universal question many mixed-blood Native Americans are asked every day. How many times have you mentioned in passing that you are Cherokee to find your conversation interrupted by intrusive questions about percentage? Stop answering rude questions like this!!

     Have you ever been talking to someone who mentioned that they were part Hispanic, part African-American, part Jewish, part Italian, part Irish, part Korean, etc.? Have you ever asked them what percentage? Hopefully your answer is no, because if your answer is yes then you're rude.

     Throughout Native history blood has never really been a factor in determining who was or was not included in a tribe. Many Native American tribes practiced adoption, a process whereby non-tribal members would be adopted into the tribe and over time become fully functioning members of the group. Adoption was occasionally preceded by capture. Many tribes would capture members of neighboring tribes, white settlers, or members of enemy tribes. These captives would replace members of the tribe who had died. They would often be bestowed with some of the same prestige and duties of the person they were replacing. While the transformation from captive to tribal member was often a long and difficult one, the captive would eventually become an accepted member of the tribe. The fact that the adoptee was sometimes of a different ethnic origin was of little importance to the tribe.

     It wasn't until the federal government became involved in Indian government that quantum became an issue. The author states, in her own family's case, that "it was simply a question that the roll takers would allow the people to answer for themselves. I know for a fact that this was known to be incorrect because my own ancestors' quantum is recorded incorrectly. My great grandmother and her sister are listed with generationally different quanta even though they were sisters with the same mother and father and have the exact same quantum."

     In order to become a registered member of any federally recognized Indian Nation you must first get a CDIB (Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood). This CDIB is issued by the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) and simply states that the United States government certifies that you have a specified degree of Indian blood and are a member of a given federally recognized tribe. Once you have a CDIB you can become a recognized member of that tribe. Without a quantum you cannot become a registered member of a tribe.

    The Eastern Band of the Cherokees requires that you be 1/16 or higher to join, and the Keetowah band requires a blood quantum of 1/4 or higher. The Cherokee Nation, on the other hand, has no quantum restrictions. The majority of the Cherokee Nation has 1/4 or less Indian blood.  Cherokees were in direct contact with white settlers prior to the American Revolution. Many prominent Cherokee families included intermarried whites very early on. The Cherokee people have been intermarrying with whites for over two hundred years, so many families have some very confusing fractions to spit out every time someone asks, "How much Indian are you?" Throughout history the Cherokee people have believed that if you're Cherokee, you're Cherokee. If you're not, you're not. Percentage doesn't matter.

     How Cherokee you are is more determined by how you live, how active you are in the tribe, how you grew up, and what you know of Cherokee history, culture, and language.

Launch a quiet protest against the reliance on blood quantum to measure Indian authenticity. The next time someone asks you what percentage Cherokee you are tell them that they are asking a rude question and don't answer -- because the answer doesn't matter. Either you are Cherokee or you're not!

My own opinion is this--telling someone you are a fraction this or a fraction that IS rude.  Be proud of your Cherokee heritage--regardless the fraction (as you read above, the Cherokee don't approve of blood quantum fractions). As for me, I figure I'm about 1/32--enough that if I have a nosebleed, I'm out of the tribe. But, if you feel you need a percentage, I figure it this way:

     Your grandfather's grandparents would be your 2nd great-grandparents. So:

gg-grandparents (grandfather's grandparents)= full blood

g-grandparents (your grandfather's parents)=1/2

grandfather=1/4

parent=1/8

you=1/16

your children=1/32 (see above about the nosebleed. LOL)

www.allthingscherokee.com

Family Tree Research

All Things Cherokee now offers genealogy research services. If you need help tracing your family tree or understanding your Cherokee connections, click here to learn more about this service

Answer 2

If all four of your grandfather's grandparents were full Cherokee, then your grandfather was too. If he married a non-Cherokee, his children would be half, you 1/4 and your children 1/8, unless someone married back into the tribe.

If only two of your grandfather's grandparents were full blood, then he was 1/2, your parent 1/4, you 1/8 and your children 1/16.

Answer 3

My grandparents grandparents were born at the time of the Revolutionary War...

You are talking 5 generations...

Do the math.  Parents provide 50% DNA; grandparents 25%; next generation would be 12.5%; the next would be 6.25%. (You would be the 5th generation)

Or, another way to look at it, each person NEEDS TWO PARENTS; so you have 2 parents, each of your parents has 2 parents, they have 2 parents, and THEY have 2 parents, so 2 X 2 X 2 X 2 = 16; the number of grandparent' grandparents.

You would be 1/16 Cherokee; your children 1/32 (or 3.125%).  Not much; but claim it as part of your ancestry, your heritage.

Answer 4

Your great grand parents were full  blooded.

One of them married a white person=1/2--grandparent

One of the

Now, if one of these white people was an Indian, that throws everything off.

You are 1/8 Cherokee.  If you married a white person, your children will be 1/16th

Answer 5

I would say that your Grandfather was also full blooded . That his children are 1/2  blooded and that your are 1/4 blooded and any children that you have are an 1/8 . That is only if your Grandfather did not marry a full blooded  Cherokee.

Answer 6

Since they were your great grandparents of yours then yes the Indian blood is indeed in you and will be with your children also. However, how diluted the blood has gotten through the generations is the question. You would need to get more information from your relatives about their heritage to figure out how concentrated your blood is.