How do I find out if I have Roma ancestry?

Question

I read somewhere that Roma came to the USA in colonial times, passing as American Indians, is this true? I found one of my ancestors had a Roma-like name as it was Eli (I think Elijah) M. Ayers and name such as Sarepta and Bashaba appeared as well.

Answer 1

Saar saan. I am full blooded Roma.  True Roma will not show up in your geneaology.

We really did not come to the US until the late 1800's, early 1900's, and then an influx to escape WWII.  A few Spanish Roma may have come earlier, but our culture has zero record of that--if a "historian" or "researcher" said it, do not take it as true--only accept what you hear from the mouth OF a Romani in terms of our culture and history, like "We Are the Romani People" by Ian Hancock.  

Also, we find it offensive when one assumes we can all pass for Native American--we ALL look different region to region, and while perhaps a Spanish Romani can pass as Native, many of us could and cannot.  The reason I say this is if you bring this up in a Romani group, like Amalipen, you may get a lot of "What, are you saying we all look alike?" even if that's not the intent of your question.  After WWII and the Holocaust, and what is going on with our Serbian and Bosnian brothers and sisters,  we are all much more sensitive to this now.

Ayers can be a Romani name, but not always....we often changed our name to Smith, Jones, Black, Mitchell...you will see those names often. Also, b/c we were oral tradition with frequent name changes and moving, family trees did not exist.  If you look at mine, it's a stump--we did not keep written records, and last names were interchangeable.

You can contact me for more information through my website, romdeussen at romdeussen dot com.  I teach Romani culture and etiquette as well as dance throughout the US.

Answer 2

You got some excellent info from the other poster. The names you mention are completely common for the 1800s, and no implied Roma connection.

Answer 3

Two choices: paper trail (the further back in time you go, the less you can find) or DNA testing.  I used www.familytreedna.com and found ancestors from all over the place.

Answer 4

I would consult ancestry.com.