My ancestor is Cherokee?
 

I spend the time to research on my 7th great grandmother was full Cherokee married into my family. It was ends dead. I did ask my family member know about my 7th great grandmother and they not know very much about Mary Koontz. I will provide link her info.
https://smokykin.com/tng/getperson.p...&tree=Smokykin

Under her name is Mary Houser in the list as white. Someone assume she is white?
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/...638&cc=1401638

She was born about 1787 in North Carolina until her death was 1851 or 1858 in Knox County, Tennessee. I am not sure what my family told me, I need find a hard evidence. I am not going to be claim "native American of the Cherokee tribe" until i get a evidence. My family spend time debate about her. She is not native or she is native. Once I get some hard evidence about her then I will know which she is.

Greetings and welcome to powwows.calm ! LOL @Josiah may be able to track that down. He knows and has access to much Cherokee history. Good luck in your quest.

Greetings,
Perhaps one of the most common family stories involves a distant ancestor that is "Cherokee". Very common story but hard to prove and even harder to put to rest despite evidence that shows that it is just that a Family Story.

During the 1780's Cherokees lived in Western North Carolina parts of Tennessee,Northern Georgia and Alabama. This area was not part of the United States but its own Sovereign Land so it was very rare for Cherokees to move from this area, What was far more common was English and Scottish Traders to come into the Cherokee Nation and marry a Cherokee Woman then have Children. However even then they would typically stay with the Cherokee and live amongst them.

Of course there are always individual exceptions to this, but in my experience if you find that ancestor was not living even in the general area where the Cherokee lived then it would be highly improbable they were actually Cherokee. The very next issue is of course proving there ancestry and this will be near impossible during this period of time.
1)Cherokees were not listed on any rolls prior to 1817 and this roll was just of individuals that desired to move west of the Mississippi so it was not a complete listing of the tribe
2)Federal Censuses Did not list Race this early ie 1790,1800,1810 etc. they only listed the Head of Household (Male) and sparse family data usually the wife and kids were only listed by last name these early census are not very helpful for searching for family information.
3)If you found your ancestors living amongst and living as whites chances are they were whites. Later in the century (1800) there was some different classifications of folks that were suspect but this tended to listing a person as Black, White or Mixture the Census completely ignored Natives mainly because we were not US citizens and not subject to the Federal Census.
4) I have found very very few actual documented cases but we have there full family information. However the sheer numbers that "claim" some kind of Ancestry listed in the millions!
5)Cherokees were not the only tribe living in North Carolina also were the Catawba, Haliwa-Saponi, Tuscarora, Euchi just to name a few were living here during the 1700's.

I just want to lay out the daunting task laying ahead I suggest hiring a researcher if you are dead serious about tracking it down.

Good Luck

Thank you guys, If the evidence are not enough, only way I can find out use DNA Accu-Metrics - First Nation, Métis and Native American DNA confirmation services

They will test on my DNA get a result. But I know the story about Smoky Mountain, most of native america live there, that where she was born at Smoky Mountain. I have no idea what happen to her family. I have no clue about her. If my DNA is enough evidence, so I able get CDIB, But I got Cherokee Letter, They cannot accept DNA, only proof are birth/Death or enroll card CDIB.

Well that went well! Long post ignored because it didn't say what they wanted to hear!
So...
Just Spend money
Same results as research: inconclusive
And worse is not worth the paper its printed on

Still Claim Heritage :idiot:

I'm Done....

nuthin new

I wish I knew my tribe so I could find my family.
 

I did my DNA and I am 14% indigenous people of americas from south, North, and central of americas. My mom doesn't know much because she was adopted. All my life that I can remember I always tried to live my life as my ancestors did. I feel lost and I wish I could say I belong some where.

Following Gernokee ways no doubt (j/k) Seriously... How did you decide what traditions to honor when you don't know the tribe? There are many Nations with many customs. Inca ways aren't much like Shawnee ways.

This is the tragic side of those tests. Many of the people who lay down the bucks for DNA testing, are searching their chromosomes for a cure to post-industrial social dislocation. They find a minor number of SNPs that possibly link them to some Native ancestor. The imagined Indian community, from which this ancestor comes, is romanticized as some hold-over of pre-industrial small town kith and kin closeness, with tipis and feathers. Voila a home!

But in reality, they know little or nothing of this ancestor. Waving their suitable for framing results, they approach a modern Indian community. Often coming with the preconception that since these communities have known terrible trauma, they must be sympathetic others who are hurting or lost. (Clearly, they had never read Primo Levi.) They find instead communities and individuals still struggling to rebuild economies, educational systems, families... Fighting to protect languages, cultures and sacred sites. Communities who have suffered the onslaughts of culture vultures. Needless to say, they generally don't find a home.

Rather than seek connection by building ties through service to their families and institutions within their own communities, they end up hurt angry and disillusioned. These tests feed a selfish desire to stare into one's naval -- or genes -- for answers, focusing on yourself. The only way for anyone, Native or non, to belong is to be part of something. Belonging isn't granted by blood, but by action. Honor your obligations to your kin. Serve your community. You will find belonging there. And give the money you would have spent on the test to charity.

Dna testing for Tribal affiliation?
 

No DNA test can tell you what tribal affiliation you descend from.

Correct!
Nor is the DNA pool very large that they pull these results from, actually very few Natives that can be documented they are from federally recognized tribes have donated DNA and certainly no large documented tribes have allowed the entire tribe to be pulled from. So what you are left with is results from those that have "SELF-Identified as Native American"!

As an example the number of Registered Cherokee Nation citizens are:
Approx.: 303,000 Cherokee Nation, 11,000 ECBI and 4,000 UKB

Approx. 700,000 self Identify as Cherokee and probably much higher for all other tribes.

I wouldn't even use it as a starting point for the results are so meaningless.
1) Can't be used to tell you what tribe just that you have markers that match those in the database that self identify as Cherokee.
2) Can't be used as a way to enroll in a Federally recognized Tribe well because the results do not tell you what tribe
Even more troubling about these test they cant be used to even start research to possible find a documented tie to a Native Tribe! The money spent could have been used to HIRE a Researcher who would at least be able to give you DOCUMENTS that are useful in your search.

My 2 cents
and a couple of quarters of advice