Do I have Cherokee Ancestry?

[Shari]

Do I have Cherokee ancestry?

OVERVIEW - My 50 World Population Matches:

38 are Hispanic:
15 in the U.S - - 3 Minnesota (ranks 4, 5, 9); North Carolina (rank 6); 3 U.S. (13,
22, 42); Southwestern U.S. (15); California (19); Michigan (28); Arizona (45).
22 in Mexico, Central and South America.
1 in the Iberian Peninsula - Catalans (49).

7 are Native American:
- Choles - Chiapas, Mexico (rank 11);
- Salashan - British Columbia (20);
- Salashan (21);
- Alaskan Athabaskan (24);
3 Minnesota (43, 46 and 47)

5 More:
Russia - Chukchi (rank 1) - Yupic Indigenous People?
Malaysian - Indian (34)
Belgian (rank 39)
Russia - Khaka (44) - Turkic
White - Alabama (48)

Green and Other Dots:
My mother’s map (2010) showed three weak match dots in the American Indian area of the Great Lakes. Her distant cousin of the same line (SHERRILL-WILSON) had exactly the same three weak matches. Mom had two green dots in Alberta and one near the Alaska Aleutians East. I’m assuming these are Native American. (Mom had no green dots in the U.S.; only weak ones in the Great Lakes and Arizona.)

My guess is that the other Canadian and U.S. green dots on my map are likely my father’s Native American DNA. He was not tested.

My green dots:
- 6 in Canada (2 British Columbia; 2 Alberta (same as Mom’s); 2 Ontario (plus one weak); (one weak in west Quebec);
- 5 in U.S. (2 Minnesota, Florida, Alaska (same as Mom’s), Kansas?, Arizona);
- 6 in Mexico;
- many in Central and South America.

What little I know:
Mom told us about one Native American - a maternal great...grandmother who was a “Canadian Indian.” Best guess is she was my fourth great-grandmother BOX whose son was Benjamin B. Box born 1803, Claiborne Co. TN.

Despite knowing many surnames, some back to the 1600-1700s in the U.S. (NY, MA, PA, and North Carolina early on), I have no names of Native Americans. Many, perhaps most, surnames are anglicized Jewish from Europe, mostly Great Britain (Scotland, England, Wales) as indicated in Jews and Muslims in British Colonial America. There are many “Unknown” great-grandmothers on both sides.

There is one North Carolina family descending from WILLIAM SHERRILL, SR. (born about 1666, immigrant arriving 1690s-1700 from Devon, England to Maryland) that was almost certainly Jewish ethnically. Some descendants (Sherrill-Wilson) may have been at least part Cherokee according to various Ancestry.com reports on Indian land claims in 1818 - Reservations #128 and #130, Flint River, Jackson Co. AL. I can’t be sure this is true and I don’t know how to check it. (There is a Rank 48 - White - Alabama.)

Can you see any indication of Cherokee ancestry in the above?

Thanks so much!
Shari

[Shari]

If you took the Fingerprint Plus DNA test before December 2014, you would not have had Cherokee DNA listed on your test. Thus, you may wish to take the Cherokee DNA test at http://dnaconsultants.com/CatalogueRetrieve.aspx?ProductID=9567238&A=SearchResult&SearchID=8932105&ObjectID=9567238&ObjectType=27.

[suelevin1]

Mark, the Cherokee match test will not give you any further information than what you have in the Fingerprint Plus. The Cherokee match is for someone who wants to confirm or eliminate Cherokee ancestry, and you have already done that. Your Alaskan match could be a result of emigration from Asia as indicated by your green dots on the map.

Sue

[Raven]

Does a positive match to Cherokee admixed definitely confirm ancestry? I don't have a paper trail and there are many holes in my genealogy. I recently found out through my mother's test that both of her parents were Native American.

[suelevin1]

Raven, I think I replied to your question but just in case I didn't- if Cherokee Admixed showed up in your top 50 populations, you definitely have some Cherokee in your ancestry.

Sue

[Raven]

Thanks Sue! It was number 14 and Belem Amazonians number 8. I read your post about the wild potato clan and South America which I think might explain the Belem match. Also I think my Mexican matches might be explained by the article you posted.

Angorday2,
There were actually no family stories of being native at all. I'm only found out that my maternal grandparents were part native after my mother took a DNA test. There are so many holes in my genealogy. My maternal grandmother was raised in an orphanage. I also recently connected with a relative of my maternal grandfather and found out that his father was married twice. The woman that I thought was his mother might not have been. I'm from Pennsylvania and most of my family is too. My maternal grandfather was born in Canada and moved to Pa. His mother must have been native because I have documentation that his father is from Lebanon before he moved to Canada.

[Shari]

My guess is that the earlier Sherrills did not include Athabaskan. I think I'll wait on the test. Eventually I may just have a "rerun" of my whole test done. You're close to learning details about William, Jr.'s later life. It would be great if you can find a link to your line. Only one of the two grandsons had children who lived to have descendants - David Sherrill. (Wm.Jr. also had a granddaughter who may have died in the same Indian attack. The other grandson, Reuben, had children but there is no information about them as adults - they may also have died.) David had quite a few children so you may be able to narrow it down. They're listed in the history on the later pages.

[Shari]

William Sherrill, Sr. (1666 - 1720) had two sons SHERRILL - William, Jr. and Adam - and two daughters SHERRILL - Mary and Margaret - who married two PERKINS. William, Jr.’s grandson David had a large family. Adam had eight sons, born from 1723 through the 1740s, all of whom had children, mostly large families. There must be thousands of SHERRILL and PERKINS descendants out there today. Let's hope more of them will take the Fingerprint Plus and other DNA tests giving clues to any Native American ancestry, perhaps Cherokee.

[Shari]

Hi Angkorday2,
I DO have Cherokee ancestry! I had the test run with my mother's DNA. Her U.S. Cherokee Admixed ranks #25. This isn't proof of Cherokee DNA in the SHERRILL line but it's a good possibility. Maybe someday there will be preponderance of evidence of Sherrill Cherokee ancestry if enough of us with Sherrill lines share our autosomal DNA test results.

[Shari]

Hi angkorday,
Here are a few more details about the DNA Consultants Special Cherokee Match Update I had done in October 2015 using my mother’s autosomal markers. Her U.S. Cherokee Admixed is at rank 25 (out of her 50 World Population Matches). Her Rank 8 was Native American - Alaskan Athabaskan which represents a real person, a great...grandmother described in family legends and probably born around 1780. Mom’s ancestors, the Sherrills and/or the Wilsons, most likely passed the Cherokee DNA on to her but I have no proof of who he/she/or they might have been, only suspicions. They lived in North Carolina in the 1800s. Now after years of wondering, our family has proof of Cherokee DNA. Only a few years ago this test was not even available!