General Discussion

My husband had a near identical story in his family, a presumed Native American link to his great-grandmother. The story had been supplied through his grandfather with a lot of detail that sounded absolutely credible. And so, that story was passed around as real. And yet, when my husband took the DNA testing there wasn't a hint of Native DNA. His grandparents are dead so there's no going back to question the details. It will remain a family mystery. However, my husband did have a high Neanderthal score which has provided me with hours of teasing.

My DNA testing was pretty boring, no surprises other than a single link to a distant Finn blood relative some 5 generations ago. Everything else (92+%) pointed to an Irish/British data base, scattered with Northern European and a smattering of French/German lineage.

For me the DNA testing was important for health reasons. My father and sister had/have Alzheimers. I was grateful and relieved to find out I don't share the marker for the disease. And being the sort of nosy news spot that I am that was something I wanted a heads up on. Doesn't mean I can't have other problems with dementia caused by small strokes, for instance. That's the way my mother and my maternal grandmother went. But at least the Alzheimer factor is off the table.

But as for the family stories? I think these are far more common than we think. Elizabeth Warren is being hit over the head with all this for purely political reasons. Yes, the rollout may have been clumsy and now we know she used the ethnic/racial identity on one of her bar certificates. So what? This is just being weaponized to wound her chances in 2020. And btw, which has been more offensive--Elizabeth Warren's claim to Native American lineage or Trump's incessant shout out to Pocahontas?

For any objective person, it's definitely the latter.