Warren on taking DNA test to prove Native American heritage: 'I know who I am'

[moriah]

25. We never had a family story, but genealogy stops...

... on tracking my mother's birth surname with a suspiciously dark and short (likely underage as records show he grew three inches in a year) young man who served in the 39th Regiment of the US Infantry during the Creek War, from an area known to have a lot of Cherokees. Since it was the 1/8th Cherokee by blood guy who later became a chief who gave the intelligence to the US government about the Red Sticks, and Cherokees fought on the US side to curry white favor, if he was a "half-breed" (or quarter, or 8th) who could "pass", enlisting in the Army vs being in a Cherokee-managed fighting unit might have been a smart move for a young man seeing times were not favorable to his people.

Heck, he could have even been half/quarter/whatever AA instead of NA, as the Cherokee also had slaves.

But there is a white guy born the year after the Revolution in what was still called "Campbell County, NC" even though it's further west than Hawkins where my ancestor was born (and more historically white, Hawkins County was part of Cherokee country then), who also served in that regiment, with the same last name and named later with my ancestor in court documents about some disturbance right after the War. White guy with same last name not prosecuted, my ancestor fined $150 and made to spend a night in jail. The white guy could have been my ancestor (an uncle or perhaps father), matches the other genes that manifested in that lineage later on, but records are sketchy.

So definitely not exactly a legend to pass down... "Yeah, our Native American ancestor fought for the government under the same general that pushed for the rest of his people to be removed to Oklahoma."