I haven't been to this forum in a long time but something brought me here tonight. I'm a senior female. I'm a retired librarian and a family historian as differentiated from a professional genealogist. I've been researching all my families since my mid-20s. I became interested in family history because my maternal grandmother told me repeatedly that we had Native ancestry. Decades later, another relative, on my father's side, told us of Native ancestors in those families. I wanted to find them. I have given up that goal and just enjoy searching for the origins of each of my family lines.
I spent quite a lot of time, in the 1990s, involved in Native activities and issues, promoted Native authors, artists, educators, etc., in my professional capacity as a librarian and learned a great deal. One of the things I learned is that, even if I had Native ancestors, I wasn't raised in a Native culture I'm, more or less, a stereotypical WASP.
I left a couple of posts when I was here before. Since then, I have had my DNA tested and my father's DNA tested and we found no Native DNA. I was advised by a young man from one of the Haudenosaunee nations that that doesn't necessarily mean there were no Native ancestors but that they may have been so far back in the history of the families that the evidence has dropped off. I'm not too sure about that.
I do think that most people who want to claim Native ancestry that isn't substantiated don't think they're special or interesting. In a certain way, none of us are; in another way each of us is unique and are living a life that is unique to us and, therefore, special and interesting.
I very much appreciate Native cultures and history and, while I'm not currently active in things Native but when something comes up, I do try to correct misinformation that I'm clear about and explain what I know or refer people to resources. I'm always surprised by people who I generally respect who don't seem to understand the difference between real Native culture and spirituality and NAFs. But, I'm just an ordinary person so...there are Native individuals who are better able to make these distinctions.
