How plausible is it that Elizabeth Warren has 6 - 10th generation native DNA?

If you haven't been living under a rock, you know that Massachusetts Senator has had her heritage claim challenged. At a point in her life, she claimed to be Native American in order to pad the diversity standings of Harvard University's faculty.

Well, after being challenged again and again to take a simple DNA test to prove her claim, she has finally done so. Well, sort of. She got someone who deals with DNA data and statistics to figure out if it was possible for her to have any Native American heritage.

• Okay, Let’s Talk About Elizabeth Warren’s DNA Test

The story goes, that on Elizabeth Warren's mother's side of the family, she has some Delaware or Cherokee heritage and this explains her high cheek bones and allowed her to claim to be Native American and a minority. Even if she has more in common with her Great Grandmother on her father's side, Anna Mary Herring (Scharan), who was born in Switzerland.

The results of her test says that 6 or 10 generations back, she has some sort of connection. Possibly, a great great great great grandmother was a Delaware or a Cherokee. First, we need to find out where the Delaware and Cherokee where in relationship to Warren's ancestors.

Trail of Tears

In the 1800s, the United States relocated many Native American tribes across the land. This was not a high point in US history and the horribleness of the action is remembered as the Trail of Tears, rightly so. Both the Delaware and the Cherokee were relocated during this effort.

the Delaware and the Cherokee

The Delaware were mostly located in the Delaware River area and comprise of what became the Delware and New Jersey colonies. They were moved across the land through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illnois and down to Oklahoma, where they were settled on Indian Territory with the Cherokee. The Cherokee were mostly in the Appalachian mountains and were moved west to Oklahoma.

~ source : ~ http://delawaretribe.org/services-and-programs/historic-preservation/removal-history-of-the-delaware-tribe/

The Claim

Warren's claim is that her grandfather Harry Gunn Reed, born October 01, 1872 in Mt Vernon, Illinois had some Native American blood and that his wife, Bethania Elvina Reed (Crawford), born October 29, 1875 in Lebanon, Missouri, United States had some Native American blood as well.

We can rule out that either of these people were full blooded Native Americans. Because, if they were, they probably would not have been moved with the tribe, as they would have had a hard time accepting them as well as being shunned from whites. We can also rule out that Bethania Elvina Reed had any Cherokee or Delaware ancestry, being that her lineage takes her back to Virginia/West Virginia territory.

It is possible that Harry Gunn Reed has some Delaware blood as his ancestry traces back to the New Jersey area. Also, his grandmother, Matilda Elizabeth Gorman (Matthews) is from the North Carolina colony area. So, there could be some small possibility that she or her mother was Cherokee. She died in Union, Georgia, which is in the Cherokee territory before they were moved. There is no other information given.

1 - Pauline Louise Herring [mother]
2 -- Harry Gunn Reed [Grandfather]
3 --- Charity Louise Reed [Great Grandmother]
4 ---- Matilda Elizabeth Gorman (Matthews) [Great Great Grandmother]

The biggest issue is, Matilda (born 1811) is only 4 generations back and we need to go 6 to 10 generations back to find the Native American ancestor.

So, we are back to a question that can't be answered. We don't know Matilda's ancestry, but there is the possibility, due to where she was born and died. But, with a full Christian name of Matilda Elizabeth Matthews, it is hard to believe that she was a Cherokee.

1 - Pauline Louise Herring [mother]
2 -- Bethania Elvina Reed [Grandmother]
3 --- John Huston Crawford [Great Grandfather]
4 ---- Preston H. Crawford [Great Great Grandfather]
5 ----- Sarah O. C. Crawford (Smith) [Great Great Great Grandmother]

The other claim is that Sarah O. C. Smith, born 1794 in North Carolina was actually a Cherokee. A point to notice is, there is a sister to Sarah listed as Naomi born in the same year. The nickname for Sarah was Neoma, which means New Moon in Greek and was a derivative of Naomi. Duninudi is the Cherokee name for Harvest Moon. The parents of Sarah O.C. Smith have very English names, which in itself doesn't mean much, but makes the thought of Sarah being a Cherokee a little harder to take.

And again, as stated by the "DNA test", neither Matilda nor Sarah are 6 generations back. If they were actually Cherokee, then the test would have shown a higher percentage.

The Bigger Problem

"There's a running joke in Indian country: If you meet somebody who you wouldn't necessarily think is Native, but they say they're Native, chances are they'll tell you they're Cherokee," said Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton, a spokesperson for the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, which with more than 300,000 citizens is the largest Cherokee tribe.

~ source : https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/05/is-elizabeth-warren-native-american-or-what/257415/

And then there is the problem about claiming to be a Cherokee, there is plenty of documentation due to the Trail of Tears of who is and who isn't a Cherokee.

The Eastern Band of the Cherokee, for their part, have since 1963 required individuals to be at least 1/16 Cherokee to enroll -- and also to have "a direct lineal ancestor" on "the 1924 Baker Roll of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians."

Right now, Warren is only claiming to be 1/32nd Native American at the most and 1/512th at the least.
edit: since the Boston Globe got it horribly wrong
Now: Warren is between 1/64th and 1/1012th.

If you were making a bet on this, Warren's DNA claim falls into the side of "FALSE" or "Unprovable".

---

Let the positive energy sing!

More Power to the Minnows!!

Trading on Bittrex and Binance
Claim Your Stake with a Stake Box
HODLin’
Stellar Lumen(XLM) -- Cardano (ADA) -- Digibyte(DGB)
Get your old school text-based gaming on.