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In my opinion those tests are worthless. Some members of our family had testing done and they claimed negative for Native ancestry. This is impossible, because we know historically and culturally that we belonged to the Cherokee Nation that was removed to Oklahoma. Our family is even on the roll.
After getting such rediculous results, I asked for the information on the test. After researching documents provided the company, I found some interesting "fine print."
These DNA tests are done using what they call haplogroups, which looks for certain traits that they attribute to specific geographic locations at a given time. Because the nations of the world have been mixing for so long, this theory is questionable at best.
In any event, they claimed to only be able to verify the ancestry of the same-sex ancestor five generations back. For example , my grandfather's gf- for 5 generations back. The test is only good for that individual. If anyone else, his wife-for example, is Native, it won't show up of the test.
So basically, you are only getting information for one individual, five generations removed, in your family. These tests cannot be used to prove descent for the purposes of membership in a federally recognized tribe.
Is is worth it to spend the money to satisfy curiosity about the ancestry of one individual so far removed? That is up to each person.
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