Between the Records and the Results: Tracing Native Ancestors in Mixed Lines
Sunday, August 23 at 1:30 PM · Mystic
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Researchers often set out to find Native American ancestry because of family lore or a photo that suggests Native heritage. They soon find it difficult to identify—much less document—those connections, especially in mixed lines where records and DNA don’t always align with those stories. This session moves beyond the basics of haplogroups and ancestry informative markers to focus on how to apply them in real research—whether that leads to confirming those connections or ruling them out. Through complementary case studies, we demonstrate how DNA and documentary research work together to identify the families behind those results. One approach uses autosomal DNA analysis, clustering, and targeted testing to identify and confirm Native ancestry. The other follows a document-driven path, using non-Native ancestors, historical context, and community reconstruction to identify the families connected to those DNA signals when direct evidence is unclear or missing. You’ll leave with practical, repeatable strategies for tracing Native ancestors in mixed lines by connecting DNA evidence to the broader family networks that produced it.
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Janine Cloud has been passionate about family history for more than forty years. She joined FamilyTreeDNA in 2011 and currently serves as Strategic Business Lead. She was previously Group Projects Manager. A genealogist and longtime DNA testing customer herself, she is especially interested in how genetic genealogy can uncover connections and reconstruct family stories when traditional records are…
Roberta Estes, author of the books, DNA for Native American Genealogy, and The Complete Guide to FamilyTreeDNA: Y-DNA, Mitochondrial, Autosomal and X-DNA, is a scientist, National Geographic Genographic affiliate researcher, Million Mito team member and founding pioneer in the genetic genealogy field. An avid 40-year genealogist, Roberta has written over 1700 articles at her popular blog, dna-expl…