If you don’t have an open mind, or an interest in history, science or genetics, please don’t bother watching my video!!!!!
I know a lot of people will be upset that I am discussing the theory and evidence of certain populations being of Middle Eastern and Jewish origin but that is what I am exploring, as that is what my mother’s side of the family primarily is and has been for generations. I did not do this test or make this video just because it became a trend on YouTube.
Native American DNA: New Tests Show Middle East Origins?: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1021858-anomalous-dna-found-in-cherokee-native-american-genetic-research/
I know this is a long video. And I still feel like I left a lot out so I am going to try and put it here! First and foremost, I know these ancestry videos can be controversial. I have always had a huge interest in this stuff and have done years of research on it. This is me trying to make sense of my results, provide some information about the theories I have researched and basically rant off my thoughts.
Whether my West Asian DNA is a small fraction of a distant Cherokee ancestor from many generations ago, or a distant Turk ancestor, still remains a mystery. Many of my European ancestors can be traced back to the initial colonial times and those ancestors can then be traced back to their countries of origin, notably England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, France and the Netherlands. I do understand that people can have DNA that comes from one place and then live in another, for instance my confirmed German ancestor could have been more Italian! Also, I have never come across any surnames that would suggest Western Asian, Spanish or even Italian blood.
I have traced my Melungeon ancestors back to Hawkins County, Tennessee and surrounding areas in the 16-1700’s. It must be noted, a vast number of ancestors on my mom’s side of the family trace back to absolutely nothing and dead ends, whereas my dad’s side, which is so rich in Northern European blood, can mostly be traced back to the North Atlantic.
My older cousin/family matches have significantly more Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, North African and Jewish DNA, as their biggest percentages, including the Finnish/Russian. And as I mentioned in the video about some living Melungeon descendants having Portuguese in their DNA, I have read that others have also reported Turkish/Middle Eastern DNA. My AncestryDNA results had range possibility for Spain/Portugal and North Africa. And I did match on GEDmatch with a few Spanish locations but the clear majority are Northern Europe, West Asia/Middle East (a whooole lot of Turk), Jew, Mediterranean, North Africa and Russia. While AncestryDNA has me at 1% West Asian with a range up to 4%, GEDmatch has me much higher.
Legend says Melungeon people of Portuguese/Turkish/Mediterranean/Middle East descent were believed to have been present in the Appalachian mountains centuries prior to Columbus, therefore, would that technically make them Native Americans after all? And if they came later as slaves or seamen, did they mix with the Native Americans as theorized or did they create their own tribes? These people are believed to actually be some of the Cherokee Indians who were primarily mixed with European, West Asian/Middle East, North African and even Jewish, per genetic testing done on Cherokee reservations. These are the populations I match on GEDmatch, and through matched family/cousins.
I will note that also on GEDmatch, I match Amerindian on most of the calculators to some degree but I am taking that with a grain of salt as I only match to reference locations in Brazil for Amerindian DNA. And it seems most of the Amerindian, Siberian, Papua, Berengian, Australian, Oceanian (Pacific Islander), and South East Asian only populate a percentage for me with the calculators that focus more on ancient DNA.
I’ll continue my research for answers. I may also be taking more DNA tests in the future and hopefully they may provide a deeper analysis. ? Regardless, I am who I am, as we all are.
Much love,
Johnna
Who are the Melungeons? http://www.tngenweb.org/campbell/hist-bogan/melungeons.html
Melungeon DNA Study: https://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/melungeon-genetic-evidence.htm
The History of Newman’s Ridge: http://www.historical-melungeons.com/life.html
Evidence of Ancient Cultures in the Americas: http://s8int.com/phile/page43.html
Cherokee DNA: https://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/cherokee-dna.htm
Instagram: @CherubicDolly
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/CherubicDolly
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UPDATE: My grandmother's sister on my father's side took a DNA test and was confirmed with 99% confidence she has West African DNA through her maternal line and that she had a 2nd, 3rd, 4th and beyond generation line of grandparent who was 100% West African. She also found a census record stating I have ancestors who were listed as black and Mulatto/Melungeon (for Appalachian regions).
Before I see the results I can tell from your nose you are English.
Thanks for posting this video. I am creek/Cherokee on my mothers side and my DNA results came back west Asian, Jewish, middle eastern too & also Amerindian, Siberian on GEDmatch. There needs to be more research on this topic because it's such a mystery! i know my ancestors were creek & Cherokee because of their creek names and were they lived in Florida and Georgia. Keep up the research and continue to be proud of who you are!! 🙂
My family came from Hawkins County and Rogersville and I do have Melungeon characteristics and genes. My grandfather was born in Hawkins County in 1805 and the majority of my family today has stayed in Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee. I find this very interesting and I wanna know more about it. My mother's AncestryDNA results came back Portuguese, Jewish, Congo African, and some Scandinavian. Very interesting!
I'm going to do the test as well. My mothers family definitely look Melungeon and have always been considered "Cherokee" we're from Southeastern Kentucky.
I did read that you won’t get Native American on DNA testing unless you have Mayan or Southwest tribes in your ancestry.
Definite some east Eurasian, and people who are responding don't understand that Europe was invaded by Huns, Magyar, Turkic, Mongols, Slavs and all those peoples had definite admixture of East Asian DNA. So your features definite is from those populations. If people can't see your mom was of somekind Eurasian then they are blind, because yes, you do. If you just came on here without DNA test and show photo of your mom nobody would question it. keep searching
Hey my name is Jon, I was born and raised in southeast TN. About 5 years ago my great aunt told us they she had been researching our family history and discovered Melungeon decent. This whole thing is super fascinating.
Wow your mom looks native.
I think she looks like she have very much Sami blood in her.
When you go back 6-7-8 gens…that is more than 100 people so 1 person is going to be less than 1% and not show in any pie charts from these companies.
oh, forgot; all my newly discovered in-laws looked just as native American as your family too. but turns out, my husband was Croatian. something about the Mitochondria, males test more accurately.
could you afford to test your brother or mom's brother? we sent his sample to Tribes and the results were pages compared to my few results from Ancestry.
my deceased husband was raised in a orphanage as Ottawa when in fact he tested mostly Croatian/Greek.
so brava kid, enjoy this lovely day
wow.. this is so cool.. if I could afford it.. I'd get it done too.. I've always thought that Native Americans look like they originated from Mongolia ..or somewhere in that region ?
freak
You could very well have had inherited the half side of the DNA that does not include the Native American DNA, you only inherit 50% from your parents.
Good video! You're so pretty. My mother always told me I'm Melungeon from my father's side but I've never taken any tests.
My family on both sides has always said we were native American but my research didn't support that, my cousin took a DNA test recently and it showed 0% NA, but had italian/greek/iberian which we never knew of… so I know now on at least one side it wasn't true that we were native american. One of our ancestors dropped off in Arizona during the time it was still part of Mexico and I now believe she may have been spanish/mexican and over time the story just turned into native american. Hoping to get my own test soon and lay this whole thing to rest.
Melungi girl!
I was raised as a Melungeon and American Indian. After DNA results I find I am 100% white European. I was so happy about that. I have never been able to figure out why American whites want to be Indian so bad. The Indians hated our guts. They did not cross with us willingly. However they did rape thousands of white settlers while the men were hunting and working. This is one of the main reasons we had to kill them off. We marched them to down the trail of tears long before out hillbilly ancestors settled in the Appalachia's. Anyone who wants to know the truth about why 100% of American white hate themselves and want to be mixed with someone who they believe were so pressed due to their white guilt simply research the protocols of the learned Elders of Zion and you will see the Jewish plan put into place 150 years ago.
You look 100% European, but those women in your family look 100% Native American lol.
Cool testimonial. Long story short – Most people would identify me as "white". I ended up taking two different DNA tests because of my results (E1B1A – Western Africa). The tests genetically matched me to another guy. Turns out he's an amateur genealogist that was able to trace our male line all the way back to 1730s Virginia. He was surprised as I was at the African DNA. There are some theories as to how our European line was crossed with African DNA but nothing in stone. More research needs to be done on melungeons.
You look like my black cousin
It look like most everybody' mix with British
I've been researching families like Collins, Goins, Gibsons…families that were refered to as Melungeon, for 20 yrs, and all I can tell is my opinions. I believe that certain families were the earliest product of the "Great Melting Pot"…in a nutshell, I believe they descended from indigenous tribes that befriended the earliest explorers, took up the "White way" of living, and eventually assimilated, as best they could. It's much more complicated, of course, but it's always seemed more of a "mixed" thing, than a unique tribe or race. I think the word was made up by their neighbors to call them by, because it's rare to ever find examples of anyone calling themself a Melungeon before the 1970s.
One reason that Native American DNA doesn't show up in Melungeon families, is because there's no reliable database to compare the DNA with. I'm a Melungeon too, my family's from Newman's Ridge. I'd like to know which families you're researching, you look like all my sisters and neices mixed together! Email me at klmullins_2000@yahoo.com if you want to exchange some info…I've been researching the "Melungeons" for over 20 yrs
I agree there were multiple migrations into the America’s, on my dna I show 4% Eskimo Inuit and then 3% North America, and the remainder South and Central America. How else can a Mexican have Eskimo inuit? You can see my results on my channel. Btw, good results it’s always nice seeing so much diversity.
you have that taaaaxes accent