# What's your tribe? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 31, 2010, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-tribe/565898 "2010-12-31T01:11:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-tribe/565898/1 "2010-12-31T01:11:37Z")
A lot of us North Americans are part Indian. When meeting a Native American, I’d refrain from the obnoxious conversation gambit of “hey, I’m part Indian too!” much as I’d squelch any impulse to ask doctors met in social situations for medical advice; people in show business what they think of my movie idea, motorcyclists how long the realistically expect to survive, etc. But this being the dope, I will ask you out there what tribe(s) you’re related to, and if you have a story that goes with it. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-tribe/565898/2 "2010-12-31T01:22:30Z")
Supposedly Cherokee, but I have no proof. The only heritage I’m certain of is Italian. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-tribe/565898/3 "2010-12-31T01:26:03Z")
My first wife was part Mohawk. That’s as close as I get. ---
**Author:** ![yola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/48db29/32.png) [@yola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yola)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-tribe/565898/4 "2010-12-31T01:40:50Z")
I always answer “I’ve had Indian in me before. Does that count?” :eek:😃 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-tribe/565898/5 "2010-12-31T01:46:49Z")
I gamble at Indian casinos. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-tribe/565898/6 "2010-12-31T01:58:37Z")
I got nothin’, but my best friend is Kumeyaay. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-tribe/565898/7 "2010-12-31T02:22:52Z")
Cherokee, four generationss back. My Grandmother was born in Oklahoma when it was still officially the Indian Territory. \* Her\* grandmother was full-blooded Cherokee which would make me…1/16 (I think) SS ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-tribe/565898/8 "2010-12-31T02:29:51Z")
My maternal grandmother, before she died, often claimed that her dad (my great grandpa, who died before I was born) was a quarter Cherokee (making me 1/32), but the family has no proof. I have reason to doubt it because my grandma was a big exaggerator, although in pictures he did have browner-than-white skin (but who knows, he could easily have been a quarter Italian or Polish or Mexican instead). Regardless of the truth, any potential Native American blood has never been a celebrated part of our family’s heritage, and my grandma/mom/self look European white. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-tribe/565898/9 "2010-12-31T02:30:41Z")
No idea. The family I know of was French fur trappers, first in Canada and then making their way south, somewhat west of here, but I don’t know the specific trail. While I’d be shocked if there _wasn’t_ a little interbreeding somewhere along the line (and family legend, as well as my paternal grandfather’s bone structure and lack of a need to shave, supports that) there’s nothing well documented enough for me to be eligible for First Nations’ citizenship or Native American specific scholarships. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-tribe/565898/10 "2010-12-31T02:47:02Z")
Hope this isn’t a hijack. [Kāi Tahu](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ng%C4%81i_Tahu), Te Runanga o Otakou, though I was brought up in Kati Huirapa ki Puketeraki. My ancestry has a direct lineage to the most important families of our cultural history, and my family tree can be traced back to creation, which is a somewhat peculiar notion. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-tribe/565898/11 "2010-12-31T03:27:46Z")
My maternal grandfather was 1/4 Cherokee, which makes me a 1/16th. I couldn’t even see characteristics in my grandfather, let alone myself. I never bring it up on my own, as it’s such a trivial amount of heritage. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-tribe/565898/12 "2010-12-31T03:37:10Z")
According to poorly documented records, I’m 1/32 Cherokee. The only looks that I might have gotten from that branch would be the cheekbones. Otherwise, I look like an Irish/German mutt. 😛 A couple of other tribes (well documented) have married into my family, however. One uncle married a Comanche and a cousin married a woman who is 1/4 Miami. Then there is the uncle who married a woman from Mexico who has Native American ancestry, though I don’t know what tribe. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-tribe/565898/13 "2010-12-31T05:36:03Z")
Possibly Cherokee, though we’ve never found proof. Montauk, if you want to go way back. A Montauk woman married one of my Dutch ancestors in the 1650’s, shortly before her tribe was nearly wiped out by smallpox. ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-tribe/565898/14 "2010-12-31T05:43:19Z")
daHubby supposedly has Sioux in his dad’s side of the family but no one is really sure. It’s probably one of those “Your great-great whatever married a Native American but there’s no paperwork to say otherwise.” ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-tribe/565898/15 "2010-12-31T06:28:08Z")
I am 1/32 Cherokee, descendant of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of Western North Carolina. So I have the ubiquitous Cherokee great-great-whatever-grandmother. Except I happen to know mine’s name- Prairie Rose. The other day some guy pointed out to his wife my “classic American Indian features” as they were walking by me- that was weird, because I totally look like a Northern European. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-tribe/565898/16 "2010-12-31T06:44:02Z")
My SO is 1/8th Cherokee. I don’t know the details, but when I met his grandmother I instantly knew she was Native American. I take kindly to anyone half and half something, like myself ;). ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-tribe/565898/17 "2010-12-31T07:14:08Z")
Melungeon. Mestee peoples, not Indian tribes. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-tribe/565898/18 "2010-12-31T07:24:46Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > My first wife was part Mohawk. That’s as close as I get. My wife is half Peruvian [Quechua](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quechua_people) which, for where she’s from, connects her to the Inca. She’s in North America now though so I’ll say “close enough” in regards to the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Jules\_Andre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jules_andre/32/9334_2.png) [@Jules\_Andre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jules_Andre)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-tribe/565898/19 "2010-12-31T08:27:19Z")
Grandfather is full blooded Seminole, so that makes me a quarter. There’s some Cherokee in there from my mom’s side too, but we don’t have any idea how much. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-tribe/565898/20 "2010-12-31T18:54:22Z")
Father’s side, Chillicothe Shawnee great-great-grandmother from Ohio. I don’t do maths, so I have no idea what percentage that puts me at. Mother’s side, Edisto Indian Tribe of the Cusabo in SC (not the current Kusso-Natchez) from way the snot back before the Revolutionary War. So, yay me, doubly tribed! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-tribe/565898.md?page=2)