Not that s//he needs it from me, but "LCastle2004" is so very correct about the
probable "loss" of ancestral-connecting DNA after a goodly number of
generations. Here, we're talking about autosomal DNA:
* not yDNA, as that is male line only; father to son, to son, etc....expecting a
Castle (var spellings) surname end to end.
* not mtDNA, as that is female line only: mother to daughter, to daughter, etc.
Expect surnames to change with every marrying generation.
** =BUT= if you had a known direct-female-only line, that line could be
well-substantiated to be Native American, based on the mtDNA passed,
female-to-female-to-female, from Gliding Swan on down to some living & tested female
descendant of today.
* yes -- autosomal DNA does cross the gender lines. Surely, this is the kind of test
Ellen took with Ancestry.com....a test which =did not= indicate any Native American
heritage.
I have personally DNA-tested ~extensively~ via nearly every mode and method of genetic
genealogy available thus far. Ellen, who posed the problem//question here, suggests that
she's a 6th generation descendant of Sowege & Good Ole Jacob, Sr. {{ I frankly
suspect that Ellen is actually a 7th generation descendant -- that she skipped one known
generation. But, I also acknowledge for sure that I sure as heck am =NOT= the expert in
this regard!! }}
~ ~ In any case, I'm certain//proven as can be that I am a 7th generation
descendant of our Sowege.
~ ~ I also happen to be "family-lored" to be Native American descended via a
~different~ heritage route.
~ ~ No where among my autosomal testings was Native American heritage ever shown or
even hinted.
~ ~ In two other could-possibly-prove-Indian-heritage tests I've undergone, both
tests showed no such proof from either of my possible 'ole time' connections.
That is not to say that these tests =disproved= Indian heritage....they just simply
didn't prove it to be so.
So here am I....at least 7 generations down from Sowege (as I believe is proven). While
the DNA splits from mother and father are not 'exactly' the same, it's quite
fair, for our purposes here, to consider the split as 50-50. That says that I got
essentially 1/2 my DNA from Dad and 1/2 from Mom. And so did you all.
So let us, rightfully here, use the union of Jacob Castle, Sr & Sowege//Gliding Swan
as our starting point. And let us presume that Sowege were truly 100%,
full-and-only-full-blooded American Indian {{ and let us please exclude for now any debate
over which tribe she belonged to :-) }}. Then, following =my= personal line:
- - Sowege was full//100% Indian.
- - Her son Jacob Castle, Jr was 1/2 Indian.
- - His son Benjamin Castle was 1/4 Indian.
- - His dau Loudema (Castle) Fletcher was 1/8 Indian.
- - Her dau Violet (Fletcher) Marshall was 1/16 Indian.
- - Her dau Susie (Marshall) Fletcher was 1/32 Indian.
- - Her son Bruce Fletcher (my dad) was 1/64 Indian.
- - His son ~ ~ me ~ ~ is 1/128 Indian.
This ladder above obviously keeps assuming that there were no other Indian influence into
my heritage. That is actually not the case....but we're going to assume, for our
purposes here, that it is the case.
So....here am I -- 1/128th....or about 0.78% AmerIndian, based upon my ancestry to Sowege.
That's a good thing, for sure, as I see it toward my total heritage. But it just
ain't much-ova-thing....ain't a-whole-lotta my bodily being....and it just
isn't likely to show up on =any= DNA tests [[ at least not at today's tech level
]].
Ms Ellen: To 'amen' what LCastle2004 has proffered: You're just too far away
from Sowege to give you the 'proof' you wished for via the test you underwent.
Believe though, as I would today, that you are descended from the Castle line as you
described. And do as LCastle2004 urges you to do -- make the paper trail your primary
avenue....and let this "DNA thing", as helpful as it can often be, become you
back-up and verifier.
So nice, Ellen, to see//read that you cared enough to do a 'DNA-thing' to attempt
to validate your lines. It's unfortunate, though, that so few ( ?? none others with
this Castle surname - - that I've seen ?? ) from the Jacob line have tested.
Regards....Mo Fletcher