Elizabeth Warren Ancestry Thread

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wareyin said:
You may not get it, but I assure you it is a real thing. Have you seriously never seen people claiming Irish ancestry on St Patrick's Day? Or been to a Scottish Highland Games?
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I know it’s a real thing, I just don’t understand why. As a silly example, there’s that guy from the Ancestry.com commercial who thought he was German but he was really Scottish so he traded his lederhosen for a kilt. Dude! You're American! Jeans will do.

I’m a mutt so I would have to celebrate a lot of ethnicities...


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xjx388 said:
I know it’s a real thing, I just don’t understand why. As a silly example, there’s that guy from the Ancestry.com commercial who thought he was German but he was really Scottish so he traded his lederhosen for a kilt. Dude! You're American! Jeans will do.

I’m a mutt so I would have to celebrate a lot of ethnicities...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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That commercial is a sore spot for some people proud of their own Scottish ancestry. The guy in question is wearing his kilt backwards.

We all try to find ways to belong, whether that's based on ancestry, or college affiliation, or professional sports team cheered for, or even for religion or politics.
 
The Big Dog said:
"Warren’s video and subsequent release of her DNA report was a disgrace, a vicious rejection of Native sovereignty, and, more than anything, completely foreseeable. Had Warren spoken to any Native with a clear mind, this idea would have been dead on arrival; instead, I now have to grit my teeth to the nerve and solemnly nod my head in agreement with a ************* Donald Trump tweet."

What Warren did is despicable—not just because of how short-sighted and selfish it was, but because it betrays the agreement between tribal governments and the United States government that our people are their own people.
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I totally agree that Warren comes out of this whole thing looking like an idiot.
But what the heck are these NA groups going on about?
Why is taking a DNA test offensive exactly in this context? I read the release and I don’t understand.
 
I like history. Knowing my family lineage ties my story into the historical narrative I enjoy learning about. It adds depth and nuance, shapes to the story and for me places it within it.
I'm rather pleased I've got genes that put ancestors of mine in Egypt during the pyramid building, as I love that time period.
My dad is rather pleased with learning the origins of our family name in England.
I think for a lot of people it moves history into something more personal. Which it really should be, in my mind.
 
Pterodactyl said:
I totally agree that Warren comes out of this whole thing looking like an idiot.
But what the heck are these NA groups going on about?
Why is taking a DNA test offensive exactly in this context? I read the release and I don’t understand.
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Membership in the Cherokee Nation is more than DNA result showing a small amount of NA makeup. I gather they feel that a DNA test trivializes it, and them.
 
Thermal said:
Membership in the Cherokee Nation is more than DNA result showing a small amount of NA makeup. I gather they feel that a DNA test trivializes it, and them.
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Does she intend to apply for membership in Cherokee Nation based on the rrsult of this DNA test?
 
xjx388 said:
Maybe you can explain this "pride of ancestors" thing? What is it that makes you proud to have historically significant ancestors? James Buchannan is in my family tree, should I be proud to have an President in my familial ranks (ok, maybe not that one! :p)? How does that affect me?

I can see it as being a neat bit of family lore but beyond that, what? It says nothing about me whatsoever so what do I have to be proud of?
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Maybe "proud" is sometimes the wrong word, but I don't know what other word to use. It's more than just "Hmmmmm....interesting". But I think "proud" is sometimes appropriate. It's nice knowing that I have ancestors who fought to make this country independent and I am proud of that. The Confederate ancestors? Not so much "proud" of them as intrigued to know that my family was engaged in such a momentous historical event.

Buchanan, heh? George Washington is my second cousin several times removed while Obama is my first cousin 8X removed.
 
Stacyhs said:
Actually I do proudly descend from two Confederate soldiers. One died at the Battle of Wilson's Creek in 1861, the other survived the war. Do I want the Confederate flag flying over capitol grounds? No. I think it's disrespectful to A-Americans. But I am certainly not ashamed of my two g-great grandfathers.
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A stutter that comes out in typing must be quite a challenge.
 
ShadowSot said:
I like history. Knowing my family lineage ties my story into the historical narrative I enjoy learning about. It adds depth and nuance, shapes to the story and for me places it within it.
I'm rather pleased I've got genes that put ancestors of mine in Egypt during the pyramid building, as I love that time period.
My dad is rather pleased with learning the origins of our family name in England.
I think for a lot of people it moves history into something more personal. Which it really should be, in my mind.
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Exactly! As an ex-history teacher, knowing my very extensive family tree personalizes history for me. When watching Braveheart, it's fun knowing King Edward Longshanks was my direct ancestor and watching The Lion in Winter is even better knowing Prince (King) John is also my direct ancestor. But in those two cases, it makes it difficult knowing whom to root for.:D
 
Belz... said:
In order to think that you'd have to ignore some posters in this very thread.
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ETA: care to expound on this? Which posters, and what are they saying which makes those Republican claims correct?



That doesn't mean you get to just assume that their opinion was formed that way just because it doesn't agree with you.
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No, I get to assume that when someone repeats Republican talking points that are at odds with reality that that person got that information from the only group making that claim. Where else are they getting that incorrect claim from? It's not from the evidence. It's not from neutral sources.
 
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Pterodactyl said:
I totally agree that Warren comes out of this whole thing looking like an idiot.
But what the heck are these NA groups going on about?
Why is taking a DNA test offensive exactly in this context? I read the release and I don’t understand.
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Read the article in the post you quoted, it goes into the subject in depth, and says it much better than I ever could
 
Giordano said:
Simply not true. Her family believed that they had Native American ancestry and were proud of it. Senator Warren grew up with that understanding, just as we all generally accept what we learn from our families about our family's background and ancestry. How much actual proof of what you believe about your family's origins do you have? Or is much of it just stories you've heard?

So Warren was proud of Native American ancestry without knowing details, because no one in her family really had many details. And she, and her family story, was fully correct on DNA testing! Somehow the family story included the idea that the Native American ancestry was Cherokee. Warren repeated that part. Well, I think the DNA test does not have the resolution to confirm or deny that part (I could be wrong).

But again, Warren legitimately claimed a link to a historic ancestry equivalent to that many others have made to other historic ancestries. It is a common human source of pride.

And at my university (at least) there is no minimum % that if you go below you cannot check off a particular ancestry box. It is simply how you identify yourself.

These are the facts.
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I thought my great grandparents were German. They were born in Germany, spoke German and were German citizens. Not even my grandmother, their daughter, knew otherwise so I always thought I was part German. It turned out they were actually of Danish descent and were only "Germans" because Prussia took Schleswig-Holstein from Denmark just before they were born.
 
citizenzen said:
I agree with your points. However, it seems from Warren's family lore that they were connecting directly to that Native American ancestor.

If her descendants were in America in the period between 1786-1868 it could help to corroborate that lore, but it's not the only explanation as to how she obtained that DNA.
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As I understand it, it just has to be one of her many ancestral lineages in existence at that time who had to have Native American ancestry to keep with the DNA. Just one great, great, great grandparent or one great, great,great, great, great grandparent. I can't even track my ancestry much past my grandparents (the holocaust cut a lot of the family tree at that point).

The direct connectivity in the family lore may be just that - a nice story. Or an embellishment or slight distortion of an actual story. Neither of which would Warren be expected to not accept in the same manner we accept our family's stories. And surprisingly many of these stories are more accurate than one might expect. There is a population of Ethiopians who long claimed that they were Jewish and the descendants of a Jewish trader. Everyone else thought they were crazy because they looked just like most other Ethiopians. Until they were genetically tested. And they were correct.
 
Stacyhs said:
I thought my great grandparents were German. They were born in Germany, spoke German and were German citizens. Not even my grandmother, their daughter, knew otherwise so I always thought I was part German. It turned out they were actually of Danish descent and were only "Germans" because Prussia took Schleswig-Holstein from Denmark just before they were born.
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People ask me where my family originated. I learned from my family stories that it was Eastern Europe. Each of my grandparents talked of specific countries (they met here) , but which country was which in the early 1900s (when my grandparents came to the USA) was in flux.

Of course I can only assume my grandparents were telling me the truth, not the least of which was that they were each my biological grandparent. I know this is by no means always true when people have their DNA tested.
 
Giordano said:
Simply not true. Her family believed that they had Native American ancestry and were proud of it. Senator Warren grew up with that understanding, just as we all generally accept what we learn from our families about our family's background and ancestry. How much actual proof of what you believe about your family's origins do you have? Or is much of it just stories you've heard?

So Warren was proud of Native American ancestry without knowing details, because no one in her family really had many details. And she, and her family story, was fully correct on DNA testing! Somehow the family story included the idea that the Native American ancestry was Cherokee. Warren repeated that part. Well, I think the DNA test does not have the resolution to confirm or deny that part (I could be wrong).

But again, Warren legitimately claimed a link to a historic ancestry equivalent to that many others have made to other historic ancestries. It is a common human source of pride.

And at my university (at least) there is no minimum % that if you go below you cannot check off a particular ancestry box. It is simply how you identify yourself.

These are the facts.
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All good points.

If you were in that position, would you have checked the box to label yourself as a minority law teacher?
 
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