Many of us in the U.S. have family legends of a Native American ancestor.  If you have wondered about this family legend, there are several DNA tests that might uncover information about your Native American ancestor.  You should also read Proving Your Native American Heritage, by Roberta J. Estes.

If you suspect, you have Native American heritage, you might also want to join one of the Native American Regional DNA Projects; e.g., the Lumbee Tribe DNA Project

Family Tree DNA recently combined the mtDNA test and the mtDNA Native American test, and also combined the Y-DNA test and the Y-DNA Native American test.  As a result, if you suspect that the Native American Ancestry is in your direct female line or your direct male line, you would take either the mtDNA test or the Y-DNA test.  The advantage of the new tests is that you no longer have to choose between a test or the Native American version of the test.  In addition, the new combined Y-DNA or mtDNA test is available at FTDNA standard prices, reflecting a savings compared to the prior cost for a Native American test.  You now select the Y-DNA or mtDNA test, and the results will tell you if you have a Native American ancestor in your direct line, and if not, you still get valuable information about your direct ancestor.  If you have no idea if your Native American ancestry is in the direct male line or the direct female line, you might want to consider the DNAPrint test.  The DNAPrint test is the only test available in the world to read your Ancestral mix from your DNA.  Developed by DNAPrint, and available from Family Tree DNA, DNAPrint measures a person's Personal Anthropology and their corresponding ancestral ethnic proportions. The result of the test is a report showing your percentages of each ethnic ancestry or major human population group.  For example, your result could be 18% Native American, 70% European, and 12% African.

The DNAPrint test would be an excellent test to uncover whether you have Native American ancestry.  One factor to consider before ordering the DNAPrint test, is that in each generation after your Native American ancestor, your percentage of Native American is reduced.  For example, if your parents were a 100% European person and a 100% Native American person, the most you could be would be 50% Native American, since you are the result of the combination of both your parents.  If you then had a child with a 100% European spouse, then your child would be no more than 25% Native American.  If your Native American ancestry was more than 6-7 generations ago, your results from the DNAPrint test may not reflect any Native American ancestry, due to the dilution in each generation, and the random aspect of which genes are selected from each parent.  However, the DNAPrint is the only test that can provide an answer, when your Native American ancestry is not in your direct male or female Line.

Most people of European ancestry are a mixture of two or more of the major population groups: European, Native American, East Asian and sub-Saharan African.  The DNAPrint test results report your mix. If you get a result such as 85% European and 15% Asian, this does not mean that you had an ancestor that was 100% Chinese.  What it means is that you had several ancestors who had some component or percentage of Asian ancestry.

The DNAPrint test is a great opportunity to explore your heritage beyond the time of written records. The DNAPrint test is no longer offered through FTDNA.  To learn more about and to order the DNAPrint test, use the URL listed below:

http://www.AncestrybyDNA.com