Forebear guide
Do you have Native American DNA? Check the file you already have.
Many families have a story about a Native American great-grandmother. Your existing raw DNA file can show whether you carry Indigenous American DNA and roughly how much, without buying another test.
The free breakdown shows your Indigenous American percentage alongside ten other regions. The Indigenous American DNA Report adds how confident that number is, what it suggests about how many generations back the ancestry sits, and the records to search next.
What DNA can and cannot tell you
Indigenous American DNA is genetically distinct from European and African DNA, so a meaningful amount shows up clearly. Very small amounts, under about 2 percent, are hard to tell apart from noise, and the report says so plainly when that is the case.
DNA cannot name a tribe or nation, and it cannot make you a member of one. Each nation sets its own enrolment rules, usually based on documented descent from someone on a historical roll, not on a DNA percentage.
Records that prove Native ancestry
If your DNA does show Indigenous American ancestry, the paper trail usually runs through records like these.
- Dawes Rolls (Five Civilized Tribes, 1898 to 1914)
- Indian Census Rolls (1885 to 1940)
- Guion Miller Roll (Eastern Cherokee, 1909)
- Canadian Indian Register and treaty annuity lists
- Mission and parish registers in the Southwest and Mexico
- US census entries marked Indian
Questions people ask
My family says we are part Cherokee but my DNA shows 0 percent. Is the test wrong?
Not necessarily wrong, but it is a strong signal. One Native great-great-grandparent would usually leave a few percent. Zero across a good file most often means the family story is not accurate, or the ancestor was many generations back.
Can I use this to enrol in a tribe?
No. Tribal nations do not accept DNA percentages for enrolment. The report points you to the rolls and records that nations do use.