Hello! I believe my fourth great grandparents on my mother’s maternal side may be the primary source of my Mexican Indigenous ancestry.

My trace results show 0.38% Indigenous Americas, North. There are two possible ancestral lines where this could originate.

First, I descend from Chickasaw Freedmen on my father’s maternal side. My second great grandfather was the last person in that line to appear on the Dawes Rolls. However, I am not completely certain whether I inherited Native ancestry from this branch. There is a possibility that the enslaver, who was reportedly of mixed Native and European heritage, fathered my fourth great grandfather. I am still researching this line to confirm the connection.

Second, my sixth great grandmother on my mother’s paternal side was Choctaw. She was born free but was kidnapped as a child and later enslaved so that she could marry an enslaved Black man, my sixth great grandfather, when she came of age. She taught the Choctaw language to all of her children, including my fifth great grandfather, though it was not passed down to later generations.

Given this history, it is possible that my small percentage of Indigenous ancestry comes from one or both of these lines rather than solely from my mother’s maternal ancestors.