DNA - We are all related!

They took the whole Cherokee nation
Put us on this reservation
Took away our ways of life
The tomahawk and the bow and knife
Took away our native tongue
And taught their English to our young
And all the beads we made by hand
Are nowadays made in Japan

Cherokee people
Cherokee tribe
So proud to live
So proud to die

Well a while back I did a blog post about My Faithful and Obedient Companions "Cherokee" Roots via Aaron "Chief Red Bird" "Cutsawah" " Brock 1721 – 1797.  Here was the origin of that post:

George-Brock Barbara's Maternal Great Great Great Grandfather Documented by DAR Genealogy


As you can see his Parents were shown as the Infamous Chief Red Bird.....but another possibility was also listed.

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Note also a sibling by the name of Jessie Brock was also listed, and he is likely descended from "The Chief".  It was from this that I got here the idea to claim her heritage!

This family story led me to surprise my "Faithful and Obedient Companion"  with a side trip to Salem Indiana on our journey back tom Stowe so we could dig further into this storied history.  It was also where Barbara's Mom spent her early years.

Unfortunately, over a cigar, I delved into Chief "Red Birds" history and uncovered this.  Which as I type I realize t will also be a "surprise" to "My Faithful and Obedient Companion" when she reads this post!

 What we have About Aaron "Totsuwha-Chief Red Bird" Brock

Some researchers believe him to be Chief Red Bird for which the Red Bird River in Clay and Leslie Counties are named. Aaron Cutsawah would be his American Indian name if this is the case as there are some places that refer to Chief Red Bird as Aaron Cutsawah Chief Red Bird Brock. However, on the 1805 Treaty of Tellico, Chief Red Bird's name was listed as Tochuwor with his "X" made by the name.

Alternate birth date: 8/21/1721

Please see http://www.indianreservations.net/2017/06/aaron-brock-red-bird-father-of-jesse.html

We don’t know his parents, wife or children. Documentation welcome, but don’t add anyone, please.

Disproved descent

• John Brock, {Fictional} Seen as son is a known fraudulent profile
• 2. Mahala Susannah b.1749 Cumberland Co. VA d.1820 Clay Co. KY m. Edward Callahan in 1773 VA. Edward b.1773 VA d.1823 Clay Co. KY [NO: she was a sister of Jesse, who was not Red Bird’s son]
• 3. George b.1752 Shenandoah Co. VA d. Jan 1839 Washington Co. IN. m. Julia Ann Bruner on May 28, 1824
• 4. Reuben b.1754 VA m. Elizabeth Camp in 1779 NC b.1760 NC [NO: Reuben Brock of German Ancestry]
• 5. James Brock b. 1758 VA d.1834 [NO: Brother of Jesse, Y DNA Haplogroup j]

Some more info about the "Brocks" reveals:

AARON BROCK (Sr.), is said to've been born 8 Dec 1721 in VA, though no source for the date can be found ~ the same birthday as his son JESSE BROCK (b. 8 Dec 1751, Cumberland Co., VA), so perhaps someone confused their birthdays. AARON died probably 1811 in Clay Co., KY. Nearly 200 years of oral tradition indicates Aaron Brock the English name of Cherokee treaty-signer Chief Red Bird (Cherokee name Tsalagi' Ugvwiyuhi Totsu'hwa) for whom the Red Bird River was named. Circumstantial evidence indicates but cannot prove he was the son of Chief Great Eagle and Woman Ani-Wadi. Dr. Kenneth B. Tankersley was shown the burial place of Aaron Brock - Chief Red Bird as a boy by his great-grandmother Elizabeth Saylor Tankersley, who was shown by her grandmother Elizabeth Brock Saylor, the granddaughter of Jesse Brock's son James C., as a place to be cared for by their family, which has looked after his grave since the murder.

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Aaron's son Jesse Brock was said in testimony by his grandson Elijah (son of Amon) to be "about 3/4 Indian." This suggests that Jesse was the grand- or great-grand-, or gr-great-grandson (?) of a European immigrant. A Brock DNA Project to determine the Y-chromosome of Aaron Brock is awaiting more test results, but so far three Brock direct-male-line descendants of Jesse Brocks's sons Amon, James, and Jesse, Jr., are haplogroup J-12f2.1+, of Mediterranean-Middle East- Ashkenazi Jewish (Jews who went to Northern Europe, primarily to England). Dr. Bennett Greenspan of Family Tree DNA wrote about our Brock family's DNA in June 2007, "I have looked into a Jewish database that we have and this line IS found as a 12/12 match with 10 people in the database of Jews…One from Turkey (likely Spanish origins) one from Iran, and many from the Island of Majorca from a group of people who where forced to convert to Christianity called the Cheuta’s. I do not believe that these Brocks are descended from a Native American male, rather from a Jewish colonizer of Spanish descent."

Another man tested whose DNA was tested descends from a George Brock who lived in the same area as Jesse, had land dealings with him, and is believed by descendants to be Jesse's son, shows haplogroup R1B, the most common European admixture, and no similarity to the other two. There is little chance they had a common ancestor. He and some other Brocks tested with DNA Prints, rather than Y-chromosome testing, all show a percentage of Native American.

So.......while the genealogy I thought I uncovered that Barbara was a descendant of  "Chief Rebird" has been  shattered by DNA testing...you will note that she apparently is still much more a Native American than one infamous "Native American" Democratic Presidential candidate.

Oh and perhaps it also shows she may perhaps (?) share some DNA with another prominent presidential contender from Vermont! ( But that does seem unlikely?)

All in all still a wonderful family story to share with you all, even if Barbara will likely say this DNA testing stuff is for The (Red) Birds!

With that I bid you adieu!