I seem to remember reading only 10% of Irish have red hair. 13% for Scottish. They are, of course, the highest percentages of any areas in the world, but still a small part of their respective populations. As for me, Irish/Scottish/Welsh
Half French, half I'm not sure what. My father has a way of making up family stories. My wife is more interesting and she'll be mad she can only choose one. Her mother is either Chinese or half-white/half-Chinese. Her father is black, with a significant amount of Native-American (1/16th maybe?), and Irish. So, our daughter is over-half white (with a quarter being French), a quarter or a eighth Chinese, and something less than a quarter black, with some Native American in there too.
I absolutely LOVE how everyone thinks they are 1/8th or 1/132nd or 1/whatever Indian. That is the funniest crap ever. What is the allure to being 1/whatever Indian? Does it give you some type of pride that you are somehow either A) connected to pre-colonial America or B) partially exotic and mysterious? I am sure most of you post that you are partially Indian because that's what your dad said or your grandpa told you but I assure you...with limited exception of course...you are not partially Indian. I want this myth to end.
I have been told that I have Indian blood in my own ancestry. I didn't post it because that information is very sketchy, and not at all important to me anyway. It's more certain in my wife's case, since I talked to her grandmother about it, who knew the Indian who brought that ancestry into the family. As for the allure, I don't know what it might be; it may be because you get some special political status if you're Indian enough (without having to suffer from the government neglect and abuse of those who find themselves too Indian).
From what I understand if you can prove something like 1/16th of American Indian heritage, you can qualify for all kinds of things. Student Loans and Grants, mortgages, business loans.
My dad's father's father was full blooded Alabama-Coushatta. This is an absolute fact. There is no allure to me having this heritage and I know absolutely nothing about it honestly. My mom's father was full blooded Czech. His parents migrated to the US and never spoke a word of English. I just have no idea about any of my other heritage so these are the only things that I can list.
What exactly leads you to the conclusion that most people that claim this are incorrect? By the way, I'm part Cherokee. My great great grandmother was a full blooded Cherokee. My grandfather showed me a picture of her (it was a portrait drawn by someone).
Mostly a stand-up comic I went to see. He was going through ancestry stuff and having people raise their hands if they were...whatever. When he got to American Indian he was like, "Now I only want you to raise your hand if you are 1/64th or more. that means if your great-great-great-great grandparents were full blooded or one of your great-great-great-great-great grantparents was full blooded. who in the house has American Indian Ancestry?" And like 90% of the house raised their hands. He then went on to tell them how full of crap most of them were. He had the remaining 20 or so people stand up and he asked them questions about their great-great-great-great granparents and they were all like, "I dunno." so why is it that just the people with Indian blood know it? it was funny and telling.
Chance, I'm sure that it was funny when you heard the bit, but the truth is that many Americans have some American Indian blood in them. True, many probably don't who's family has passed down stories that may have been originally a misunderstanding or an attempt at humor. I have a bit of American Indian in me, according to my uncle and my departed grandfather, and I'm an android! If you saw my uncle's nose, you'd see it. Mine (my nose) looks pure Scottish, best I can tell, which is a large dose of my ancestry. People can be touchy about these things, Chance, with good reason. Better tread lightly, my friend. You're apt to have a war band descend on you!
