Regarding Nancy (Coker) Glover ...
I am a descendant of Nancy (Coker) Glover. She is my maternal 3rd g-grandmother. I have heard stories from my family saying that there was a Native American (specifically Cherokee) great-grandma of my maternal grandfather. The evidence of this claim is that he remembers her at family gatherings. To add onto this, the other people in the town that he grew up in had known that he was part-Cherokee.
Here’s the problem:
I cannot find any sources of this ancestor who was supposedly Cherokee at all. What I have gathered is a few things, though.
A:
It would have to have been on my maternal grandfather dad’s side, Jess Glover, because I know that all of the wife, Hauttie’s, ancestors were not Cherokee. The only native ancestor we can find for the wife was in the late 1600s, and not Cherokee.
B:
Even with Jess’ ancestors, it would have to be on his paternal side, considering all of his mom’s ancestors aren’t Cherokee.
C:
Jess’ paternal grandfather was supposedly part Cherokee, but he remembers that it was a great-grandmother of his specifically. So 3 generations above him.
This would narrow the only option down to the aforementioned Nancy (Coker) Glover. They would have possibly had a one year overlap of time to see each other and he may have remembered it. To add onto this theory of her being part-Cherokee, I have no idea who her parents are. This can create speculation that she may be Cherokee.
All of the supposed theories of her parentage are suspicious. For example:
Pretty much the only theory of her parents are John Coker Sr and Lydia (Davis) Coker. I don’t believe that those are her parents due to the fact that they:
A:
Had already had a kid named Nancy, who lived to adulthood too. Why would they have another kid named Nancy?
B:
Her parents both would’ve been 47 years old having Nancy Ellen. That’s extremely old, especially for their time.
That would mean that those probably were not her parents.
What makes this even more weird is that in the 1880s census, she’s listed with her husband (my 3rd great grandfather), and her firstborn daughter (2nd great grand aunt). On this census, she is listed as White, not Cherokee/Indian.
My grandfather also told stories of how his ancestors were made fun of in the county his family was from for being Cherokee.
My final note is that, in all of my family’s DNA tests, which include my maternal grandfather, mother, aunt, maternal grand uncle, cousin, and me, has no Native American DNA whatsoever.
My mom did, however, have North African DNA when first getting her test back, which was commonly conflated with Native DNA back when she took her test.
In conclusion, I am totally and utterly confused as to how I may be Cherokee. I know that I probably am somehow, but I have no clue as to what degree I am.
