Genetics and Genealogy- Who were Elizabeth Parker's Parents

Question

I don't believe in the Tooth Fairy, the Pot of Gold, or even "Harvey-the-Invisible-Rabbit" so I have been slow to believe in the tales of pioneer ancestors who married Native Americans, providing a little color to my otherwise boringly European family tree. Now comes a DNA test which says that I'm 2% Yakut. The most direct explanation is that Elizabeth Parker Adkins did have a Native American mother-ratifying the ancestral "tales" that we all have heard. Many of you are related to her, many of you have valid DNA tests through several different companies. So I'm asking you to check your tests...have you an unexplained Native American ancestor on your DNA test?

Comments

People from India are Indian. People from America are American. Native people of America are Native Americans.

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On the other hand, terms of race and/or ethnicity are subject to change. It wasn't so long ago that the so-called radical group of Native Americans named themselves the "American Indian Movement." I once taught school on a reservation in California; the inhabitants who were not "white" called themselves Indians. And quite proudly, I might add.

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Ian, you are quite correct...question context does correct this abbreviated title. Shall say no more...

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There is such a thing as colonialism and internalized racism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_boarding_schools

I see your "I once taught schools on a reservation in California" and raise you "I once went to school at a native school, Four Winds, in California." My grandmother was also a scholar of indigenous art, art history, and culture.

The fact is that the use of "indian" to describe the people of this continent is a gross racist epithet. When used to describe people not from India it is a gross racist epithet both to the natives of this continent and to the natives of the India.

American actually derives from Amerigo, so a correction made to me by a friend recently is more correct. "Natives". I'll note that Wikitree policy is to call people by their names of choice in the time in which they lived, so this kind of thing actually requires careful, consistent, deliberation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerigo_Vespucci

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(Aside: As a Berkeley native, I prefer the term "indigenous peoples," Ian.)  The question originally posed was not intended as a podium for sociological debate but rather as a legitimate attempt for members of Wikitree to discuss an unresolved profile, please don't highjack my inquiry, my friend.  Pose a new G2G discussion directed toward your new topic if you like. Thank you, Cousin Ian. Walk in peace.

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I am a descendant of Elizabeth Parker Adkins.  The Eurogenes K-13 Admixture test for me,  (Kit T680363) at gedmatch shows  1.15% Siberian and .062% Amerindian.  My mother's 23andme results show NA with an estimate of full blooded NA ancestor born between 1670 and 1760.

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Agreed Hans,

Very much the same situation for me. Two tests say Sami, but it was the second that had a Native American admixture. At first glance the first test appeared Finnish. Elizabeth Parker as an ancestor also. - Megan

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Kind of amazing that this thread mostly devolved into a forum to argue nomenclature rather than discuss the genetic evidence for NA ancestry of Elizabeth Parker.  Thanks for posting, cousin.

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I have actual information from a book about this topic. I'll try to type it in today.

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Where should I put two scans from a book?

Answer 1

I am always "that guy" when it comes to small ethnicity percentage predictions.  I don't take them seriously at all, because I am not at all convinced that the small ethnicity percentages are valid and reliable.

I also always link to Judy Russell's blogs on this, as she regularly makes posts showing the limitation of ethnicity percentages.  In her most recent entry, she shows how her own tests show seven different ethnicity percentage predictions.  And - if you look closely at her small percentage predictions, you see that they widely-vary - with some tests showing small percentages of African, others showing small percentages of Asian and one even showing a small percentage of Ashkenazi Jewish.:

https://www.legalgenealogist.com/2017/04/16/still-not-soup/

Bottom line - I can't take these seriously until we start seeing reliable ethnicity percentage predictions across tests.

Answer 2

Mitha Straight tail Parker and Richard Parker's daughter Elizabeth Parker who married William Adkinson https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/GSKK-XHP. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Parker-2190.

Richards Will Mitha Straight tail Parker as wife not Elizabeth Ballard. Also, Anna Adkins who married John Sartain is Elizabeth and William Atkinson daughter. See below.

The Last Will and Testament of Richard Parker In the name of God, Amen, I Richard Parker of ye County of Henrico, being sick of body, but of sound and perfect memory I do make and ordain this my last will and testament in manner and form following, Viz: I give my Soul to Almighty God he gave it to me and my body to the earth to be decently buried according to the discretion of my executors and as to my worldly goods and properties, I give and dispose of as followeth: Viz:

Item: I give and bequeath to my wife Micha Parker three cows, calves, four sowes, fifteen shoats, the bed and furniture I had with her, five pewter dishes, six plates, one iron pot, one frying pan, one riding beast and ye saddle she is now possessed with to her my said wife and her heirs forever.

Item: I give to my daughter Ann, now wife of James Daniel, one shilling sterling to her and her heirs forever.

Item: I give to my daughter Elizabeth, now wife of William Atkinson, one shilling sterling to her and her heirs forever.

Item: I give to my daughter Mary, now ye wife of Lewis Jenkins, one shilling sterling to her and her heirs, forever.

Item: I give to my son, Richard Parker and moreover devise all the rest of my estate both real and personal, moveable, and immoveable to him and his heirs forever. Thereby constituting and appointing him, my said son, executor to this my last will and testament as witnesseth by my hand and seal this 27th day of Feb 1726. Witness Thomas Owen

Signed Richard Parker, Robert Woodson, Jr.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_Tail_Meaurroway_Opessa https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/68943387 https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/martha-elizabeth-minitha-mitha-straight-tail-parker-proven-indian-24-f7vs9z#:~:text=Born%20in%20Ohio%2C%20United%20States%20of%20America%20on,7%20January%201717%20in%20Henrico%20County%2C%20Virginia%2C%20USA. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NHMX-WQK

Comments

Micha was his second wife, all of this is well documented on his profile.

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And there is no evidence that his second wife Mitha was Native American or used the name "Straight Tail."

She is documented here:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Harris-40105