how do i trace my family history since i half black and half indian and 1/4 white?

Answer 1

Hey Gwen,

You trace your family history the same way anyone does, with Vital Records. Use Birth, Marriage and Death certificates. The fact that the addition of percents/fractions does not add up, in the end, you will not use those numbers anyway. So, get all the birth, marriage and death records for you, your parents, their parents, and great grandparents you can. Interview all your living relatives and document the dates and locations of BMDs. Send away and get the records.

Answer 2

almost ANY American, black or white, who's family has been in the US more than about 100 yrs has British blood also. Many slave ownwers raped their female slaves or sometimes had affairs with them. The slaves were listed under the name of their owners. So if your last name is Johnson, as example, you may find that your slave anscestor worked for Johnson and there's a good chance that you are blood kin to Johnson as well. Not ALWAYS, but frequently.

Answer 3

You have to do each line separately.
BEGIN with you parents, grandparents, great-grandparents,
with the Native American line you will go to the Dawes Rolls before 1870, and the African American line use Census data back to about 1870, after that go to the Slave Rolls. The White line you can go back to 1850 pretty easily, then you have to go to court records and church records to go back. You can start with websites like, genforum.com, rootsweb.com etc.
Check your local public library and ask if they have a genealogy branch or family history center nearby.
Many Americans are a hodgepodge of races and ethnic groups this is normal.

Answer 4

Are you siamese? Because last time I checked 50%+50%+25%=125% not 50%+50%+25%=100% or am I and the world just messed up?

Answer 5

geesh...
after the math issues, you can start finding your ancestors. For beginning, the goal is WHO are your... parents... grandparents... gr grandparents? Much of this info will NOT be online, and you will find gaps. Someone does not remember where grandpa is buried or when grandma was born. Those gaps are exactly what you will work to fill in. Until you know that grandma is buried in Texas, we can't direct you to a website that has Texas cemetery records, for example.
It is absolutely basic, to start with the most recent records, and work back a generation at a time, and find verification aside from what the family knows. The recent records will serve as a foundation to find the earlier ones. Trying to "jump" from today to origins is the one biggest mistake beginners make.
K.I.S.S. (keep it simple, sweetheart).. you only need notebook paper and a 3 ring binder to start with. TAKE MY WORD FOR IT.. avoid writing notes on backs of envelopes, small pieces of paper, etc. We all start out doing it. We all hate ourselves later. Create what is called a family group sheet for each couple. Husband/ wife, names of children of that marriage. Him at top. Use wife's maiden name .. you will get used to identifying her that way (to trace her family). Leave space for details: birth, marriage, death, burial. Include places when known (locality is the key to finding the record). Add a line for the father/mother of the husband and wife (which will "tie" to their own fgs). Names of all children ARE important, since they can be clues to your direct line. Include names of children's spouses, but don't attempt to do their entire family. That goes on their own fgs.
Don't try to make any fancy system.. you will forget it. Just file them alphabetically by husband's last name. Anyone can figure this system out, without explanation (including yourself). When you have enough data to justify it, you can download a free program that stores, sorts and makes pretty charts. The program itself doesn't need to "find" the data, although some programs claim that. Eventually, if you have enough group sheets, you can put mom's family in one binder and dad's in the other.. but that is just an option.
Certain types of records like birth and death certificates are a comparatively recent thing (1900's or so, to present). It will DEPEND on the state. Earlier than that, you will shift to things like cemetery records, census, land records, wills, so forth. When you hit 1870'ish, you will start running into the transition to free vs slave records. It is not easy, but not impossible either.
One "trick" as far as tracing any record, is to not think in judgemental terms. Example.. you may learn that one ancestor was owned by a particular family. In my own experience, the white descendents of that family are likely to be happy to help share records that they might have already found, which will relate to what you need to know.
At the beginning, your race or ethnic has no bearing on the research basics. You will learn as you go, which resources are "general" or specific. My favorite place for getting a feel for available resources is www.cyndislist.com. Browse through it, you will be amazed. Be sure to stop and read one of several guides to beginning research.
Good luck!! you can reach me via my profile, if you have more questions that I can help with.

Answer 6

that would be 1 1/4 what are you really

Answer 7

So you are 50% Black, 50% indian and 25% white...





DOES NOT COMPUTE.

Answer 8

Hey,,,,

How can you be one half of one thing and one half of another and then a quarter of something else???? That s just a little too much.. lol

Why not be proud of just who you are instead of what you want to be.......

good luck

Answer 9

I'll paste my standard answer below. It is mostly for that 1/4th white part of your tree. African-Americans usually run into dead ends much sooner that Whites. You can find your A-A ancestors by name on the censuses from 1870 - 1930. The 1850 and 1860 has white people by name. Before that they just recorded heads of households and how many women and children they had.

Most large tribes have web sites, and most web sites have a section devoted to genealogy. Look for your tribe by name ("Cherokee") in any reputable search engine. The official tribal site is almost always in the top 5.

The Family History Center in an LDS church near you may have on-line access to census images and a CD of Freedman's Bank records. They are friendly, helpful, free and they don't try to convert you. I recommend them to everyone.

Here's my standard answer.

These questions come up every day:

Where can I find my family tree for free?
Does anyone know the {Surname} family?
What are good sites for ancestors / genealogy?

They are all about tracing your family tree on the Internet. I am not chastising you for failing to search the resolved questions first. I am explaining why this is the same answer I gave to many other people. The fourth time I typed my favorite beginner's links I realized I should save them in a text file and paste them in. This is a long, detailed and general answer. Because it is general, some of the links (or paragraphs) may not apply to your question.

These may help get you started. They are large and free. Many of them, however, have subtle ads for Ancestry.com in them - ads that ask for a name, then offer a trial subscription. Watch out for those advertisements.

http://www.cyndislist.com/
(240,000+ links, all cross-indexed. If you want Welsh or Pennsylvania Dutch or Oregon or any other region, ethnic group or surname, chances are she has links for it.)
http://www.familysearch.com
(Mormon's mega-site. Click on "Search")
http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi
(460,000,000+ entries, of varying quality)
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/default.aspx?ln=
Surname meanings and origins
http://www.tedpack.org/begingen.html
My own site: "How to Begin"

United States only:
http://www.usgenweb.net/
(Subdivided into state sites, which all have county sites.)
(The Canadians have Canadian Gen Web, by province)
http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi
(Social Security Death index - click on "Advanced". You may find your grandparents.)
http://find.person.superpages.com/
(US Phone book, for looking up distant cousins)


United Kingdom Only:
http://www.genuki.org.uk/
(Biggest site for United Kingdom & Ireland)
http://www.freebmd.org.uk/
(Free Birth, Marriage & Death Records)

(If you posted your question in Genealogy, ignore this paragraph. If you posted it in the "Family" category, read on.)
Tracing your family tree is called genealogy. YA has a category for genealogy,
Home > Arts & Humanities > Genealogy
There are hundreds of more links in the resolved answers there.

In the USA, some public libraries have census image subscriptions. Many Family History Centers do too. FHC's are small rooms in Mormon churches. They welcome anyone interested in genealogy, not just fellow Mormons. They have resources on CD's and volunteers who are friendly. They don't try to convert you; in fact, they don't mention their religion unless you ask a question about it.


Notes:

You usually have to do some research. Sometimes you get lucky. Don't give up if your Great grandfather with your surname isn't there. Try all eight great-grandparents.

You won't find living people on any of the sites except the phone book one. You won't find many people born after 1920 on any of the sites except the SSDI one. Genealogists hide the birth dates, birth places and other facts of living people to protect their privacy. You will have to find your grandparents' or great grandparents' birth dates and maiden names somewhere besides the Internet.

The best way to get started is to ask your oldest living relatives about themselves and their parents. You may find great-grandpa's death date and burial place on the web, but only his children, your grandfather and grandaunt, can tell you what sort of man he was.

The free sites are supported by advertising, just like TV. You can't watch the Super Bowl without seeing a beer commercial, and you can't surf for dead relatives without seeing an Ancestry advertisement. Many people complain about advertisements. Please don't. They bring you the "free" sites. There's no such thing as a free lunch.

If you get serious you'll need a genealogy program. They are to family research what "Word" is to writing a novel. I like Roots Magic. Family Tree Maker is the market leader. Both cost around $29. The Mormons will let you download PAF for free. It is clunky, but it is free. You can sometimes find old versions of FTM or Family Origins (FO is the predecessor of RM) in bargin bins at CostCo.

This is a general hint: Even though you go in through YA Canada, YA Australia, YA UK or YA USA, all of the questions go into one big "pot" and get read by everyone in the world who speaks English. Most of the people here are in the UK and USA, but you sometimes get questions and answers from people who worry about kangaroos eating their roses. So - put a nation, or, better yet, if you are asking about a specific individual, a nation and a state / province in all of your questions. It will help people help you.