Our X chromosomes matter! When I tested with 23andMe, I was surprised to see that my single X chromosome contains a long Native American segment. It is colored in gold below.

Males inherit their X chromosome from their mothers, so I awaited my mother’s 23andMe results to see her X chromosome. As expected, she had a long Native American segment on one of her X chromosomes; see below. Females inherit two X chromosomes, one from the mother and the other one from the father. Therefore, I could not determine if this long Native American segment came from my mother’s mother or her father because her X chromosomes are a recombination of the two X chromosomes she inherited from her parents.

I tested my mother’s brother with 23andMe, too. I was amazed to see that a majority portion of his X chromosome was Native American (i.e., Indigenous American). His single X chromosome came from his mother, my maternal grandmother, so this confirmed where this Native American segment came from.

To add, my mother’s maternal first cousin’s granddaughter (1C2R) took the 23andMe test. I will call her Cousin Ellen; her mother’s paternal grandmother and my maternal grandmother were sisters. She uploaded her raw data file to FamilyTreeDNA and GEDmatch, which also show the X chromosome. Interestingly, Cousin Ellen shares a long 70 cM segment on the X with my uncle (67 cM with my mother) in that Native American region. There was DNA triangulation; see below. This was additional confirmation, but my uncle’s X chromosome was indeed the ultimate confirmation.

So, for several years, I was stuck here; our Native American X-DNA came from my maternal grandmother. No oral history of Native American ancestry existed in my maternal grandmother’s family. Based on presumed features of my maternal grandmother’s maternal grandmother, Native American ancestry was speculated. Phenotype is often not an indication of genotype. Oral history and DNA confirmed that my 2X-great grandmother, Louisa Bobo Danner, was fathered by a white man (Joshua Wilbourn or his twin Elijah Wilbourn) who impregnated my 3X-great grandmother, Clarissa Bobo.

How could I determine if that long Native American segment came from my maternal grandmother’s father or mother? Any X-DNA that my maternal grandmother inherited from her father, John Hector Davis, came from his mother, Lucy Milam Davis, and no recombination occurred before it was passed to my maternal grandmother. The X-DNA that my maternal grandmother inherited from her mother, Mary Danner Davis, is a recombination of the two X chromosomes her mother Mary inherited from her parents, Edward Danner and Louisa Bobo Danner.

The long length of my uncle’s Native American segment led me to speculate if it came from my maternal grandmother’s paternal grandmother Lucy, since no recombination occurred when Grandma Lucy’s oldest son, John Hector Davis, passed it down to my maternal grandmother (and her sisters).

A major clue soon surfaced. A new DNA cousin appeared in Ancestry.com. I will call her Cousin Latoya. Per Ancestry.com, she shares 11, 38, and 46 cM with my uncle, mother, and aunt, respectively. Shared DNA matches indicate that Cousin Latoya is related via Grandma Lucy. After researching her family tree, I discovered that Grandma Lucy’s full sister, Elizabeth Milam Sanders, is Cousin Latoya’s 3X-great grandmother. Therefore, she is my mother’s third cousin twice removed (3C2R). No other connections were found.

Cousin Latoya also uploaded her raw data file to GEDmatch. Thankfully, she did! I discovered that she also shares DNA on the X chromosome with my mother, uncle, and me. She shares the longest X-DNA segment with my uncle at 36 cM and Cousin Ellen at 31 cM. Cousin Latoya was triangulating on the X chromosome with them. Plugging her chromosome data into my uncle’s DNAPainter profile, they match in the Native American region of his X chromosome. See below.

I then confirmed if Cousin Latoya could have inherited X-DNA from her 3X-great grandmother, Aunt Elizabeth Milam Sanders. Based on a female’s X-DNA inheritance pattern, she indeed could have. See below.

The ancestral path of our Native American X-DNA was now confirmed; it came from my 2X-Great Grandma Lucy Milam Davis. Born c. 1846 in present-day Tate County, Mississippi on Joseph R. Milam’s farm east of Senatobia, Lucy was the documented daughter of Wade & Peggy Milam, who had also been enslaved by Joseph Milam. Death certificates, DNA, and other genealogy findings indicate that Wade and Peggy had at least six children together, including Lucy and Elizabeth. Our Native American X-DNA came from either Wade, via his undiscovered mother, or Peggy. More about my discovering Peggy’s parents can be read here.

After slavery ended, Wade appeared to have cohabitated with a much younger woman named Fannie, with whom he had seven additional children. Interestingly, yet coincidentally, the 1870 census taker recorded her as being “I” for Indian. See below. Fannie’s reported birthplace was “Cherokee Nation.” The children in the house, Jim, Coleman, Price, Tucker, and Fannie Jr., were reported as being “M” for mulatto. Oral history, DNA, and other genealogy findings confirmed that they were Grandma Lucy’s half-siblings.

This long Native American segment on my uncle’s X chromosome represents his 1.9% Indigenous American ancestry in his 23andMe Ancestry Composition. However, since this connection is only on the X, one can plausibly surmise that our Native American ancestor could either go back many more generations or perhaps the long segment length might indicate that our Native American ancestor may only be a couple of generations from Wade or Peggy. Ancestry.com does not show any Native American ancestry for my uncle, my mother, and my aunt. However, I remain hopeful that more clues will surface to further pinpoint the origins of our Native American X-DNA.