Over time I've met a lot of people who want to find out if rumors that they are (their genetics that is) makes them part African-American, part Native American, part Jewish, or part Gypsy otherwise "not really White" or a person of "Color."
The reason they don't know for sure is that either their family members did not know, or they knew and kept it secret because these ethnic or racial aspects of their genetics were or are considered undesirable, even shameful. Now they look in the mirror and wonder.
I'm not trying to judge people who feel that they must keep it a secret that they are "part" of a group they can't relate to or maybe never even met. It may have been that by not telling the whole truth to children, the parents felt they were saving their children the hardships of prejudice which they themselves had experienced. It's no longer OK to call people names based on their ethnicity or race but many of us have memories of being around people who did call names, and thought nothing of it. Some people just thought that ethnic stereotypes were true.
For this reason, prejudice, ignorance, or covering truth, the reportage on census and other documents, birth, marriage, and death certificates may not be accurate.
I remember researching a family that came from North Carolina right near a Cherokee reservation and reading census page by page (which people who use databases tend not to bother with but which was standard operating procedure using microfilm) which really gave a sense of the neighborhood where a lot of families clearly stated off reservation that they were Cherokee, while others had children in categories of both White and Black rather that - it was later proven - just say they were Cherokee or of Native American descent. In some cases the genetic link to a Person of Color went back a couple generations. By this point the entire family was Baptist and socialized White. And various members of this family tree had stayed behind when the Trail of Tears happened while others helped round up the Indians to march.
It all reminds me of a Norman Rockwell painting of the red haired boy who has Cowboys and Indians in his heritage.
