American indian status?
Your grandfather’s birth certificate and his parents’ marriage license should tell you most of what you need to figure this out. There probably won’t be a tribal membership at the end of this for anyone. When he was put up for adoption, his ties to his mother’s tribe would have been severed in most cases. Some may look at it differently because she had died before the adoption, but don’t have high hopes. DNA tests prove genetic links, not cultural links. Many of us can not have a relationship with a tribe even if we can prove our lineage. The tribes have some pretty significant rules and they’re generally very strict in enforcing them. My great-great grandfather was Meti…the son of a French-Canadian man and Huron woman. But the Huron won’t recognize us. My husband is half Chippewa, but the tribe only recognizes him as “40% blood quantum” because one of his ancestors was not a member of this tribe…she was Mohawk. When it comes to establishing a tribal identity, you have to determine
