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This morning's article in the DENVER POST (Churchill claims proof he's Indian by Amy Herdy and Arthur Kane) describes a 50-page document and 11-minute video which Ward Churchill uses to prove his Indian heritage. The video is described as featuring a discussion at a meeting of the Keetoowah Band Cherokee Indian council members debating the legitimacy of Churchill's claims, as well as the initiation ceremomy accepting him as an "honorary member" of the band. David Lane, Churchill's attorney, asserts that this provides "crushing evidence" of Churchill's Indian heritage. Apparently Lane and Churchill, along with the POST reporters, overlooked the rest of the story, as reported in the ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS (Tribe Snubs Prof by Charlie Brennan). The RMN reports that the United Keetowah Cheokee Band in Oklahoma has issued a news release and website posting stating that Churchill is not a member of that group, and although he had been given an "honorary membership" over ten years ago because he could not prove his Native American ancestry, the membership was subsequently revoked. The Band's statements went on to totally disavow any association with Churchill, stating that any claim by Churchill "...past, present and future claims or assertions of Keetoowah 'enrollment,' written or spoken, including but not limited to; biographies, curriculum vitae, lectures, applications for employment, or any other reference not listed herein, are deemed fraudulent by the United Keetoowah Band."  So much for "crushing evidence" in the sense that I am sure David Lane intended.

In addition to my blogging hobby, I am also an amateur genealogist who has been tracing various family lineages for over eight years (see "Pathways to the Past", the story of my own ancestry and a shameless plug for my other website). For over two months I have been researching Ward Churchill's ancestry in an attempt to determine if there is any available information that could either prove or disprove his claims of Native American ancestry. My research, based on vast amounts of genealogical information that is available on the internet as well as in the Denver Public Library, provides a look back at Churchill's ancestors. All of his ancestors back to his great-great-grandparents were identified, as were many more of his ancestors going back as far as ten generations in the Churchill family in 17th century New England. I prepared an Ahnentafel Report for Professor Churchill, a format frequently used by genealogists for listing ancestors one generation at a time.  It includes birth, marriage, and death information for each ancestor, where available, plus notes gleaned from historical records and anecdotal reports of other genealogists. Of particular importance is the information that was found in historical census data wherein the entries for individuals included a statement of race and, in the case of early ninteenth century data, whether the individual was considered at that time to be a "free white".  In no instances were there any of Churchill's ancestors who claimed to be anything but "white". My overall conclusion of this research is that the accumulated data can neither totally prove nor disprove Churchill's Indian heritage, but it does seriously limit the percentage of Indian ancestry that Churchill could claim. The only information that I came across that suggests a possible Indian lineage revolved around Churchill's great-great-great-great-grandfather, Joshua Tyner, who was born in Georgia shortly before the Revolutionary War. There is speculation that Joshua Tyner's father may have been a Cherokee Indian, but there is no proof of this. A questionable claim that Joshua Tyner was buried "Indian-style" in Illinois fuels this speculation, but the fact that he claimed to be "white" in all censuses in which he appeared leaves this question unanswered. If Joshua Tyner would be found to be 1/2 Indian, as some researchers suspect, this would result in Ward Churchill being just 1/128th Indian, far from the 1/16th or 1/32nd that he claims. There is no information that indicates that anyone else in his lineage would provide Cherokee or Creek heritage. The Churchill family itself resided for most of its existence in Connecticut and upper New York State, far from any Creek or Cherokee influence which was largely limited to the southeastern portion of the U.S.

Writer Ernesto Cienfuegos reported in February in La Voz de Aztlan that Ward Churchill had undergone genetic testing that subtantiated his Indian heritage (Ward Churchill tests positive for Indigenous genetic markers), but offered no evidence to support this claim. The article stated that the test results had been furnished to the journal "under conditions of confidentiality", which probably means that the results were not sufficiently positive to support the full nature of Churchill's claims. The article fairly accurately describes the types of genetic tests that are available and were allegedly given to Churchill. They are:

1)The mtDNA Test: A test of female lineage. mtDNA (mitochondrial DNA) is passed down from mother to child. Men have their mother’s mtDNA, but do not pass it on to their children. The mtDNA test can tell a man or a woman about their maternal lineage and the geographic origin of that lineage. (See Detailed Description) . Possible sources for this chromosome are shown in red in the Ahnentafel Report for Ward Churchill.

2) Y Tests: Only men carry the y-chromosome, which is inherited through the paternal line. Analysis of the DNA on the y-chromosome tells a man his paternal lineage and the likely geographic origin of that lineage. (See Detailed Description)  Possible sources for this chromosome are shown in blue in the Ahnentafel Report.

3) Genome-wide Test: Is essentially an analysis of autosomal DNA that gives you a general idea of your ancestry among broad groups (ie. African, Asian, European, Native American). (See Detailed Description)

If the results of these tests were included in Churchill's 50-page report, they were not included in either news report that appeared this morning. More than likely they were not included, inasmuch as neither of the first two tests, if accurately performed and reported, would have yielded positive results according to my research. The third test, which is more general in nature than the first two, may have indicated a trace of Indian ancestry, but until the results of these tests are made public, or the test themselves are retaken and reported, we will have to take Ward Churchill's and David Lane's word for it, much like the University of Colorado did when they hired Ward Churchill and made him the head of the Ethinic Studies Department. David Lane's assertion on the Bill O'Reilly Show that "Professor Churchill believed that he was an Indian, and that is all that is necessary" won't wash in the field of genealogy, and I am sure that the United Keetowah Cherokee Band would agree. But it apparently is good enough in the area of selective hiring of university professors.

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