Ever since I can remember, I have loved opening the mail box to see what had been delivered. It felt like Christmas everyday...walking down the 250 foot drive to retrieve the mail was a great journey for a 6 year old.
I was so disappointed when my parents moved the mailbox from the street to just 4 foot from the front door. No longer would I make the trek to the box through knee deep snow, or stop at the puddles for an extra jump, nor would I ever again have to endure any weather elements as the four foot walk from the door was now covered by the porch.
Later on on life, I had this same excitement when checking my e-mail. Always looking for some wonderful news, a great free-offer, or surprising announcement from a close friend or family.
On November 22, 2018 I received an e-mail that was not only SURPRISING, but it was from a close family member. WAIT..a close family member I have NEVER met? A first cousin? ROFLMAO. Oh. no she didn't...I knew all my first cousins, and I even knew their names. We were of proud Irish Duquette descent (maternal grandmother), tough German Koester ancestry (maternal grandfather) or on my dad's side strong Cherokee Hightower and robust people of the Appalachia Vowells. I had zero idea where the Karinen name originated from.
I had just rebuilt my credit and was almost financially stable (LOL). This had to be one of those phishing schemes. I was being targeted by some third-world, backwoods extortionist.
I suppose at this point of my journey I need to provide some sort of backstory?
I had been raised in a solid blue-collar house. My father worked nearly 37 years in a steel mill, the same company I would work for after graduating high school in 1978. My mother had an early "career" with Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan and would work on-and-off throughout the years I was growing up.
There are five of us kids, four boys and the youngest a girl. We were all taught our family heritage from an early age. While none of my siblings showed much of an interest in the family history, I was intrigued by the stories of my great-grand-mother, Cora Lee Hightower--FULL BLOOD CHEROKEE.
It was this genealogical information that eventually led me to ANCESTRY'S DNA analysis.
The end of July, 2017, I decided, with some prompting from my wife Melissa, to order the Ancestry DNA Kit. This decision was made in part because Melissa's brother had just done Ancestry, and at the time it was just $69.
My interest in my Cherokee heritage had grown immensely since 1996 when I moved to Madison, Wisconsin and got involved in social activism. Melissa and I had even gone to Cherokee, North Carolina to get up close and personal with my culture. When I was about 10 or 11, my paternal grandmother had told stories of going to Cherokee to see an Uncle Joe. She did not have anything good to say about "those" people, but in my heart, I knew I was one of those people.
So, it came to be, I had to do the Ancestry test just to affirm my history.
My results arrived via e-mail on August 09, 2017. I eagerly clicked on the link to see the actual data identifying me as NATIVE AMERICAN.
Just like that stupid lederhosen commercial for Ancestry, I had ZERO matches for NATIVE AMERICAN, and less than 3% IRISH and nearly 34% FINLAND / NORTHWEST RUSSIA. Additionally Ancestry showed my migration pattern as from the Norwegian area to Pennsylvania? I knew that my history showed my people (maternal) migrated from GERMANY to the Northern Ohio area and from IRELAND to the Michigan area. Paternally I should have found a migration pattern from England to the Appalachians.
Of course someone was wrong...and I was positive it was not my parents. I then called one of my brothers and convinced him to do Ancestry DNA just to verify my results.
While his DNA data was different, it was not remarkably different..except his migration pattern pointed directly to the SOUTHEASTERN area of KENTUCKY.
I then left Ancestry alone and would not return until 8 months later to review my DNA results summary.
When I logged into Ancestry 8 months later, not only had my Ancestry DNA data changed, my entire LIFE was shattered.
NEXT: Were there any adoptions in your family around 1960?
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