PBS has produced a series “We Shall Remain”, five episodes portraying the Native American experience from the Native American point of view, from the earliest contact between Pilgrims and Wampanoags to the activist movement in the 1970’s. Directed by a Native American, using Native American actors, a lot of the narrative is sad and sobering. But “We Shall Remain.” is also about endurance, struggle, reinventing life after tremendous personal and cultural assault. 

 Perhaps that idea of survival is what appeals to me in finding out about my possible Native American ancestry, through the French Canadian side. As I’ve researched the family tree, I’ve been looking, and hoping, for the evidence that those bloodlines exist, as the rumors in the family say.  The immigrants to New France were meticulous record keepers of births, marriages, deaths; a great deal of information has been already found and posted on the internet, clear and continuous family lines. General historical accounts show there were many intermarriages of French and Indian in the earliest years, and then later on in the Maritime provinces and Maine, and then to the west, where a whole Metis (mixed) population has existed for generations.  For those who stayed close to Quebec, it seems less likely, as they worked on their large families and intermarried between themselves. In fact, my investigations turned up the likelihood my father’s family and mother’s family were related long before they ever met and married. Surprise!

So, it’s curious that the rumors of Indian blood on both sides of the family, LaFlamme and Routier/Rousseau have persisted as long as they have, without any direct knowledge or proof. More curious, that my Grandmothers admitted to hearing of Native American ancestry, but were not proud of it, and rather the subject be hushed. Both grandmothers were dark-featured with high cheekbones; certainly it was plausible. But features themselves do not tell the story.  From what I can tell, this has also been the case in other French Canadian families. But why?  

 Barring any breakthroughs on the family lines that I’ve not yet uncovered, the next step to find out about Native American ancestry would be DNA testing.  From what I understand, the best tests, either Y chromosomes or X chromosomes through generations, look at individuals in a direct line, not those whose genes were mixed in. Another test looks at the admixture of genes from the principal ethnic groups, yet could also miss ancestors whose particular genes were not passed on. The testing is simple, a mouth swab of saliva to a lab, and not terribly expensive. I’m not quite ready to make that step, as long as I have the fun and challenge of looking myself through records and archives. Genes are nice, but I’d rather have names, places and stories.

 On the same principle of survival, I would be excited find Jewish ancestry or African American ancestry. That, however, would be a stretch.  And, the Irish and French-Canadian experiences should not be discounted for surviving terribly difficult circumstances.  The difference, I think, is the Native American connection to this land, this soil, which I feel strongly attached to, both the knowledge and appreciation of it, and the attitude of living on the land.  And, perhaps, the more personal and immediate experience of apocalypse – the idea of living in your same homeland under circumstances so greatly changed. The idea that life is not over, but life as you knew it is over, and that adaptation forces you to look at what is of real value and what can be let go. I, too, would like to say, “We Shall Remain.”