Elizabeth Warren

official photo of Elizabeth Warren, c. 2013

Birth Name: Elizabeth Ann Herring

Place of Birth: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.

Date of Birth: June 22, 1949

Ethnicity: English, Cornish, Swiss-German, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, distant Swedish, likely between 1/128th and 1/256 Native American

Elizabeth Warren is an American politician. She has served as a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, since January 3, 2013, and Vice Chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus, since January 3, 2017. She was previously Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel, from November 25, 2008 to November 15, 2010, and Special Advisor for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, from September 17, 2010 to August 1, 2011.

She was a candidate for the Democratic Party’s nomination for President of the United States in 2020.

Elizabeth is the daughter of Pauline Louise (Reed) and Donald Jones Herring. She is married to legal scholar and professor Bruce Mann. She has two children with her former husband, Jim Warren.

Elizabeth documented ancestry includes English, with smaller amounts (to varying degrees) of Cornish, Swiss-German, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, and Swedish.

Elizabeth has stated that she was told by her family that one of her maternal great-great-great-grandmothers, Neoma Sarah Smith (popularly known as O.C. Sarah Smith), was of Cherokee Native American background. Elizabeth has also stated that she has some degree of Delaware Native American ancestry. These statements, and their accuracy, have often the subject of media coverage since her 2012 Senate campaign in Massachusetts. Many of O.C. Sarah Smith’s ancestral lines have been traced to foreign-born (non-Native American) origins. To date, it appears that no genealogical evidence has been produced that Elizabeth Warren has Native American ancestry.

However, Elizabeth undertook a DNA test in 2018. The test was reviewed by genetics professor Carlos D. Bustamante. An overview of the test stated:

The great majority of (Warren’s) identifiable ancestry is European… The analysis also identified 5 genetic segments as Native American in origin at high confidence… Bustamante’s analysis places Warren’s [unadmixed] Native American ancestor between six and 10 generations ago, with the report estimating eight generations.

This means that Elizabeth likely has between 1/128th and 1/256 Native American genetic ancestry.

The report added:

…it is not possible to reliably associate smaller segments having Native American ancestry with any specific tribe or group.

Therefore, it is not clear if Elizabeth’s ancestry is Cherokee, Delaware, or another or a combination of other tribes.

Elizabeth’s paternal grandfather was Grant Leslie Herring (the son of John Hayne Herring and Maria/Mary Anna/Annie Schären/Scharann). Grant was born in Billings, Christian, Missouri. John was born in Delabole (St. Teath), Cornwall, England, the son of John Herring and Ann Hayne. Maria was born in Spiez, Bern, Switzerland, the daughter of Abraham Schären/Scharan and Magdalena/Magadelena Berger.

Elizabeth’s paternal grandmother was Ethel V. Jones (the daughter of Summerfield Jones and Sarah Frances/Francis Kerr). Ethel was born in Billings, Christian, Missouri. Summerfield was the son of Hamilton Jones and Sarah A. Wilkerson. Elizabeth’s great-grandmother Sarah was the daughter of Mathew/Matthew Kerr and Sarah E.

Elizabeth’s maternal grandfather was Harry Gunn Reed (the son of Joseph H. Reed and Charity L. Gorman). Harry was born in Mount Vernon, Jefferson, Illinois. Joseph was the son of The Rev. Joseph H. Reed, a Methodist minister, and a member of the Illinois State Legislature, and of Eliza Bell. Charity was the daughter of Ezekiel/Ezekial Gorman and Elizabeth Mathews/Matthews.

Elizabeth’s maternal grandmother was Bethania Elvina “Hannie” Crawford (the daughter of John H. Crawford and Paulina A. “Pliny” Bowen). Bethania was born in Missouri. John was the son of Preston H. Crawford and Edith May “Ede” Marsh/March. Paulina was the daughter of George W. Bowen and Bethania/Bethany/Bethaney Clark.

Sources: Genealogies of Elizabeth Warren – https://www.geni.com
https://famouskin.com

Article about the issue of whether Elizabeth Warren has Cherokee Native American ancestry – http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com

Detailed genealogical blog about Elizabeth’s claimed Cherokee ancestry – http://www.pollysgranddaughter.com
http://www.pollysgranddaughter.com
http://www.pollysgranddaughter.com

Elizabeth’s maternal great-great-great-grandmother, Neoma Sarah Smith, on the 1860 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org

59 Responses

  1. andrew says:

    I think it’s all fake. No alleged Native American ancestor compare in any of Warren’s genealogies. Not even Delaware Indians who mixed with her remote Swedish ancestors or “fictional” Pocahontas descendants. Nothing. Curiously many of her ancestors fought against Indians and some were even killed.

  2. fuzzybear44 says:

    unfortunately for ms . Warren, the Cherokee Nation spokesperson says they don’t care what the DNA results say they don’t consider her part Native American . which is weird considering they usually let white people in without any kind of problem .

    • passingtime85 says:

      Indigenous North American tribes don’t like DNA tests. Most current member of tribes are just vetted by putting your name on a list when they do a roll call/census, you name a former member of a tribe, and say they were my so-and-so relative. They let you become a member without much proof other than that. The larger the tribe by population, the more funding they get from the government. So it’s in their best interest to let more and more people claim Amerindian heritage.

      The truth is, most tribes are watered down genetically, by a large degree. If DNA tests were the deciding factor of who was to be apart of the tribe, most tribes around the entire country would dwindle significantly, and that would lead to less government funding. Which no tribe would want, or allow.

      It’s just a money thing, rather a cultural pride thing.

      • fuzzybear44 says:

        Yes yes they are severely watered down especially the Cherokee and the Seminole

        • passingtime85 says:

          I live in Florida where the Seminoles hail from. I used to go to their Pow Wows all the time growing up. While there were many white faces in the crowd, a sizeable portions of them were clearly native and had little to no admixture that was discernible through phenotype at least. So I’m not sure how accurate it is to claim that their current population is very mixed.

          • fuzzybear44 says:

            Backstabbers is what I really call them. First of all they weren’t the one called Seminoles that’s the name that they adopted, or should I say given to them by the English , who came into Florida.It was the blacks that were called Seminoles by the Spaniards not the Indians.

          • passingtime85 says:

            Most Native tribes use names that are deviations of translations that usually are what other tribes called them. They called themselves Istica-ti, and the Creek called them simanó-li, which might be an approximation of a Spanish word.

            I wouldn’t go poking around the languages of indigenous peoples, it’s all muddled, and there’s a lot of conjecture, since a majority of tribes didn’t have written language, things had to be preserved through oral tradition, and that tends to become hazy recollections at best.

          • fuzzybear44 says:

            I probably would agree with you normally.except, that particular tribe what I stated was fact .I was supposed to have ancestral ties to that group so that’s why I studied them. Unfortunately , i Don’t have the same documented proof like the family have with the other tribe we are related to. However I’ll let it go.

  3. savanna says:

    So DNA results are being listed in the ethnicity now?

    Will Demi Lovato’s be changed to include Scandinavian and African like her DNA results say she has? Is Katy Perry now part Italian as her results say?

    • follers says:

      Other than specific African country/region ancestry, which is otherwise usually untraceable, I list DNA results as ethnicity when they back up a person’s already-claimed ancestry, as in this case.

      For example, I added “Indigenous” to Kaya Jones’ page since she claims Indigenous ancestry of at least one sort, and her DNA tests back it up. I added “Ashkenazi Jewish” tags to Valerie Jarrett since she claimed a Jewish great-grandfather, and her DNA did record 2% Ashkenazi Jewish, so she was, divided by about six, correct.

      I didn’t add Warren’s specific tribe, since that wasn’t detected by the test.

    • passingtime85 says:

      Bustamante calculated that Warren’s pure Native American ancestor appears in her family tree “in the range of 6-10 generations ago.”

      “the report includes the possibility that she’s just 1/512th Native American if the ancestor is 10 generations back.”

  4. madman says:

    English, 1/8th Cornish, 1/8th Swiss-German, smaller amounts of Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, and Swedish

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