Whats your heritage?

[Pix]

There's a lot of Cherokee because they mixed in with whites the easiest. Socially speaking, anyway, they had a lot in common with white settlers and integrated the easiest (Trail of Tears and the like notwithstanding). They were also an important part of Texas independence from Mexico (though they then got royally screwed despite the efforts of some, and marrying Cherokee was one of the reasons the Republic of Texas made laws about race and marriage). They even joined the Confederates in the Civil War (part of that was bitterness over the Trail of Tears, but some were also slave owners).

All in all I can believe many have Cherokee in their bloodline, more than any other Native American group. Still, so many were trying to officially claim heritage that the Cherokee nation made some very strict guidelines on who could be counted, guidelines that many with Cherokee ancestry could not meet if they'd integrated into white society (and makes sense to me).

I never heard of them being associated with Pocahontas, and it's not just hippies who claim Cherokee ancestors.