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Katherine Holden's family had long kept what she called "a deep dark secret." When the family discussed its roots, there were hints, but no outright discussion, of a great-grandmother who had lived in South Dakota and was the equivalent of native royalty: the putative daughter of an American Indian chief.
But her family never spoke in detail of their heritage, and it was only when Dr. Holden, a Connecticut physician, became interested in her family tree that she verified her lineage.
"I was fairly surprised to find her name in the 1900 U.S. Census in an American Indian orphanage under her childhood name," she said.
Armed with that knowledge and "bits and pieces of information" she and her sister had gleaned as children, she tried to confirm her hunch. A simple $250 DNA test this year, the latest in the arsenal of ancestry tools, confirmed that she was, in fact, "12 percent American Indian."
Researching their roots has become a passion for many Americans like Dr. Holden. As Web sites and genealogical societies proliferate and DNA testing becomes more widely...