DNA Testing: Thomas Bailey Christian, Indian or Not?

It’s a familiar situation for family historians researching Appalachian ancestors; an ancestor was historically described as “Indian” but modern DNA testing shows no indication of native American ancestry.  This happened to descendants of a man some Skaggs researchers may be familiar with, Thomas Bailey Christian.

Thomas Bailey Christian (TBC) was born about 1770.  Legends abound that he was an orphaned son of Chief Cornstalk of the Shawnee and that he was brought back to Virginia from the Chickamauga Expedition by Captain Thomas Mastin and raised as Mastin’s adopted son.  Much research has been done about TBC which you can read in places like here and here.  What it boils down to is this:

• According to Y-Chromosome DNA evidence, TBC was not the son of Chief Cornstalk, assuming the great Chief was genetically native American
• Many contemporaries and close descendants treated TBC as an Indian
• Descendants of TBC show no native American DNA
• Some descendants of TBC now believe he was a white child living with the Indians who was returned to Virginia and raised by Capt. Thomas Mastin

This is interesting for Skaggs researchers because the story sounds familiar to the descendants of Martha Cothron Skaggs, the wife of Old Peter.  Some of her descendants have taken DNA tests and come up with zero native American ancestry, despite persistent rumors that she was at least part Indian.  Some of us speculate that Ruth Skaggs Bishop was kidnapped by these Indians and held at Chickamauga, then rescued in the same raid that released TBC.  Capt. Thomas Mastin also lived at the time in the same area of Virginia as many of the Skaggs.  Perhaps Ruth Skaggs Bishop, her daughters Rachel Skaggs and Darky Gothrin, Martha Cothron and maybe Old Peter himself were rescued in the same raid on Chickamauga as TBC.  Legend has it that Thomas Mastin himself brought back multiple orphans.  William Skaggs claimed he personally captured a "squaw," perhaps a woman who had lived many years with the Indians.  If that isn’t enough coincidence to get you interested, there’s other relationships between TBC and the Skaggs family that I’ll discuss in future posts.