If you get into genealogy, you quickly find out how few people there actually were in colonial America! Apparently, there were only a couple of million people around the time of the American Revolution, and that is not a lot of folks for us all to be descended from. People tended to move west along well trodden trails or following major rivers, usually as groups of family or friends. Thus the same family names often appear together.

I've read that if you are descended from a Southern family that was in America by 18th century or earlier, the odds are strong you have at least a small amount of "native American" ancestry. The earliest colonists in the South were mostly single men, so they sensibly married Indian women. Colonel William Byrd (an 18th century ancestor on my grandmother's side) wrote that he encouraged the European-Indian mix, saying it would produce a stronger American population. I've also read something that isn't as likely to please some people. It seems if you are of early southern ancestry, there is a fair chance you may have an African ancestor hiding in your family tree too. :-o

So where do I sign up for reparations. :)