OMG: DNA from Sitting Bull’s hair confirms living great-grandson’s ancestry – Gulf Digital News

OMG: DNA from Sitting Bull’s hair confirms living great-grandson’s ancestry – Gulf Digital News

WASHINGTON: A sample of Sitting Bull's hair has helped scientists confirm that a South Dakota man is the famed 19th century Native American leader's great-grandson using a new method to analyze family lineages with DNA fragments from long-dead people.

Researchers said on Wednesday that DNA extracted from the hair, which had been stored at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, confirmed the familial relationship between Sitting Bull, who died in 1890, and Ernie LaPointe, 73, of Lead, South Dakota.

"I feel this DNA research is another way of identifying my lineal relationship to my great-grandfather," said LaPointe, who has three sisters. "People have been questioning our relationship to our ancestor as long as I can remember. These people are just a pain in the place you sit - and will probably doubt these findings, also."