In my family, there were hushed rumors that my Great Grandmother was, GASP, Jewish and that her grandfather was Chickahominy! What a scandal! She always looked exotic, mysterious, a bit eccentric, and she never talked about her family. Move forward 40 years after she passed away and I took a genetic DNA test. (First in my immediate family that I know of) I was looking forward to digging into the salacious family secrets and finding cool links to other cultures. Welp, I'm 100% basic white boy. My exotic 'Nana' was from a prominent southern baptist VA/NC family of Irish decent. So whilst you might have had some insecurity about your genetic heritage, I'm over here fuming that I'm mostly descended from gossipy bitches that didn't know what they were talking about.
My mother was soooooo sure that her grandmother was 'secretly' Jewish that she brought in a Rabi to see her on her death bed. You can't make this stuff up. Sigh