Quote:

yes, i know every living person is related to (pick famous personage from 2,000 years ago) but the odds are i am less related to any native americans (since i have european heritage)



Yes, as Twain said, "there are lies, there are damn lies, and then there are statistics".

I may be mis-remembering this number, but as I recall it's about 23 generations (460 years) ago when you have more ancestors in that generation than the the total population of Europe at that time. Therefore, if a person's ancestry is all European back to 1540, then his parents must be at least 21st cousins (and probably much more related than that).