...the grand kids are not considered part of the tribe because they are not a full quarter blood they miss it by one percentage point.

Exactly my point.

So, before the INVADERS landed and STOLE the very earth beneath the feet of the first nations, how did these tribes determine "tribal membership"?

Who cataloged the creation a new tribes?

Was each tribe strictly homogeneous?

If children from different tribes inter-married (to cement alliances for example) were their children NOT considered full members of that tribe?

IT SURE IS A GOOD THING THOSE INVADERS SHOWED UP SO THEY COULD TELL THE POOR SAVAGE NATIVES WHO IS A MEMBER OF THEIR TRIBE AND WHO ISN'T.