Scotch-Irish-L Archives

From: Martin Roberts <>
Subject: Re: One final offering on the DNA subject
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1998 16:53:47 -0600

This is an interesting idea, Richard and probably true. But there is a
necessary prerquisite that hasn't been done. We need a way to determine
the "mean" mitDNA for population subgroups. For example if we knew the
mitDNA code for every person in the British Isles, you could extract from
that data base a statistically significant sample of all women whose
families originally came from a village or some other region. Then you
could compare your mitDNA to that sample mean, and conclude whatever you
chose.

The problem with this is it is a much larger job than is likely to be
possible in our lifetimes. But the idea would certainly work. You could
find the village or set of villages with which you had the closest mitDNA
connection.

Martin

At 05:06 PM 12/19/98 -0500, you wrote:
>I have had an interest in mitrochondrial DNA for some time because my most
>difficult line to trace is matrolinear (my mother's mother's mother's
>mother's mother who was named Polly Barker). I and other researchers have
>tried the cluster method (looking at nearby neighborhood families in
>censuses, etc. to try to find a maiden name for a female ancestor) and
>explored every avenue to determine Polly's identity. I don't know how much
>it would cost but I have suggested we look into mitrochondrial DNA testing
>to test some possible families to see if there is a relationship.
>
>You see, I have the same mitrochondrial DNA as Polly did, although being
>male, I cannot pass it onto my children. If I had a sister, she could pass
>it onto her children.
>
>So, let's say I suspected a John Smith of being Polly's father and it is
>known that John Smith had a daughter Jane Smith. I would have to trace all
>the female linear descendants of Jane Smith (which of course is hard to do
>because the name changed with each marriage)
>and find a living descendant willing to undergo the blood (or whatever)
>test.
>
>Unfortunately, If our mitrochondrial DNA matched, this would not
>necesssarily prove Polly Barker was the sister of Jane Smith and the
>daughter of John Smith. It might be that Polly and Jane had mothers who
>were sisters or that Polly and Jane had great-great grandmothers (in the
>matrolinear line of course) in common.
>
>Without getting into the Thomas Jefferson/ Sally Hemmings debate, it seems
>to me the the mitrochondrial DNA evidence is not conclusive for the above
>self same reasons.
>
>Still the procedure has some general value and could point us toward certain
>family groups in doing research. Most of my ancestral braches "female out"
>in the earliest two or three generations & I am lucky to have the
>ancestress' first name, much less her last. For those interested in this
>difficult aspect of research, I recommend the book "Discovering your Female
>Ancestors" by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack. In a short section about Mit. DNA,
>she mentions a woman from Yorkshire England whose MitDNA was surprisingly of
>middle eastern origin. She also mentions an organization called Center for
>Human Genetics, Municipal Bldg, P.O. Box. 770, Bar Harbor, Maine
>04609-0770. They collect matrolinear pedigrees, requiring 8 or more
>generations (and I assume they test your MitDNA). Most pedigrees are of New
>England origin but it would be interesting to give them some SI blood to
>analyze.
>
>Richard Bradley
>

This thread:

• One final offering on the DNA subject by "Richard Bradley" <>

  • Re: One final offering on the DNA subject by Martin Roberts <>