Dear all, Group 11 is now made up of mostly female line Penningtons. There are just a few known males left in the line. We research vigorously and are proud to have our one male sample in the DNA study. Hopefully, that will take us somewhere further eventually. Meanwhile, group 11 continues our traditional research methods as most of the other groups do. We all do what we can. Thank you Nick for your tireless explanations of the DNA study. Shirley Erickson Group 11 leader ----- Original Message ----- From: "Spaulding" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2004 11:19 AM Subject: Re: The "new genealogy" bumper sticker > Nicholas and Paul, > > Gentlemen, > > The question is not that there is any misrepresentation of what DNA studies > are capable of doing. I believe we all know and accept that it is > presently only possible to track the male DNA in a meaningful way. The > science itself, is not the issue. The real question is what does all this > DNA study mean to genealogy? And further what does that mean to group > genealogical efforts like PRA? PRA is certainly not unique in pursuing DNA > studies, but it is perhaps unique to my experience in spending a > significant amount of time and energy on the DNA aspects of genealogy. The > esteemed background of two of the 25 some odd Group leaders makes it more > understandable why it is so particularly important to PRA. I do belong to > another Surname group that has a large DNA studiy, by the way. > > I have been a member of PRA for only a short time. There is a line from "A > Christmas Carol," that comes immediately to mind...."you're devilishly hard > to have a conversation with." Here is a small, but concrete example of > what I am talking about. This is the copy from the Home Page of PRA on the > revolving banner, which is your primary invitation to those who come to > your page, "Potentially find out which Family Group you are connected to > using your DNA! Click on DNA Study button below." This is hardly an > invitation to females to do research in PRA, since we obviously cannot take > part in these studies. Ad to this the fact that no PRA member has access > to any information and you have left females researchers out in the > cold. Whether you intended to or not is frankly irrelevant, you > have. Having heard from several female members of PRA, I can assure you > that I am not alone in feeling there has been less effort put forth on our > lines than on those that can be documented male DNA lines. > > The very good news is that once the PRA opens up the data files to > everyone, we can all share what only a privileged few can use right > now. That may help us. Let us hope so. That file was going to be opened > on January 15th now that I think about it. I haven't seen an announcement > that it took place yet. Do you know when it will actually happen? > > Cheryl Spaulding > > > > > > > > > > > At 11:11 AM 01/27/2004 -0500, you wrote: > >Cheryl, > > > >As a Group Leader in the PRA and as a Ph.D. in the biological sciences > >(Marine Biology / Aquatic Toxicology), I too, agree with the comments by > >Nick. There is no intentional effort to exclude women from the DNA study; > >it is purely an issue of our current scientific state of knowledge > >regarding DNA. I would also be delighted to discuss this with you or your > >daughter at anytime. Nick is 100%, scientifically correct in what he is > >saying. According to our present state of knowledge of DNA, the DNA on > >the Y-chromosome (the Y is unfortunately only found in men) affords us the > >best (and perhaps the only) opportunity to study our genealogy using > >DNA. As Nick pointed out, there are other sources of DNA within each of > >our cells, but they are not suitable for these types of studies for a > >variety of reasons which, also, I would be glad to discuss with you in > >more detail. > > > >Believe me, if there was a way for us to use DNA from women in > >genealogical studies, a great deal of questions could be answered in my > >groupÂ… and I would embrace that effort wholeheartedly. > > > >My sincerest regards, > > > >Paul L. Pennington, Ph.D. > >Research Marine Biologist > >National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration > >National Ocean Service > >Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research > >Charleston, SC > > > >Group Leader for Group 6 > >Pennington Research Association > > > > > > > >============================================================ > >From: "Gene Pennington" <[email protected]> > >Date: 2004/01/27 Tue AM 10:26:05 EST > >To: [email protected] > >Subject: Re: The "new genealogy" bumper sticker > > > >Posted by Gene Pennington at request of Nick Penington who has an e-mail > >problem and cannot send messages from his home computer at this time. > > > >====================================================== > > > >Cheryl, > > > >I am sorry if you got the impression that I or anyone in the PRA is not > >interested in tracing female lines but this is certainly untrue. It is just > >more difficult than male lines as you know. My comments seem to have been > >misunderstood since they referred to the use of DNA in tracing female lines. > >I traced all lines for my wife back to 1720 in Europe !! > > > >Re what your daughter said: When suggesting that someone is not in command > >of the facts it is customary to point out where they are incorrect. > > > >I have a Ph.D. in medical science and work with DNA. I would gladly compare > >my knowledge of the use of DNA in genealogy with anyone, short of someone > >who uses molecular population genetics for a living! > > > >Nicholas J. Penington Associate Professor of Physiology and Pharmacology, > >State University of New York. > > > > > > > > > >==== PRA Mailing List ==== > >==== PENNINGTON RESEARCH ASSOCIATION ==== > >Learn what's new at the PRA. To learn more, go to --> > >http://www.penningtonresearch.org and click on the "News" link on the left > >side of the page. > > > >============================================================ > > > > > > > >==== PRA Mailing List ==== > >==== PENNINGTON RESEARCH ASSOCIATION ==== > >To sign up to use the archive features, go to --> > >http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ and follow the instructions. > >Pennington Research Association Web Site > >http://www.penningtonresearch.org > > > > > >-- > >This message has been scanned for viruses and > >dangerous content by The CCIS.net MailScanner, and is > >believed to be clean. > > > > ==== PRA Mailing List ==== > ==== PENNINGTON RESEARCH ASSOCIATION ==== > To submit a query, go to > www.penningtonresearch.org and > click on "Submit Query" button. >