Major Change in Interpretation of the DNA Result for Group 28 Relative to the Main Grouping of US Penningtons. Some Group 28 members felt that the DNA result for Group 28 meant this group was close enough to be included in the largest group of US Penningtons and up till now I have been a bit rigid in my interpretation of Group 28s result by excluding them from the main grouping. In making this determination I was following the early advice of FTDNA and the experts on the DNA-Genealogy list at rootsweb. A couple of months ago I started to have a crisis of confidence about the 3 step mutation which Group 28 has in the marker 385a and the one step difference in 385b. I corresponded with a statistician who has an interest in DNA and genealogy and the general consensus was that Group 28 was indeed very distant from our groups 4,5,7,14,16,30,31 and 32. However just recently a number of prominent experts lead by Professor deKnijff of the University of Leiden in Holland have stated that they do not trust 385a and 385b! and that these markers are unreliable for DEEP pedigree analysis. This means whether people are related a long time ago. They think that these markers are not well behaved and may show mutations in an unpredictable way! One theory is that some regions of our DNA are bound to proteins that protect that sequence. Other regions are not protein bound and so are more susceptible to insertions or deletions of a repeat sequence known as "mutations". Anyway they suggest now, all of a sudden, that (where these markers show differences) we should ignore them. This now brings Group 28 into the fold with the other US Pennington groups! This means that the latest articles published on the DNA of Penningtons in the Pedigrees up to now are incorrect when they discuss Group 28 but the errors will be corrected in the next edition. One caveat. I still think that Group 28 is the most distant of the groups of cousins and the common ancestor is unlikely to be found after Penningtons came to the colonies! There is still a real possibility that the common ancestor is before the surname Pennington was adopted! The math gives us an estimate that the common ancestor lived at any time between 200 and 2800 years ago with the most likely time being about 1500 years ago. Still, I have changed the background color on our table of results to be found on the web to gold to signify that Group 28 is part of the larger family, but I have marked the Group 28 values of 385a and 385b in red as a warning. Nick Penington.

Nick: Thank you for the updated information. I'm working on updating my article on the PRA's website now. The Pennington Research Association is truly fortunate to have you as a member. Thank you for all your hard work on our DNA Study! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Gene Pennington (Group 7) Vice President Research Director Pennington Research Association, Inc. www.PenningtonResearch.org

Nick; Thanks for the good news -- it makes a nice Christmas present for the many members of Group 28. I'm sure everyone in PRA appreciates all the behind-the-scenes work you do on the DNA project. We especially value your translating all this complex scientific information into something of practical value in sorting out our family groups. The science on DNA is very new, and PRA is among the first to use it for genealogical purposes. It should surprise no one that revisions and new findings come along from time to time that force us to re-think our conclusions. I recently received an email from someone in another family who claimed that DNA testing was "absolutely worthless" for genealogy. I certainly do not agree with that, but some caution is in order with the results. Sometimes we forget that all this is based on random events -- mutations over time. While the probability and statistics are useful averages when considering large groups, individual mutations can occur at any time. The DNA has no memory of the last time a mutation occurred. I am glad to see that Family Tree DNA is asking for input from families like ours in an attempt to improve their knowledge of the rates of change at individual locations on the Y-chromosome. Please accept a virtual pat on the back from all of us for your efforts. Paul A. Pennington Augusta, Georgia Group 28 Leader