Hi all, My Whitney relatives are light complected with light hair and eyes and slightly built. My dad was 5'9" and his brother was a jockey (which tells you how slight HE was). I am blood type O positive, which I think is the same as what my dad had. I agree with the comments that stated that the Whitney blood would be so diluted among us that there is probably no statisically significant difference between all of us and the general population. I am a civil engineer, but I work with a bunch of biologists who are into geneotyping of salmon (endangered species here in California). The tests are expensive. To make them less expensive when looking at a large sample population, the geneticists generally look for a marker so that they don't have to type the entire chromosome. As I understand it, that also means that the results just give you a probability of a specific outcome for the population (ie we are all related) rather than a certainty for specific individuals. Vicky in California Babseeb@aol.com wrote: > The DNA Discussion Is interesting. > I would like to see some comparison of the size/other features and > occupations. My Whitneys were small or short in stature. The picture I have > of my ggrandfather shows a fine featured aesthetic man. He was a professor > and many of his 8 sons were lawyers. > Most all of the young people today are of larger size than during the > 1800s. Nutrition today is so much improved. Many more are attending the > Universities than even in my generation. There are so many more fields in > the study of the sciences and Math. > Barbara Black in Sacramento

On Mon, 29 Jan 2001, Victoria Whitney Landau wrote: > comments that stated that the Whitney blood would be so diluted among > us that there is probably no statisically significant difference > between all of us and the general population. Dear Cousins, At each generation, half of a parent's genes (alleles) are passed to each child. If you are in the 11th generation below John Whitney the immigrant, you inherited very little of your DNA from John (1/2 to the 11th power). The exception is the Y chromosome, that males inherit intact (for practical purposes) from their fathers. Each male Whitney of today who is descended from John Whitney the immigrant has basically the same Y chromosome as John had (perhaps one basepair per million having changed by mutation at each generation). So it is conceivable that if John had some uncommon haplotype of DNA markers on his Y chromsome, that that haplotype could be used to show relationships among present-day Whitney males (to show kinship to the John/Elinor line vs. Henry, for instance). The quality of DNA from old sources depends on how well it was preserved. Very cold is helpful, and very dry is also good. In any case, DNA retrieved from a long-buried ancestor would be expected to be of rather poor quality (short fragments) and low quantity. It might still be possible to do analyses based on PCR (DNA amplification) but not Southern Blots (standard DNA fingerprinting). DNA can only be found in nucleated cells. Thus, cut hair from a baby book or red blood cells would not be useful as DNA sources. (Whole blood contains enough white cells to provide DNA, and DNA can be prepared from hair bulbs pulled from the scalp.) It is certainly possible to save DNA today for studies to be done in the distant future. After the complete sequence of the Y chromosome is known and regions that contain suitable degrees of variability have been identified, it will probably be possible to do an interesting Whitney Y chromosome study. Yours, Barry John Barry-11 Whitney III My Whitney Ancestry: http://members.tripod.com/~bwhitney/whitney.htm Genealogy Search Suggestions: http://members.tripod.com/~bwhitney/ Genetics consultations: http://home.earthlink.net/~ultihealth/genetics/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Generation Inherited John-1 Genes 2 0.5 3 0.25 4 0.125 5 0.0625 6 0.03125 7 0.015625 8 0.0078125 9 0.00390625 10 0.001953125 11 0.000976563 12 0.000488281 13 0.000244141 14 0.00012207

Dear Barry and Group, Thank you for the detailed explanation of the DNA process. It is a somewhat complex technology for those of us who are science-illiterate. Thank you for putting together the bits and pieces I have heard about into a reasonable and very understandable explanation. Lyn Legere Barry Whitney wrote: > On Mon, 29 Jan 2001, Victoria Whitney Landau wrote: > > > comments that stated that the Whitney blood would be so diluted among > > us that there is probably no statisically significant difference > > between all of us and the general population. > > Dear Cousins, > > At each generation, half of a parent's genes (alleles) are passed to each > child. If you are in the 11th generation below John Whitney the > immigrant, you inherited very little of your DNA from John (1/2 to the > 11th power). The exception is the Y chromosome, that males inherit intact > (for practical purposes) from their fathers. Each male Whitney of today > who is descended from John Whitney the immigrant has basically the same Y > chromosome as John had (perhaps one basepair per million having changed by > mutation at each generation). So it is conceivable that if John had some > uncommon haplotype of DNA markers on his Y chromsome, that that haplotype > could be used to show relationships among present-day Whitney males (to > show kinship to the John/Elinor line vs. Henry, for instance). > > The quality of DNA from old sources depends on how well it was preserved. > Very cold is helpful, and very dry is also good. In any case, DNA > retrieved from a long-buried ancestor would be expected to be of rather > poor quality (short fragments) and low quantity. It might still be > possible to do analyses based on PCR (DNA amplification) but not Southern > Blots (standard DNA fingerprinting). DNA can only be found in nucleated > cells. Thus, cut hair from a baby book or red blood cells would not be > useful as DNA sources. (Whole blood contains enough white cells to > provide DNA, and DNA can be prepared from hair bulbs pulled from the > scalp.) > > It is certainly possible to save DNA today for studies to be done in the > distant future. > > After the complete sequence of the Y chromosome is known and regions that > contain suitable degrees of variability have been identified, it will > probably be possible to do an interesting Whitney Y chromosome study. > > Yours, Barry > > John Barry-11 Whitney III > My Whitney Ancestry: http://members.tripod.com/~bwhitney/whitney.htm > Genealogy Search Suggestions: http://members.tripod.com/~bwhitney/ > Genetics consultations: http://home.earthlink.net/~ultihealth/genetics/ > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > Generation Inherited > John-1 Genes > 2 0.5 > 3 0.25 > 4 0.125 > 5 0.0625 > 6 0.03125 > 7 0.015625 > 8 0.0078125 > 9 0.00390625 > 10 0.001953125 > 11 0.000976563 > 12 0.000488281 > 13 0.000244141 > 14 0.00012207