I'm not really a genetic expert. However, I think the discussion is focussing too much on chromosomal DNA. We might get more useful information by looking at mitochondrial DNA. This, however, is only passed through the maternal line, so we could document our descent from Elinor, but NOT from John. On Mon, 29 Jan 2001, thomas w kavanagh wrote: > Hi Karl: > > What do you think of all this Whitney DNA stuff? > > You may be the one to speak on the subject. > > tk > > Karl Schwerin SnailMail: Dept. of Anthropology Univ. of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM 87131 e-mail: schwerin@unm.edu Cultural anthropology...is valuable because it is constantly rediscovering the normal. Edward Sapir (1949:151)