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Archiver > PIATT > 2004-11 > 1100062881
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Subject: Re: [PIATT] DNA study
Date: Wed, 10 Nov 2004 05:01:27 +0000
For Anita,
Believe me I'm very sorry to say that females do not quality for the Y-DNA testing which we are doing with the Piatt Surname DNA study. The Y-DNA is passed from father to son to son to son and so on. While a father passes his Y-DNA to his daughter also, she does not pass it on to ANY of her children. Thus the Y-DNA line is broken by the female.
In a conversation with another researcher whose Piatt line had also "daughtered out" the question came up of testing long deceased old great uncle Neb Piatt's lock of hair long preserved with the family memorabilia. Good idea, but hair contains only mitochondrial DNA--the female line. There is no Y-DNA in hair, according to our testing company, and so hair is of no value to our Y-DNA study either.
There may be male descendants of Moses Piatt living, descending from a son of his. I don't know that all of his lines have been traced as yet. We have to keep looking.
Mitochondrial DNA testing of the female line could answer questions about the women who married the Piatt men. For instance, the unproved comment has been made that Elizabeth Dunham Piatt was a Seneca Indian. I have many doubts, but if a female descendant of hers can be found--daughter to daughter to daughter and so on--the living female can be tested for Native American markers in the mtDNA. The results of that test would settle the issue one way or the other.
That's me understanding of DNA and comments from others are welcome. The link to our testing company can also explain Y-DNA and mtDNA:
http://www.familytreedna.com
--
Laverne Ingram Piatt
Ontario, OH
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