In a message dated 11/4/2003 10:37:01 AM Pacific Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
>
(1) Would this not also be the case --- if it is the case --- not just in
the Native American example given, but for any genetic inheritance.
According to this argument, as I understand it, after a certain number of
generations one would no longer carry any genetic inheritance ("markers")
from earlier generations. If this were the case, and it we accept the idea
that genealogy = DNA, then it would become irrelevant to search one's
ancestors beyond some critical number of generations. Not that the
intuitive is necessarily correct, this does not seem to make sense.
<

I can't remember the first message about this, but I can offer the little
that I know.  The genes that are passed down to us from our parents are selected
at random.  Each parent has two of each gene.  One could be for blue eyes and
the other for brown, and each trait that we have including our skin color,
hair color, looks, personality, etc.  They have two of each but can only pass one
and that is a random selection.  So if you have an Indian in your past, you
could have that gene passed each time, or it could have been filtered out long
ago.  If you don't look like an Indian, the chances are you don't have the
genes of one.  That fact doesn't change who our ancestors were.

On the other hand, the DNA that is being used for the DNA genealogy Projects
never changes, but remains the same from father to son forever.  This is why
it is so useful in determining which family we belong to.  Every male with the
same name in the same direct line will have the same DNA markers. The same
goes for the mtDNA which is passed from mother to daughter. It is possible to
tell from your numbers, who your ancestors where thousands of years ago.  Not
their names, because, females change their name every generation through
marriage, but where they were from.

Julia French Wood

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