RAGSDALE-L Archives

Archiver > RAGSDALE > 2005-07 > 1122047778


From: "Joseph B. Lambert" <>
Subject: Re: [RAGSDALE-L] Elijah Ragsdale
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 10:57:36 -0500
In-Reply-To: <15d.551e1db8.3011f3d0@aol.com>


Chris--You and Dana are both right. In the unlikely event that there are
no mutations from any of the lines of the five sons of Godfrey, you cannot
differentiate any of them. What you need are single mutations that in
essence label a given son. You never know until you do it. I think there
will be mutations, because Godfrey's sons lived so long ago. Even if we
count from 1700, that is 6-8 generations (25-33 years per
generations). Let's say 7. There is a mutation on average every 50
generations (different points on the gene mutate at different rates, but
this is the average). If each person has 25 points analyzed (that costs
about $160, but you can do 12 for less or 37 for more), you multiply up the
number of possible mutations. Looking at 25 points means that on average
there could be a mutation every second generation, and we are looking at
seven generations. The results vary. In my Lambert family, we have had no
mutations in the surname study (11 individuals) (Dana was right here, so we
are going to 37), but in my Buckley group there is one mutation (4
individuals) and in my Barbee group several (you are right here), all over
the same approximate 200 year span. Thus, there is nothing for it but to
do exactly what you suggested, to try to get representative descendants
from as many of the brothers as possible, and then to see what the other,
so-called deadend lines give. Some will match nicely to the Godfrey
Ragsdale sons. Others will not, indicating a non-paternal event (the nice
phrase for illegitimacy) or simply a totally different genetic line of
Ragsdales. Native American lines are extremely different from European
lines, so they will be indicated immediately. The very distant groupings
are referred to as haplogroups. The DNA results suggest a
haplogroup. Common European ones for example are R1a, R1b, and I (the
letter eye). Native American haplogroups are different.

Joseph Lambert

At 02:01 AM 7/22/05, you wrote:
>Fred,
>
>Thanks. I'll set up a database to keep everyone's information.
>
>Once we get going, I'd like to have some specifics on your family: names,
>locations, documents you've used to trace your family back to DAB, etc.
>
>I believe that once we get a sample from people known to be descended from
>each of the five know sons of Godfrey, we'll be able to place all of these
>problem lines. Dana Durst, who is also interested in this project,
>disagrees with
>me, so I want to research further to make sure that we don't wast people's
>time
>and money.
>
>One concern that I have is that people from well documented branches of the
>family may not be on the list, so if you correspond with anyone who may
>not be
>on the list, but is a well documented descendent of Godfrey, let them know
>about the study.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Chris Ragsdale
>


Joseph B. Lambert
Department of Chemistry
2145 Sheridan Road
Northwestern University
Evanston, IL 60208-3113
Telephone: 1-847-491-5437
Fax: 1-847-491-7713
http://www.chem.northwestern.edu/~lambert/


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