(04-01-2020 03:38 PM)David Lockmiller Wrote: (04-01-2020 01:59 AM)Steve Whitlock Wrote: in regard to Suzanne Hallstrom who maintains the Hanks surname project, in addition to working with other surname DNA Projects. She also established the Genetic Lincoln website and is our line of communication for those with questions, or needing research, such as the Rathbone mtdna Study. She also does genealogy for the projects and oversees the dna evaluations.
Steve stated the following at the end of one his posts: "I repeat, I am not a geneticist."
That being the case, I decided to contact Suzanne Hallstrom and request her expert opinion on the subject. She states in her response to me that she has been following the posts on this thread.
She gave permission to post her response; so, I will let her speak for herself.
Hi David,
Thank you for contacting Genetic Lincoln. I have been following the discussions on the Lincoln Symposium and will try to answer your questions as best I can. You asked if Nancy Hanks Lincoln’s mtDNA (X1c) profile could be entered into the databases such as were used to identify cold case killers such as the Golden Gate killer. Unfortunately, the answer is “no”. These databases are based on autosomal DNA. Nancy Hanks Lincoln’s X1c profile is mitochondrial DNA.
Autosomal DNA is received approximately half from your father and half from your mother, who in turn received their autosomal DNA from each of their parents. So your autosomal DNA would consist of about 50% from each parent, 25% from each grandparent; 12 1/2% from each great grandparent, etc. So it becomes less detectable with each generation back. Matches from these databases are what genealogists (and crime scene detectives) use to reconstruct family trees.
Mitochondrial DNA can’t be used in the autosomal databases. MtDNA is passed from mothers to both their sons and daughters but only daughters can pass it to their offspring. Sons can receive it but not pass it to their offspring. Nancy Hanks Lincoln has no known living descendants so we were only able to ascertain her mtDNA (X1c) profile by testing living descendants of her extended maternal line. There are no known living direct descendants of NHL to contribute to the autosomal databases. So we have hit a dead end there.
There is one possible angle that could possibly help. As Steve already mentioned, NHL had a maternal half sister, who also had an unknown father. It is a longshot, but IF they shared the same father, Nancy’s sister’s descendants’ autosomal DNA could be entered into the databases. With so many generations back, detectable autosomal DNA is less likely but, in my opinion, worth the effort. [emphasis added by David]
To sum it up, you would need a direct line descendant from the unknown father of Nancy Hanks to provide autosomal DNA to enter into the databases such as GEDmatch. Nancy Hanks Lincoln has no known living descendants so we are at a roadblock for now.
Although the Abraham Lincoln assassination relic recently tested did not match Lincoln’s X1c mtDNA, I was very happy that it matched the D4i2 mtDNA profile of Major Henry Reed Rathbone who was in the private box with Lincoln, thus placing the relic at Ford’s Theatre. Please view the Rathbone mtDNA study and the relic’s provenance at https://geneticlincoln.com
I am hopeful that nuclear DNA yielded from another future Abraham Lincoln assassination relic will match Lincoln’s X1c mtDNA so raw autosomal data will be available for the databases. We’ll see what happens. Feel free to share this e-mail with the Symposium.
Luck,
Suzanne
Suzanne W. Hallstrom
GENETIC LINCOLN
https://geneticlincoln.com
Suzanne Hallstrom, thank you for bailing me out, again!
Steve W.
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