Why the ‘Y”? Why Wheaton?
WHY THE Y?
Brief recap on our inherited DNA.
- 22 pairs of autosomes (atDNA)
- 1 pair of sex chromosomes XX (Female) XY (Male)
- Mitrochondrial DNA (mtDNA) everyone inherits from their mothers
Of these the only ones to be inherited without recombination (that is half from your mother and half from your father) are the “Y” and the mtDNA. The Y is your strictly paternal line which is passed relatively unchanged for centuries (aside from those helpful mutations) and mtDNA strictly your mother’s mother’s line. The mtDNA is harder to trace because it does not pass along a surname attached to it. Your mother may be a Wheaton but her mother was a Jones, and her grandmother was a Smith. Also mtDNA is inherited by both men and women and has about 16,000 Base pairs. Y on the other hand has roughly 60,000 base pairs. TRANSLATION: Because the Y has more variation overall but passes intact with a name attached to it is the easiest to follow.
WHY WHEATON?
- I married one
- I started genealogy by researching his line
- I found out I am also a Wheaton (Robert b.1606 is my 10th great-grandfather)
- I hit a brick wall and wouldn’t give up
- It has a long history
I do research all parts of my tree but you can’t do your genealogy justice in all areas. There are two places that by virtue of the fact I (not my husband) have over a dozen families from each location. So I have concentrated on REHOBOTH, MASSACHUSETTS and DEVON, ENGLAND. They could just as well have been anyplace else save for the fact that I have the largest concentration of relatives (save for my Swedish ones with a nod to John) in Rehoboth and Devon.
Wheaton Wood 