Whittington DNA Project

For a quick explanation of how DNA is used for genealogy research, see the Introduction to Genetic Genealogy.

The Whittington family is large and diverse, as Y-chromosome DNA testing of Project members indicates Whittington men descend from five very distantly related lines.  Currently, the Whittington men in our Project belong to one of five ancient haplogroups – the majority being in haplogroup R followed by haplogroup G.  A smaller number descend from haplogroup E, haplogroup I and haplogroup J.

Traditional genealogy research has limitations in that it can be inaccurate and it becomes less useful or non-existent the farther back in time the research goes.  DNA provides a valuable aid to traditional methods in that it is accurate and can reveal ralationships hundreds or thousands of generations in the past.  But DNA can't give the names of people and it can only be used to estimate dates and geographical origins.

If you are a Whittington descendant, please consider joining the Whittington Surname DNA Project at Family Tree DNA.  Your contribution can help us unravel the story of our family, find missing ancestors and identify family branches.

We use Y-chromosome DNA to research the Whittington surname.  It is specific to the patrilineal line making it ideal as a surname research tool and it is the most powerful tool in our DNA research arsenal as we work to unravel the Whittington ancestry.

DNA is used by matching your sample to that of other people who have tested.  More in-depth tests yield better, more refined results.  For example, a perfect match from a 12-marker test can indicate a "possible" relationship within perhaps hundreds of generations, while a mismatch indicates a strong probability there is no relation.  On the other hand, a close match at 111-markers provides a high probability of a close relationship, but even this level can imply a closer relationship than actually exists.  The BigY is the most powerful test available and provides the best evidence of relationships by using both SNPs and STRs.

Family Tree DNA provides tests for autosomal DNA, mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosomse DNA and it is the company our Project uses for its Y-DNA testing.

Whittington Phylogenetic Tree

The Y-DNA portion of the Whittington DNA Project reveals five distinct DNA branches (haplogroups) (as of July 2024):

The labels on the chart above are the names assigned to mutations which were experienced by men who lived long ago.  They are called "SNPs" (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms) and they are passed down to that man's descendants, uniquely identifying that family branch and every man who descends from it.  We don't know the names of the men who experienced those SNP mutations, or exactly when they lived, but they represent a distant nth-great-grandfather for that line.  As can be seen from the chart, men descended from different haplogroups are not related within thousands of years.

Click below to see the time tree for each haplogroup:

• Haplogroup E Time-Tree.
• Haplogroup G Time-Tree.
• Haplogroup I Time-Tree.
• Haplogroup J Time-Tree.
• Haplogroup R Time-Tree.

The Y-DNA Time Tree shows all the haplogroups together and shows how distantly related they are.

Project Reports:

• Project Statistics.
• Y-Test Summary.
• Ancestors.

See the Introduction to Genetic Genealogy.

For more information, please send an Email.