A pedigree analysis including persons with several degrees of separation and qualitative data

Abstract

One application of genetic analysis that has received considerable attention involves the probable descent of present–day individuals from Thomas Jefferson by his slave, Sally Hemings. This analysis was made possible through the use of a rare Y chromosome. In this chapter we address the possible descent of present–day individuals from a prominent Australian statesman, Charles Cameron Kingston (1850–1908), by two partners, G. McCreanor and M.P. Holt. Despite the obvious parallel, the current problem would appear to be more complex because of the absence of a Y chromosome marker: Kingston and his wife were childless and DNA typing based on an exhumed bone of Kingston failed to produce a Y chromosome result. Further, only four loci of Kingston which gave results were common to the 17 for which typing was done for three putative descendants. The problem is both of some historical interest and an example of the complications when working from a split data set.