Capt. Daniel Little's Y-Chromosome Markers

L. David Roper (roperld@vt.edu)
(www.roperld.com)

Parents of Capt. Daniel Little?

There are at least three theories about the parents of Capt. Daniel Little:

• Johann Heinrich Klein, b 1704 Zweibrucken, Germany, d 1810 Adams, PA and Anna Margaretha Grimm, b January 1712 Kussel, Zweibrucken, Germany, d York, PA. For arguments in favor of this pair see: The Little Bit, V 19, No 2 (Fall 1996) pp. 1879-1880; The Little Bit, V 20, No 2 (Fall 1997).
• Sebastian Cline, b 1710/1715 Palatinate, France, and Elizabeth Bieber. For arguments in favor of this pair see: The Little Bit, V 20, No. 2 Spring 1997) pp. 1908-1909; Naturalization, Dan'I Klein/Cline to Dan'I Little, Capt. Daniel Little and His Contemporaries, 1753-1789, by Pauline M. Shook (1994) pp. 1-3.
• Stan Little (wb4ekd(@,aol.com) feels that the data favor Capt. Little's origin to be Irish. To find out details about his theory contact him.

Using Y-Chromosome Testing to determine the Parents of Capt. Daniel Little

There is a way to settle at least parts, and maybe all, of the question:

1. Test the Y-chromosomes for two or more male-line Littles that are certain descendants of Capt. Daniel Little.
2. Test the Y-Chromosomes for two or more male-line Kleins that are certain descendants of Johann Heinrich Klein.
3. Test the Y-Chromosomes for two or more male-line Clines that are certain descendants of Sebastian Cline.

If all of these tests yield the almost the same Y-chromosome markers, then all three lines came from a common ancestor. If the Capt. Daniel Little male-line tests are quite different from the other two, then we need to look for another set of parents besides Klein or Cline for him; perhaps Irish parents.

Perhaps a more important result of testing many male-line Littles/Kleins/Cline/Klines would be that sets of Y-chromosome markers would be determined for different families and rare random mutations for branches of those families would provide identity markers for the branches. To see how this has worked out for my Roper family, see http://www.roperld.com/roperconnect.htm.

Elementary genetics teaches that a human egg becomes a female embryo when a sperm gives it an X-chromosome and a male embryo when the sperm gives it a Y-chromosome. Thus, the Y-chromosome is passed down generations only through the male line. The only change from one generation to the next is by mutations, which are rare. So one can determine male paternal lineage by comparing the DNA coding of Y-chromosomes.

There are "junk" regions on the Y-chromosome that contain repeated base-pair sets (microsatellites or Short Tandem Repeats or STR). Over time the number of repeats changes due to mutations. The number of repeats at these locations, called “markers” can be used to distinguish different male-line families. Thus, the detailed structure in terms of base-pair coding is not required; only information about certain aspects of a small part of the Y-chromosome is needed. This does not identify the individual, but only the family to which the individual belongs; determining the 12 or 25 markers (see below) is much less information than that obtained by totally sequencing the Y-chromosome. There are several labs that do such work, at a cost of about $100 for 12 markers and $170 for 25 markers per person.

Little Y-Chromosome Testing Project Progress

The results ("alleles") so far are (DYS=DNA Y-chromosome Short Tandem Repeat):

The relative mutations for 25 markers among these five participants are:

Since LLL and JPL descend from different sons of Capt. Daniel Little and they have the same 25 markers, it appears that LLL and JPL probably define the 25 markers for their common ancestor, Capt. Daniel Little. Since DCL and AWL descend from different Klein lines, it appears that DCL and AWL define the 25 markers for the common Klein ancestor of all of them. A descendancy chart below indicates that the common ancestor is probably Johann Jacob Klein (b c1679 Germany).

The relative mutations among the four participants with 37 markers are:

The larger relative mutations between AWL and the others are due to the fact that his common ancestor with them is further back in time than the other's common ancestor (Capt. Daniel Little).

The following table shows how genealogy indicates that these three participants are related to each other:

Call for More Participants in the Capt. Daniel Little Family.

We need at least one, and perhaps two members of each major branch of the Capt. Daniel Little family to be tested. The major male-line branches are:

• Peter Little b 1752 (2 tested so far)
• Daniel Little, Jr. b c1755 (1 tested so far)
• James Little b c1767 (1 tested so far)
• Lewis P. Little b 1770 (0 tested so far)

So, we need descendants of Daniel Little, Jr. (at least one more), James Little (at least one more) and Lewis P. Little (we need at least two) to be tested.

Of course, it would be good to test members of the sub-branches of the major branches to determine if any relative mutations distinguish the sub-branches. (We see above that two sub-branches, JDL & LLL, of the Peter Little main branch are distinguished by a relative mutation.)

To join the Little male-line Y-chromosome project, a male descendant of Capt. Daniel Little whose surname is also Little, should contact the Little Y-Project administrator, L. David Roper (roperld@vt.edu), or go to http://www.roperld.com/littlegenetics.htm on the Internet and click on the join link near the top of the web page.

Call for Particpants in the Klein and Cline Families

So far we have not succeeded in getting any members of the Klein or Cline families to be tested. If you know any males with surname Klein, Cline or Kline, please urge them to contact L. David Roper (roperld@vt.edu) about being tested. Funds are available to pay for their tests.

This document is available on the Internet at http://www.roperld.com/CaptLittleMarkers.htm.