Whitmore Surname Project: Analysis of Results: Haplogroup J

The J haplogroup, including both J1 and J2, expanded out from the Fertile Crescent about 7000-9000 years ago. The J2's seem to have started in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent and expanded west towards Europe (perhaps by way of the Balkans). As a result, almost all European J's belong to J2. The presence of the J2 subgroups in India, Pakistan, and Nepal means that they must also have expanded towards the east. However, at present, little is understood about the timing or dynamics of that eastward J2 dispersal. Two articles for further reading: Dennis Garvey, "Y Haplogroup J" and F. Di Giacomo et al, "Y chromosomal haplogroup J as a signature of the post-neolithic colonization of Europe.

All of our participants who belong to haplogroup J are known descendants of Jacob Whitmore, (ca 1767-1835), whose European origins are uncertain. FTDNA has tentatively assigned these men to Haplogroup J2, but this assignment is not solid enough to show the haplogroup on the project's results table. Whit Athey's "Haplogroup Predictor"^[1] shows the haplogroup as J. The three reported haplotypes (the "genetic signature" or the number of repeats for each marker) are identical (that is, they indicate no mutations) on 12 markers and on 25 markers for the two who have been tested for 25.

This lineage is the only one in our project with an estimated J2 haplogroup, and there is almost no possibility of a relationship in the male line within thousands of years with any of our other lineages whose results are known.

In the short term we will attempt to recruit one additional test subject from a family presumed to be related to Jacob, but not descended from him. He has expressed an interest, but needs to be "prodded."