Was Bluejacket A Caucasian ? Y-STRs and statistical issues

1. Was Bluejacket A Caucasian ?Y-STRs and statistical issues Carrie Rowland* Dan E. Krane* Marc Taylor# Robert van Trees *Forensic Bioinformatic Services, Inc. Dayton, Ohio #Technical Associates, Inc., Ventura, CA www.bioforensics.com

2. An Overview: Where are we going • The Blue Jacket/Van Swearingen legend The historical narrative vs. the historical record • What the Y-STR test results have to say • Take home points • Final conclusions

3. Where the story began Mr. Robert Van Trees

4. Where the story began Mr. Robert Van Trees •MSgt. Donald Eugene Bluejacket, 1946.

5. The historical narrative • Captured with brother, Charles, while on a hunting expedition ~1778. •Marmaduke negotiated his brother’s release in in return for his own naturalization into the tribe. •Blue linsey jacket •Fratricide • Ripley’s Believe it or Not !

6. The historical record ● Blue Jacket born ~ 1738-1740, died ~ 1808-1810 ● Became Chief early 177o’s ● Consigner of the Treaty of Greenville, August 3, 1795. ● Treaty of Fort Industry (OH), 1805. ● United the fragmented native populations. ● Led a conglomeration of Ohio Indian tribes in several battles against white expansion.

7. Who was Marmaduke (van) Swearingen ? ● Born January, 1763 near Hagerstown, Maryland (Swearingen family Bible). ● Dutch descent. ● Moved to Fayette County, PA at the age of seven years. ● Speculated capture about the year 1778 at age 17 years. ● No family or public record speaks of his death.

8. BlueJacket Lineage •1877 Thomas Jefferson Larsh- grandson of Marmaduke’s sister Sarah. • An Important Historical Letter - “Very interesting facts about a noted Indian chief” 1877 in the Daily Ohio State Journal. • Swearingens incorporated the story into their family genealogies. • Little to no attempts were made to check authenticity • Embellished over time.

9. Y-STR TestingTechnical Associates, Inc.Ventura CA

10. Methodology • Buccal swabs from direct male line descendants: • Six individuals from the Bluejacket family (1740) (1970)

11. Methodology • Buccal swabs from direct male line descendants: • four individuals from the Swearingen family: (1763) (1945)

12. Methodology • Buccal swabs from direct male line descendants: • Six individuals from the Bluejacket family • Four individuals from the Swearingen family • Promega Y-Plex 12 test kit that evaluated 12 Y chromosome loci. • Generated a haplotype for each family. • Comparisons made to the Reliagene (3406 ind.) and PowerPlex®(2443 ind.) online Y-STR databases. - no matches to the Bluejacket haplotype -Swearingen family matched:

13. Swearingen male line haplotype database search results Search conducted January, 2005: Reliagene Technologies, Inc. Y-STR Haplotype Reference Database for US Populations: (www.reliagene.c0m) PowerPlex® Haplotype Database: (www.promega.com)

14. Bluejacket male line haplotype database search results NOTHING ! Search conducted January, 2005: Reliagene Technologies, Inc. Y-STR Haplotype Reference Database for US Populations: (www.reliagene.c0m) PowerPlex® Haplotype Database: (www.promega.com)

15. Y-STR Haplotypes 12 loci Haplotype – consistent at only four of 12 loci What is a feasible mutation rate over seven generations ?? Could these two families actually be Related ??

16. What is the Y-STR mutation rate ? • Scientific literature suggests a mutation rate of: 0.23% per STR locus/generation. How do we assimilate this information ?

17. A little mathematical predicting • 0.23% (0.0023) from the literature ~ ¼00 • ¼00 (12 loci evaluated) = 1/30 • So: 1/30 chance of a mutation per Y • chromosome transfer per generation. • Assume 1 child/generation • Human generation = 30 years. • Conceivably, 900 years before observing a mutation at one locus.

18. It doesn’t add up

19. It still doesn’t add up • Was said to have been “captured” or known by Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton – there has never been a single reference indicating that Bluejacket was caucasian. • Joseph and Nancy Moore were noted in a land deed as being “half bloods”. • Diary of a prisoner (Oliver Spencer, 1792) noted Bluejacket as being “the most noble in appearance of and Indian (he) ever saw. • Bluejacket required an interpreter at the signing of the Treaty of Greenville.

20. Conclusions • Considering the mutation rate, it is not very likely that the Marmaduke Van Swearingen was Bluejacket. • Nor is it very likely that the two families are even related in any way via the male line.

21. Take home points: • Clear that all males in the paternal lineage will have the same haplotype. • Who knows how many individuals or generations it would take before a mutated Y-STR loci would occur. • Conceivably, a male line could prosper for 900 years without any reasonable chance of even one mutation.

22. Acknowledgements • We are indebted to Marc Taylor for data analysis. • Greatly appreciative for the assistance of Richelle Neversson, Betty Lin and Lori Nishikawa of TAI, Inc. • Especially grateful to the Bluejacket and Swearingen families for the provision of samples. • With great admiration Mr. Robert Van Trees.

23. The debate continues…….