It's a little disconcerting to realize that your mitochondrial line is possibly going extinct. This happens when there are no daughters in a family having daughters to carry on the mtDNA, which is passed solely from mother to daughter.
This is what I discovered recently. Besides possibly two other female 4rd cousins, I am the last person in my branch of our family to carry our mtDNA, which is haplogroup H1a1 (aka H1a1a1).
1) My mother had one son and one daughter--me. I have no children, so will not be passing on the mtDNA.
2) My grandmother & her sisters were the three daughters of my great grandparents FRANK R BROWN & MARIETTA KENNEDY.
--GLADYS BROWN married JOSEPH BURTON DRYDEN. They had one son and one daughter--who had only one son.
--GENEVIEVE BROWN married PENNEMAN STETSON. They had three daughters, none of whom had any children.
--RUBY BROWN married ROLLA MARTINE. They had one son and one daughter, my mother.
3) My great grandmother MARIETTA KENNEDY had one sister, SARAH ADELINE KENNEDY who married WILLIAM HAWTHORNE; they had four daughters.
--MABEL HAWTHORNE married FRED COWELL; they had no children
--MARIETTA "ETTA" HAWTHORNE married WALTER FOERSTER; they had one son and one daughter, MABEL FOERSTER who married ALVIN BLANCHARD. I have not been able to find out if there were any female descendants.
--HELEN "NELLIE" HAWTHORNE married ERNEST F BEHRE; she died age 26, leaving one daughter MARILYNN BEHRE, who married several times, the last husband being DUNCAN. I have not been able to find out if there were any female descendants.
--ADELINE "ADDIE' HAWTHORNE married LOUIS ALVERO BURNS; they had one son and one daughter VERYLE BURNS who married HENRY WILSON MEYER; they had one daughter, deceased in 2004, and another daughter still likely living, who would be the only other known females of my generation to carry the same H1a1 mtDNA. I do not know if these cousins married or had children, but if they did, and had daughters, those daughters would be the only ones to carry on the H1a1 mtDNA in our branch of the family!
Have a great day!
Betty
© Betty Tartas 2013
