Early STR Tests

The Whitney DNA Project started in 2002 and momentum was strong through about 2010. At that time, Y DNA tests by FamilyTreeDNA provided either 12, 25, 37, 67, or 111 markers. The values for each of these markers allowed us to group testers into either the John Whitney, Henry Whitney, Samuel Whitney, or other groupings. We were able to determine that there was not a single Whitney family, but several Whitney families. Unfortunately, the small number of markers that these early tests provided were not sufficient enough to provide more details about how testers were related within a grouping, or about the origins of the various Whitney families.

Big Y Tests

The first “Big Y” test was launched by FamilyTreeDNA in November 2013, and the first Whitney Big Y results were completed in 2014. The original “Big Y” test was enhanced to the “Big Y-500” test in 2018 and again enhanced to the “Big Y-700” test in 2019. The Big Y tests increased the number of returned STR values from the previous high of 111 markers to a whopping 700 markers, and also added 16 to 22 million SNP values! This is a HUGE increase from the older tests. The SNP values from different tests are compared, and places where changes occurred in the past are identified to build out a “tree of mankind”. These mutation points are given names such as R-FT374712, R-M269, etc