Connecting Whipples with DNA

Most Whipples living in the United States today can trace their ancestry to one of two English ancestors:

1. Matthew Whipple of Bocking, England, through his two sons Matthew and John, who came to America in 1638 and settled in Ipswich, Essex County, Massachusetts.
2. Another person named John Whipple who came to Dorchester (part of today's Boston), Massachusetts aboard the ship Lyon in 1632, at about the age of 15.
   

Efforts to find a relationship between the two families have not yet succeeded.

Whipple genealogist Blaine Whipple has just announced "a new project to determine whether the the Ipswich, MA Whipples and the Dorchester, MA-Providence, RI Whipples are related." The project, which involves DNA testing, is described in a PDF document submitted to the webmaster in early December. Whipples might want to consider participating.

Note from the Webmaster: In discussing this with my mother-in-law, a genealogist who has been pursuing an interest in DNA testing, I expressed misgivings about whether it would be accurate in my case, since--although my male line goes directly to the Rhode Island Whipples--a female line goes back to Ipswich, MA, at the same time as the early Ipswich Whipples were living, and there is a possibility that that might skew the conclusions.

My mother-in-law informed me that DNA research includes X-DNA tests and Y-DNA tests. The Y-DNA tests follow male ancestral lines exclusively; X-DNA tests follow female ancestral lines exclusively. Re-readng Blaine's document, I see that the test is a Y-DNA test. According to her e-mail:

Where it says "Y-DNA" - I think that shows it is the male DNA they are going to check. The email should have stipulated only males to do it.

Comments, anyone?

Notes

1. Many "disconnected" Whipples appear on the Whipple Website's "Disconnected Whipples" page. Feel free to help connect them to other Whipples. (Note: Some Whipples are known have other origins. One George Whipple of what is now present-day Germany, for example, is the father of at least two children who migrated from Baden-Baden to Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, in the 1840s.)
2. Very recent research suggests that Matthew Whipple of Bocking, England, might be the son of Thomas Whipple (who was the son of another Thomas Whipple) of Bishop's Stortford, England. See FAQ 2.2 for more information.