Sometimes the answer is a tree in the forest: my paternal mtDNA - U5a1b

In order to find the mtDNA haplogroup of my deceased Father, Denval Perkins, I have been trying to get female line relatives of my Grandmother, Eleanor "Nellie" Walker Inman Perkins, to do either the autosomal test at 23andMe, because it also gives a limited mtDNA haplogroup, or an mtDNA test at Family Tree DNA. Because he and his half and full siblings are all deceased, I have asked his niece, but she has finally decided not to test. I then asked some of my Grandmother's sisters descendants but they also refused to test.

This week I used the Charting program in Legacy Family Tree to go back to my Grandmother's Grandmother, Mariah Moses Manning, and trace her mtDNA descendants. When I examined the chart I realized that two of those female line descendants had already tested at 23andMe and had the mtDNA haplogroup designation of U5a1b. This mtDNA haplogroup is considered one of the oldest European mtDNA haplogroups. It is currently concentrated in the Baltic and Scandinavian countries. This location ties into my Fathers's Y DNA haplogroup of R1a1a (R-176.1) which is mainly found in Scandinavia and Scotland.

My Father's known matriline:

1. Denval Perkins (1921-1974);
2. Eleanor "Nellie" Walker (1891-1965) - 1) Francis "Frank" Inman and 2) Henry Franklin Perkins;
3. Rutha Manning (1867-1928 - Andrew J. Walker;
4. Mariah Moses (1832-1873) - Jacob H Manning;
5. Martha Richardson (1814-1869) - 1)Edmund DeBerry Moses and 2) William Manning;
6. Elizabeth Davis (1778-1860-70) - John Richardson.

Locations covered are Whitley Co., KY and McCreary Co., KY. See the US Census reports for 1850 through 1930.