In the early 17th century, a small puritan population moved

Last updated: 7/30/2022

In the early 17th century, a small puritan population moved from the south of England to the island called Martha's Vineyard. The deaf man, Jonathan Lambert was among the early colonists of Martha's Vineyard. He was homozygous for a rare recessive allele that led to deafness. By the mid 1800's 1 in 155 people was deaf on Martha's Vineyard. In one town called Chilmark, 1 in 25 people were deaf. In the rest of the United States, there was 1 deaf person in 5728. Deafness became an accepted part of life on Martha's Vineyard, it did not impact survival or reproductive success, and the Martha's Vineyard Sign Language was used by both deaf and hearing people. In the late 1800's people on Martha's Vineyard began marrying mainlanders and having children. By 1952, the last deaf person carrying this deafness allele died, and the rate of deafness was the same on Martha's Vineyard as the rest of the United States. Pick two concepts below to describe why the frequency of deafness became so high on Martha's Vineyard. Underline these specific concepts. genetic drift founder effect natural selection mutation genetic bottleneck migration