That fella that could only bark to communicate but understood English was so damn heartbreaking. He might not be able to read or speak but his soul is pure gold.

I figured there would be A LOT more overlaps given the profoundly unusual physical attributes these siblings display.

The two granddads being twins makes the genetic overlap between their parents more similar to half siblings, not even to mention the second cousin thing. This is far more drastic than regular first cousin relation.

My mother was born in WV. Over a decade or so, I went back and did some genealogy research. I have quite a few Whittakers in my lineage. I tracked down a bunch of graves stones and even a Whittaker homestead in Giles County (in Va but on the border of WV). After my daughter referenced the youtube videos, I mentioned to her that we may be related. She showed me this tree. After a quick consultation of my family tree, turns out my 5th great-grandfather is James Whittaker jr. It's a small world.

It hurt my heart to hear that Lorraine was assaulted. She always has a smile on her face, bless her heart.

Can we take a moment to appreciate that someone named their baby Zobedia Obedience Biddie.

I've never been so confused in my life

I can’t help but wonder how poor Lorene came to be sexually assaulted in her thirties. I have to assume she’s been home bound her entire life. This raises many questions for me.

I am from West Virginia. I grew up extremely poor also. Thankfully not quite as poor as the Whittakers. But up a holler nontheless. I am so amazed by the comments I looked at. You all express kindness and sadness instead of laughing or criticising them. Thank you.😊❤

I appreciate how respectful you are and how you provided eulogies for the late members of the Whittaker family.

As someone born in rural Arkansas, the number one question you have to ask your parents when you get to dating age is, "how do we know them"

I was so sad to hear about Lorraine being assaulted. How horrific, I knew there was a fear in her eyes, I've always wondered what was going on inside her. The love this family have for each other is incredible. Very interesting to learn about their family tree and genetics. Love conquers all ☮️

I think that there is way more inbreeding in this family than is being told. I also don’t believe a lot of the relationships were consensual as you can tell from Lorrenes situation. This is just very sad and unfortunate.

Worth mentioning that if the twins were identical (John & Henry), their children who married (John & Gracie) would be genetically half siblings rather than 1st cousins and that explains the severe defects some of the children have. I think this is likely

The fact someone put this together is amazing thank you let’s get this beautiful family the help they need

This family have more humanity than most families. They clearly love and take care of each other. Can't say that for most families these days. God bless them 🙏💗

It’s not uncommon to marry first and second cousins in the early 20th century and even earlier times than that. Crazy to see how just 2 generations of 1st cousins then 2nd cousins marrying can really create tons of genetic issues for the third generation. Thank you for doing this fascinating research. I wish this family all the best!

I thought the tree would be even more tangled

As a historian I can apreciate the amazing work you put in. Having to unscrable inbred family tree is super confusing sometimes. SUPER INTERESTING STUFF, thank you very much for taking the time ❤❤❤

I am so glad I discovered your channel. I just saw the documentaries made about them. I am so glad that you and Mark treat those people with dignity and respect. They seem to be lovely and happy in their own world.

You can tell so much about people by how they treat animals...their dogs look well cared for and loved, very comfortable with the family.

I hope that you gave the Whittaker family a framed copy of their family tree. It would be good for them to have. This was very interesting. Thanks

I love the Whitaker's and their family. They never cease to bring a smile to my face. Especially Ray and Timmy. ❤❤

I'm glad you did this. These people have endeared themselves to my heart.

I pastured some horses at some people's place once. I stopped by to check on them one day and sat to have coffee with them. Poor old lady (suffering from dementia) started trying to tell me how a fellow showed up that was her brother as well as her uncle. I didn't understand so her husband clarified, said her grandpa was an evil old bastard, who sexed up her mother, years before and knocked her up. They sent her away to have the baby, gave it up, then came home try and act like nothing happened, but truth finally came out. Sick!

I understand why Lorraine is the least vocal out of them now, this family have suffered so much, I have so much respect for Betty spending her life caring for her siblings and nephew and being a voice for them when they struggle to communicate, it's fascinating and tragic how normal incest and abuse was in rural West Virginia families like the Whittakers

This was fascinating thank you I've watched all of Marks videos about the Whittaker family and have been very touched by their devotion to each other.We should all aspire to be at their level ♥️

Thanks for the very good and respectful breakdown of this! Absolutely fascinating family history. As others have said it was not uncommon for cousins to marry, but when the twin brothers' children got together, I think that's the real beginning of the troubles. There is too much genetic overlap with that union.

West virginia has a lot of heavy metal runoff from the coal mines that get into the soil and groundwater. Outside of intermarriage, this causes a lot of FLK syndrome (funny looking kids), cancers, skin issues and developmental delays. It may be a contributing factor to the family’s issues

Their mom was pregnant for most of the years between 1937-1960. I wonder if some of the family's conditions is from malnutrition, environmental factors and access to prenatal care. I mean even "good" prenatal care in this time frame was nothing compared to prenatal care today. And being in a more rural area didn't not make access any easier. I wish them well, and love that the town they live in protects them and cares for them so well. We always say, it takes a village, and these people have their village

I can’t even wrap my head around how you did this, well done.

You have made a wonderful video! Thank you so much for honoring this family tree.

I am from Kentucky and this is one family of many in these circumstances. I lived near another family who were so inbred that many of them sat on the porch almost year round in wheelchairs. I remember one lady in that family was coming in to have a baby at the hospital at least once a year it seemed and one of her hands was so deformed it looked like a lobster claw. This lady could talk but she seemed to have the mentality of a 5 year old. So sad.

I think In remote areas of the country, it’s not unusual to find some great grandparents that were cousins. My great grandfather said he had to leave his small farm town in Florida in llate 1800’s. so he could find a wife that wasn’t related to him. That was the story told down generations. I however think he left his home area because he got in trouble!

Wow. I have been waiting for this family tree. Fascinating - thank you.

They are a lovely friendly family. They get along with each other better than most. How they have lived is amazing.

They are a sweet family. So sad their earliest known relative became an orphan on the way to America. I wish nothing but the best for them. We see so many depictions in pop culture of “inbred” people being aggressive and frightening … but this family couldn’t be further from that.

Mark has been very good to them and they trust him, their trip to Walmart was the sweetest video.

Cool vid, thanks for creating and sharing.👍 I think the Whittakers was one of the very first vids I saw on WhiteSoftUnderBelly and was naturally drawn right after watching a couple more of the Whittakers interviews. This family is magical, that's the best way I can put it, none of us have the power to pick which family we come from or at what time but this family sure made the best of what they were born into, grown into and left with.(God Bless Them!)🙏

Thank you for all your work. This video is well done and I learned a lot. I love to see the Whittakers family and how they work together to care for each other.

Were the twin brothers mentioned identical twins? If they were that would biologically make their children more like siblings than cousins.

No way! My mother is Joseph Whitaker Sr.'s 5x great-granddaughter through Joseph's son Nathaniel :0 I was so shocked to see a photo I recognized. Yes, it most certainly is not Joseph who is pictured. I think I found an old newspaper article claiming it was one of his sons (perhaps James, if I recall correctly?). Great video.

I appreciated how gently and respectfully you spoke about the family

I couldn't follow ANY of this, which makes me wonder how you were able to even put it together!!! Genius work my man!!

I love the compassion you used when describing the Whitakers 😊

They all have each other looking out for one another and that's a lot more than a lot of people have... I wish I had something like that in my life

Your video and family tree was very interesting. The part I am so impressed about is the fact that you could highlight the names so we could follow it very easily. I really enjoyed the video and I think you did a fantastic job.👏👏👏

Thank you for explaining the family tree, it’s amazing how you pulled it all together.

My mom’s side of the family settled in an extremely rural area of the Ozarks, and when I did ancestry research, there’s was a lot of situations of sisters from one family marrying brothers of another family - notably lots of marriages between the Duggars and Moores. My grandma has a few “double cousins.” It’s less of an issue now as traveling and connecting with those outside the small community has gotten easier though, and thankfully we haven’t faced any debilitating inherited disorders. There are some interesting recessive traits that lots of us share almost across the board though. Most have pale blue eyes, light blonde hair (even platinum blonde in my grandma’s and cousin’s case), lots of red moles, joint hypermobility, and thyroid cancer. Some like my grandma could almost be mistaken as albino. I got all but the hair and eye colors thanks to my dad’s side.

You handled this thoughtfully, and respectfully. Well done!

Ahh the Whittakers!! Precious, precious family!! Hope they’re all handling this cold winter well. ❤

Your voice is seriously so calming

Heck I figured they came from marriages of siblings. Now I'm wondering what happened... At any rate they're dear people and I'm so glad Mark captured snapshots of their lives.

Can't believe somebody did that to Lorraine. And then raised the boy as best as she could. The world can be a cruel place

You did a very thorough and great job putting together their family tree! We can now understand how it all started. Very interesting!

Thank you for giving us the family tree we love this family 💜

I feel like a lot of purebred dogs would have a family tree like this.

Amazingly done. They’re really a sweet family. Taking care of each other no matter what and accepting them how they are

I've been watching the documentaries on them for years. Mark always checks on them ❤

This is so respectful everyone is so respectful to this family

The little description for everyone, it really added the humanity that is sometimes missing in modern life 💜

Poor Betty. She's done the best that she can.

Here’s how i had to break it down to Make my brain stop hurting. My mom Elizabeth, married my dad, Thomas Whittaker, and had a few kids..(Me and all of my siblings… we are obviously whittakers, because our dad is) My moms sister (my aunt, Mary) married a man. My aunt, Mary , had two daughters (my cousins). Two of my brothers married my two cousins. (My aunt Mary’s daughters). **first set of incest** (One of these brothers that married our cousins, was a twin.) Remember, one of my twin brothers, married our cousin…… now, HIS twin, (my other brother) ended up getting married to a random woman. Each of these couples had some kids. One of the twins children (my niece), married one of the other twins children (my nephew). So, one of my nephews from my twin brother, married and had kids with one of my nieces from my other twin brother. (Remember, one of my twin brothers is ALREADY married to our cousin) **second set of incest, which is like double incest since they’re twins** So, The kids that my niece & nephew (both twins children) ended up having, are THE Whittakers that we know & see on KZfaq. God, my head hurts. I hope this helps someone. I know i have a weird way of understanding things… maybe if you just put yourself into the equation like i did it’ll help. Lol 😩

Your video is very respectfully done… I very much appreciate that. These people had no choice in what went on that led to them being on this earth & they should not be made fun of.

Presented factually and with respect to this lovely family. I am impressed by your kindness.

I loved watching those videos Mark made. They were sad, yes. But they also showed a lot of love and care and really taught viewers how amazing humans can be. How adaptable we are. It’s really impressive how the non-verbal Whittakers learned to communicate, and so inspirational how they take care of each other.

Mark you are truely a Angel for all you have done for this wonderful family ❤❤

Precious family no matter their circumstances. Ray has just touched my heart & I worry about his painful knees. When Ray feels good he seems to be so happy. God bless him & his family. I greatly appreciate the kindness & respect shown to the Whittakers.

The Whittakers are such a lovely family, I wish them a peaceful comfortable life and nice that kind people look out for them. Saw a documentary about them a while ago and it touched my heart how each one of them are so special and how much they care for each other. Wish more people were like those folks.

I'm a proud West Virginian, I was so hesitant to watch this video, but you were so respectful. Thank you.

I was expecting more drama if I'm honest, but this is a very carefully reseaeched, thoughtfully done video!

Well Done! You really straightened some question marks for me.

Great review of this very interesting family. It warms my heart that Mark has used his influence to get financial support for this very needy and deserving family. Thank you again

It would be interesting to find out if the birth defects predated the current group. Considering the interconnectedness of the family doesn't go back that far, I am wondering if there are also some environmental factors going on too. Born and raised in the Steel Valley on the Ohio side. Birth defects abound due to contamination from old mines, steel mills, etc. They r just getting some of these places cleaned up after almost 100 years of contaminated water and soil.

8 years of College for me , I was blown away of your ability to decipher this ! In a Good way of course !

Mark you are an amazing man. The Whitaker family thinks of you as family. God Bless you 🤗

I've loved the Whitaker family since Mark introduced them to us on KZfaq. Such a sweet family. I hope their doing well. ❤

My maternal grandfather’s family (Traylor) has had descendents in central Virginia since the 1600s. No interfamilal marriages that I know of but I can say there is quite a bit of depressive, personality disorders, anxiety in the last several generations. Thanks for sharing info on the Whitakers. Very interesting how geneologies play out.

Really interesting video! Thank you for taking the time to do the research on this. I've watched every video of the Whittakers and never realised Timmy is Lorraine's son. All I knew was that he was a nephew.

You been a kind man to this family mark huge respect to you fella x

I just Love Ray the man that barks alot, He just touches my heart, Mark had money donated to him for the whittakers and he took that money and restored the old trailer they were living in, he has done so much for the whittakers Love Mark and his channel, he really cares about people, he helps the homeless, drug addicts and so many have lied and scammed him but he always caught them and was done with them, I would be the same way as well.

Great Video! Thank you for clarifying this. Another creator made a disparaging remark about the Whitakers "not minding" when they were "getting themselves into" the scenario that resulted in their genetic issues. I got in their comments trying to explain that this was NOT a case of multi-generational inbreeding, that their parents had been first cousins, but that the two siblings who had produced these first cousins were identical twins, & therefore the cousins shared roughly the same amount of DNA as siblings (half-siblings, really) do. Ordinarily, first cousins only share 4% more DNA as random strangers. That's why it's perfectly legal for first cousins to marry in 19 States in the US, & legal with some restrictions in 6 more States. Of the 26 States which prohibit first cousin marriages, 17 allow cohabitation & sexual relations between first cousin's. So, sum total, 42 States in the US acknowledge that first cousins don't share enough DNA for there to be significant genetic issues with their offspring. It's when a family REPEATS the practice of first cousin marriage in subsequent generations that genetic problems arise. Or in the case of the Whitakers, when the first cousins are the offspring of identical twin siblings. John Emroy Whitaker & Gracie Irene Whitaker, because their respective fathers were identical twins, had the same genetic make-up of half-siblings with the same father but different mothers. In any event, the Whitakers are beautiful people who in no way brought any genetic issues upon themselves. There isn't a history of repeated generational first cousin marriages. Their parents were just a special kind of first cousins (in more ways than one!) The fact that some of the higher functioning siblings care for those who have special needs, that they (especially Betty) have sacrificed what could have been "normal" lives in order to take care of their siblings, is a devotion to family rarely seen in this day & age, & something to be applauded. By the way, first cousin marriages is ILLEGAL in West Virginia, but cohabitation & sexual relations are allowed. First cousin marriage was not illegal anywhere in the US until the 1880s, & almost all of the current laws were in place by 1920, so I don't know if John & Gracie went to another State to get married, or if they were, perhaps NOT married (they already had the same last name, after all). The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws unanimously recommended in 1970 that all laws prohibiting first cousin marriage should be repealed, but no state has dropped its prohibition. Globally, about 10% of all marriages are between first or second cousins. In the US, it's a mere 0.2% of marriages, whereas the number is closer to 50% in Pakistan. Fun fact: Charles Darwin married his first cousin Emma Wedgewood (whose grandparents were third cousins). I think MY family has more incidents of consanguineous marriage than the Whitakers do! But no identical twins. Genetics are a funny thing. Again, great video. Next time someone says something about the Whitakers having any kind of history of inbreeding, I'm going to send them right here to see the facts. And thank you for speaking kindly & respectfully of the Whitakers. They really are sweet people, & I agree, Timmy & Ray are as fascinating as they are entertaining. I love the way Timmy sort of "translates" what Ray is woofing about. I don't know if he actually "speaks Rayese" or if he's just making it up, but it's priceless. I worry about Ray. His health has been waxing & waning this past year, & I can't IMAGINE how a doctor's appointment would go, so who knows what might be going on with him. Thanks so much for this upload. I'm gonna go check our some of your other content now. It's good for the algorithm.✌🏼

Ray stole my heart ❤️ I adore his bright personality and strength

They live a simple life, And they care for each other,,, good stuff

I love that you talk about these people and treat them with respect. They deserve respect and kindness. I had some cousins who these men remind me of. They were loud and grunted and scared me as a child. My Mom would go and visit. I don’t know why they were like that. I am glad my Mom took me. I am kind to anyone different because of her visiting them. I told my sons all about them and taught them to respect others as well.

I was sceptical to watch this as I've been following the family since Mark first intervied them.. Happy to say this was interesting & done respectfully. Thankyou for sharing your information and u've gained another subscriber.

Thanks for that. We have nothing in this life to give but love

Such love this family exhibits 🥰 Thanks for sharing this.

I watched Softwhiteunderbelly whitaker video, they really do seem like sweet people, they can't help what their parents did. Thank you so much for clearing this up, great video!

I adore this family. I'm from south eastern Kentucky and know a few families specifically that are just like them. They are all some of the best people you could ever meet and some of the most interesting. A lot of the incxst isn't even consensual. People like the Whittaker's are almost always so nice and so interesting. I'm so happy that people fell so hard for them.

Just found out about this family and Amy mind is blown away. You hear about stuff like this all the time. It’s rare you get to see it

Thanks for this video!

I also expected the family tree to be more entangled given the amount of physical and mental deformities you see in the siblings. I guess we are to assume the twin brothers from the 1800s were identical and that resulted in genetic complications when their children married(they would have been half-siblings genetically speaking) and had these kids you see in the video. The situation with Lorraine might be darker than we'll ever know. I wouldn't be surprised if Timmy's dad is one of his uncles. Unfortunately when you're under the same roof all those years in close quarters, I can see sexual molestation happening. Timmy looks way too much like his uncles.

I have seen the short films about this family and couldn’t help but think they might be poor and have disabilities but they live in such a beautiful area. Thank you for the respect you showed them.

WOW! I sure could use you to do my family tree. I watched the video about this family. Fascinating!

What amazing and detailed research . Wow … amazing work

This is fascinating. I love the Whittakers. I think Betty would appreciate this. She's so awesome to take care of them all and to devote her life to that.

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I appreciate that you gave mark credit ❤

Thank you that was helpful. I have watched the Whittaker's and wondered about their family tree