[Brittany0121]

Well it's imbreeding AND a disease.. lol

http://http://www.scienceray.com/Biology...-KY.346889

The Fugate family and their unusual skin tone weave a tale of accidental inbreeding and the carrying of troublesome recessive traits for the disease methemoglobonemia, causing the family member's skin to appear a ghostly blue. The skin tone is caused not by a change in light absorbing melanin, but instead from the methemoglobin levels in the blood. Methemoglobin is naturally found in very low levels in the blood, and methemoglobonemia causes enzymes preventing a raised level of methemoglobin to not form.
The story of the Fugate family started in 1820 when a French orphan named Martin Fugate settled on the eastern bank of Troublesome Creek in Kentucky. Martin had visible methehemoglobonemia., meaning that he was the offspring of two carriers. His wife, Elizabeth Fugate (formerly Elizabeth Smith) also happened to be a carrier of the disease, although it was a recessive trait of which she was only a carrier. This means that for the disorder, Martin had an mm genotype and Elizabeth had an Mm genotype in which m = methemoglobonemia positive and M = methemoglobonemia negative, M is the dominant trait. So, if a Punnet square were created for an F1 generation it would look like this:
[Image: http://images.stanzapub.com/readers/2008/11/15/m_4.jpg]
So according to this Punnet square, 50% of Martin's offspring are expected to be visibly methemoglobonemic and all are carriers of the gene. In actuality, 4 of their 7 children appeared blue in color, so roughly 57%. Thus started the chain of inbreeding, most of the time unknowingly. In small communities it just happens sometimes. That first or distant cousins would marry each other without knowledge of any family relationship between them.