public String createPopulation(ArrayList<String[]> ped) {
        individual = new ArrayList<Individual>();
        founderAlleleCount=0;
        int iCount = ped.size();
        for (int i=0; i<iCount; i++) {
            //System.out.println(i+": "+ped.get(i)[0]+" "+ped.get(i)[1]+" "+ped.get(i)[2]);
            if (ped.get(i)[1].equals(missing)) {
                //add founder with founderalleles
                try {
                    individual.add(new Individual(ped.get(i)[0], this));
                    founderAlleleCount += ploidy;
                } catch (Exception ex) { return ex.getMessage(); }
            }
            else {
                //add non-founder with parents but no HaploStruct
                try {
                    Individual parent1;
                    Individual parent2;
                    try {
                        parent1 = getIndiv(ped.get(i)[1]);
                        parent2 = getIndiv(ped.get(i)[2]);
                    }
                    catch (Exception ex) {
                        throw new Exception("Parent(s) of individual "+ped.get(i)[0]+" not found");
                    }
                    individual.add(new Individual(ped.get(i)[0],
                        new Individual[] {parent1, parent2},
                        this));
                } catch (Exception ex) { return ex.getMessage(); }
            }
        }
        return "";
    } //createPopulation