Many Americans have been told by relatives that they have Native American ancestry and want to find out if the story is accurate. DNA testing has the capability to help people determine if they inherited any DNA from Native American ancestors. At RootsTech 2020, I attended a class taught by DNA expert Roberta Estes entitled “Native American DNA: Confirming Those Stories.” I am sharing some of the helpful information from Roberta’s class and including links to her website, DNAeXplained, for more information. Her lecture was my favorite class from Rootstech 2020 because she has so much experience about this topic...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with Libby Copeland, author of the new book The Lost Family: How DNA Testing is Upending Who We Are. We discuss some of the main themes in the book, from ethnicity estimates, the history of genetic genealogy, the use of DNA to solve cold cases, and surprises that come from testing. Libby also shares her own experience with genealogy and DNA testing. Links Link to purchase the book on Amazon: The Lost Family: How DNA Testing Is Upending Who We Are (This is an affiliate link. If you make a...
Before 2000, DNA was not a source genealogists had access to. Now there are over 29 million people in DNA testing databases. This is an enormous change. Like other sources available to genealogists before the advent of advanced technology, we still need to analyze these sources carefully, understand the context, and create research plans. Genealogy standards guide us in our efforts. Thomas W. Jones, PhD, CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS gave the lecture, “The Advance of Research Habits over Recent Decades—And the Downside” at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) in January. The lecture was part of the “Meeting...
Have you taken a DNA test for the fun of discovering your ethnicity estimate only to be blindsided with an unexpected relationship? If so you are not alone. With more people taking consumer DNA tests, family secrets from long ago and not so long ago are being revealed. How does one deal with a new half sibling or biological parent? These questions and more are addressed in Libby Copeland’s new book, The Lost Family: How DNA Testing Is Upending Who We Are. We’re reading this intriguing book for our spring book club selection. If you’d like to weigh in on the...
Have you used DNA test results to help with your genealogy research? Maybe you’ve heard that you can verify ancestors with DNA. Or perhaps you have formed a hypothesis about a brick wall ancestor’s parents and would like to confirm it. You may want to identify the biological parents of a recent relative who was adopted. What is the best way to go about using DNA test results to meet these objectives? What tool could help you make discoveries? It may seem overwhelming to know your next step. Robin Wirthlin, our genetic genealogist, has created two decision-tree style flowcharts called...
How can genealogists know if they are using DNA evidence correctly to prove conclusions? What is required to meet the Genealogical Proof Standard when incorporating DNA evidence? Since the 2nd Edition of Genealogy Standards was published last year, I have been studying the new standards relating to DNA evidence, Standards 51-57. Then at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) last month, I had the opportunity to learn from Karen Stanbary and her team of experienced instructors on this subject. The course was titled “Meeting Standards Using DNA Evidence — Research Strategies,” with the following description: This all-new course is...
What lies ahead for genealogy and family history in 2020? Taking a look back at 2019 can be helpful in predicting where we might be headed in 2020. The most viewed blog posts on Family Locket for 2019 included those on DNA, Organization, and Productivity. If you missed any of these, I invite you to do some browsing and see if there is something that could help you in your research for 2020. Below are the posts and a teaser for each one. “Before We Were Yours” and a True Life Adoption Story from the Tennessee Children’s Home Society As...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with Dana Leeds about her method of color clustering DNA Matches. This is called the Leeds Method. When she first shared her method last year, it became an instant success. The Autocluster reports created at Genetic Affairs and the Collins Leeds method are both based on the Leeds Method of color clustering. Listen in to hear all about the Leeds Method and Dana’s experience doing the Research Like a Pro study group. Links Genetic Genealogy Tips and Techniques Facebook group Genetic Affairs – AutoCluster tool based on the Leeds Method...
How do you give credibility to your research that includes DNA evidence? The same way that you give credibility to research using evidence from traditional genealogy sources such as census and probate – with a source citation. Creating a source citation for the DNA matches, ethnicity reports, chromosome browsers, cluster reports, etc. that you use in your research project will back up the conclusions that you’ve drawn from your DNA analysis. Traditional Genealogy Source Citations When I wrote my report on Benjamin Cox, I used both traditional research and DNA analysis in discussing his hypothesized father-daughter relationship to my confirmed...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about how to incorporate DNA information into the timeline and analysis part of a research project. The timeline and analysis portion of the Research Like a Pro process is at the beginning. It helps you determine your starting point, because you look at all the sources you already have. After you test your DNA, you have an additional source that will help you in your family history research, that can be included in this phase. In the context of using DNA in genealogical research, you are a source that gives information –...
