Sunday, October 15, 2006

A road, and Web, map to finding heritage

A road, and Web, map to finding heritage

The Norman Transcript

— There is so much interest in DNA testing in family research that every genealogical magazine I subscribe to has an article telling me everything I ever wanted to know about the process.

The Family Tree Magazine for October 2006 has a good article titled "Adventures in Genetic Genealogy," written by Maureen A. Taylor. Lots of definitions were included for the various tests, however the more I read the more confusing it all sounds. I did know that to check my paternal line I must use my brother's DNA, and my mother's paternal line can be proven by using her brother's DNA.

According to the above article, the Family Tree DNA site has the only public database of mtDNA test results. That Web site is www.mitosearch.org. The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is the genetic material mothers pass on to their children. The cost of this test begins at approximately $129, but can be as expensive as $495 for the mt Full Sequence test.

The mtDNA test can identify our ethnic and geographic origins and this can be our recent ancestors as well as those in the distant past. If you have Native-American ancestry in your lineage this can be identified down to five major groups. In researching this test I found the definitions for Eve's Daughters at www.duerinck.com/migrate.html.

Continued at http://www.normantranscript.com/features/local_story_287004922? keyword=secondarystory

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