This morning's meeting saw a great turnout to hear Karen Fugate's presentation on DNA. Based on the number and quality of questions during the Q&A, the talk was well received.
After a brief history of the science of DNA and discussion regarding Y-Chromosonme and Mitochondrial testing, Karen shared the results of her brother and cousin's submissions. (She used her brother in order to get the Y-DNA test).
With reports from the testing company she used, Karen pointed out how she learned of various people who may be related to her family and how the number of matching "markers" are significant The more markers matched, the better of chances. She also showed a map which indicated her family's haplogroup migration patterns back 25,000 years.
Most interesting to me was the negative result for the origin of this family. As in traditional genealogy, negative results can be as telling as positive. In the case of Karen's DNA testing, the results indicated that the family originated in Norway, not England as many family historians believed.
DNA testing can be helpful by supporting or disproving traditional paper trails and family lore. It is beneficial as one more item in our genealogy tool chest.
