DNA testing has been greeted with huge interest by genealogists. It has become cheaper and more easily available over recent years but, of course, we still need to know whether it would be useful to us in our family research. Our articles aim to help decide whether it would be worthwhile taking a test and how useful the results would be in finding out more about our family history.
DNA – we’ve all got it but, how can we make it work for us?
As DNA testing provides more and more information for genealogists, we have added more resources to help us make it work for our family history.
Firstly, two introductory pages to show how testing can be useful and how to get started with your first test:
DNA Testing for Family History Research
This article from ‘Twissle Times’ is from a talk given to EFHA members in October 2019 by Steve Entwisle and Janet Durham. It looks at what DNA is and offers help in choosing which company to entrust your DNA to.
Can DNA Tests Help You?
Family historians are regularly encouraged to purchase DNA tests. This paper by the Federation of Family History Societies, explores what DNA can tell us, the types of DNA tests available and what we should consider before buying one.
What Stephen has learned since that first talk
He has attended courses and built up his knowledge considerably. He wants to pass on the knowledge, skills and techniques that he has found so useful so that you can make the same progress in searching for your family’s roots.
Your DNA Wanted!
He sent an email to our ‘Twissle Times’ editor outlining the unexpected results that came from researching his Y chromosome but ends with a different puzzle! You can understand why he wants your DNA test results!
Your Project Needs You!
His second page deals with setting up an Entwistle program on FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA) to link results from those who have an ancestor of this name and may possibly be related. You could do this for any group of people you suspect could be related to each other, even several generations back.
How to use your Y-DNA
His third, fourth and fifth pages came out of a visit to ‘Family Tree Live’ in 2019 and how he was inspired to get tested and to follow a course with Diahan Southard to learn more about how useful DNA testing could be. His descriptions of how he went about his personal researches are designed to help you use similar methods to find more about your family.