Monday, September 6, 2010

DNA and Genealogy

DNA and genealogy have become an important topic.  The identification and application of the genetic code that makes us all spearate individuals, yet make us one of the human race, has added a new tool to the understanding of ancestry.  It adds a "no doubt" phenomina that often proves or disproves all the years of genealogy work that has been done on our family trees.  It is a complex topic, full of scientific terms, scientific approaches, "over my head" assumptions, and the application of new technologies to a much older field called genealogy.  How we put the two fields together will make the difference in our understand of who we are, and what is truely our lineage.  An  understand of DNA, and how it is used to aid the genealogist,  is the goal of this blog.  It is especially important for a surname like JONES whose frequency is among the most common surname in the Western World.  I will use my own JONES DNA and more that 50 years of doing genealogy to try and tie the ends together.  It also helps that I have a medical backgound so I understand most of the scientific terms.  So let's begin a journey to see if the new DNA approach and the old Genealogy approch can come to a common ground.

1 comment:

  1. As a Jones, I think you should also check out my recent posts on this topic. They can be found at http://jonesfamilymatters.blogspot.com

    Kathy

    ReplyDelete