Genetic Genealogy

This week's issue of Time magazine, July 11, has an article on genetic genealogy entitled: " Can DNA Reveal Your Roots?" I've been reading and interested in the topic for about five years, mainly watching as the Sorenson project, formerly out of BYU, on molecular genealogy taking off. The jist of the article is that one can now determine Cohanim (Jewish) descent, the tribe(s) in Africa that one has descended from such as Oprah Winfrey and Spike Lee, percentages of ancestral lineage from ethnic groups, and connecting living relatives and common ancestors.

For serious researchers of genealogy, there is no Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS) for genetic genealogy (yet!) but the article does include the success of the Little family of southern descent in Alabama using proven common genetic markers to pool their research together back to 1680. Obviously this cannot be done without the traditional pedigrees and family group sheets but the common ancestral gene "conclusion" may encourage reseachers to skip generations to get back to the oldest ancestor possible, sans legitimate documentation. Genetic genealogy has many potential benefits, such as identifying genetic predispostions toward inherited diseases and conditions but as with most new technologies and theories, there is the downside and potential for misuse. Much like when I used to roll my eyes when someone would proudly tell me that they had traced "their ancestry all the way back to Adam" (how do they prove medieval pedigrees substantially?), I am concerned about the "shortcut" allure of misapplied genetic genealogy results. But at the same time, I am excited about the possibilities of assistance through genetic profiles to solve some of the "brick walls" in my own research.