Hi everybody, For the last few months I've been involved with using DNA for genealogical purposes. For some reason, it was only just now that I had one of those "light bulb" moments where it occurred to me that there should be a way to record DNA test results in Legacy.
Two types of test results would need to be recorded. One, Y-Chromosome DNA, which is passed from fathers to sons, usually tracks surnames. So far only five men named Hurst have received results from the main U.S. testing company, FamilyTreeDNA. I checked to see if there were surname projects for my other ancestral surnames and there were only a couple. Smith yes; Kelly no, for example. I have an exact match with two of the other Hursts. I have a documented paper trail to only one of those, a fourth cousin twice removed. So this is really a ground-floor area of research. The other test type is for mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which is passed from mothers only to all their children. See the book "Seven Daughters of Eve" by Brian Sykes. This type presents the problem that the surname changes every generation and nobody is organizing "surname" projects. I've taken this test, but I don't have the results back yet. I do have some second cousins who should have the same mtDNA as I. I'm also trying to persuade some other cousins to test to try to find a match between two women, one my gg grandmother, from 200 years ago who were probably sisters. Now I'm trying to think of how enter these results into Legacy. I'm literally thinking while typing this. (Not, of course, also chewing gum.) I suppose I'll look at an Event first. But as the testing becomes standardized, one hopes, in the future, perhaps by Legacy version 6, there will be special fields for this information. Perhaps someday the GEDCOM standard will also have these fields. Of course, some people will then assign their DNA numbers to Charlemagne, post them on WorldConnect, then someone else will come along and assign Charlemagne's numbers to themselves. Maybe I should just forget the whole thing. No really, has anybody else given this any thought? Bill Legacy User Group Etiquette guidelines can be found at: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp
