Courtesy OpenClipArt,  CC0 1.0 Universal The introduction of DNA testing for genealogy was revolutionary. The Sorensen Foundation, NatGeo and other non-profit efforts, along with scientific research yielded books such as Bryan Sykes'  The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry   back in 2001.  But until Family Tree DNA began offering Y and mitochondrial (mt) DNA kits for sale, there was only the crudest information available.  Thanks to Bennett Greenspan of Family Tree DNA, who persisted in finding a way for this important data to be available to genealogists, we now have these wonderful record sets. He and other citizen scientists have persisted; the more we test, the more we know about shared relatives and our deep ancestral history.  The  Human Genome Project helped immensely and scientists of all types continue to deepen our knowledge of not just Y and mitochondrial (mt) DNA, but also autosomal and the more-rare...

Who provides the most value? DNA testing and Beyond As researchers, we have many choices in DNA tests and genealogy websites. Given that both time and money are limited, what strategies and choices help us best reach our research goals? As always, "it depends." Most of my analysis is based on American costs and services, and family history based in Colonial America, Canada and northern Europe. Your needs and circumstances might be different. Ancestry.com is the Behemoth Ancestry's DNA database is as large as all the other testing companies and sites combined . So, most everyone who can afford DNA testing should prioritize Ancestry testing of as many older relatives as possible. Help them set up their accounts; if they are not interested in using their findings for research, have them assign you to manage their kits. Connect their DNA data to their profile in your Ancestry tree as soon as results come in, and begin adding their matches to your tree, along with DNA fact sou...