By Sara Whitford
I have been asked this, and similar questions, multiple times over the years because of my connection with Coastal Carolina Indian Center, as well as my role as the Group Administrator for the East Carolina Roots DNA Project. I figured it was finally time to write a post about it for anyone who is interested.
It is a question I always have to answer with a question:
“How can one match DNA to the Lost Colonists, or even the Indians of Croatoan, definitively, considering there are no genetic samples from which a contemporary subject’s results could be compared?”
Let me explain the simplest reasons first, and then we’ll get into the more complex reasons later. [Continue reading…]
By Sara Whitford
As the Group Administrator for the East Carolina Roots DNA project through Family Tree DNA, I often receive questions about DNA testing. People want to know what kind of information they’ll be able learn from that little cheek swab, and it’s also important for me to tell them about the limitations of those tests so they’ll be clear on questions the tests cannot answer.
I might also be able to advise someone on the best way to find the answers they seek by letting them know how they can enlist parents and siblings, as well as close and distant cousins to be tested to provide further genetic information about their family’s genetic heritage.
Here are brief summaries in layman’s terms of the most common genealogical DNA tests available.
Y-chromosome DNA (Y-DNA) is passed from a father to his sons along an all-male line (highlighted in blue). Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is passed from mother to her sons and daughters along an all-female line (highlighted in pink). (From eupedia.com.)
[Continue reading…]
