Month: September 2007

The DNA Ancestry Blog has a new post about needs and concerns regarding Ancestry.com’s DNA project. If you have something insightful or valuable to share, the post lists an email address.

There’s a relatively new Genetic Genealogy blog called Haplogroup I which has some interesting information and news about the field. Welcome to the blogosphere, and I hope to learn more about you and about Haplogroup I!

The big news (ok, not really) in Genetic Genealogy this week is that Ben Affleck is joining the Genographic Project. The Boston Globe has a story here. My favorite part was the ending:

As with any other test, the project did lead to some bragging rights. Ramiro Torres, who hosts a morning show on radio station Jam’n 94.5, was pleased to learn his enterprising relatives trekked across all of Asia before crossing the ice bridge and populating North and South America. ... Click to read more!

Megan Smolenyak at Megan’s Roots World has some great links to recent news about genetic genealogy.  The first post is “Genealogical Round Up“, and the second is “More Genetic Genealogy.”  If you’re interested in GG, stop by.

I also saw a recent story in the IndyStar called “Unearthing Their Roots“, about African Americans using DNA in an attempt to identify their ancestral origin.  Although this exact topic has been very popular in the press this year, this article is more balanced than some.

By the way, I would like to remind everyone that Roots Television is a great resource for anyone who might be interested in genetic genealogy, or genealogy in general.  I especially enjoy seeing interviews and presentations from conferences that I am unable to attend.  It’s a wonderful resource. ... Click to read more!

I first saw mention of Mike Elgan’s story, “Coming Soon: The Mother of All Genealogy Databases” at Jasia’s Creative Gene (The Google Family Tree?), and then I saw it at the Genealogue (NothingWill Save Us From Boredom).

In the article, Mr. Elgan imagines an enormous future database that combines traditional genealogical records and DNA to link everyone together.  Two individuals could then, for instance, search the database to find their closest relationship to each other.  My first thought, of course, is of privacy issues and plain old bad genealogical data (of which the internet is full).

In today’s Washington Post there’s a story about The Boy in the Iron Coffin.This coffin was accidentally discovered by a construction crew in Washington, D.C. in 2003.Research conducted by the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History discovered that the body inside, still wearing a white burial suit, was that of William T. White, about age 15.William, who appears to have had a heart defect that would have made him sickly, died on January 23, 1852:

“The boy was extremely well preserved and clad in white cotton clothing that included a pleated shirt and vest with cloth-covered buttons, flared trousers, darned socks and ankle-length underdrawers.”

According to the article, the body “had been buried in a cemetery that probably belonged to Columbian College, the precursor to George Washington University, in what is now Columbia Heights, and had been a student at the college preparatory school when he died.” ... Click to read more!