DNA-tests are a primary source

Securing sources for the future: An appeal to all genealogists

How often have you in your genealogy work been frustrated over missing sources: church records that are lost, photo albums and private archives someone decided to throw away.

Have you ever considered that DNA is a source just like these?

What if your descendants a hundred years from now are wondering why you, a genealogist, did not secure the DNA from uncle Einar and grandma Hjørdis while they were still alive. Einar was the last direct male descendant of an old line from Northern Gudbrandsdal.

Paternal grandmother Hjørdis could through her direct maternal line follow her ancestry back to a known family in northern Norway. And you did not even test yourself?

Perhaps they will tear their hair in despair, just like many have done over the burnt medieval scrolls in Copenhagen, or the lost church records of Eidsvoll? Lost sources make genealogy work a lot more difficult, and creates brick walls.

We have an appeal to everyone doing genealogy:

Make sure you secure sources for the coming generations, for the future.

Test the family elders before it is too late!

Djupsnø1

Who is it most important to test?

Everyone in your family or those you know who are the last living descendants of direct male lines or direct female lines, should have their DNA secured and tested, by analysis of Y-DNA or mtDNA respectively.

Ideally all living Y-DNA and mtDNA-lines in Norway should be tested and documented.

Result lists for these tests are openly available for Norwegian genealogists on the Norway DNA project list pages, with information about earliest known ancestors in the direct line that is tested:

Y-DNA is used to map and verify direct paternal lines back to a common direct line paternal ancestor.

mtDNA is used to map and verify direct maternal lines back to a common direct line maternal ancestor.

Also read about who to choose as testing candidate

Comments are closed.