The post on getting my mtDNA tested resulted in comments that helped me realize: I am not alone in my lack of understanding about DNA testing. This is something I’ve been wanting to research, but not knowing where or how, and feeling overwhelmed before I started has prevented me from doing much research.
I also thought I needed to understand it all before I blogged about it! Well, that’s not going to happen. Figured maybe it’s better to do little chunks of research, and then post what I’ve learned.
TheGenealogyGirl posted a link in her comment she thought might be helpful about Kitty Cooper’s blog called Musings on Genealogy, Genetics and Gardening. I’ve browsed through many of Kitty’s DNA posts, and there’s a lot of useful, easy to understand information.
CeCe Moore’s articles at Geni.com were recommended reading. I started with the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) test article. It’s fairly short, uncomplicated, and left me with a better understanding about mtDNA, as well as what to expect from the results or matches.
CeCe also added at the end of the article it wasn’t “her first choice for the female genealogist wanting to take her first DNA test.” Hmmm, now they tell me that?
One of the best parts of Kitty’s blog is a DNA Newbie FAQ page. Simply find your question, and click to see the answer. There’s questions there I never thought of!
Now I’ve documented how I started my research, and I have referenced what I learned in an easy to find spot here. If it helps you as well, so much the better.
pastsmith 
I haven’t had my DNA done but want to. My mum’s ancestors came from the East End of London and were Jewish. But I have so far research one branch back to 1801 so I am thinking they weren’t Jews from the time mum thought, but I have read that Jews were in the UK in the 14th and 15th centuries I think. So I would love to know. I have often been asked by patients at work if I am Polish!!! I always do my best “nah I’m an Aussie mate”…..but I am wondering if there is a Polish or Eastern European gene in there somewhere??? Want to get this done, but not sure who from. I think ancestry .com has just started it in Australia or about to.
My advice is to read up on it before you decide. It all depends on what you’re looking for, each company is a little different with different pricing. I went with FamilyTreeDNA because I attended a webinar that said they had the largest database for what I was looking for. This Italian DNA expert also said he thought FamilyTreeDNA was more accurate than the other two testing companies–he got vastly different results from Ancestry than the other two companies. But this was a couple years ago, so things have probably changed. The guy’s name was Ugo Perego–Maybe I’ll do a blog post about his webinars. It’s be a good review for me!
Thanks for that….bit confusing and from what I read, sounds like reading the results is a bit confusing too…but will do what you suggest and research it a bit more first….cheers
That’s perfect–they say the oldest should do DNA testing first. Your relatives have done that. Good for you, and good for them.
Oh I’m so glad her blog was helpful! My grandma, grandpa, uncle and aunt have all done their autosomal DNA testing through ancestry. They were mostly just interested in the ethnicity breakdown which of course confused and disappointed most of them. They don’t have trees tied to their results but said I could use their passwords and work with the data. I need to do that. It’s on my list…