ROOTS & BRANCHES

There are many people more qualified than me to write about DNA and genealogy—so take everything you’re going to read here with a grain or two of salt.

I was already in the larger genealogy community (that is, organizations and independent professionals doing more than just personal trees) when DNA started hitting the scene in the late 1990s.

At first the science was fairly simple: The initial tests were only helpful for the surname line (Y chromosome, from the father, father’s father, etc.) and the mitochondrial or umbilical line (mother, mother’s mother, mother’s mother’s mother, etc.).

When autosomal DNA—the genetic codes that represent the other ancestry in between the Y and umbilical lines—was first proposed, there were some who thought that trying to make it genealogically useful was a fool’s errand.

But here we are 20 years later and autosomal tests are suggesting the solutions to genealogical brick walls on a daily basis … as well as helping to catch killers in cold cases that are sometimes decades old.

In the last couple of months, that latter use of DNA has riveted the attention of much of the genealogy world since Family Tree DNA, once a pioneer in the field and known for its customer friendliness, acknowledged that it had changed its terms of service (without explicit notice to customers) to allow law enforcement into its databases without warrants.

Some have shrugged at this as if the issue were whether a person wants to help catch criminals or not.

Such a formulation of the debate is disingenuous. I’m in favor of solving cold homicide cases; but I refuse to deal with a company that unethically changes its rules.

Family Tree DNA has reacted poorly to the revelation of its lack of ethics. It has put together a Potemkin “citizens panel” to advise it and has allowed its customers to opt out of law enforcement matching.

Those are opinions of the moment.

But despite my misgivings about how Family Tree DNA has handled things, I’m tremendously excited about taking a weeklong session on DNA from Blaine Bettinger, who has literally written the book on genetic genealogy, at the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh in July.

Bettinger’s course is so popular that it sold out within minutes of the beginning of registration.

After that institute, there will still be many people more qualified than me to write about DNA and genealogy … but I know I’ll be more qualified to read about it and critically assess what’s being written.

I might have some new opinions as a result.