DNA and Genealogy Education ~ Classes on Day 2 at the BYU Conference on Family History & Genealogy

I only attended two classes on the second day of the BYU Conference on Family History & Genealogy. Both of the classes were held in the afternoon.

The first class I took was titled "Beginning Autosomal DNA Analysis" and was taught by Paul Woodbury. Mr. Woodbury is a member of CeCe Moore's DNA Detectives Team.

During his class, Mr. Woodbury shared information about the differences between autosomal, Y-DNA, and mt-DNA tests. Both Y-DNA (paternal direct line) and mt-DNA (maternal direct line) stay intact as they are passed down to future generations and mutations are hierarchical. On the other hand, autosomal DNA is mixed every generation, mutations are not hierarchical, and consist of many lines of ancestry. 

Mr. Woodbury listed the uses for autosomal DNA tests. They include general interest, ethnicity (within 6 generations), adoption, unknown paternity, illegitimacy, and difficult to trace ancestors.

I have done two autosomal DNA tests, one through AncestryDNA and the other through Family Tree DNA. I've shared the results of those tests in previous blog posts. If you'd like to read them, click on the following links.

My Family Finder DNA Results Are In ~ Grandma Was Right!

My AncestryDNA Results Are In ~ Some Surprises

I also had a mtDNA test done through Family Tree DNA, but I haven't shared those results on my blog yet.

I'm glad I had my DNA tested. I'm hoping to have my husband get his DNA tested as well.

In the late afternoon, I attended Valerie Elkins' excellent class titled "Getting a Great Genealogical Education Online." She's a wonderful person and a great teacher!

There are so many amazing online resources to further our genealogy education. Valerie listed many of these in her class including FamilySearch, Cyndi's List, the credentialing organizations Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) and The International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen), webinars, online schools, genealogy blogs and websites, social media, and many more.

During her class, Valerie showed the following slide which listed several genealogy blogs. I was so honored to find my genealogy blog listed in Valerie's slide. Included in her syllabus are additional genealogy blogs not listed in her slide. Unfortunately, her syllabus was not included in the syllabus for the conference. She said we could access it by going to her website at www.valerieelkins.com and then click on the Resources tab.

I want to thank her again for listing my blog in her slide and syllabus!

I'll be sharing more about my experiences at the BYU Conference on Family History & Genealogy in future posts.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

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