DNA Advances Genealogy

Social media were in the forefront of promoting the Rockstar Genealogist poll this year; lots of tweets, blog posts and Facebook mentions. Thank you.

I have to single out Roberta Estes who made a personal commitment on her DNAeXplained blog.

"If any of the above mentioned genetic genealogists  (CeCe Moore, Tim Janzen, Blaine Bettinger, Bennett Greenspan, Debbie Kennett, Katherine Borges and herself) are in the list of 2014 winners I’ll donate $250 to the War of 1812 Preserve the Pensions Digitization Project."

Roberta explained that by taking advantage of matching programs her donation would grow to $1,000 which would preserve 2200 pages. Read the details here.

While as a Canadian digitizing US War of 1812 records isn't a particular personal priority I love the choice. DNA data (evidence) is used effectively only in conjunction with conventional genealogical evidence. Roberta's choice creates a tangible new synergy.

Data for the poll overall showed 32% of those responding identified themselves as genetic genealogists, the highest percentage in Australia/NZ, the lowest in Ireland. Better get counting out the pennies Roberta, with those numbers chances are at least one of the seven will be found in the top ten winners list. We won't wait long to find out.