One of the fun things about publishing this newsletter is that I get to publish the words of several genealogy experts. Today I am delighted to announce the addition of another writer to the staff: Chris Pomery.
Chris is an experienced genealogist but is best known for his expertise in DNA. In fact, I had a chance to sit in the audience in London, England a bit more than a week ago and listen to Chris deliver "how to" presentations to an enthusiastic group of genealogists. Now Chris has agreed to deliver that same expertise in this newsletter. He will be writing articles about the use of DNA in genealogy.
Chris is a DNA expert focusing on:
- the issues arising from big & small surname DNA projects
- how one runs a project group, or surname study, to cross-fund it
- how to run a combined DNA & documentary research project
Chris is the author of the book DNA and Family History and also of In the Genes, both published by The National Archives. He has run the Pomeroy DNA project since its inception in 2000. He lectures regularly on DNA testing and surname reconstruction.
Chris lives in England and therefore is the first international author added to this newsletter's writing staff.
I have met Chris a couple of times (you can watch a video interview we recorded two years ago at http://rootstelevision.com/players/player_conferences3.php?bctid=932533537&bclid=1415670009). I have been delighted with his expertise in our face-to-face conversations and am thrilled to be able to bring that expertise to you via this newsletter.
Chris' articles will appear on a somewhat irregular schedule in future months, as he has time to write them. The will be published as Plus Edition articles. Please join me in welcoming Chris Pomery to this newsletter.
DNA - we love it, we hate it when we can't find a link; and any help and suggestions by Chris will be so very welcome.
Posted by: Barb Meredith | March 11, 2009 at 10:31 AM
Welcome to Chris! His book, "Family History in the Genes: Trace your DNA and Grow Your Family Tree," is a great primer on genetic genealogy. I also enjoyed the book that he and Steve Jones wrote 5 years ago, "DNA and Family History." Chris will be an excellent addition to the team, Dick.
Posted by: George G. Morgan | March 11, 2009 at 02:13 PM
I hope that Chris wil tell me how to find an ancestor from a small town in Sweden from 100 years ago.I carry that DNA but have not found the man. Shall I test everyone in town, or what?
Posted by: John Carlson | March 11, 2009 at 07:06 PM
Another nice thing is that he's in England! Those of us stuck in Colonial America need all the help we can get in encouraging people who live in England to be tested and find our genetic matches. If I remember correctly, wasn't it at the University of Oxford in England where DNA testing for genealogy purposes was discovered?
Posted by: Nathan W. Murphy | March 12, 2009 at 05:07 AM
Nathan, I think it is one of those things, like the idea of evolution itself, which came together in several minds in different places at around the same time. Bryan Sykes at Oxford wrote the first academic paper on surnames and Y-chromosome testing.
John, you can try a "fishing trip" approach and wait and see what results are published in future. But DNA testing really needs a hypothesis to work well, ie. you need to have a specific man in mind as your DNA ancestor and then test a descendant of theirs.
England looks sunny and lovely today; daffodils out everywhere!
Chris
Posted by: Chris Pomery | March 16, 2009 at 09:55 AM
Barbara Cooke Meredith
Sorry to have to go this route but the page link to your book seems to go no where. Trying to find out more about this Forgotten Settlers book. Interested in your Meredith name too if its not a pen name.
Posted by: C Bodette | March 21, 2009 at 10:51 AM
Thank goodness for some experts on this DNA topic. I can't fully understand it and it will take time to sort out everyone. I have to decide if testing my cousins will help at all at finding an elusive grandmother.
Posted by: bet | March 22, 2009 at 11:33 PM