I really enjoyed reading the New Yorker profile of CeCe Moore, a leading practitioner of genetic genealogy, the crossover field between DNA analysis and traditional genealogical research (“How Your Family Tree Could Catch a Killer“).

I’ve stumbled through the results of DNA tests done through two different commercial companies, and then uploaded the results for analysis on two others, including Gedmatch, a nonprofit group featured in the article, and enjoyed the explanation as well as examples of how this is done at the highest levels of expertise.

It’s a very good story featuring very good writing, not a typical combination these days.

One of my favorite lines: “Crime-solving genetic genealogist is not a profession that one chooses by picking up a leaflet at a career fair.”

It also gave me ideas for addressing the break between my own DNA tests and my sister’s careful research into the Lind family through traditional genealogical research. This happened after we got results of a Y DNA test, which tracks one part of the DNA passed from father to son, and allows tracing back that father-son chain many generations. In my case, Bonnie expected that my DNA test would turn up a large number of Lind family cousins. That didn’t happen, and the break wasn’t that long ago, maybe only four or five generations, at which point it appears there was an adoption, an extra-marital affair, or some other form of what the genetic genealogists call “a non-paternal event.”

I blogged about the situation back in 2014, two years before Bonnie’s death. I wish she were here to help tease out the meaning of of all the DNA results for our family history.

The story has been getting a lot of social media attention, so hopefully you’ll be able to read it without having to sneak around or over a pay wall.

And if you’re interested, Gedmatch has a number of links to educational resources which don’t appear to require membership to use.