Traditional genealogy research and DNA have even come together to identify the remains of missing American servicemen . Now new research studies claim that we can use DNA not only to prove a relationship to an individual, but to actually determine our ancestry. Dr. Scott Woodward and his research group at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah are among the pioneers in this new research field. The Molecular Genealogy Research Group , under his direction, is using the genetic information contained in DNA to reconstruct worldwide family trees. This study is based on the fact that each individual carries within them a unique record of who they are and how they are related to all other people on earth, both living and dead.
Genealogy is really a genetic question.
Molecular Genealogy can use this unique identification provided by the genetic markers to link people together into family trees. Pedigrees based on such genetic markers can mean a breakthrough for family trees where information is incomplete or missing due to adoption, illegitimacy or lack of records. There are many communities and populations which have lost precious records due to tragic events such as the fire in the Irish courts during Civil War in 1921 or American slaves for whom many records were never kept in the first place. The main objective of the Molecular Genealogy Research Group is to build a database containing over 100,000 DNA samples from individuals all over the world. These individuals will have provided a pedigree chart of at least four generations and a small blood sample.