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Genetic Genealogy’s First Decade
The Pioneering Days of 1999–2009
Genetic genealogist Diahan Southard recently asked a number of people involved in this field over the last 25 years to write about their recollections and thoughts for a book she was compiling, So Far: Genetic Genealogy, The first 25 years, 1999–2024. As an early adopter, I was surprised how many memories came flooding back, and struggled to get down to the requested word count, so I’m sharing a less-streamlined version here (with Diahan’s blessing).
One aspect of genetic genealogy that never ceases to amaze me is how the media keeps covering it as if it were some newfangled, shiny object. But Diahan’s right. It’s been around for a quarter of a century. I was on board early, so I hope that genealogists’ inherent curiosity about the past will extend to our own history and that you’ll enjoy this personal-timeline, behind-the-scenes peek at genetic genealogy’s first ten years.
1999
You might be surprised to hear that I took my baby steps thanks to the U.S. Army. Hoping to identify soldiers missing from WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam by tracing and obtaining DNA samples from living relatives, they launched a trial run, and I was invited to participate due to a fluke event.
The colonel in charge went to a Washington, D.C. area bookstore where I happened to be speaking that evening. Since my book was genealogical, she approached me after I was done. I would soon make a lasting impression by totaling my car in a telephone pole near her home (pro tip: never leave your car where a kid brother can get at it while you’re on a business trip), but that’s a story for another time.
After they tried a bunch of us on for size for about a year, two of us were awarded contracts. As an Army brat, I was delighted to make the cut. My father served in Vietnam, but he came home. So many other family members weren’t so lucky and have been left wondering for decades. This was a chance to at least make a dent by providing answers for some.
To date, 188 of the 1,717 soldiers I’ve investigated have been identified, and two…
