Presented by Judy Russell (Presenter will be virtual)

 

As 21st century genealogists, we have a tool for identifying and confirming relationships not available to earlier generations: DNA testing. Its use in identifying male family members, through YDNA testing, is fairly well understood. The use of mitochondrial and autosomal DNA to identify women and link children to parents is not as well understood. Yet these are powerful tools particularly when used in a targeted fashion to test particular theories.

 

Judy Russell, The Legal Genealogist, has worked as a newspaper reporter, trade association writer, legal investigator, defense attorney, federal prosecutor, law editor and, for more than 20 years before her retirement in 2014, she was an adjunct member of the faculty at Rutgers Law School. A Colorado native with roots deep in the American south on her mother’s side (from Virginia to Texas and just about everywhere in between!) and entirely in Germany on her father’s side. It’s an odd mix, finding records of her ancestors from 1680 Virginia on one side to being a first-generation American on the other. She holds credentials as a Certified Genealogist® and Certified Genealogical LecturerSM from the Board for Certification of Genealogists®, a member of the National Genealogical Society, the Association of Professional Genealogists, and, among others, the state genealogical societies of New Jersey, North Carolina, Virginia, Texas and Illinois. She is privileged to serve on the faculty at the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR), the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG), the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP), the Midwest African American Genealogy Institute (MAAGI), and the Genealogical Institute on Federal Records (Gen-Fed).