I hope you will be able to attend this program. Please pass it on to those that may be interested.

Wednesday, July 23 @ 6:30 pm
Staunton Public Library
1 Churchville Ave., Staunton, VA; 540-332-3902

DNA: A Useful Tool for your Genealogical Research

It has been about 14 years since the application of DNA testing to genealogy started.  Since then, it has proven to be a very useful tool.  Also, in these 14 years quite a bit of progress has happened in DNA testing.  Bob McLaren will first discuss the basics of DNA testing. He will then discuss the different types of DNA testing - some useful in genealogy and others not useful.  He will show the evolution of the testing and the latest advances.  During the talk, Bob will illustrate how to use the DNA results as a tool in genealogy, using examples from his large Clan MacLaren DNA Project.

Bob is an active member of the Clan MacLaren Society of North America (CMSNA) and the Clan MacLaren Society (based in Scotland).  Bob was a founding member of CMSNA's genealogy committee in the early 1980s.  Bob subsequently became the Clan Genealogist for CMSNA, responsible for maintaining all the genealogies of CMSNA members and assisting them in their genealogical research.  Bob is now also the Genealogist for the Clan MacLaren Society (based in Scotland) and is therefore responsible for members' genealogies throughout the world.  He does extensive research in the on-line Scottish records.

In 2004, Bob started the Clan MacLaren Surname DNA Project with the intent of using DNA as another tool in researching the genealogies of the Clan.  This project now has 833 members (as of 19 February 2014) - one of the larger DNA surname projects in the world.  DNA has proved to be extremely useful, showing relationships that were not known and disproving "proven" relationships.  Bob is also the Administrator of the Lindo Surname DNA Project and the Braham Surname DNA Project as well as the Co-Administrator of the Silva Surname DNA Project.

Bob has given talks on a number of genealogical topics with the more recent talks being on using DNA in genealogy.  He has given talks on DNA to many groups, including the Clan MacLaren Society of North America, the Clans of Scotland, the Fairfax Genealogical Society, and other local and national societies.  He spoke on this topic at the National Genealogical Society's Annual Conference in the States in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011 plus the Federation of Genealogical Societies in 2012 and 2013.  He also presented lectures on DNA and Scottish research at the 2013 Genealogy Conference at Brigham Young University.


Melissa Davidson
Adult Services Librarian
Staunton Public Library
1 Churchville Ave.
Staunton, VA 24401
540.332.3902
www.stauntonlibrary.org<http://www.staunton.va.us/default.asp?pageid=48BD7E6B-787C-49EE-A7C1-8DD714653A32>



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