{"id":405,"date":"2013-01-17T01:36:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-17T07:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/family-history-through-the-alphabet-autosomal-dna\/"},"modified":"2013-07-22T17:16:58","modified_gmt":"2013-07-22T22:16:58","slug":"family-history-through-the-alphabet-autosomal-dna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/family-history-through-the-alphabet-autosomal-dna\/","title":{"rendered":"Family History Through the Alphabet \u2013 Autosomal DNA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Family-History-Through-the-Alphabet\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For 26 weeks I will take you on a family history journey through the alphabet, one letter at a time.\u00a0 I have decided that each post will be educational in nature, focusing on topics related to resources, methodology, tools, etc.\u00a0 Although the challenge is complete, there are still some people who are finishing up and Alona, the host, is encouraging others to participate anyway.\u00a0 Additional information on the challenge, can be found at <\/em>Take the \u2018Family History Through the Alphabet\u2019 Challenge<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

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\"A\"<\/a>I guess this is an appropriate topic for today seeing as my own spit is on its way to 23andMe<\/a> for autosomal DNA testing.\u00a0 Yep, I spent the better part of the day registering my kit, spitting in a tube, and exploring the 23andMe website.<\/p>\n

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Until a few months ago, I had no interest in DNA for genealogy.\u00a0 Much of my lack of interest was mainly due to my lack of knowledge on the subject.\u00a0 And while I am certainly no expert, or even a novice really, I came across some helpful information that propelled a decision to give it a whirl in hopes of helping my stepfather discover his birth family.\u00a0 We had been talking about the various types of DNA tests, not really sure which to do, but when 23andMe dropped their price for autosomal DNA testing to $99, we decided to start there.\u00a0 I also made the decision to get a kit for myself and for my husband.\u00a0 For me, while I am interested in the ancestry side of things, I am also very interested in the health aspects that 23andMe offers (I have an uncommon condition and I have seen many people in our online forum community have tested with 23andMe, thus the interest).<\/p>\n

I\u2019m excited to see what kind of doors this autosomal DNA testing can open in terms of discovering cousins across all lines.\u00a0 While I\u2019m curious to see how it might help with my own genealogy (and that of my husband\u2019s), I am more interested to see how this particular test will help with finding my stepfather\u2019s birth families.\u00a0 (As a side note, we are planning to do both Y-DNA and mtDNA for my stepfather, hopefully giving us a bigger chance to discover his birth family.)<\/p>\n

Again, I am no expert, but here are a few things I\u2019ve learned in the last few months.<\/p>\n

Types of Tests<\/strong><\/p>\n