This page links to the various blog posts that explain how I used mtDNA to attempt to answer the question “Who were Charlotte Richardson’s parents?” I did this research in 2016 and presented my findings at the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO) annual conference in September 2016, on a panel called “Making Connections: Adventures in Genetic Genealogy”. This is an adaptation of that presentation.
There are 5 posts in the series. They are:
- Part 1 – Introduction
- Part 2 – Identifying possible matches
- Part 3 – Contacting and testing possible matches
- Part 4 – Comparing results
- Part 5 – Conclusion
As well, the following post features Charlotte Richardson, the subject of this research:
Leanne Cooper Genealogy 
Leanne:
Thank you for such a well-presented five part piece on using mtDNA! I am sending the link to a fellow-researcher who shares my mitochondrial line at gd = 0. We have six others who match us and we all follow our respective lines to eastern New York State by 1800. I am the only one who follows mine to 1685 Rhode Island and I want to know who her mother was!!!
I have worked with doing the research for some of my matches (with some success) to try to get them back to Rhode Island; and I have followed my ancestress’s sisters forward inasmuch as possible. It’s a work in progress but I love it.
Every time that I hear/read someone say that mtDNA testing is useless I want to yell, “Wait a minute!!” You have now done that most elegantly. I suspect I will use the link to your case study quite often. THANK YOU.
-Jody Thomson
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Thanks so much! I’m glad you find it useful!
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I personally believe with good reason that all these DNA testing companies “white wash” your DNA test results. As a racially mixed ethnic woman I strongly resent this racially biased testing. Furthermore, how can you possibly determine if a Caucasian came from one European country or another? A white person is just that: a white person. In addition to that , IF you can determine through DNA from which nations a white person’s origins were, then you certainly can determine from which Indigenous Nation a person’s Native American roots stemmed. Our so called Tribes were Nations just as diverse and just as much so as other world nations. This bias is pure unadulterated racism.
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