DNA
DNA testing can assist in your search by finding out where your ancestors came from.
Also, by having your DNA compared to the growing database you may find living relatives or people descending from the same strain.
Family Tree DNA works in association with a scientific advisory board and the University of Arizona Research Labs. Consistently rated as one of the best.
AfricanDNA -- Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr and other leading African history professors have teamed up with Family Tree DNA to provide an all encompassing resource for African-Americans to trace their roots.
23andme
not only focuses on ancestral origins but also looks for a proclivity
for a disease or trait.
A January 2011 article in the Jewish Daily Forward
Family Roots:
Newer DNA Tests Uncover Hidden Jewish Bloodlines discusses gains made by the
new tests. Older tests have shown, for example, that many Hispanic Americans
likely descended from Jews who were forced to convert or hide their religion
more than 500 years ago in Spain and Portugal. But the test that 23andMe offers
is different. Available commercially for only a few years, it measures close to
a million single “letters” of DNA smattered across the whole genome to reveal
ancestral origins of, and risk factors for, almost 100 diseases.
Articles:
Genealogy by DNA: Can it Deliver?
By noted genealogists Megan Smolenyak and Ann Turner.
A New York Times article from 2007 warns of the
dangers of expecting too much from the tests
DNA Tests Find Branches but Few Roots