We certainly have a lot to learn in this area, but here are a few of the terms we already find important to understand.

We have the advantage of living in a time when new research tools are becoming available almost daily. In particular there are a number of new tools available got genealogists that our ancestors could not have even imagined.

The first genealogists in our family conversed by letter and had the advantage of living near the Library of Congress where a many helpful documents were available. They also transcribed information repeatedly for other family members by hand, so the speed of research was measured in months and years.

This group of important individuals were also blessed with longevity. Most lived to their late nineties, so they lived long enough to know many generations of their family. When they reported events they were often recalling them from personal memory. Two of them were born during Reconstruction, so their memories of the Civil War had been personally retold to them from their parents and grandparents.

It seems to us that the two most important developments in research for genealogists in the last hundred years are the Internet and affordable DNA analysis. If it were not for the Internet you would not be viewing this information, so enough said about it for now. But perhaps more important is knowledge of DNA and the rise of affordable testing. Five years ago DNA testing was known, but certainly out of reach of most of us because of cost. Today for a few hundred dollars you can gain information about your family origins that remove much of the conjecture all of us have about our origins.

If we don't communicate anything else here please be sure and understand that we are encouraging all serious genealogists to do DNA testing, and to use those results to solve many of the mysteries your family holds.

Over the past months we have engaged in several good conversations about the research done for some of our Whitehead relatives and related researchers. Often this leads to DNA testing questions, and invariably to the question "How much is enough?" Everyone seems to have a slightly different feel for the answer to this question, and I think that will open this area of research up for meaningful discussion much like we would have discussed the accuracy of census records in the past.

Our answer to the question is personal. We feel like everyone should test to the point that they satisfy their curiosity, but no so far that they drain their wallet. From the title of this web site it should seem obvious that we have a great deal of curiosity, and therefore we are taking our testing to whatever lengths our testing service offers. That is too far for some, but then some of us document volumes on a single ancestor's census data while others simply footnote a one line entry.

But you do not need to be a geneticist to recognize the value of some level of DNA testing as supportive information for any genealogist. Without DNA testing you can almost prove the relationship of two individuals. With DNA testing you can come much closer, and you can for sure prove the lack of a close relationship.

But at the least, DNA testing for men can give you insight into two specific genetic lines. You will know more about your father's father's father's father's father and your mother's mother's mother's mother. Meaning the available testing from any one male can test that person's father's male genetic line and the person's mother's female genetic line. To test more of your family, find more people willing to test who sit at different junctures on your family tree.