From: Keith_Nuttle@sbcglobal.net   
      
   On 4/19/2019 12:59 PM, Doug Laidlaw wrote:   
   > Firstly, I am a number-cruncher only when I am bored and have nothing   
   > better to do.  I always think of the man who discovered he was related   
   > to Carthaginian sailors and was _so_ pleased.  [The Carthaginians were   
   > good as sailors, but for their army, they engaged mercenaries.]   
   >   
   > Secondly, DNA testing has often done more harm than good.  In one case,   
   > the applicant discovered she had none of her father's DNA.  In a case I   
   > have just been reading, a couple decided to take a DNA test.  It showed   
   > that the male partner was related to a serial killer.  His g-f couldn't   
   > handle this, and left him.  Maybe she was looking for a way to split,   
   > and this was her excuse, as the comforters on social media suggested.   
   > But in both cases, there were facts that it was better not to know.  I   
   > have enough inherited illnesses; I don't need to know about any others.DNA   
   is a tool, and should be thought of a a tool and not as a   
   replacement for other sources used for research.   
      
   It can some times find things about your ancestors that you could find   
   in no other way.   I have worked on my families for  nearly 20 years.  I   
   had two family connections in my 3rd  great grandparents generation that   
   I had collected a lot of circumstantial evidence for the connection but   
   in all of that time I was still not sure I the connection was valid.   
   Some of the first DNA matches I found were to those great grandparent   
   which supported the circumstantial connection.  I now have DNA matches   
   to all of my previously found documented ancestors and DNA help me add a   
   couple of generation to some of my families.   
      
   My wife learned of a half brother.  We knew of the baby, but had no idea   
   who he was.  DNA plus some documentation proved the connection.  I have   
   also worked with other researcher who are trying to find their natural   
   family using the DNA matches.   
      
   I too find it distressing that name collectors use DNA like all of the   
   other sources available and add people to their trees that are not in   
   their families.   
      
   I find it equally frustrating to find a DNA match and find the owner has   
   has a couple of entries in this tree, or the tree marked private, either   
   way the tree is useless for some one researching their families.   
      
      
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   2018: The year we learn to play the great game of Euchre   
      
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