Hello World! ... An Ordinary Beginning

Isn't that how all blogs start out... Hello World? This blog isn't intended to blaze new trails so that beginning works just fine for me :-)

So what is this blog about? It's about my journey to discover what is known about haplogroup H and if it is relevant to my genealogy.

I'm not a scientist, nor do I have a strong background in science. I'm a web designer by profession and a genealogist by hobby. I know next to nothing about genetic genealogy. I've had a passing interest in DNA testing as it relates to genealogy for the past 1-2 years but to date have not attended any conferences or workshops on the topic. I've not read any books on the topic either, though I have just started reading one which I will share in a later post.

My interest in the topic of genetic genealogy peaked recently when I won a contest sponsored by Blaine Bettinger, The Genetic Genealogist, and king of genetic genealogy blogging. The prize given out was my choice of DNA test from among those offered by the DNA Heritage company. After much deliberation, I chose an mtDNA test and then chronicled the testing process on my other blog. I recently received my test results and discovered that I am a member of haplogroup H.

The testing company provided a very brief amount of information about haplogroup H that left me wanting to know more. But I didn't know where to turn. I did some searches on Google but came up with a lot of references to scientific journals and not much more. The problem with scientific journals is, you have to be a scientist to understand the vocabulary. I would really prefer to not have to learn a whole knew language to be able to understand and discuss my mtDNA results. So I'm setting out on a journey to discover information that is presented in a way genealogists can understand. And this blog is the place I'm going to put it all together and share it.