25 April 2015

Jamboree 2015 - Meet the Speaker: Jeremy Balkin

Jeremy Balkin is an Information Specialist and mans his place in the pantheon of Family Tree DNA's Help Desk. He interprets genetic ancestral results for the expanding customer base and is one of the voices that you hear when you call FTDNA. You may find his signature on your email queries as well.

Having worked in the field for almost three years, he has been able to fuse his communication studies with his knowledge of history to provide ancestral analysis that anybody can understand. His Family Tree DNA test results are heavily laden with Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry.

Aside from Family Tree DNA, Jeremy is passionate about communication. He is a professional photographer, as well as a professional writer. He has shot for several publications, and still photographs weddings and special events. He graduated from the University of Houston with a B.A. in History and a minor in Communication.

TH001 Thursday, June 4, 8:30 - 9:30 a.m.
How DNA Testing Can tell You More about Your Ancestry Than You Bargained For
Most people who become interested in genetic genealogy because they're interested in knowing what their ethnic origin mixes are and to whom they are related. In essence, they want to know "Who am I?" and "Where did I come from?" Documents give clues, but the accuracy of that documentation depends on who wrote it and the information they were given to record. Because genetic genealogy is, in effect, "guilt by association", using Y-DNA, mitochondrial DNA, and/or autosomal DNA can answer questions of origins and relatedness.

This talk will explain the types of tests and provide examples of the results of each to demonstrate how people have used these tools in their quests to explore beyond the limits of the paper trail.



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