Alamogordo Public Library to host genetic genealogy program

ALAMOGORDO — If you’ve ever wondered where you came from, as far as your family ancestry, the Alamogordo Public Library is offering an informative, free Genetic Genealogy Program today at 1 p.m.

Genetic genealogy is the use of various scientific tests such as DNA analysis to determine relationships.

For Alamogordo Public Library Manager Sharon Rowe, what started off as a fun hobby turned into years of research and has helped countless people trace their roots.

Rowe has been hosting the program for three years now and conducts the workshop once every year.  

“I’ve been doing genealogy for a really long time. The way I got started is one of my cousin’s came to visit and she asked me if I knew we had an ancestor that fought in the American Revolution. This was during the year of the bicentennial, so you can see I’ve been doing it a while,” laughed Rowe. “Just knowing I was related to someone that was connected to an important historic event made me interested.”

Rowe said she will guide people today on how to go about discovering their family tree and what sources to use.

“I’m going to talk about the commercial testing and what’s available. It’s to learn more about your family,” said Rowe. “There’s different kinds of genetic genealogy tests depending on what you want to find out, if you want to find out your ethnic background. Different tests tell you different parts about your ancestry and there’s several different companies that do it. So I’ll talk a little bit about the different companies and what you can expect from them.”

DNA testing kits have become a popular craze in recent years and with the rise of the Internet, finding out about your family history has never been easier according to Rowe.

“When the genetic thing came out, it was kind of experimental at first. But as more people started doing it the more connections you can make,” said Rowe. “Right now on an ancestor engine, I have 37,000 people connected to me somewhere and the challenge is figuring out where the connection is.”

Rowe said learning about your family tree is a fun experience that everyone should try at least once because what you may find may be surprising.

“If you’re curious about it you might get lucky and you might find some answers. There’s lots of social media groups out there for people that are adopted wanting to find out who their birth parents are and if they have family and there are success stories,” she said. “My husband and I took a test and I was in contact with somebody because I was able to find out how they were probably related to my husband. It ended up being a happy reunion.”

Rowe said you don’t need to have a scientific background to learn about your ancestry but knowing a little background information goes a long way.

“It’s a lot to learn even if you’ve done traditional research. Genetics is a totally different thing, you don’t have to have a science background but it helps to know a little bit about it,” said Rowe. “You can start from scratch, it just takes you longer. The costs vary, depending on the test they can cost anywhere from $80 to $400 depending on how complicated, but most of them are around $100.”

Rowe encourages everyone to come out today to learn about genetic genealogy.

She said she is always available to answer any questions.

“All I can say is be prepared for unexpected findings,” said Rowe. “There’s people all the time that say I just found out I have a half sibling that came up on my list of matches, that kind of thing happens. It’s really neat.”

The Genetic Genealogy Program will be presented in the Rhodes Room at the library, 920 Oregon Ave., today at 1 p.m. For more information call 439-41748. Rowe hosts genealogy meetings every month, for more information call the Alamogordo Public Library at 439-4108.