15.5 mtDNA Testing
If the research question addresses the direct matrilineal line, mitochondrial DNA testing (mtDNA) may provide some answers. Genetic genealogist CeCe Moore explains:
“Mitochondrial DNA testing is a great tool for discovering more about the females in your family tree. As all dedicated genealogists have undoubtedly experienced, female ancestors are frustratingly difficult to trace because of the fact that they traditionally change their surname with marriage. So, for many of us, anything that may shed light on our female ancestors’ origins is welcome. The value of mtDNA testing is in the simple fact that if two people share an exact mtDNA sequence, then those two people descend from a common female ancestor somewhere in the past.”1