Can you really 'prove' a female line when, for four straight generations, absolutely no document identifies a parent or sibling? Does the challenge seem hopeless when courthouses are burned and an illegitimacy is rumored? This session will demonstrate how to use three critical tools: (1) the FAN Principle to build a case for identity and parentage in each generation; (2) the Genealogical Proof Standard to create proof arguments; and (3) DNA testing—mitochondrial and autosomal—to confirm or disprove the validity of those proof arguments. Presented live at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and sponsored by the Board for Certification of Genealogy.
Elizabeth Shown Mills is a historical writer who has spent her life studying Southern culture and the relationships between people—emotional as well as genetic. Published widely by academic and popular presses, she edited a national-level scholarly journal for sixteen years, taught for thirteen years at a National Archives-based institute on archival records and, for twenty-five years, has headed a university-based program in advanced research methodology. A popular lecturer and past president of both the American Society of Genealogists and the Board for Certification of Genealogists, Elizabeth is the author, editor, and translator of 13 books and over 500 articles in the fields of genealogy, history, literature, and sociology. She has delivered over 1,000 lectures internationally, has appeared on radio and TV talk shows on three continents, and was featured on BBC's 20th and 30th anniversary specials on the novel Roots.
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