GEN • GEN: Michael Cooley's Genetic Genealogy Blog
[ ARTICLES ]
12 May 2016
About Michael Cooley
Genealogy has been one of my hobbies since 1977. Although I've never
worked as a professional genealogist, I published The Pettit Correspondent, The National Queries Forum, and premiered one of the early
non-.edu genealogy websites, Genealogy Online, in 1994 (since
purchased by RootsWeb and, from them, Ancestry.com). My personal genealogy
website is ancestraldata.com.
The news about the mitochondrial DNA extraction from Ötzi the Iceman
in about 1990 was an eye opener for me. A few years later I read about the
Y-DNA research on the Cohens and what is now referred to as Y-chromosomal
Aaron, and I immediately recognized the potential for DNA in
genealogical research. It wasn't until 2006, however, that I learned DNA
testing had become financially feasible, and I now maintain or help maintain
nine surname DNA projects at Family Tree DNA, including the Cooley DNA
Project. In fact, I started this blog with a collection of posts to
the Cooley project written during the spring of 2016. For that reason, the
name Cooley is frequently mentioned. However, the site is not intended to
be specifically for and about Cooleys. I'm not only moving into my studies
of other names (Duncan and Strother, for example), it's my hope that anyone
interested in genetic genealogy will find some use among these articles.
In my spare time, I teach seminars in genealogy, genetic genealogy,
history, and film for the Osher Lifelong Learning
Institute (OLLI) at Humboldt State University and have given
presentations about genetic genealogy in Oregon, Washington, D.C., Salt Lake
City, and at various venues in Humboldt County, California. I graduated
with a degree in history at HSU in 2013 and received my MA in English
(creative nonfiction writing) through South New Hampshire University in
December, 2017.
I have, of course, other interests. See my personal website at newsummer.com for
more information.