Donna Rutherford

I’m a New Zealander with English, Scottish and Irish ancestry. Many of my family were New Zealand pioneers. At the beginning of 2015 I decided to take an Ancestry DNA test. Once I got the results I spent all my spare time immersing myself in YouTube videos, blogs and facebook groups learning about DNA for Genealogy. It basically changed my life, as I then set about testing on other sites and testing all my family. Since then I’ve become co-owner and admin of a DNA facebook group where I’ve been helping people with questions about their own results. Last year I became co-admin in a Y DNA project (the Rutherford project). I now manage Big Y tests, MtDNA and many many autosomal kits. I specialise in trying to make the complex side of DNA testing easy to understand for people who are new to genetic genealogy.

Donna's Upcoming Live Webinars (1)

Wed, August 7 2024: 18:00 UTC
The Power of Siblings – the DNA Tests of Five Brothers
Wed, August 7 2024: 18:00 UTC
This presentation takes the viewer through the results of 5 full brothers who have done a DNA test. It covers the comparison of their ethnicity estimates through to the various differences in their DNA matches including the variance in the sharing amounts. It helps people understand why testing siblings can really enhance their genetic genealogy, even more so if they can not test a parent or parents. The talk will also include a look at some advanced sibling topics, such as utilising X DNA results to establish if two females have the same father, through to advanced tools like visual phasing and creating lazarus kits.
This presentation takes the viewer through the results of 5 full brothers who have done a DNA test. It covers the comparison of their ethnicity estimates through to the various differences in their DNA matches including the variance in the sharing amounts. It helps people understand why testing siblings can really enhance their genetic genealogy, even more so if they can not test a parent or parents. The talk will also include a look at some advanced sibling topics, such as utilising X DNA results to establish if two females have the same father, through to advanced tools like visual phasing and creating lazarus kits.
Wed, August 7 2024: 18:00 UTC

Donna's Webinars (2)