Having seen Alan's most excellent document on our family history, I became interested in exploring back a bit further. Given the German propensity for record keeping, I have little doubt that the Kessler records can be found back as far as the sack of Rome. Someday I may begin chasing down Felipe Solano, which will prove to be a bit more challenging. In the meantime, I have enrolled in a genetic DNA program that will test both my Y DNA (our father's ancestry) and my mtDNA (our mother's ancestry).
The results will reveal which haplogroups are represented in our DNA, which will ultimately place our roots in some mix of 146 ethnic groups, as well as predict at one point in their migration we might have arisen. For example, we will end up with a haplogroup mix that might place us in some of the following European groups:
This would help answer some question regarding Basque or Catalan, etc.
It should also allow us to understand where on the migration timeline we were:
Finally, we can also find out if we are related to a handful of famous people whose DNA is on file (next page)
