Since its beginnings in 1999, many BC Genealogical Society members have participated in the pioneering Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (SMGF) DNA testing programmes.  SMGF founder James LeVoy Sorenson died in 2008, and earlier this year SMGF’s databases and the associated testing company GeneTree were acquired by Ancestry.com.

SMGF has said that updates to the SMGF on-line DNA and pedigree databases are being discontinued as of this month, July 2012. In the DNA-genealogy community, it’s being recommended that anyone with data in those SMGF and Genetree databases should download their own results and reports now. The GeneTree.com website will only be accessible till 1 January 2013, although apparently the SMGF website will continue.

“Status of the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, SMGF, genetic genealogy DNA Databases and GeneTree” by Steven Perkins, On-line Journal of Genetics and Genealogy, 2 June 2012.

“Latest News from Sorenson Genealogy Foundation and GeneTree” Your Genetic Genealogist, 11 July 2012.

Ancestry.com’s announcement about the DNA database purchase, May 2012.

James LeVoy Sorenson, “Shrewd, Very Shrewd” by Matthew Miller, Forbes.com, 1 March 2004 (03.01.04)

Obituary, James LeVoy Sorenson, 1921-2008, Deseret News, 22 January 2008.