[Message forwarded to list by BONNER-L ListAdmin] Many of us have already been DNA tested by proxy, and aren't aware of it. Because of the way Y-DNA is passed down through family trees (that is, essentially the same way as surnames), one man's sample can represent countless cousins, both living and deceased. Y-DNA and surnames go hand-in-hand. When one man gets tested, he represents a number of others with the same surname. His father, brothers, paternal uncles, and paternal cousins (both living and back in time through the generations) all share the same Y-DNA. Seek out a male cousin to take the test. Many people have already been tested-by-cousin and don't know it. Find out if you're one of the lucky people who's already been tested by virtue of a male relative of the same surname. If you want to find out if there's already a project on one or more surnames of interest to you, you'll have to do a little websurfing. World Families Network www.worldfamilies.net: This site contains a searchable list of projects, along with links to each project's website or contact information. Ysearch www.ysearch.org and Ybase www.ybase.org: Sponsored by Family Tree DNA and DNA Heritage respectively, these sites provide free databases for all to search or post their results, regardless of which testing company is used. While they don't provide links to project websites, you can e-mail those with your surname whose data is included. Search the appropriate surname message boards at Ancestry (just search on +Smith + DNA, replacing Smith with your surname of interest). http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=an&p=topics.dnaresearch.projectannouncements Search the archives at Rootsweb's popular DNA mailing list. http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/?list=GENEALOGY-DNA Search testing Companies' Websites: These include Family Tree DNA http://www.familytreedna.com/ and DNA Heritage http://www.dnaheritage.com/ Search Engine: Google.com (or whatever your favorite search engine is). Simply enter "DNA" and the surname you're interested in. Filter your search by adding words such as "genealogy" and "surname." Search by surname at the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation http://smgf.org/ If you're one of the lucky ones who have already been tested by proxy, you'll want to communicate with the project's manager and the cousin of yours who was tested. Write down the numbers that represents your DNA results for future reference. Robert Bonner [email protected] __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com