My cousin is a male Bowles who would serve to document my line and another Bowles line lives near me. We have always wondered if there is a connection. What would a person have to do to supply a sample for anlysis and what would a person's cost be to be included in such a project? > > From: Charles Hartley <hartley@iglou.com> > Date: 2004/12/08 Wed PM 09:05:31 CST > To: BOWLES-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: DNA Testing Options > > Some things you need to know about DNA testing: > > 1. If you are testing a surname line, like Bowles, then those who are > tested must be male, be a > Bowles, and have a clear line of paternal descent from a Bowles. It > doesn't work if you are female, or if you are male whose Bowles > ancestry comes through a female Bowles. This is the Y-DNA test. > > 2. If you are seeking a maternal descent, mother to daughter to > granddaughter, etc. then the test you want is the mtDNA test. > > The webpage at http://www.familytreedna.com/description.html has good > descriptions of these tests. > > So, if what you are seeking is to connect various known Bowles lines, > then you need male Bowles descendents to test. For example, if you > wanted to confirm a connection between the line of John Fleming > Bowles with that of the John Bowles who married Celia White (my line) > you would need a confiirmed descendent of each line to test. > > Before you decide to test, understand that there are three levels of > Y-DNA testing: 12 markers, 25 markers, and 37 markers. The 12 marker > test is only useful for ruling out a connection; the 25 marker test > will give you a clearer match. The 37 marker test is only necessary > if you have two identical 25 marker tests and you want to narrow down > how long in the past it is likely that you are related. > > For a better explanation of this subject check out the page at > http://blairgenealogy.com/dna/dna101.html which is quite well done. > > The page at http://www.familytreedna.com/surname.asp gives more > information about setting up a group, including the need for a group > administrator. > > While I can't test for the Bowles line, if enough Bowles folks are > interested in testing, I would be willing to serve as the group > administrator. > > The reason I know a bit about all of this is that I have been tested > for my surname line. > > Charlie > > Tom LaPorte