Yes, folks, it's becoming all the rage. A post on this subject to the Merriam list this morning drew the following reply from me, which bears on the ancestral questions in Brooks genealogy. I can't take the time right now to continue this thread, but if any of you are interested, you can drop me a line privately, and when my current project is finished, I'll pick it up again. Chris ================================== :The Mass(ie) Massey families are also doing a Dna sesearch project :to prove who is and is not in their lines. :I thought about this and ask myself this questions. Is the name :the thing that makes us Merriam or the Blood? This argument periodically rages, with dozens of participants on each side, on another list I read for users of TMG (The Master Genealogist). The basic positions expressed there seem to have hardened into: -- "Genealogy is the study of blood relationships. That doesn't mean that adoptive relationships and other non-blood connections aren't important, but don't pervert the software so that it's allowed to obscure the differentiation between blood and adoptive relationships, or to confuse another researcher with whom I've shared my data." OR -- "Then let's call what we do 'family history.' Today we have blended families, adoptions, same-sex couples, and artificial insemination — and the proportion of these relationships is growing compared to the straight blood links. I want my software to show the entire context of any given family, not just what some elitist thinks it should be restricted to." As you might guess, the argument often gets heated as both sides demand new features supporting their approach. :What about organizations like DAR or UEL. will they want DNA proof :of the tree connection. The DAR holds the traditional position requiring blood lines. I don't know about the UEL, which I assume is United Empire Loyalists, which I'm scarcely familiar with. As for DNA testing, I have pondering this with some interest for a few months. Home testing kits can be purchased ($59 to $229 per person) and I have thought of trying to recruit some Brooks descendant volunteers with crystal-clear pedigrees, each of whom would have to pick up the cost of their own test, in an attempt to untangle some of the Brooks lines. In the case of Merriam lines, OTOH, since all of us descend from the emigrant brothers who settled at Concord, MA, it seems moot. The price range I've seen among the kits relates to how many indicators they check. As is almost always true, you get what you pay for, and the high-priced tests claim to examine two or three times as many indicators. I will opine that I think consumer-grade testing of this sort is still in its infancy, and I wouldn't want to stake the entire genealogy of my own family on a $59 test. My inclination has been to wait until prices come down and reliability (I want near-certainty which can be mathematically quantified) gets much better. Chris