Mary, Thank you so very much. It is greatly appreciated. Beth MBall10195@aol.com wrote: Dear Beth, First you would need to find a direct-line descendent male with the surname of interest. Then you have to convince him to be tested at one of the testing companies--we used _www.FamilyTreeDNA.com_ (http://www.FamilyTreeDNA.com) Then explore to see if they have a surname group project for that particular surname--that's the cheapest way and would probably give you the most information. They have the surnames posted so it's not very involved. Then apply to the group administrator and wait for a response. Women can be tested, but, and this is important because it's confusing, this will only provide information on the mother, who inherited it from her mother, who inherited it from her mother, and so on. So you can see this isn't going to provide any useful surname information because women's surnames change with marriage. And it's a one way street. It's not going to provide any information about the father's maternal heritage. When I had mine done, I was thinking this would provide some information leading back to our Winnie, but I discovered it doesn't work that way. Oh, well, I found I am an extremely rare type so I can't say I didn't learn something. Good Luck!! Mary ============================== Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx --------------------------------- Yahoo! FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in one click.