Hi,Rex, I have almost "feared" this. The Nasty that can leap out on you is that you may only discover that at some time your ancestor was not who you thought they were. If you can live with discovering that there has been infidelity in your line OK. It happens more frequently than we care to imagine. A survey and blood test taken about 10 years ago in a Northamptonshire village here in England were so taken aback by the results of the tests that they refused to publish the results on the basis that there were so many "Wrong ones". On the other hand a test done on some 10,000 year old bones found in or near the Cheddar Caves here were tested and one inhabitant of a nearby village was identified as a descendant ! I have long contended that all ancestry should have been by the mother and not the father. This would have been the only true way of knowing who you "half" were. Too late now . I once sat down and tried to work as far back as I could on my distaff side to see what name I may have had. If you want to blow your mind Try it!. This whole subject of "Real" ancestry is littered with snags. Are you descended from a Scots Clan? You think so? Well you should think again if you want to go far back. The influx of Irish into Scotland in the 17th and 18 th Centuries confused the whole issue for many were adopted by the Clans and took up the Clan identity, very often to have the protection this afforded. Well this might liven things up a bit, Keith At 22:04 17/06/98 EDT, you wrote: >Hello fellow searchers, > I have been stuck in New York in 1819 for many, many years. Today I read >an article in the NEGHS NEXUS, VOL. XV, Nos. 3 & 4, p. 94 that gave me an idea >to possibly make a breakthrough or at least get me started in the right >direction. > It seems that a company called Life Science (www.genesaver.com) is >providing vials to individuals in order to take blood samples. The >individual takes "his own blood sample which is then given to Life Science to >be processed and returned to the individual for safekeeping. The samples will >be lyophilized (freeze-dried) and stored in an inert gas in sealed containers. >T............ Keith Hume, email khume@netcomuk.co.uk CHASE-L Website at:- http://www.surnameweb.org/centers/c/chase/index.html http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~khume/home.html Kent,England Researching:- HULME,DAWSON,(In Lancs.) HUME,McKAY, (In New Brunswick & Nova Scotia SHERMAN,SIMMONS,HATHAWAY AND CHASE,(In USA & Canada) SHERRING & BLUNDEN (Hampshire,England) FALL,(Ireland & Australia) BUTCHER,PAYNE/PAINE,BURCKITT(Bedfordshire,England)