Thanks Bill...quick synopsis 1. it can determine among those tested, if they are cousins 2. if one of those tested has a documented line, it can resolve which Coate, Coates, Coats line you are in ... and I add here that the name variations are all related even Cote and Cotes in SC in my line... 3. it will not tell you who your ancestor is 4. if the twelve marker test is a match to another twelve marker test, then the 25 marker test can give you a time frame...and I'm not sure about all that...how far back your common ancestor is... The benefit is: for those researching Coats in SC, as you know, there are a lot of theories on who is connected to who and there are a lot of connections that have not been made there, a lot of loose Coats in that area. As far as I know, there are only about three documented and known Coats, Coates, Coats lines: Robert Coats out of Lynn MA, Moses Coats out of Chester County PA and Thomas Coats out of PA, this is a Welsh line...Moses Coats out of PA is believed to be a first cousin to James Coats and Samuel Coats out of PA and they are first cousins to the Marmaduke Coats out of NJ... So this could be of great benefit to those of us who are in this PA group...we know how Moses is connected, or we think we do, so if someone from his line matches with the others...could give us some well needed breaks in connecting all the Coate, Coates, Coats families...I might also add that the name Coots and Cootes is also a variation of Coate, Coates, Coats especially in PA, TN and NC... I Believe my Coats line is through William Coats on Kings Creek in Newberry SC and he is connected with the James Coats out of Philadelphia PA... In my Coats line currently there is only two male Coats, my 1st cousin and his son, this out of 9 children that my grandfather had...I do have an Uncle surname Coats, I may ask him as well...<g>..he's into the genealogy...but that's pretty iffy, I did ask my cousin to submit a test but have not heard from him yet... Char ----Original Message Follows---- From: "Bill Coats" <billcoats@saber.net> Reply-To: COATS-L@rootsweb.com To: COATS-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [COATS] DNA stuff Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2003 12:38:02 -0800 Char., I came in late on this Coats DNA group business, and appreciate your running with the ball. Am interested but just what are the benefits to us males? Quick synopsis would be great, if you would be so kind. Bill Coats billcoats@saber.net ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 _________________________________________________________________ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail