This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/FNR.2ACEB/4431.1 Message Board Post: If you go to the website link I provided previously (http://www.tqsi.com/davidsongenes/), you can read all about the DNA Project for the Davidson/Davison/Davisson surname. If you go to the "Current Results" page (see the link for that page on the above website), you will see the 70+ people who have participated so far. The donor has to be a male whose surname is Davidson, Davison or Davisson. The person who pays for the test, and/or who is the "contact person" listed on the website, can be anyone, male or female (if the male donor is not willing to pay for the test and/or if he is not interested in being the listed contact person). On the "Results page," you will currently see 10 "Family groups," with various donors/members/kit numbers shown in each family. You will also see many other donors/members/kit numbers shown under "Family 10" who have not yet been assigned to a "Family." In some cases, the donors currently shown within a "Family group" do not match all that closely to one another, so some rearranging of these results is planned for the future. The "bottom line" is that the 37 marker test ($189.00) is highly recommended over the 12 and 25 marker tests, since it provides the most reliable results. If one of your male Davidson relatives is a 37/37, 36/37 or even a 35/37 marker "match" to another donor, there would probably be a very high percentage chance that the donor is related to that other donor. Note: Some DNA markers mutate faster than others, and it is not unusual for two known/proven cousins to have one or maybe even two markers that do not match. The "most recent common ancestor" could still easily have been in the 1700s, for example. A DNA match or near "match" can be invaluable in determining the donor's lineage and "connection" to others who have also performed genealogy research on their own line. Even if a new donor matches no one, that is also very useful information (no sense "chasing" various families that are not "yours"). You do not need to worry about what each marker represents. Family Tree DNA (the testing company being used) is alway very helpful, as are the people who run the Davidson/Davison/Davisson website, so you will be given all the help that you need to properly interpret your results. The DNA test is simply a couple of "inside cheek scrapes" using "srapers" that come with your kit after you place your order (look almost like little tooth brushes). You drop the ends of the scrapers into little vials that also come with the kit, and you mail those back to Family Tree DNA in the mailing pouch that is also provided with kit. You will obtain your results in about 7-8 weeks. The cost seems very reasonable to me, since you only have to do this once in your life. If a person decides to do only the less expensive 12 marker test or 25 marker test, they can always pay extra later to have additional markers tested (without having to provide another sample). The 12 marker test can be helpful in showing that two people are NOT related (where the two results turn-out to be quite different), but even a perfect 12/12 match does not provide a high enough level of confidence that two people are truly related. The 25 marker test is much better, but some people who wer! e closely matched at the 25 marker level had several differences when markers 26-37 were compared. By the way, my results are shown under kit number 44723, currently shown as part of "Family 10." If you click on a kit number, you will be taken to another screen where most of the members show their direct-line lineage. My results finally closely matched another person who joined the project after I did, and who also did 37 markers. That match is the only proof that I have that I am related to the large Davidson family that was in Buckingham Co., VA in 1761. I always suspected that I MIGHT have been related to them, but without these DNA results, I don't think that I could have ever proven it (using just available documentation). As such, joining the DNA project was more valauble to me than hundreds of additional hours at the library, courthouses or on the Internet (which makes the test price even more reasonable).