> If you want to pick nits. I might add that the mDNA is passed from > Mother to child (of both sexes) not to just daughters. But it makes > little sense to test males for mDNA as it would only go back 1 > generation. > > So you are saying an exact match its is as likely that the common > ancester was more than 7 generations as less. > > The best use of DNA I have seen has been to disprove a close > relationship, like the Conklin Family Study which proved that John > of Flushing and Rye was unrelated to the Conklins of Long Island. > Or to prove a close relationship can't remember the surname here but > that a family in Ohio was descended from the same common ancestor as > the family in Connecticut even though no one had been able to find > records linking the two families. > > Julia Coldren-Walker <FamRSearch@aol.com> Dear Julia, Tks for e-mailing. Your first paragraph is absolutely correct, and was part of my reply in a different posting. An exact match means that: 50% of the times a common ancestor existed 7 generations or less 90% of the times a common ancestor existed 23 generations or less 95% of the times a common ancestor existed 30 generations or less Let me also make available to you and to this list Dr. Bruce Walsh's "Estimating the time to the MRCA for the Y chromosome or mtDNA for a pair of individuals", published in Genetics 158: 897--912 Dr. Walsh is one of the leading population geneticists in the world. http://nitro.biosci.arizona.edu/ftdna/TMRCA.html Finally, since you are a Walker, I want to take this opportunity to mention we have a Walker DNA Surname Project with 137 members of the Walker family. E-mail me anytime! Max Blankfeld max@familytreedna.com