Richard A. Pence wrote: > Let's suppose I round up 50 or 100 men with the name PENCE to do a > surname analysis seeking to find which may stem from which > progenitors in the U.S. This sort of an approach seems to be > popular right now (and of some considerable value when properly > designed to test a stated hypotheses). Let's further say the tests > cost $100 a throw. Now, after we spend $5,000 or $10,000, will the > report say there is a 50 percent chance that cenrtain specific > persons within the sample are related within seven generations? If > not, then what will we get for our investment? I understand those 25-point tests from Mr. Blankfeld's org run $160 a pop. The 12-pointers are $80. Dragging out my ol' relationship calculator, this "within 7 generations" covers everyone from you down to what I know as a 10th cousin and what you call a 5 cousin 1 remove. And unless I've been badly misinformed in the talks I've been in on, this test will give you and your brother a 50% chance of being related within 7 generations. But it won't tell me Mary Elizabeth's biological father. [For those less familiar than Mr. Pence with my Mary Elizabeth: b abt 1856, married 1869 using a step-father's surname; step-father and alleged mother both on 3rd marriage; no probable brothers survived their teens from any marriage. No birth record, no death record, no burial record, no one still living who knew her or her only known half- or step- siblings, no newspaper obit, no deeds, no wills, predeceased her husband and in the Valley of Virginia where the two nearest county seats changed hands 56+ times *EACH* during the Late Unpleasantness.] Max said: > > On the opposite side you have those that found enormous value to it. I've found enormous value to psychics -- days after a psychic "saw" my nice sweater (missing since Oct 2000), I found it (Mar 2003). She is unable to see Mary Elizabeth's dad though. :( I have one place where brothers married sisters (Brother Aardvark married Sister Zebra and brother Zebra married Sister Aardvark) but DNA will claim descendants aren't related (neither the Y nor the mt line duplicates). Cheryl singhals@erols.com