> <snip> > > It seems that my 3rd great grandfather, Jeremiah Hurst, dropped out > of the sky with a wife & 3 kids in 1810, in time for the census, in > Wythe County VA. Lots of other HURSTs there & nearby who could have > been parents or siblings, but no record (that I've found) of who he > "belongs to". > > <snip> > > Anyhow, I'll post the results of my test when they come, whether > they accomplish what I hope, or not. > > Ernie Hurst <ernie5823@earthlink.net> Finally, a real genealogical use is mentioned: ruling in or out a suspected connection! I do not question DNA's usefulness at that. Nor do I question conventional karyotyping's usefulness for something similar. I can also see some usefulness to it in *documenting scientifically* that Pentz Bentz Pence are the same family, spelt differently. What the hype seems to gloss over is that without something to PROVE/DISPROVE, DNA testing is a waste of money, just as indiscriminately buying birth and death certificates is. As for Ernest's author being less diligent, perhaps it was more that in the mid-1970s an incredible amount of interest in genealogy flowered and resources previously un-thought-of became available. In 1970?, the Mormons opened their Branch Genealogical Libraries, which turned into Family History Centers later on, and with the BGL, we had access to microfilms of material some of us never dreamed existed. Those of us who never did genealogy before a BLG or a Xerox machine existed can't really appreciate how good we've got it. (g) Cheryl singhals@erols.com