There is some discussion and interest on this list in DNA testing for genealogical purposes. Before you - males and females - get all excited that the results of DNA testing are going to solve ALL your genealogical problems, I highly recommend you some research, not only on the internet but at your local library. You might start with Wikipedia and use search terms *Bryan Sykes* After a brief bio of Sykes, look at the menu on the lower left and click on Books. Sykes has written some interesting books, principally for the layman, and the results of the DNA testing are interesting, at least from an academic standpoint. At the same time, to me, a rather senior citizen, his conclusions kind of wander off into less than convincing arguments. Perhaps that is because of my former career, in which I had to deal with harsh realities in families. I received a handout at a large genealogical conference sometime ago about ISOGG - International Society of Genetic Genealogy. There is a website: _http://www.isog.org_ (http://www.isog.org) Maybe you can find some explanations there to help you. If you are a female, you can be linked to your mother, your maternal grandmother, your maternal great-grandmother, and so on. Because of name changes, you may never find the answer--unless you have already determined who is your maternal 2nd great-grandmother! and her mother before her!! The DNA tests are not so helpful!!!! All because Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Look up that word or phrase in Wikipedia and tell me what you think!!! So for most of us females--unless we can persuade a male of the same family with our maiden name to be tested--it's back to the microfilm readers, the books, the internet, etc. and hard research for us females!!! E.W.Wallace **************One site keeps you connected to all your email: AOL Mail, Gmail, and Yahoo Mail. Try it now. (http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dp&icid=aolcom40vanity&ncid=emlcntaolcom00000025)