We have had great success with our VICK Y-DNA Surname Project.  We have hypotheses we want to test, we recruit the men necessary to test each hypothesis, and we test a wide selection of locations on the Y chromosome for some members of each of the lines from an ancestor (beyond the 110-marker panel that Family Tree DNA is about to offer).  Unless you recruit men to test a hypothesis you may be waiting a long time to get a match who can help with a question about your line.   We also have an autosomal project at 23andMe, and we have had some success stories there.  The good news with an autosomal project is that aren’t limited to one line like you are with a surname project.  Even better news is that both men and women can test unlike in a Y-DNA project where only men can test.  The bad news is that since you aren’t limited to one line, you must figure out which of your lines your match is in.  Both people who match need deep pedigrees in many cases to find the shared ancestor.  Still, it is nice finding new cousins with information you don’t have.   There is a nice success story in the 9 February 2011 "Rootsweb Review" titled "An Unexpected Name Change Verified with DNA."  It is about a third of the way into the newsletter and the title is small, so you have to look carefully to find it.   http://ftp.rootsweb.ancestry.com/pub/review/2011/0209.html   Regards,   Larry ________________________________ From: Sandy Bauer <sandy@whalen-family.org> To: ilfrankl@rootsweb.com; iljeffer@rootsweb.com; "ILWayne@rootsweb.com" <ILWAYNE@rootsweb.com>; ilhamilt@rootsweb.com Sent: Wed, February 9, 2011 9:35:41 PM Subject: [ILJEFFER] DNA testing Are you are participating in a DNA project?  I'm curious if people are jumping on board with DNA testing and it it's proving successful for them. I've had my son do that DNA test for his THURMAN family (my first husband's line).  I've contributed to a DAVIS male to do the DNA test, gotten a BUTLER cousin to do the DNA test and gotten my brother to do the DNA test for our WHALEN family.  So far no "Eureka" moments. Anyone else having more positive results? Sandy (Whalen) Bauer Visit the Jefferson County ILGenWeb site at: www.jefferson.ilgenweb.net -------------------------------