Hi So are you saying that in order to find out whether one's great great grandfather SURNAME is related to another male SURNAME one has to pay for a 67 marker DNA test (at $248!) I have a 4X great great grandfather born 1766 near Glasgow ...a branch IN NZ with the same surname has an ancestor born in 1773 in the same area ...we suspect that the two men are brothers. What the cheapest way of using DNA to find out? Are you saying that the 12 marker test wouldn't tell me this? Irene

Irene,  1.       So are you saying that in order to find out whether one's great great grandfather SURNAME  is related to another male SURNAME one has to pay for a 67 marker DNA test (at $248!) NO, you do not HAVE to pay for anything.  The choice is yours. 2.       What the cheapest way of using DNA to find out? DNA will not give you the kinship that you are looking for.  It will bring closely connected/related people together so that they can work as a group using traditional genealogy methods, i.e.:  finding a paper trail. 3.        Are you saying that the 12 marker test wouldn't tell me this? Unequivocally – YES!   Now, in the defense of Y-DNA testing:   There are over 70 of us in our Johnston/e family group who have had our Y-DNA tested as a "last resort" method.  We were in much the same position (and worse) that you find yourself in.  Y-DNA testing has brought us together in a cohesive, working, family group.  We have Y-DNA Cousins in Scotland, Ireland, Australia, Canada, the U.S.A. and other countries that slip my mind right now.  These 70 Cousins have brought in some of their kin too.  It has taken us almost 9 years to get to this point, but do not forget that Y-DNA testing was in its infancy when we started our Y-DNA quest, as was internet genealogy.  Our latest breakthrough looks as if it will connect Y-DNA Cousins in Australia, Canada, Ireland,  the U.S.A. and Scotland.  This is the sort of breakthrough that many of us have been dreaming of.  We've paid our dues, so to speak, and we are reaping the rewards.   On top of all of this a Cousin in Australia thought that a "business man's" Y-DNA Spreadsheet" would tell us more at a glance than the traditional geneticists' format.  Another Cousin in North Carolina added some tweaks, and I put it all together in its final form.  I maintain our JOHNSTON Y-DNA Spreadsheet.  We are now on v.22.  In addition I started our private Johnston/e group on Yahoo and write a sporadic JOHNSTON Family Newsletter which has been very helpful to all of us.   What you chose to do is up to you and you alone.   Good hunting,   Cliff.   P.S.:  We've got some McLeod family in our trees too :-)