In a message dated 8/18/2007 8:38:44 AM Eastern Standard Time, margaret4389@comcast.net writes: I have my McConnel line all the way back to the mid 1800's, but, being f emale, do not know if it would work or not with the DNA. I do have a male relative whom I have forwarded the information to, but, either he didn't get it or he doesn't want to participate. Is there a way the females can give DNA to make the line more "friendly"? -- Margaret Sessions Mitochondrial DNA studies can be done on your mother's mother's mother's etc. line -- for example my mother's mother's mother is a McConnell. Mitochondrial DNA is passed down from a mother to all of her children--both male and female. Only the female children then pass it along to their children. So males lose the mitochondrial DNA from maternal generations prior to their mother. Autosomal (non-sex-linked) DNA is found in both males and females. Y DNA is found only in males (passed down from their father's father's father, etc.). So it all depends on the type of study you plan to participate in (and which side of the family your McConnell line is on) whether or not this would work for you or whether you would need a male relative. Also--don't overestimate what genealogical DNA studies can tell you. They can only tell you of the likelihood of a shared common ancestor (but not the identity of that common ancestor) and how many generations back that ancestor is likely to be (approximately). The more markers used in the test the more accurate (and the more expensive) it is. It takes multiple individuals who know their ancestry (through genealogical research) for the results to be able to ascertain who the common ancestor is. Also, haplogroup results can only be specific as to basic ethnicity such as Northern European or Sub Saharan African or Asian origin--this type of testing can't tell you whether your ancestry was English or German for instance with any degree of certainty--only Northern European. Joan ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour