To All: If you're interested in learning about DNA, please to go the Web Site listed below and click on DNA. Jim Hankins explains it pretty good on his Site. While you're there, browse around on his Site. It's an excellent Web Site. (He and I are distantly related by marriage...) _http://www.cottagehill.com/familytree/_ (http://www.cottagehill.com/familytree/) When you are considering DNA testing, be careful. It can be rather expensive and, you need to be careful as to what they do with your DNA information. You need to know what database your information is going into and what they are planning to do with "YOUR" information. Be sure you're dealing with a reputable company. Check them out before you send them anything. Usually, the BBB or Chamber of Commerce is a good place to start for check them out... Laymond Elks Researching: Elks, Arnold, Angel & Godley

I'll add a couple more things to what Laymond Elks said about this interesting topic a few weeks back, and how it has recently affected the research of my paternal Forbes lineage. First, the link Laymond provided to Jim Hankins's website with his explanations and caveats about DNA testing are excellent. His remarks provide an objective view of the pros & cons including what you can learn from having your yDNA or MtDNA tested, and what you cannot learn from the current state of that science. For those who are interested and didn't catch that link the first time Laymond sent it, I've copied it again here: http://www.cottagehill.com/familytree/. His info on DNA is found at the "DNA" sublink near the top of his web page. I had my yDNA typed about three years ago by FamilyTreeDNA as part of a research project being conducted by Dr. Elizabeth Hirschman at Rutgers. "Forbes" is an old Scottish line with a well documented history, and Dr. Hirschman is trying to connect some of the Scottish Clans with their Old World roots, which she believes are at least partly Jewish, mostly through Sephardic lines, but that's another story for another time. FamilyTreeDNA: http://www.familytreedna.com/ is (as far as I can tell), the largest and most widely-respected of American-based DNA typing and research companies. They keep an extensive database that is growing all the time, and they sponsor numerous projects, most of them researching particular surnames or geographic origins. A couple of years ago one of my Forbes cousins stepped forward to lead a Forbes Clan yDNA project, which is documented on the following website: http://www.familytreedna.com/public/forbes/. The project is still small with some 20+ members currently, but slowly growing (one Forbes at a time, as the saying goes). As was predicted, it took awhile for real genetic connections to be made and related subgroups of genetic cousins to form, but several distinct kinship subgroups are beginning to emerge. By gentle persuasion we even piqued the interest of the current Master of Forbes (who still looks after the ancestral Forbes lands in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and is the keeper of the Clan lineage back to 1200 AD or so) to join the project. As a result, we've found that about 20% of the yDNA males in the project so far show a kinship linkage to that ancient "Lord Forbes" line, including my own. Where it gets really interesting and useful is with the statistics that result from comparing 37 markers of yDNA among related males. Because several of those yDNA markers mutate with predictable regularity through successive generations, it's possible to estimate with some statistical accuracy how far back a Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) between two males would have lived. FamilyTree DNA will automatically produce those statistics among related males with what they call an FTDNATip Report and email it to you in .pdf format. While this listserv doesn't allow attachments, if you email me a request for an example FTDNATip Report, I'll attach it to an email response. Already I've found two genetic Forbes cousins I didn't know I had, and both of them trace their paternal Forbes roots to eastern NC. Although we haven't established our kinship connections yet, we are only a couple of generations from doing that and we have some strong clues, based on given names, that will likely lead to answers by doing more diligent "classical research," as Jim Hankins puts it. Since I now have better clues that will lead my paper research in certain directions, I've been pretty pleased with what DNA science has done for genealogy research so far, and I look forward to more developments. I'll close with a personal opinion, or question I guess, which is that I'm not sure what the concern is about identity theft or something similar as it relates to the 'junk DNA' that is used to indicate genetic relatives. Like fingerprinting, DNA-typing can be a useful way to help determine a preson's identity, but what is at risk for being stolen and how would it be used? I'm a lot more concerned about the prospects for someone lifting my credit card nos., or SSN, or even some of my computer passwords, than I am about my DNA! I don't know what the concern is other than fear of the unknown, similar to the fear that some of our mid-19th century ancestors had about their pictures being taken soon after photography was invented. Perhaps I'm being naive about it, but if there are legitimate concerns about DNA typing, I'd like to hear about them. Hope all my Pitt County cousins have (or had) a happy and bounteous Thanksgiving, Bob Forbes [email protected] ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2005 11:25 PM Subject: [NC-PCFR] Learn About DNA ... > To All: > > If you're interested in learning about DNA, please to go the Web Site > listed below and click on DNA. Jim Hankins explains it pretty good on his > Site. > While you're there, browse around on his Site. It's an excellent Web > Site. > (He and I are distantly related by marriage...) > > _http://www.cottagehill.com/familytree/_ > (http://www.cottagehill.com/familytree/) > > When you are considering DNA testing, be careful. It can be rather > expensive and, you need to be careful as to what they do with your DNA > information. You need to know what database your information is going > into and what they > are planning to do with "YOUR" information. > > Be sure you're dealing with a reputable company. Check them out before > you send them anything. Usually, the BBB or Chamber of Commerce is a good > place to start for check them out... > > Laymond Elks > Researching: Elks, Arnold, Angel & Godley >