I agree with your logic about parentage. But if the gene is on the Y chromosome you can only test for father to son transmission, as the Y chromosome is what determies that a baby will be a male, and is only in males. > > From: Agnes <[email protected]> > Date: 2004/12/15 Wed AM 10:39:03 EST > To: [email protected] > Subject: [NCLINCOLN] Re: NCLINCOL-D Digest V04 #199 > > How is it that this test can be accurate and apply only to the males - I > realize I have little or no knowledge about how DNA testing results are > judged but it seems a bit ridiculous to pursue this down through the males > when no matter what the surname no one can be absolutely sure the person he > knows as a male parent is actually the one who impregnated the mother. > It does not seem possible to me for a strictly male line to be always pure. > > The surname has nothing to do with it either, I have family members who > carry the surname but were adopted, we know that but not everyone does. We > have others who use the surname of the mother because they were born > out-of-wedlock but who's bloodline information is just as reliable as if > they were carrying the surname of the biological father. > > I do know that orthodox Jews do not use the bloodline of the male parent to > trace their lineage, but instead use the bloodline of the mother. One has > only to look at the lineage of Mary's son Jesus in the Bible to see that > line is traced through her, not through any male parent, the possibility > that the male parent is not the biological father is accepted as fact. > > Please refrain from starting a big controversy here, I am just trying to > understand the reasoning. > > Agnes C. > > > > On 12/15/04 1:04 AM, "[email protected]" > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > From: "Mary Harbinson" <[email protected]> > > Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 12:46:04 -0800 > > To: [email protected] > > Subject: Only Males > > > > This can only be done by a Male in the family. It is said they tried to keep > > this gene pure and were very selective as to whom they married. I am just > > getting more info on this myself. I was not expecting to find this at all. > > > > ______________________________ > > > ==== NCLINCOL Mailing List ==== > ==== LINCOLN Co., NC Mailing List ==== > Sharing information on Historic Lincoln Co., NC > For further info, see www.rootsweb.com/~nclincol/nclincoln.htm > Our thanks to RootsWeb for hosting this list and web page > >