Hello Everyone, Just a quick explaination about the DNA test for Genealogy purposes. www.familytreedna.com The test is painless, no blood, no needles. It is done with a Swab on the inside of the cheek of your face. All done through the mail, like mail order. The test will be done by MEN only. These men must be born with the surname you are researching. This test will reveal what other men MATCH him, and will reveal certain information about the EARLIEST ancestor of this man. Male dna is passed from father to son, in an endless chain. There can be some mutations along the way, but the basic chain remains unbroken. For example: you are studying the name SMITH. Your brother was born named SMITH, and you have heard from another research named SMITH who also seems to be, on paper, of the same LINE. Your brother and this other man can both take the test, and if there is a CLOSE match, then you can know that you are on the right track. The 66 marker test is the most expensive, but tells the most. Many people start with the cheapest 12 marker test, and later you can "upgrade" to more defining tests. For example: many people in USA will find out that their earliest male ancestor was a man who lived in ancient times in England, or British Isles, or France, or Germany, maybe Scandanavia. But some might find he lived in the Middle East, or Africa, or maybe he was a Native American Indian. This type of information will come out from the test resutls, but it will not pin-point an exact location. WOMEN also can do this test, but it won't help in a SURNAME study, since the surname only remains for MALES. However, the female dna test will reveal some ethnic origins for my Mother, to her Mother, to her Mother, and on back in an endless chain of female to female only chain of ancestors. Some families have a "Family Legend" that they had a Indian Princess Great Great Grandmother. OK, this might be correct, or fantasy. One way to check this for accuracy is find a living female, who is a direct female to female line of descendancy back to the "claimed" Indian Princess. Take the test, and see if it reveals a Native American ethnicity. Best regards, Lilly Martin (researching William Gibbs and wife Sophie, who lived in Bronx in 1930 census , they were from Romania, they were Jewish. Daughters: Clare and Rose (Rowenta).) ----- Original Message ----- From: <Caffecupz@aol.com> To: <nybronx@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 6:36 PM Subject: Re: [NYBRONX] DNA Deal > What about females? Does this test--not for Dillman--help them? > > Barbara : ) >