I have long been skeptical about the benefits of having a DNA test done for myself. Few genealogists understand much about DNA testing. I taught science for 27 years, but I could not understand how a DNA test would help me with my family tree. I read the websites of many testing companies, but their claims were vague and never mentioned that they would help me identify whether or not I had correctly chosen my 4th greatgrandfather. I phoned Family Tree DNA, but the owner could not assure me that the test could find any ancestors for me. I decided that I would be wasting my money. Later, a genealogy friend brought up the subject after he had participated in a DNA surname study with the same company. After the test was completed, he wrote to me saying the following. "I Hope you haven't been tempted to get one of those DNA tests to show your ancestoral matches. One of my old [surname deleted] correspondents did so. They paid $200 for it and had me send in saliva samples for comparative analysis. Not one person of my surname turned up as a match. My genes and theirs show up in every country in the world! It appears all of the matches are prehistoric. They keep sending readouts of "new" data with a handful of surnames but still no family matches. It may be scientific but I believe they're guilty of deception." Take a look at the results of the surname study in which my friend participated. ------------------ "An exact 12 marker match has been found between you and another person in the Family Tree DNA database. You and the other person match in all 12 loci. If you share the same surname or variant, this means that there is a 99% likelihood that you share a common ancestor in a genealogical time frame. If you match another person without the same surname or variant, you still probably share a common ancestor, but this ancestor most likely lived in the time before surnames were adopted. The link below will take you to your Family Tree DNA Login. From there, click on the "Y-DNA Matches" tab to see a list of your matches. Newer matches will be at the top of the list. Additional emails will be sent to you as we find new matches between you and your "genetic cousins."" ------------------ That is apparently what you get for your money. Everyone on this mailing list is probably related. Any two of us are probably "genetic cousins" because we are both related to some unnamed person born in Europe a thousand or ten thousand years ago or to someone in prehistoric times. If you and I both took the test, we might learn that. Is it worth spending money to find that out? The Times Union, Albany's newspaper had an article today ("Relative Connections") that described the experience of one person who learned about the ancient migration route of some unnamed person. He also quoted someone who said that the mtDNA test detects only one of thousands of ancestors. Since it tests the female line, and surnames change with every marriage, it can't tell you a surname. If I understand correctly, the test will not help you add anyone to your family tree. The article will be online for seven days before you have to pay to read it. http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=703086&category=LIFE&newsdate=7/14/2008 If you have had some experience with the DNA testing, please tell us if it helped you identify any relatives or not. Cliff Lamere

Cliff, I run a Dna project (two actually) and I have to say a few things. The ability to match with someone else is dependent on enough people taking the tests. The tests have evolved, the 12 marker test was the first test developed for public use, and it soon became apparent that iytt doesn't have the refinement to actually match you with a small enough sample to focus on what are probably your own lines. Secondly ONLY one possible line is traceable through Y-chromosome testing, that line which goes directly from the testee to his father to his father ad infinitum. Y-chromosomes only follow father to son, and an example would be that you can not connect genetically with these tests to anyone outside that particular line. What these tests can show you, and quite convincingly, is whether or not two testers in the SAME surname line, share the same pattern, and thus the same paternal family. It can also show you that you are NOT related to a particular person who shares your paternal surname. Later tests with 25, 37 and 65+ markers refine the same results. You need a LOT of people in your surname group to compare with, and they need to have MORE than just the 12 marker test results. You could match a very wide population with only 12 markers compared, but with the additional markers you can easily eliminate more of the false hits from consideration. In my case there is a surname discontinuity. My father was born out of wedlock, and in a foreign country. His American mother went south to "recover from an injury" and returned to the USA a year later in better shape. The story was that a person named McCann was my father's father. and Stories are often wrong. I took the 12 marker test, upgraded to 25, then 37, then 65. (When these refinements became available.) My tests came back as haplotype R1b1c7, IRISH. The closest matches I have are all named some form of McCann, (O'Kane, McCain, Caine, etc.) This verifies the family story. In fact I have finally after 35 years of not knowing, established who my grandfather WAS. (It helps he was famous). There were only TWO McCann group possibilities in Panama inn the early 1930s. The one it turns out is my (as close as I can prove) grandfather is Allan R. McCann, the other "candidate" was John Simpson McCain, II. In the case of AR McCann all of the story related by my grandmother pans out. J S McCain got to Panama two years too late. (both candidates were US Navy Admirals.) The DNA has turned an interesting story into supportable evidence. Jeff