Jane, The hope is that you will find someone else who matches your DNA. Maybe they have their line traced back a generation or two farther then you do. You can then start with their most distant ancestor and work forward. In my wife's case there were two men in Georgia, about the same age who both had sons with the same name and the same year of birth. We hadn't been able to determine which of the sons my wife descended from. There were men in that DNA project that descended from each man. My wife had a male cousin tested. His results matched one line and not the other, so we knew which line to work on. In the case of my Barrett family we have four or five 3rd, 4th, and 5th cousins who have submitted samples and had matching results. With this information we know what my 3rd Great Grandfather Barrett's DNA looked like, just as though he had submitted the sample. If we find someone who matches his DNA there is a very good chance there is a relationship. We just have to try to find it. To know what the distant ancestor's DNA looked like it is better to have samples from several relatives as we have done. If a mutation or two has occurred this helps determine the ancestors true DNA. There is nothing wrong with a mutation. If they didn't occur we would all have the same DNA and there would be no value in the testing. But they do occur. They can occur at any birth event and they must occur at a birth event. Therefore it is possible for a son to have DNA that does not match his father, but this is usually only by a marker or two. If the father and son don't have a close match you need to look for other reasons. Jim Barrett Bedford, TX -----Original Message----- From: Jane Foley [mailto:mjfent@bellsouth.net] Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 8:45 AM To: POWELL-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [POWELL] Family DNA I understand that a DNA test is a simple swab of the inside of your mouth (take a few extra seconds on each of the two swabs. My question is: What do they have to compare it with if everybody is dead and has been for years? I know that there is probably a simple answer but I just don't get it. Jane Foley