Hi Gaila, Bryan Sykes calculated a non-paternity rate of 1.3 percent per generation for his Sykes study. In their book, "Trace Your Roots with DNA," Smolenyak and Turner used this 1.3 percent non-paternity rate in calculating that 85 percent of the nominal descendants from an ancestor 12 generations back will carry a recognizable DNA signature. The remaining 15 percent may possess the founder's name but someone else's Y-DNA. I have heard of 2% to 5% rates for false paternities, depending on the time and society. Do you have a number for American frontier families? A report on television the other day mentioned single mother birth rates of 24% for European American women and 70% for African American women. I suspect this is going to play havoc with future genealogists using DNA to find their roots. Bruce Baird In a message dated 2/14/2006 2:29:40 PM Central Standard Time, gaila@merrington.net writes: Y-DNA is more informative in tracing family lines connected by surnames. We still have to realise that our pioneer forefathers had a hard life at times. Disease, wars and Indian raids mean that sometime, even though the paper trail is correct , the DNA doesn't match. If Indian raids, wars or plagues left orphans, families in the community would just take them in. I am sure there are as many reasons for non-paternal events as there are in today's society