Hi folks, the DNA lists are all abuzz as the various firms announce holiday sales. Family Tree DNA is useful for Y chromosome (male Line) testing. You join (free) a surname project, which gives you an administrator who may be knowledgable. (If not, dump that project and find another). By joining the Ulster DNA project your results will show up in this huge project, sorted next to matches and near matches. http://www.familytreedna.com/products.aspx for pricing. It also does mother line (mitochondrial) testing and autosomal, when some of the DNA in all your chromosomes is tested. then you use software to look for cousins with whom you share strands of matching DNA. Very new. 23andme is another firm. It started out doing medical testing. It allows you to see what kind of genes you may have and if you stay active you will continuously get new results, well, until the chip is obsolete that was used to test you. I need to upgrade to the newer chip. Among other things I may learn if I have an Alzheimers gene. They do not yet test comprehensively for this. Apparently many genes could be involved. However .... I'm afraid!!!!! <grin>. They also will give you your Y chromosome (if you have one) and your mitochondrial. They also have autosomal results and probably the world's largest customer base of people trying to find cousins this way. https://www.23andme.com/ . If you want you can also participate in various studies (meaning you answer questions) to further our research. Kind of like being a lab rat, but better educated and probably less fur.... There are other firms too. Can anyone supply us with a few? It pays to google...... I found this site offering free testing to BROWNs of Scots descent: http://www.brownsociety.org/FreeScotsTests.htm Think you are Scots? EthnoAncestry has a test to prove it. This is a bit controversial. http://www.ethnoancestry.com/ http://www.scotlandsfamily.com/dna-testing.htm explains what they're looking for. There is also an Irish hedge school for learning Irish DNA: http://web.mac.com/irishpat/IrishRootsCafe/Irish_DNA.html It has a Youtube video explaining how easy it is. I also found a website with information on the Workhouse. It includes a cookbook of prison recipes. Doesn't sound terribly appealing..... http://www.workhouses.org.uk/ Linda Merle