Oh yea, I've been going the DNA route for a few years now. It's the greatest tool out there, in my opinion. For the YDNA (male) you need a male relative of that line to do the test. The Y goes from male down to male down to male. The daughter does not get the male DNA and doesn't pass it. For the MTDNA (female) you can use either a son or daughter of the mother. The M goes from mother to son (and stops) or to daughter (and continues) down. The son does not pass on the female DNA from his mother but the daughter does. My Tiner line is stuck in 1850. We thought we came from Nicholas Tiner I who landed in VA. We found a direct male decendant who has a great paper trail and found a male decendant from out William T Tiner and they matched exactly. Other Tiner's also tested and we find many Tiner lines who are not related. We also found that Nicholas I had a daughter who had 3 children and a Harris male who left his estates to the children. After DNA test, this line has been found to really be Harris', even though their mother was a Tiner. This proved a long standing theory that Sara Tiner was Harris' mistress. My husbands great grandfather was found in 1870 in TN as an orphan. He was born in Alabama about 1857 but can't be found in 1860. I had my son do the DNA test and he matched 3 other branches exactly. So now these 4 lines are connecting the dots to our common male ancestor. I did the MTDNA and only 2 other people match mine. We are trying to determine who our common grandmother is. I am supposed to be decended from Chief Vann of Spring Place GA, who's clan was moved to IT during the Trail of Tears. Many say we aren't. So I found a direct female decendant of the wife of Chief Vann and she matched 250 other people who tested. We are now comparing all our direct female lines to find the common grandmothers amongst us. It's harder to go from mother to mother to mother, etc as sometimes you run into one you don't know their maiden name. This DNA tool has helped rule out other lines as well as match us to others. Another way I used it was for my new son-in-law. His mother couldn't remember exactly who fathered him. He used his step father's last name growing up. He did the test and found what his birth last name should be. The mother's still no help but at least we know which name to search on and the approximate date he was conceived. Maybe one day we will find his birth father. We did get an exact match on this DNA too. I've used both FTDna and Ancestry DNA. Either way, upload your results into YSearch database and then run a compare on their database. Both Ftdna and Ancestry send you notices when you match someone. For the MTDna you have a set number of markers you can buy but for the YDna you can order from 12 to 64. I wouldn't waste my time on the 12 markers. 32 to 64 are best. If you use Ftdna you can order the 24 and later upgrade, without having to take the test again, to 32 or 64. The more markers the more exact you will be in matching your closest relative in the database. On both you can also join a group. If you join a group on FTDNA you get a group rate from $99 on up. If you do the test on Ancestry you can send the results to the Ftdna Group coordinator so they can add your results in with the others and send you a report on all the results. Good luck. On Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 12:10 PM, Jevette Duncan <hillcountygenweb@gmail.com > wrote: > I had my father do a DNA test and we have still yet to connect our gap. My > father is the last surviving male in the direct line of our Parker branch. > All we can do is pray one day something will turn up and or my research > will > help others. I encourage everyone to take the test if possible.The story > above gives others hope so thanks for the post. > > On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 7:05 PM, Kimberly Carrillo <kimm@leadmarket.com > >wrote: > > > > > <http://www.newsobserver.com/news/health_science/story/1454594.html> > > http://www.newsobserver.com/news/health_science/story/1454594.html > > > > > > DNA reveals story of dad's disappearance > > > > > > Genes are genealogy's new frontier > > > > > > John Smithers of Raleigh had spent more than six decades looking for > clues > > about the father who abandoned him, his sister and their mother when he > was > > just a baby. The barrel-chested, brash-talking Smithers had something he > > wanted to give his old man: a fist in the nose. > > > > At 82, he had about given up on ever learning what happened to James > > William > > Smithers. He had long suspected his father got in trouble with the law > and > > fled abroad. Decades ago, it was easy enough to disappear, and Smithers' > > father had seemingly vanished into thin air. > > > > On the other side of the world, Lucinda Gray had always wondered what her > > father's life was like before he moved mysteriously from the United > States > > to Australia. She had spent years just trying to find out his real name. > > > > In mid-December, Smithers and Gray learned their elusive fathers were one > > and the same. > > > > After years of poring over records online and in person, across > continents > > and oceans, it took only a DNA sample from a simple cheek scrape to bring > > the two branches of the family together. > > > > "I was skeptical at first," said Smithers, a retired insurance company > > investigator. "But when I talked to my sister, I knew this is what I'd > been > > hoping for my whole life." > > > > The case shows what a "new frontier" DNA has become in genealogical > > research, said Debbi Blake, a North Carolina state archivist. > > > > DNA has been in genealogical use since 2000, according to Thomas Shawker, > a > > radiologist with the National Institutes of Health who has become a > > nationally renowned expert on the use of the latest science in genealogy. > > Its use since then among professional genealogists and family historians > > has > > mushroomed. > > > > "Everywhere I go, I am asked to lecture on DNA," he said, "and everywhere > I > > go, the lectures are packed." > > > > But the impact of DNA hasn't been as significant as the Internet, which > > transformed genealogical research by making records from distant places > > available at the click of a mouse. Some of the genealogy search sites > > charge > > a fee, though many of the raw birth, death, marriage and property records > > are available free online. > > > > DNA testing has a fairly hefty price tag -- from $99 to well over $700, > > depending on the type of DNA and the level of research. Until recently, > its > > application has been limited, said Terry Moore, a professional > genealogist > > in Raleigh. Typically, it's used to identify which branch of the family > > tree > > to climb -- or which region or nation to zero in on. > > > > "Usually, DNA helps people who have gone through all the records and > traced > > their ancestors back to the 1400s and are stuck," she said. > > > > It is, Moore stressed, simply another tool in the genealogist's box. > "This > > is not CSI," she said. "DNA will not do the work for you. But it can > bridge > > gaps in history." > > > > As more people who share a surname start their own registries, DNA's role > > is > > expanding into the modern age -- uniting living relatives. The > > Smithers-Gray > > case is a perfect example. > > > > Real name unknown > > > > Like her half-brother John Smithers, Lucinda Gray had been trying to > > investigate her father's veiled history for many years. > > > > Her dad, John Henderson Gray, who died in 1970, had been a fine father to > > her and her four siblings, and a good husband to their mother. But even > > their mother didn't know his true identity. > > > > He had moved from the United States to Australia in 1926; in 1944, at age > > 51, he had married their mother, Betty, then 22. It was well known that > > Gray > > had changed his name when he moved down under. "Our mother always assumed > > he'd changed his identity because of some strife," Lucinda Gray said. > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > TXGEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes > > in the subject and the body of the message > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > TXGEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message > -- Tammy Owen www.txgenweb5.org/txbastrop/bastrop.htm www.txgenweb2.org/txlee/lee.htm www.txgenweb6.org/txhemphill Selling Ebay items under the name of bastropcc - check me out