In a message dated 5/27/2005 6:54:09 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, [email protected] writes: Anne, By "collaterals" do you mean siblings, neighbors, other Webb lines, other possible relatives, or something else? (Sorry to have to ask what to me sounds like a basic question any newbie should know.) Merrell Merrell A collateral line is one "along the side." For example, my mother was an only child, so her WEBB twig daughtered out. But her father had two brothers -- their lines are collateral to mine. So I got the descendant of one of the brothers to test for Y-DNA, as it should be either an exact match or very very close. We will never know which, but with the slow rates of mutation, the likelihood is that it is exact. The farther back up your direct line you go, of course, the likelihood that it is not exact increases slowly. However, this increase isn't enough to invalidate testing the descendant of your great-grandfather's brother, again since the markers mutate slowly. Hope this is clear. If not, let me know and I'll try to make it clearer! Anne Anne