The test involves rubbing a specially treated cotton swab inside your mouth, and then you send it off in the mail.

In fact, the only painful part of the test is the cost, normally $200, but DNA Ancestry is offering a half-price test through September 30, 2008. With tax, this test comes to about $118. (I paid full price for our test, and I think it was worth every penny. You guys are getting a great deal for half the price!)

We've had three DNA matches so far, all linking to Nicholas Wren and Margaret Bell of Virginia, but really, we've got so many more Renn lines out there, wouldn't it be great to have a DNA sample from every single one?

These DNA tests will only test a tiny part of your DNA: the Y-chromosome, which is passed down from father to son. If you are a female Renn you cannot take the test. However, you can ask your brother, father, uncle, or other male Renn relative to take the test for you.

More details on this offer are here:
http://wrenkin.com/2008/07/25/y-chromosome-dna-test-50-off/

There are no Wrenn male family members in my family willing to take the DNA test. Is there another test that will work?

Dee

Dee, I'm afraid not, not for the Y-chromosome test.

You can take a DNA test that will confirm paternity (inexpensive), or confirm if you are a sibling or a cousin (about $700, when I last checked), but none of those tests will help determine a genealogical surname line.

Do you know of any males carrying the W(R)en(n) surname and descended from your grandfather or great-grandfather? If not, do you think you could track one down?

Are the guys in your family unwilling to take the test out of privacy fears? The results are confidential and can only be used for genealogical purposes.

You can't uncover health issues with this kind of test, either -- it's impossible to do so -- so they needn't worry about their insurance companies dropping them or raising their rates.

Ay, how frustrating these situations can be!

I am trying to find a male WRENN that will agree to taking a DNA test for the family.

There is one, but he is a "wild child" and no one knows where he is. He has fallen into the wrong crowd and is doing drugs plus other things.

I have two grandsons. They are my daughter's children. Could that work? They are 9 and 10 years old. I am a direct descendants from the WRENN family. Would they be any help for the DNA testing?

No, I'm so sorry, Dee. I wish I could say yes.

You are a Wrenn. If you married a Smith, your boy children will carry the Smith Y-chromosome. If your daughter married a Jones, her boy children will carry the Jones Y-chromosome.

This is how I came to understand it: when a child is conceived, the mother can only contribute an X-chromosome. The father, however, can contribute either an X-chromosome or a Y-chromosome. In so doing he determines the sex of the baby.

If Dad contributes an X-chromosome, the child becomes a girl. If Dad contributes a Y-chromosome, the child becomes a boy. Two Xs make a girl, but one X plus one Y make a boy.

So every male on this planet carries a Y-chromosome passed down from father to son for generations. There might be a mutation here or there as the years go by, but the y-chromosome can be recognized and compared with other descendants, making it very handy for genealogical research on surnames, which are also passed from father to son.

Your best bet is to find a related male carrying the Wrenn surname and talk him into taking a test.

Bonnie

P.S. I am so sorry about the wild child --- I don't know who suffers the most in such situations: the child living the dangerous life or the loved ones who worry about him.

I didn't realize I was posting under my husband's account. Sorry about that. CPWren is me.

Bonnie

Bonnie, I know that JONES statement was used as an illistration, but the fact is that the children's blood father is a JONES, lol.

I just had to write you about the JONES comment so you could laugh too.

Dee

Heh! That's too funny. My first impulse was to use some obscure name like Dunwiddyfinklestein, but my hubby is always on my case to simplify things.