RootsChat.Com

Thank you both, that's where we suspected it was given the size of the forecourt but couldn't find anything online about the Gwendraeth Hotel or the Bacus Transport Company.

Much appreciated, Sue

Some time ago I bought some old photograph albums, and having finally gone through them came across one for what appears to be a Bretherick family from Malton, Yorkshire. The photos are on cards that show they were taken in Scarborough, Gravesend, Aylesbury, Hammersmith, York and Malton.

One of the photos has written on the back 'Mary E Bretherick Xmas 1904'. Taken in Malton.

Another appears to be a photo of Wilson/William Rayner Bretherick, who was a stationmaster at Fimber at one time. He married Charlotte Lucy Goodwin in Gravesend in 1903.

I would be happy to restore the photos to the direct family (the beautiful leather bound album has fallen apart unfortunately) if any would like to contact me.

Thanks to youngtugs original link I found myself at the ISOGG site and have been doing a crash course in dna testing 

Some really basic (ie not too complicated for me!) but interesting articles, and I now understand some of the acronyms I've seen scattered around the threads here.

Thanks also for your input davidft and sugarfizzle - yes, I think my mother is thinking that she will find relatives of some description, I'm not sure even she knows exactly what she thinks will happen.

We've been doing our family history for some time now so have quite extensive trees for both my mother and father, all backed by lots of paperwork. Both trees are on Ancestry because I used to subscribe but haven't been updated for some time as I now tend to work offline.Thinking about it while I was reading some of these articles I've realised that we have a major brick wall on each side of the family that we have been chasing for years (including on rootschat) and have never broken down, and dna testing may actually help us with these.

On my father's side I can't go back beyond about 1820 (Scotland) as there are no paper records. However, I am sure that some of the families around will be cousins/aunts/uncles, I just can't link them up. If any of their descendants have taken a dna test it might help point me in the right direction.

On my mother's side her grandmother seems to be parentless (Wales). Again lots of people have been researching for years and someone has now come up with a possibility of a family but there is nothing concrete. So this could posssibly help to resolve that.

Ethnicities don't really interest me - our families have been English/Welsh, Scottish/Irish for the last  six or seven generations. Whatever ethnicities show their faces are okay with me but I don't feel the need to go looking for them.

My mother is very interested in taking a DNA test - she apparently knows people who have found long lost cousins through DNA testing and is convinced, despite everything I tell her, that she will do the same. She has never been online in her life and has no idea what is involved, so everything will have to be managed by me. And I have never had any interest in DNA testing so need some advice on the best way to proceed.

For example, there are so many companies doing testing - are any better than the others? Does it really matter who you take the test with?

Apart from the DNA test itself, what are the costs involved? How long before you get something back so you can start looking at the results? What do you get back? I expect to have to resubscribe to Ancestry or some other site. I know you can upload the results to a number of sites, do you have to subscribe to them all to get matches? I assume you have to upload your tree at each site you use. Are some sites better than others or are they all likely to give the same results? Do they all supply the same tools?

I know everyone will have different opinions depending on their own experiences, so I am not looking for a definitive answer, just some suggestions on a reasonable way forward that won't cost me an arm and a leg but won't leave me feeling that if I had done something else I might have had more success.

If the answer is that it doesn't matter which company you use or what tests you get done the chance of success is the same I will be very happy with that