Here are some more good questions I'm getting about Family Finder, a DNA test from Family Tree DNA.
Q: I tested my Y-DNA and my mtDNA. How does Family Finder compare? A: It doesn't. They are 3 different tests that can be run on your DNA. Just like if you are hungry, you can have a choice of apples, bananas, or oranges. Y-DNA is your father's father's father's line only. mtDNA is your mother's mother's mother's line only. Family Finder covers all your lines. It's not a straight shot like Y or mtDNA. It's a tangled web of all your lines. Some people have enough DNA in them that it detects ancestors born 175 years before. My dad has matches with people whose common ancestor was born in the mid 1700s. My dad was born in 1934. Q: Who should I test for Family Finder? A: The older generation, if possible. I tested each one of my parents separately since both are alive. They have half their parents' DNA. That would be my grands and I have only a quarter of their DNA. My dad matched Salli Souza's dad. Yet I did not. The common ancestor was born in the 1750s. There was enough common DNA between my dad and Salli's dad to detect a match. Either I did not inherit that DNA from my dad or the fraction I inherited is too small to be detected. If I didn't have my parents, I'd test one of their siblings. If I didn't have them, I'd think about testing a cousin of one of my parents, but then I'd be getting an in-law line that I'm not researching. Or I could test myself and realize that my DNA goes back one generation less than my parents. Cheri Mello Family Tree DNA Admin -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership."
