Yes, they are part of the Ancestry.com family. This is their version of the "Family Finder" or "Relative Finder" test that other companies offer. Ancestry first offered this test in Nov, 2011 and their first results came in about March/April, 2012. I don't know whether they have a quicker turnaround now or not (FTDNA's turnaround on Family Finder is usually within a month; some lucky people get it back in 2 weeks!)
I don't know who Ancestry compares your percentages against. I know FTDNA compares Europeans against Spanish, French, Basque, and Orcadian (that's for Western European. There's another subset for other European regions). FTDNA states that this percentage testing (i.e. Population Finder) is under beta testing. After speaking to the president of FTDNA, he alluded to more forthcoming. I'm sure there will be an announcement made at the administrator meeting in November. Also, I can't find Ancestry's advisory board. That means the geneticists who are behind their science and DNA. FTDNA's are published under their "Who's Who" link. Ancestry will let you know who your matches are supposedly. I'm aware of maybe 5 or 6 people with Portuguese ancestry who have tested with Ancestry. FTDNA has over 400 in the Azores project, over 100 in Madeira as well as Cape Verde, almost 300 in Brazil, and close to 350 in Portugal. Those aren't unique numbers though (someone can have Azorean and Madeiran ancestry with roots going back to Portugal and be in all 3 projects). FTDNA traditionally holds their Holiday Sale in December. Their Family Finder (regularly $289) usually goes on sale for $199. I don't understand what you mean by information being interchangeable. If I had an ancestor born in 1782 and died 1850, that information is not interchangeable. Maybe you could clarify that more. Cheri Mello Family Tree DNA Admin Azores DNA Project -- 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."
