Since a few results from the beginning of the Holiday DNA Sale will begin to hit us next week, I thought now might be a good time to go over this.
Y-DNA: The top of the pedigree chart. Y-DNA traces a man's father's father's father's line only. All men, all the way back. A man must take this test. If you're a man, you are in luck. If you are not a male, you'll need your brother, your uncle, a male cousin whose father's father's father's line is the one you want. What you get back is a string of numbers. Let's say you are the guy on top and your match is the guy on the bottom. 13 23 14 11 11-14 12 12 12 13 13 2913 24 14 11 11-14 12 12 12 13 13 29 (Don't get too excited over my example. I used the Western Atlantic Modal Haplotype). What this means is you and your match have what is called a genetic distance of one. Genetic genealogists are a bit acronym obsessed, so they write GD=1. What it REALLY means though depends on the number of markers you test. For a genealogical match, you need to test 37 or more markers (the tests are for 37, 67, and 111 markers). There is nothing wrong with starting at the 12 marker level and upgrading to the 37 or higher marker level as your budget may allow. Just don't expect anything meaningful from a 12 or 25 marker match. Here is Family Tree DNA's handy dandy chart if figuring out if the genetic distance is meaningful or not at the higher marker levels. 37 markers: http://goo.gl/VnivpP 67 markers: http://goo.gl/GAU7zc 111 markers: http://goo.gl/nvG0Hp (FTDNA loves to rearrange things, so I just go to Google and type in: genetic distance ____ markers) My dad has no 37 or 67 marker matches. He has 12 and 25 marker matches, but I have the 12 marker turned off (he is grayed out if anyone matches him). This is under the Settings tab, if anyone gets too many emails about this level of matching. Cheri Mello Listowner, Azores-Gen Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada -- For 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." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores.
