British Results for y-DNA on FTDNA

[david64]

Evening,

I have just had results back for a y-DNA test. As expected, the matches it has given me are almost all Americans, and thus of little use. The closest match is via an ancestor born say 1600.

Has anyone with British paternal ancestry found these tests to be of much use? i.e. found a definite or highly likely match.

I've spent almost $600 on tests now, and not one of them has provided anything useful due to the extreme sparsity of British test subjects. Won't be spending more until they can improve that.

[clayton bradley]

My husband did have mostly American matches but several of those did have an English ancestor they could trace back to and his closest matches were two English families of the same name, (not his name) which was a big help.
My brother has had no close matches, nothing at 37 and only 2 at 25 who must be a long way distant.
The third family I am involved in is my mother's family. That is being organised by a seventh cousin and has been successful in proving that the Lancashire Broadleys originally came from Yorkshire and are related to other Broadley families, including early families who emigrated to America.
It is a bit of a lottery but it is also fascinating and learning about the history of the early haplogroups is very interesting, cb

[david64]

Thanks for your reply. I guess it is a bit of a patience game for Brits at the moment.

I guess I am also lucky as I have almost 40 matches at 67; just none of them are surnames I was hoping for.

[Designer Jeans]

Hi

Like all genealogy DNA is pot luck and whether it is useful or not will depend on your expectations.  Also like all genealogy it is totally fascinating once you get into it.

I have had two of my supposed very British paternal lines tested.  My brother supplied my WARD of Derbyshire family DNA and it turns out we are most likely descended from James, Fifth High Steward of Scotland who died in 1309!  (R-CTS2501) 

My mum's male cousin supplied HOLLING of Yorkshire DNA and for the moment we appear to be orphans from Central Europe (I1-Z63)

I started out in a FTDNA surname project, but there are many others including British Isles by County and individual County ones.  They all need more UK people to test (especially any men called WARD or HOLLING).

I've spent far more on DNA than I ever intended (make the most of sales and money off vouchers), but then I have been a member of Derbyshire FHS for 35 years, accumulated boxes and boxes of wills, paid the odd researcher, had family bibles repaired etc, etc and it is still less expensive than golf and/or scuba diving, and I am learning and having more fun than I have in years.

[Redroger]

It is indeed a patience game. I had a 37 marker Y test some 3 years ago, there was one near match (36/37) Interestingly we do not share a surname, but he was a recent migrant (post 1960) and has since returned to the UK. Owing to the location where his ancestor lived, and the late movement (1795) of my ancestor to the area we were able to pin down with the help of photographs that the indiscretion was made by my grandfather's oldest brother around 1870. So far as the Canadian and I are concerned this one result, and thus far this is the only one, has made the entire process worthwhile.
It is correct to say that until many more people in the UK take the test its value is going to continue to be limited, but in the longer term it will unlock many family trees, and no doubt like Richard III many false paternity events.

[huntingforUKrelatives]

Hi David,

Thanks for sharing your results and experience. As an American, and FTDNA Y-DNA Surname Project volunteer, I can tell you size of the database matters. I have watched the FTDNA database grow in size over the last few years, and with the growth, more data that helped grow our surname project for the one I Co-Admin on.

For example, two years ago, our Franklin/Franklyn surname project had about 140 people who had done Y-DNA testing. We had about 12 defined family groups. We have seen that grow to where we now have 16 defined family groups, 235 members, and many more waiting to find a matching relative to start their own unique family group.

Mine for example, is family group six in the project, and we have 13 members whose Y-DNA markers match with each other thus showing we all share a common male ancestor up the line.

Some we have been able to identify where we intersect. Some we are still waiting further data. Last year FTDNA came out with a Big-Y test, and several members of my family group participated. It was pricey at about $700 US, but the information was very useful, including defining our groups Terminal SNP. Once we identified that, we were able to get many in our family group to do a specific SNP test for that particular SNP, which only cost $39 US, and confirmed ourselves to the hapologroup R-SRY2627.

Our two confirmed oldest Franklin/Franklyn are brothers Edward circa 1696 Essex Co. VA and Lawrence circa 1698 Essex Co. VA. We are pretty sure our ancestors are going to be traced to the UK, probably Wales, and knowing the terminal SNP will be very helpful to us when we hopefully find a matching Y-DNA Franklin/Franklyn in the UK.

Keep in mind, that your American matches, are still a part of your family tree, and are just as interested in finding out more about the ancestors in the UK and beyond. So much so, that one of my Franklin Co-Adminstrators, just flew to England from Texas to participate in the whodoyouthinkyouknow convention, and of course her goal is to try and find as many Franklin/Franklyns while she is there to take a Y-DNA test. And this trip is entirely out of her pocket.

So, don't throw the Americans out, we want to work with you and help find family as well We are also trying to help build a larger database of UK testers and promote as much as we can to get new members. Take care.

Regards,
Steve Franklin
Phoenix, AZ
USA

[weste]

y dna aside. I noticed lots of people buying kits from the ancestry store and lots of people sitting down in the ftdna store at the Who do you think you are Live event. Usually they sit you down when you are buying. Being female obviously i can't do y but i've done the family finder from ftdna and ancestry's test so i can compare the 2.  So hopefully there will be lots of people joining both testing firms. There was lots of people all the time in ftdna stand's free talks. They were very good at making people move up for others to sit down. I listened to a lecture on the POBI project which has been mentioned recently. Don't despair there was show offers on and people took advantage of it.

[landej]

I did the Family Finder and Y37 Tests with FTDNA last year. This was to prove a 4th cousin relationship. My cousin and I have no paper trail (Ireland about 1800!) but circumstantial evidence says we must be 4th cousins. FF came back with no match, then after a long wait Y-DNA WAS 37/37. Worth bearing in mind that 50% of 4th cousins don't match on FF don't think that fact is emphasized enough. On FF most matches were from the USA and I do have a lot of family over there but out of 600 matches, no proven relationship and a lot of people don't even reply to email requests.

[huntingforUKrelatives]

Family Finder and Y-DNA test are two completely different test. Your 37/37 marker test with your 4th male cousin shows without a doubt you are related and share a common grandfather somewhere up your line. The family finder test is an autosomal DNA test so its pulling DNA from your paternal and maternal side. They do have an excellent chromosome tool but I prefer to upload my raw autosomal data to gedmatch and pay the $10 donation to them and get the Tier 1 segment tool that alines out all your matches from chromosome 1 to 22 in a straight line and color coded so you instantly see who is sharing the same DNA segments with you. But I do agree, many people do not respond or list their basic ancestry info.