Many Questions About DNA Testing

[DavidG02]

Thank you hurworth and Ruskie.

Ruskie, yes it is a long shot with the NPE but I figure I have to start somewhere. May get lucky , may have to save some more $ for the Y-DNA test. But I am in the pool

[DavidG02]

David, you pay up front for the tests you have selected, if you go for the higher ones on Y, they do  test  through the lower stages as well, and stop at 37, or  67, if that's all you have already paid for. You do have the choice to upgrade
Edit I see you have just paid for FF for now. Yes you will be able to upgrade to a Y test once they have received your sample, you have to flex your bank card again though.

Lemur41

Thank you for this. Let me clarify , if I choose ( highly likely-see above post) to get a Y-DNA I only have to pay the difference for them to re-test?

[lemur41]

David

You have to pay whatever they are charging at the time you upgrade to whichever Y level marker. So it's a seperate charge . Hope that makes sense. I purchased my husband's as one transaction FF & Y DNA. If I want to upgrade his to the big Y, I have to pay (gulp) quite a lot again.

I was lucky that his paternal x 2 Gt. Grandfather's family are in a name project. Even though we were aware, it's taken several months for all parties to come to terms with it, so Ruskie is right to caution you.

They do have sales discounts nearer Thanksgiving and Christmas as has been pointed out by other people. They will notify you of  these  and what date  they  finish  now you  are in their database.

[DavidG02]

Thank you for the follow up lemur

[DavidG02]

I received my results and my first glance at 11.30pm local time is at matches all 978 of them 

Is that common? Mostly 2nd cousin-4th cousin and more etc. What level of shared  relationship would this be? I also note ''shared centimorgans'' and ''longest block'' which I may need to delve into FAQs . As an example I have a 73 centimorgans with what looks to be my top match. My longest block is 41 with this being my 5th best match at 62 centimorgans whereas my 73 CM has only 11 longest blocks.

Fascinating and exciting. Quick look at origins . Hmm 14% Metal man from Tbilsi in Georgia ( formerly USSR)
47% farmer  from Aleppo Syria
39% Hunter-Gatherer from Egypt.

Origins is 96% European and 3% Middle Eastern which confirms the Ancient Origins piece and based on my own and others family search looks solid.

Which follows the ancient pathways from Africa with 1 path splitting one side of the Black Sea. Fairly standard but no Aboriginal which was the background noise in our family story.

One of my matches is encouraging as it confirms one line of my mothers to Sussex and Kent. Ok more looking less typing. Thanks for any help or answers or just taking the time to read.

[jjtjr]

DavidG02,

You might want to try to contact your closer connections, in many cases with Autosomal DNA the connection is real, but too far back in time for people to know how and where they are connected.

You never know where new info will come from so it is a good idea to contact your connections and ask them if they have any info.

You should send emails to your DNA connections telling them all you know of your various ancestors' surnames and where they lived etc. You might get lucky.

You can also upload your results to Gedmatch. It is free and easy to do. You might have additional connections there.

Here is the link:

https://www.gedmatch.com/login1.php

Good luck!

[hurworth]

These projected 2nd to 4th cousins could be further back David.

For one kit I manage (about 1100 matches currently, 750 initially last year) there were only two recognisable matches initially, and estimated at 3rd-5th and 4th to remote.   And not a lot of shared DNA.  They are infact third cousins.  I only recognised one of them because in the list of her ancestral names I recognised a surname and village.  Not our surname but I knew that our ancestor's parents are buried at that village and her sister had married a man with that surname (and her brother and sister married her husband's siblings).  The person managing her kit (not related to us) has since added these surnames.

Another is for someone with quite a good tree as they go.  1400 matches and I don't recognise a single one (yet).

[Spike H]

David,
Welcome to the mystery and magic of DNA. And a warning it can be addictive.
I have a chart that suggests that the average cM's shared for third cousins is 75cMs (in a range of 0 to 198), so your match could be at that distance.
You probably have found out already that FTDNA are having a holiday sale, so upgrades are a bit cheaper plus you should also have received a holiday bonus coupon. These are a bit random, but I've got eight kits and two of my coupons give me $20 and 10% off any YDNA test or upgrade. Coupons are transferable so let me know if you want one.
As mentioned by others, uploading to Gedmatch is the way to go. You get to play with other kits that have been uploaded from Ancestry and 23andMe.

[DavidG02]

Thank you everyone

I did some further reading after I posted and found another link which may or may not confirm/re-direct a brickwall which is interesting on its own.

SpikeH I would love to take advantage of the offers but I am like my ancestors , poor but willing.

I will be contacting some of those matches and swapping info.

Thanks again everyone