DNA testing?!

[polly88]

Thanks Skoosh!

Redroger and Nick - Good grief!!!!!  I have just read all the posts Nick kindly pointed out to me!!  How did I miss this?  20 pages!!  And you two are still speaking?!

On balance, I definitely want to be part of this DNA project; I have no huge expectations that it will help me with my massive brick wall but I agree that the more people get involved, the more we can expect in return.  I think it is quite exciting.

Many thanks everyone (don't think this will run to 20 pages!).

[nickgc]

And you two are still speaking?!

Ha, ha!

I don't think roger and I had any major disagreements.   Besides, argumentation is part and parcel of internet life.  There is even a name for it:  SIWOTI (Something is wrong on the internet!)

See http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=SIWOTI

Nick 

[Redroger]

Yes, No problems, I have had arguments, but not with Nick, disagreements over facts and opinions yes. As Nick says argumentation is part and parcel of internet life. much better to discus things then to ask the moderator to delete a post because it hurts, you know it's true, but can't find an argument to refute it!
However, I have a problem with my DNA test, which by the way cost around £85 cut price at Olympia, don't worry FTDNA have many special offers, you may even improve on this, if you book it over the next and use paypal when the £ is high against the $.
This is the problem, I share with another man who has had the 37 marker test my surname of the first 33 of 37 markers. However, I am haplotype I and he is J. I have been told we are not related at least in the last 20,000 years. Can someone explain please?

[youngtug]

Just because someone is on a piece of paper as the father of a child dosn't mean that he is the biological father. Only the mother can have certain knowledge of who the father of the child could be, depending on the amount and timing of her sexual partners.  With the use of DNA we may have to have two trees, one paper trail and a biological trace.

[Skoosh]

Polly, find out if there is a DNA single name study group for your own surname, joining that might get you a better deal.
Roger, all Greek to me I'm afraid.   Skoosh.

[polly88]

All Greek to me too!

Skoosh - I've just done that, and there is one I found through Family Tree DNA project but it seems very, very US oriented.  It talks about the four Kentucky Begley brothers, and all US Begleys originating from them.  They settled there in late 1700s/1800s but my Begleys are in Ireland/St Helens then.  I know there could be a fifth brother!  I don't know.  The more I read the more confused I get.

[mike175]

DNA is something I have been considering recently, but from my research on RC and elsewhere it seems of limited value in family tree research unless you have a potential relative in the male (or perhaps the female) line who has or is prepared to have a test, and who also has significantly more well-sourced information about his/her origins than you have.

I realise that this is a generalisation, and that there could be other potential benefits in certain circumstances, but for now I feel the money would be better invested in an Ancestry or FindMyPast subscription. Unless I've missed something, which is a strong possibility 

I haven't yet discovered a relevant one-name group, but I will keep looking.

I missed part of the Today programme item, but I believe their test was aimed at finding out more distant origins: whether you are descended from the Vikings, Saxons, Celts, etc . . . which would be very interesting for it's own sake and I might be tempted to try that some time.

Mike.

[polly88]

That's right Mike, but they did pinpoint where in Scotland his ancestors settled.  And that is basically what I want to find out about my Irish ancestors.  It would be great if a dna test could tell me where my Begleys settled. 

I do take your point though.  Gosh I am so bewildered!

[mike175]

... they did pinpoint where in Scotland his ancestors settled.  And that is basically what I want to find out about my Irish ancestors ...

I have a feeling that a family tree DNA test might be too limited to help with that, but hopefully someone more expert can tell you if that's the case and point you in the right direction.

Like you, I am a little bewildered by all the different types of test . . . 

Mike.