Y-DNA the results.

[Talacharn]

Those I am looking for are my g-g-grandfather and g-g-g-grandfather and from my direct paternal lineage. I already know their names are Thomas Williams and John Williams. I would like to know my Haplogroup. Will I only receive those who share my Haplogroup and/or the name Williams?
If I take a Y-DNA test, what will I receive?

[Alexander.]

What you get out of it does depend on what level of test you take.

I would recommend using FamilyTreeDNA as they have the largest Y-DNA database, but you may find smaller companies as well that can tell you your haplogroup.

The lower level Y-DNA tests are STR (single tandem repeat) tests. The technicalities don't really matter, but these are areas on the Y-chromosome which are found to be useful markers to distinguish individuals/groups. With STR testing you will get a basic haplogroup (e.g. R-M269 or I-M253), but this haplogroup may be thousands of years old.

If you want a more refined haplogroup, you will need to do SNP testing (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms). At FTDNA, although you could order SNP packs you are much better served by ordering the Big Y-700. This test includes 700 STRs and thousands of SNPs. With this test you can potentially get a very recent haplogroup from the last couple hundred years.

With either test you will get match lists. Most of the matches will not match your surname, as they may have branched off before surnames were adopted. At low levels (37 markers) you may have tens to thousands of matches. At higher levels (111 markers) you will probably only have a handful, or sometimes no matches. The more markers you match with someone, the more closely you are probably related, and the more markers you test the more confident you can be the match is real.

In my case and my mum's paternal line (I tested a male cousin on my mum's side), I started out with the Y-37 test, and have since upgraded to Big Y-700. It is costly, but has been well worth it in both cases, helping to narrow down an illegitimacy a few generations back on my mum's side, and confirming a theorized link to a similar surname (that just could not be proved with paper trail alone due to sparsity of parish registers in the period of interest).

[Ruskie]

With a common name like Williams, it might help to join one of the surname projects.

I think any DNA test is worth doing if you can afford it, but don’t get your hopes up. My husband’s surname is Wright, and he only has a handful of matches, and none with his surname.

If you haven’t taken an autosomal DNA test and you are looking for gg or ggg grandfathers which are likely to be traceable usiing the usual means (bmd, census etc) you might find that the results/matches from an autosomal test help you.

[Biggles50]

What Alexander has written is what I have experienced.

I only took the 111 test and even then when it was on a discounted promo.

I am in the RM269 haplogroup which is pretty pointless knowledge as it is a very long time ago, it is the most common western european group.

For me it did what I wanted and gave me matches with the Surname that I was looking for.

The sheer volume of matches with different surnames does indicate to me that one cannot rely alone on “paper” family records.   Ones Genealogical Family Tree can be very, very different to ones Biological Family Tree.

[Talacharn]

Thanks all.

I took an autosomal test with LivingDNA and was not impressed. Uploading it to GedMatch has been better over time, as two relatives have since joined. On both sides I have an illegitimate child around 1830. On my paternal side he was Thomas Williams born Newcastle Emlyn, Cardiganshire and on the marriage certificate his father was John Williams. I think I have found the right baptism, once under the name Richard and the other as Williams recorded in two different chapels on the same day. I was hoping the Y-DNA could point to the right John Williams. Not knowing his age, or even if he was a local, the paper trail will not find him.

From what you are saying, a Y-DNA test would be expensive and a long-shot, but there is no other option.

[Biggles50]

Thanks all.

I took an autosomal test with LivingDNA and was not impressed. Uploading it to GedMatch has been better over time, as two relatives have since joined. On both sides I have an illegitimate child around 1830. On my paternal side he was Thomas Williams born Newcastle Emlyn, Cardiganshire and on the marriage certificate his father was John Williams. I think I have found the right baptism, once under the name Richard and the other as Williams recorded in two different chapels on the same day. I was hoping the Y-DNA could point to the right John Williams. Not knowing his age, or even if he was a local, the paper trail will not find him.

From what you are saying, a Y-DNA test would be expensive and a long-shot, but there is no other option.

Being blunt, you took the wrong test.

An Ancestry DNA test is in reality the de-facto standard simply because they have vastly more DNA test takers than all the other test companies.

Ancestry DNA data can then be uploaded to Gedmatch, My Heritage, FTDNA, my living DNA etc so in the long term it offers vastly better VFM.

I would suggest you take an Ancestry DNA test and if you wish a yDNA test with FTDNA but do read up on yDNA tests.  As for Haplogroup they can be pretty meaningless unless the big & expensive 700 test is taken, take a lower lever test and a result is likely to be R-M269 which is a very, very long time ago and most of western europe is in this group.  Only the Big 700 will give a more recent Sub-Group.

Finally even though Williams is a pretty common Surname a yDNA test will result in vastly more matches with people who do not have the Williams surname.

[phil57]

I would suggest you take an Ancestry DNA test and if you wish a yDNA test with FTDNA but do read up on yDNA tests.  As for Haplogroup they can be pretty meaningless unless the big & expensive 700 test is taken, take a lower lever test and a result is likely to be R-M269 which is a very, very long time ago and most of western europe is in this group.  Only the Big 700 will give a more recent Sub-Group.

I have taken a Y111 test with FTDNA and am also R-M269. I have no 111 marker matches, but my closest match at 67 markers is a 2C1R with the same surname.

One way of obtaining a more recent subgroup at substantially lower cost than FTDNA's Big Y-700 is to take the LivingDNA autosomal test, because although it is useless for mt or Y-DNA matching, their results do also include your mtDNA and Y-DNA haplogroups, of which my Y haplogroup was given as R-U106.

As Biggles says, it would be far more expensive to take FTDNA's Big Y-700 test just to refine your haplogroup.

However, according to the administrator of my Y group surname project at FTDNA, if you are R-M269 and have the value of 13 at marker DYS492, there is a greater than 95% probability that you are R-U106 also.

I have the value of 13 on that marker, and the mtDNA haplogroup ascribed to me by LivingDNAs autosomal test also agrees with the result of my FTDNA mtDNA test, suggesting that the LivingDNA allocations are reliable.

[Talacharn]

I know testing with Living DNA was a mistake, mainly because of their size, but also as I perceived it, a lack of information/professionalism from them. Out of annoyance, my results were deleted. I am reluctant to go there again for another test. My understanding of DNA is limited. To go down the DNA route, firstly I need to learn more. Thank you all for your comments. My naivety assumed it to be simpler, in someone sharing my name and Haplogroup, had to be directly related to my g-g-g-grandfather. From that I could maybe identify him. The alternative, is to accept it as a dead-end and get on with my life.

[Biggles50]

Getting to grips with DNA takes a lot of time and effort and in my case I’m still learning after seven years.

There are a couple of books that you could buy, Blaine Bettinger The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy which is fairly easy to follow.

Then read Graham Holton Tracing Your Ancestors Using DNA: A Guide for Family Historians which is more technical.

My own yDNA gave three matches at the 111 marker and two had the surname that I was expecting.

Do test with Ancestry, just perhaps the close match or a relative of them might be there with a tree.