DNA for mothers maternal side of family & Pateral male side & # of generations

[ankerpep_52]

I would like to get a DNA test for my maternal great grandma and further back to find out where they were born,when married, children etc. as they moved around alot in England.  speaking to someone said it was difficult to understand reading the results and I am not a computer teckie nor can decifer alot of codes, numbers etc. Is there anyone who would be able to help me with the results? What is the exact information that is reported.  I am the last of my female family and no male relatives for Male DNA testing except for one   1st cousin and my deceased sisters sons. Would they be eligible for DNA on my male families side of my family
including my English and Danish (latter had surname changes in each generation) How may generatios back would the male DNA go as I know of 4 generations. 
                                                                               J. Rasmussen  (ankerpep_52)

[Biggles50]

An Ancestry test would be a good starting point simply as they have by far the biggest tester database.

What the test results will show is a long list of DNA Matches, that is people who share DNA with in your case you GGM, the match list will be listed in terms of highest cM going down to lowest cM.  The cM stands for centimorgan and it is the measure of how much DNA you share.  As an Example a DNA match who shares 100cM is likely to be about a Third Cousin.

It will also show the Ethnicity Estimate, which may or may not be accurate.  It is a WIP by Ancestry and by any other testing company.

A y-DNA test can only be taken by a male as the Male y chromosome is only passed Male to Male hence it just goes down the Paternal line.

There is a Female sort of equivalent the mtDNA test that follows the Female to Female line, Mother passes to Daughter who passes to her Daughter etc.  A Mother passes the mtDNA gene to both her Daughter and to her Son but the Son will not pass it on to his children hence a Male can also take a mtDNA test.

DNA like the y-DNA goes back to the beginning of our race as does mtDNA, but practically the combined Autosomal DNA test that Ancestry uses goes back centuries.  There is a but in that a match below 10cM can be inaccurate.

There is a website called DNA Painter, enter the cM value of a DNA Match into its Shared tool and the results will show the percentage probability of a set of specific relationships.

Read this stickie thread.

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=863488.0

[hurworth]

Your sister's sons have inherited their father's Y-DNA, so a Y-DNA test for them wouldn't help with researching your father's line.  If your first cousin is your father's brother's son then their Y-DNA is from your father's line.

[jc26red]

In your research note, you have some interesting names and locations.

I think you should be aware that the results will depend on how many descendants in those name groups have also taken DNA tests. The Uk and USA have the largest DNA tester uptake, other countries not so much and some countries it’s not “Officially” allowed.

Ancestry will list your matches starting with the closest match then in descending order. So any sibling who has tested would be at the top of the list followed by cousins then 2nd cousins etc.,  If you already have a good researched tree you should be able to make sense of many of the close matches. Make sure you have your tree on ancestry and few days after your results come in Ancestry will note common ancestors and if the match is on the maternal or paternal line etc. It’s also worth noting, unfortunately not everyone has done their tree or they mark it private which will make it impose to make the association and can be very frustrating.

As an aside, I would be interested to see if you match with my husband with the Creed line.  There is also another researcher for the Berkshire Creeds on rootschat.