Why take a Y-chromosome test?

[Biggles50]

A yDNA is not necessarily a Magic Bullet, but with work it can provide avenues of research.

I would suggest that you buy either a 67 or 111 yDNA test, then if you get the results you seek fine, the main usage of a Big y test would be in providing a more accurate haplogroup.

I did a y111 test and the results gave me matches with the closest match predicting that we have a MRCA from about 1750. 

The second closest match has a predicted MRCA further away in time.

Both these matches have the same family surname and this confirms to me where the NPE in my timeline is likely to have taken place, namely 1880.

One thing to note is that you may not find the actual “Family Surname” that you seek, you will more likely get hundreds of matches with hundreds of different surnames.

I got lucky in that the results above confirmed my research into a particular family.

What do you mean ' get the results you seek',  I haven't got a family name to seek. Where did you test and where do the matches come from, presumably only others who've taken the same test with the same company? Is Family Tree DNA the only site which does these tests so you're therefore reliant on finding other people who've tested there and who have the same haplogroup and are willing to share that information?

As a yDNA test only looks at Male to Male to Male DNA the results should give you matches who share with you a specific Paternal xGreat Grandfather.

So yes you do have a family name (in theory that is). 

In practice it is not necessarily that easy.

Yes I did take my test with ftDNA as did my matches who reside in many Countries but those that bear the family name reside in the USA and the country of origin of their most distant known ancestor is Ireland.

You do get an amount of information from ftDNA but you are reliant upon yDNA tests being taken by direct descendants of the MRCA that you share with the match.

It would be a long shot, you may find that your Polish xGG F had the name of say Kowalski then tracing the male to male line up to your Father could still be quite a task.

If you want the tutorials that I gave you the link to you should get a better understanding of the processes involved which are different that those with an atDNA test such as Ancestry’s.

As you have uploaded to other websites a copy of the Ancestry test it may be a case of waiting.

Sorry if this sounds like teaching you to suck eggs but the chances of your biological Father posting his DNA is very, very remote.  A more likely finding is that a direct descendant of your Biological Grandfather, Great Grandfather, Great Great Grandfather or even beyond them hasvtaken a DNA test and it is a case of using DNA to narrow down the possibilities.

Good luck.

[BushInn1746]

Your question:- Why take a Y-chromosome test?

To try and find another all Male continuous lineage to me (who must also have tested and must have an accurate paper trail, or be able to establish an accurate documented paper trail to be of use to me).

Listening to the Youtube video which simplies the document in the link ...
https://le.ac.uk/richard-iii/identification/genetics

... it seems a Y-DNA test could be used to indicate that two men with the same surname from different parts of the country will share a common ancestor, or whether two variant spellings of a male surname might have a genetic link or not.

There is a University article explaining how they established the King's remains found in Leicester, England from a skeleton dna.

The link goes to the quote (below) and another link to a document explaining ...
https://le.ac.uk/richard-iii/identification/genetics

"Professor Turi King and Professor Kevin Schürer’s work is freely available online in their peer-reviewed academic paper, Identification of the remains of King Richard III."

[neelawson]

A yDNA is not necessarily a Magic Bullet, but with work it can provide avenues of research.

I would suggest that you buy either a 67 or 111 yDNA test, then if you get the results you seek fine, the main usage of a Big y test would be in providing a more accurate haplogroup.

I did a y111 test and the results gave me matches with the closest match predicting that we have a MRCA from about 1750. 

The second closest match has a predicted MRCA further away in time.

Both these matches have the same family surname and this confirms to me where the NPE in my timeline is likely to have taken place, namely 1880.

One thing to note is that you may not find the actual “Family Surname” that you seek, you will more likely get hundreds of matches with hundreds of different surnames.

I got lucky in that the results above confirmed my research into a particular family.

What do you mean ' get the results you seek',  I haven't got a family name to seek. Where did you test and where do the matches come from, presumably only others who've taken the same test with the same company? Is Family Tree DNA the only site which does these tests so you're therefore reliant on finding other people who've tested there and who have the same haplogroup and are willing to share that information?

As a yDNA test only looks at Male to Male to Male DNA the results should give you matches who share with you a specific Paternal xGreat Grandfather.

So yes you do have a family name (in theory that is). 

In practice it is not necessarily that easy.

Yes I did take my test with ftDNA as did my matches who reside in many Countries but those that bear the family name reside in the USA and the country of origin of their most distant known ancestor is Ireland.

You do get an amount of information from ftDNA but you are reliant upon yDNA tests being taken by direct descendants of the MRCA that you share with the match.

It would be a long shot, you may find that your Polish xGG F had the name of say Kowalski then tracing the male to male line up to your Father could still be quite a task.

If you want the tutorials that I gave you the link to you should get a better understanding of the processes involved which are different that those with an atDNA test such as Ancestry’s.

As you have uploaded to other websites a copy of the Ancestry test it may be a case of waiting.

Sorry if this sounds like teaching you to suck eggs but the chances of your biological Father posting his DNA is very, very remote.  A more likely finding is that a direct descendant of your Biological Grandfather, Great Grandfather, Great Great Grandfather or even beyond them hasvtaken a DNA test and it is a case of using DNA to narrow down the possibilities.

Good luck.

I have decided to do one, either Y37 or Y 111. The main difference seems to be one includes 'distant' relatives and the other 'distant and more recent'. Any idea what 'distant' and 'more recent' means in that context or what other practical difference either might make to me? Pardon my ignorance but I assume i'd have to submit a new sample to FTDNA and that they can't simply use the data from my uploaded Ancestry results to do the test.

[neelawson]

Just bumping this. I've already transferred my raw DNA data from Ancestry.co.uk  to FTDNA. I now want to buy FTDNA's Y-37 test. Pardon my ignorance but do they send me a new kit to the UK or do they use the data I've already uploaded? I assume the latter as there's a $9.95 shipping charge but their website's a bit confusing and their customer services don't answer the Q at all or just refer me to their FAQs - which don't mention it anywhere!

[Alexander.]

FTDNA will send you a new kit, you will need to send another sample to FTDNA.

For the Y-DNA tests such as Y-37, they are testing short tandem repeats (STRs), which are different than the autosomal tests (such as Ancestry) which use single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Therefore, it would not be possible for FTDNA to determine your Y-DNA data from an autosomal transfer.

The basic Y-DNA tests will give you a basic haplogroup assignment, but be aware it might not be any more specific than the predicted haplogroup from 23andme. But what may get are matches that may share recent (i.e. from the last few hundred years) common paternal ancestry. If wanting more precise matching you may want to upgrade to BigY-700 - which you can always do in the future (usually without sending in another sample).

It is luck of the draw with whether you have any matches. I have only one distant match with my own kit, but it did confirm suspicions about my surname origin. Upgrading to BigY placed me on a lonely branch of the tree (closest Big-Y match has common ancestor c.479AD). But you do get more matches with time and at some point I am sure will likely get a closer match. I also got Y-DNA kits for a couple of male cousins on my maternal side and they have many more matches, so have been more useful in that regard.

Alexander

[neelawson]

FTDNA will send you a new kit, you will need to send another sample to FTDNA.

For the Y-DNA tests such as Y-37, they are testing short tandem repeats (STRs), which are different than the autosomal tests (such as Ancestry) which use single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Therefore, it would not be possible for FTDNA to determine your Y-DNA data from an autosomal transfer.

The basic Y-DNA tests will give you a basic haplogroup assignment, but be aware it might not be any more specific than the predicted haplogroup from 23andme. But what may get are matches that may share recent (i.e. from the last few hundred years) common paternal ancestry. If wanting more precise matching you may want to upgrade to BigY-700 - which you can always do in the future (usually without sending in another sample).

It is luck of the draw with whether you have any matches. I have only one distant match with my own kit, but it did confirm suspicions about my surname origin. Upgrading to BigY placed me on a lonely branch of the tree (closest Big-Y match has common ancestor c.479AD). But you do get more matches with time and at some point I am sure will likely get a closer match. I also got Y-DNA kits for a couple of male cousins on my maternal side and they have many more matches, so have been more useful in that regard.

Alexander

23andme have me as having E-V13 and there were 3 matches of mine there with the same haplogroup, in fact 1 in 39 men at 23and me have it, 3-5% of UK men also have it, it's believed to have come to the UK with men from the Balkans conscripted to the Roman army early AD. My matches who also had E-V13 seemed to be maternal matches.

[BushInn1746]

If I did a Y Chromosome Test, I'd be looking for someone whose test matched:-
1) with my surname, or 
2) with a variant spelling of my surname, or
3) who could trace his Male lineage backward.

On the illustration attached there only seems to be one continuous Male line from the Marriage ( = sign), down to the current day Test.

To get another all Male continuous line in the illustration, the Male line has had to go backward several generations further, from the Marriage on the Male line, to then get another all Male line down to the current day and a current Test.

If you don't have a documented all Male line backward, that could be a match to a documented all Male line that comes forward to a present day Test, it seems to have little value for me personally, to confirm my male lineage several hundred years ago (where I have some possibles or perhaps I don't).

It is no good saying I match the Y Chromosome of an unknown skeleton in some other part of the World thought to be several thousand years old, because that won't help my brickwall, unless he happens to be in a Tomb with my surname or a surname variant on it and/or he is known historical character, that I can get a documented history of.

[neelawson]

If I did a Y Chromosome Test, I'd be looking for someone whose test matched:-
1) with my surname, or 
2) with a variant spelling of my surname, or
3) who could trace his Male lineage backward.

On the illustration attached there only seems to be one continuous Male line from the Marriage ( = sign), down to the current day Test.

To get another all Male continuous line in the illustration, the Male line has had to go backward several generations further, from the Marriage on the Male line, to then get another all Male line down to the current day and a current Test.

If you don't have a documented all Male line backward, that could be a match to a documented all Male line that comes forward to a present day Test, it seems to have little value for me personally, to confirm my male lineage several hundred years ago (where I have some possibles or perhaps I don't).

It is no good saying I match the Y Chromosome of an unknown skeleton in some other part of the World thought to be several thousand years old, because that won't help my brickwall, unless he happens to be in a Tomb with my surname or a surname variant on it and/or he is known historical character, that I can get a documented history of.

I was adopted and know nothing about my father so my surname is irrelevant.
I'm  trying to trace my lineage forward from what I hope will be matches' names that will help me complete DNA trees from the 3000+ DNA  matches I have, then hopefully find someone in the right place and time to have been my father

[BushInn1746]

Good point and I hope a continuous Male line (which has your Father in that line) is still alive and taken the correct type of test.

According to what I have read, it seems that if I found a Y Chromosome match with a different surname, it can mean:-
1) that a Male line ancestor has fathered a child outside of my Tree Marriages and other family paperwork we have, or
2) a formal change of surname, or
3) the use of an alias or 'also known as' surname somewhere.