Family Tree DNA - "Family Finder"

Dun · 05-07-2011 10:41pm #1

Has anybody taken FTDNA's Family Finder with any success? Mine showed up about 6 matches likely to be 3rd or 4th cousins, but with no verifiable results, though not everybody has gotten back to me yet.

Just curious if anybody has add a match verified that they didn't know of before?

fontanalis · 06-07-2011 4:01pm

Sorry it's alittle bit off topic but I done a test with 23 and me. They have a relative finder feature and bloody hell I must have a lot of cousins out there I have no clue off if I'm getting this many from one companies data base.
Personally I'm sceptical of the closesness claimed by these companies.

Dun · 08-07-2011 7:42pm

Yeah, I dunno how much to expect, but in all but one of the cases I mentioned above, there are surnames in common, but I hadn't added any surnames to my record, so they're not matching on that

HellFireClub · 09-07-2011 12:44pm

I did the FTDNA 37 marker test as part of a family sirname project, have about 20 matches, some very close and some with genetic distances of 3-4... All the same sirname though except one, so it does what it says on the tin!

Dun · 09-07-2011 7:31pm

Funny, I did the YDNA one too, and none of the surnames are the same in my matches at all. I think there are two names in the list that are the same, but otherwise it's all different.

Corsendonk · 12-07-2011 2:35pm

I am waiting for the day when someone does a family DNA test and finds out their siblings may not have the same father. :eek:

Dun · 12-07-2011 10:05pm

I know of someone who took a DNA test and is heavily involved in a particular Clan for his surname. All the other members with that surname were coming out with the R1b1 haplogroup, and his was I (which is most common around Scandinavia) :P

owenc · 12-07-2011 10:55pm

Dun wrote: »

I know of someone who took a DNA test and is heavily involved in a particular Clan for his surname. All the other members with that surname were coming out with the R1b1 haplogroup, and his was I (which is most common around Scandinavia) :P

Just because they are of the same clan dosn't mean they will have the same haplogroup its possible that his is passed from his mothers line or something like that.

Dun · 12-07-2011 11:22pm

No, the haplogroup is on the Y chromosome, which is passed exclusively from a father to his son, so you would expect people (males) with the same surname to have a haplogroup that's (almost) matching.

fontanalis · 13-07-2011 1:04am

Dun wrote: »

I know of someone who took a DNA test and is heavily involved in a particular Clan for his surname. All the other members with that surname were coming out with the R1b1 haplogroup, and his was I (which is most common around Scandinavia) :P

I tested as I2b1a1 which is found a lot in Galloway in Scotland (I2b1 is more common in the North Sea region). One of the I2a2's may be the oldest Y haplogroup in Ireland.

owenc · 13-07-2011 8:59am

fontanalis wrote: »

I tested as I2b1a1 which is found a lot in Galloway in Scotland (I2b1 is more common in the North Sea region). One of the I2a2's may be the oldest Y haplogroup in Ireland.

So if you get that you have Norse ancestry then? It seems that this I haplogroup is common in northern Ireland despite the fact that apparently we all have the r haplogroup did your test give you a location? I'm going to do this test and dee what one I get and get my dad to do it to see if it's accurate! What one do you recommend?

Dun · 13-07-2011 1:32pm

There's not much point you and your father getting the Y-DNA one because you will have identical Y Chromosomes. If you want to find out what haplogroup you belong to, you'd have to go for the Y-DNA one. If you want to find matches to people that do not necessarily have the same paternal ancestor as you, or maternal (mtDNA) line (always inherited from the mother), then you might want to try the Family Finder option.

If you want to do the Y-DNA, you can use your own sample or one from your father (unless you believe your father isn't really your father - joke!). If you want to do the Family Finder, but want to exclude your mother's side of the family then get your father to do the test. If you want both sides of the family, again just use your own sample.

Note that it is possible to submit a sample, and order further tests in the future, so just keep that in mind when choosing who to submit a sample from.

fontanalis · 13-07-2011 1:58pm

owenc wrote: »

So if you get that you have Norse ancestry then? It seems that this I haplogroup is common in northern Ireland despite the fact that apparently we all have the r haplogroup did your test give you a location? I'm going to do this test and dee what one I get and get my dad to do it to see if it's accurate! What one do you recommend?

Most of the work on "I" seems to be done by someone at the University of Montana on more or less a "hobbyist" basis. It seems the one I fall under originated in Scotland sometime between 1,500 years ago and 2,200 years ago so it would rule out Norse (from the viking era anyway).
It has been linked to the cruithin/cruithni and people with the spreading la tene celtic culture. Of course some of it may have come with planters but people with gaelic surnames and more scottish based surnames fall under it.
Galowglasses may be another source. There has been so much traffic between Scotland and the North of Ireland it may be hard to pin down.
A bit of ino on "I".
http://www.buildinghistory.org/distantpast/haplogroupi.shtml

23 and me has a global similarity tool; Ireland is shown within Europe as a square grid basically and my place is on the north west of this grid (which matches where I'm from). This feature is based on your autosomnal dna which is basically everything from all your ancestors so an unusual y haplogroup wouldn't throw it out too much.
If you want to trace ancestors on your male side Family Tree DNA seems to be the best, it looksl iek 23 and me will be focusing more on hereditary health in the future.

Family Tree DNA - "Family Finder"

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