Indian ancestors - Can DNA help? A Royal connection?

[thormalen]

Y DNA goes father to son..do not think this will help you here.

[1_mke]

It's true that FTDNA users tend to be more responsive but if you have ten times as many matches at 23andMe you only need 1/10th the response rate to have the same number of leads as here.

If you have the money there is no reason not to test at multiple places. In fact there is every reason to do so if you're trying to solve some sort of mystery or track down possible relatives.

I have two significant mysteries myself and testing at three different sites has failed to solve either of them though I have gotten some tantelizing clues. It's just smart to cast your net as wide as you can afford to.

Thank you again for all the responses...

I will let you all know how things go.

Best wishes,

T.

[aeduna]

Is it possible to pay a fee and also have the ff results in the 23andMe database to see how many hits there are there too? Are the two systems compatible?

Thanks

T.

There are other sites that you can transfer the results to and compare with other people from 23andme - gedmatch.com is the one I use. So you can (hopefully) get a spread of matches from multiple companies.

If you're amenable, I'd love to hear how this story goes when you get the results back

[tomcat]

So, which company would be more recommended for what I am trying to achieve? FTD or a competitor? Who has the biggest database for this? And with the competitors, which of their products is comparable with Family Finder?

Thanks

T.

23&Me has the larger db but MOST of the 23&Me users are unresponsive to inquiries. FTDNA has a smaller db but MANY of the users are responsive. 23&Me's v3 is largely compatible with FF and FTDNA has allowed 23&Me v3 users to open accounts with 23&Me v3 data. That accommodation is not two-way, so, if you did 23&Me you could also avail yourself of the FF db but if you did FF you could use your FF data on 23andMe.

Ancestry has a large reference db based on data collected by the Sorenson Molecular Genetics Foundation but I don't know how responsive their users are to inquiries. The only other game in town is National Geographic's Genographic Project 2.0, but their focus is deep ancestry rather than genealogy so, at best, their data would only be partially compatible with that of other providers. They have announced no plans to allow data import but have promised that comparisons and communications between users may be a future feature.

The only workaround are various independent projects such as Eurogenes, the Harappa Project, GEDMatch etc. but you would have to consult the project admins as to data compatibilities.

(Google "23andYou" for a list if indie projects).

[vinnie]

Thank you all so much for the replies. I have bought a Family Finder kit (before the last few posts, so I didn't order another test as well). I hope it will arrive soon so I can go to visit my uncle... I phoned yesterday, and his wife says I may use his DNA, I will have to try for a good day when he is somewhat 'compos mentis' so he can sign the paperwork too!

Is it possible to pay a fee and also have the ff results in the 23andMe database to see how many hits there are there too? Are the two systems compatible?

Thanks

T.

Congratulations! That's great. If you're interested in the health info, I'd use the FF for your uncle and order 23 for yourself and then upload your results here. If the medical info's not important to you, then I'd order another FF.

[1_mke]

You can transfer from 23andMe to FTDNA, but not the other way around so you might want to consider doing the 23andMe test and then paying for the transfer to get the best possible coverage.

Thank you all so much for the replies. I have bought a Family Finder kit (before the last few posts, so I didn't order another test as well). I hope it will arrive soon so I can go to visit my uncle... I phoned yesterday, and his wife says I may use his DNA, I will have to try for a good day when he is somewhat 'compos mentis' so he can sign the paperwork too!

Is it possible to pay a fee and also have the ff results in the 23andMe database to see how many hits there are there too? Are the two systems compatible?

Thanks

T.

[vinnie]

not y dna it is through the maternal line. Ff is required

Right! I lost track of that while reading through the story. But it would still be good for his overall genealogical interests to know his uncle's y and mt haplogroups.

[similligan]

Because of your uncle's condition, I would say FTDNA, because of their collection method and the fact that they store the samples for future use.

You would want the Family Finder for both the ethnic breakdown and the possiblitiy of matching cousins. There is a significant difference between the regular and sale price of Family Finder. So if you think you may also have an interest in your uncle's Y-DNA or mtDNA, you could order the minimum level of one of those tests now and wait for a sale on Family Finder. That would get your uncle's DNA sample into storage and give you two tests for not much more than the price of Family Finder at it's regular price.

The minimum Y-DNA is the 12 marker test for $99 and you would order it through you uncle's surname project. The minimum mtDNA test is also $99. The regular price of the Family Finder test is $289. In the past, it has gone on sale for $199. There's no guarantee it will be that sale price in the future, of course.

Susan

[andbro]

not y dna it is through the maternal line. Ff is required

[vinnie]

If you're interested in seeing whether you're a direct male descendent of the maharajah, and possibly related to other men known to be directly related to him, then you need a yDNA test. You can start with as little as a 12 marker test from FTDNA from which your basic yDNA haplogroup will be determined. If your haplogroup turns out to be one that is common to the Indian subcontinent, then you can proceed with additional yDNA testing as you desire. Another option would be to do the new GENO 2.0 from National Geographic, which will give both your direct maternal and paternal line haplogroups, but it won't give your specific 12 markers; however, you can then upload your results to FTDNA and proceed with the 12 marker (or more) testing. Otherwise, you can do the Family Finder or another company's autosomal test to see if you may be related along any of your lines to him, within the last 5 generations or so. As for your uncle, if you can test him with his permission, absolutely do so; I would test him for yDNA, mitochondrial DNA (mother's line), and the autosomal DNA. If you ever test your own autosomal DNA, his results would be invaluable for helping to determine which line your matches come from.

[1_mke]

Both my Mom and I have 10x the matches at 23andMe that we have here. I'm not qualified to comment on the accuracy of either sites approaches to making matches but it seems likely that 23andMe has a much larger autosomal DB than FTDNA.

Ancestry is a bit raw right now. Again I'm not going to comment on the accuracy of their results either but I have 10x the matches there that I have on FTDNA.

The truth of the matter is that you want to test at as many places as you can afford since there is only a limited amount of overlap between their databases and you are much more likely to get a valuable hit if you've cast your net as wide as possible.

[andbro]

Hi
I have used familytreedna. I have had good matches in the Norfolk area. I use ancestry for research which is good,but I don't like them for DNA. I have not used 23and me. I think ftdna is the easiest to use. You will get an ethnicity breakdown. That shoul confirm any Indian ancestry,especially as it was your great uncles grandad. Obviously his DNA is stronger than yours. This part wil help greatly with that rumour as he should be 25% approx Indian.

So, which company would be more recommended for what I am trying to achieve? FTD or a competitor? Who has the biggest database for this? And with the competitors, which of their products is comparable with Family Finder?

Thanks

T.