Why..so few matches for a 100% European?

[Bartot]

After nearly 2 years with Ftdna. Being noted as 100% european by Ftdna, 23andme and Doug M..........I am left with only 6 matches.
My haplogroup origins are only Ireland and Italy for Ydna. ( test 67 markers)
My only 3 step match ( and I have done FMS) in mtdna is with a Swede.

Am I part of some alpine refuge, hidden in some valley for centuries or is fydna not working.

note: of my 6 matches, I have zero x-matches

I would like some kind of reason.

maybe to get desperate and try a third company

[Everwaiting]

If you are American, when did your ancestors arrive here from Europe? In general, the later your ancestors immigrated to America, the less matches you are likely to have. In my family, those with early Colonial ancestors have many more matches than those whose ancestors immigrated after the 1850s.

[Táltos]

After nearly 2 years with Ftdna. Being noted as 100% european by Ftdna, 23andme and Doug M..........I am left with only 6 matches.
My haplogroup origins are only Ireland and Italy for Ydna. ( test 67 markers)
My only 3 step match ( and I have done FMS) in mtdna is with a Swede.

Am I part of some alpine refuge, hidden in some valley for centuries or is fydna not working.

note: of my 6 matches, I have zero x-matches

I would like some kind of reason.

maybe to get desperate and try a third company

Bartot if I remember correctly you are Italian? I think it is because the Italians do not test as much. Fingers crossed that more people across the globe will test their DNA to find relatives, and may some of them be in your family.

[Andiralenira]

Italian, hmmm

That's an interesting point to make about the Italian component of this. I too am of Italian descent (50%) and I hardly match anyone with an Italian surname, let alone match someone with a family name.

[Bartot]

Bartot if I remember correctly you are Italian? I think it is because the Italians do not test as much. Fingers crossed that more people across the globe will test their DNA to find relatives, and may some of them be in your family.

yes northern-Italian, 305 years of continuous ( registrars documents ) for paternal and 250 years ( same area) again similar documents for maternal.

my 6 matches paternal
2 x south tyrolese/trentino
1 x slovene
2 x south ireland
1 x south carolina USA ..........told me they are scottish heritage

maternal
1 x swedish

maybe the Italians do not test enough, But I have seen numerous Italian studies and tests done in the past 3 years. so ?

[MoberlyDrake]

My father is the son of Italian immigrants. He doesn't have a single Y-DNA match and he has only 18 Family Finder matches.

Only 2 of my mother's great-grandparents were of colonial American ancestry. Her other lines immigrated after 1840. She has 228 Family Finder matches. I suspect most of them match the colonial American lines. My big problem is that I can't find any ancestors in common with any of them, except 2 or 3! Two of her great-great-grandparents are brick walls. I suspect I may be doing something wrong.

[MMaddi]

yes northern-Italian, 305 years of continuous ( registrars documents ) for paternal and 250 years ( same area) again similar documents for maternal.

my 6 matches paternal
2 x south tyrolese/trentino
1 x slovene
2 x south ireland
1 x south carolina USA ..........told me they are scottish heritage

maternal
1 x swedish

maybe the Italians do not test enough, But I have seen numerous Italian studies and tests done in the past 3 years. so ?

The first factor is a relatively low Italian-American percentage among the American-dominated genetic genealogy databases, due to most Americans having northern European ancestry. You have a second factor that compounds the problem.

Your Italian ancestry is northern Italian. Most Italian-Americans' immigrant ancestors came from southern Italy and Sicily. So, there's even less people with Italian ancestry in the databases who'll share a common ancestor with you.

It's not surprising at all how few matches you have at FTDNA.

[Andiralenira]

The first factor is a relatively low Italian-American percentage among the American-dominated genetic genealogy databases, due to most Americans having northern European ancestry. You have a second factor that compounds the problem.

Your Italian ancestry is northern Italian. Most Italian-Americans' immigrant ancestors came from southern Italy and Sicily. So, there's even less people with Italian ancestry in the databases who'll share a common ancestor with you.

It's not surprising at all how few matches you have at FTDNA.

I am of southern Italian descent but I am still having the same problem. I guess more people have to test.

[Bartot]

The first factor is a relatively low Italian-American percentage among the American-dominated genetic genealogy databases, due to most Americans having northern European ancestry. You have a second factor that compounds the problem.

Your Italian ancestry is northern Italian. Most Italian-Americans' immigrant ancestors came from southern Italy and Sicily. So, there's even less people with Italian ancestry in the databases who'll share a common ancestor with you.

It's not surprising at all how few matches you have at FTDNA.

Thanks, but I live in Australia

I agree majority of Southern Italians went to USA, while Northern Italians went to Argentina and Sao Paolo Brazil.
Australia took equal amounts of north and south.

Whats the next step...wait?

[Lincoln]

Bartot - I would suggest Ancestry's DNA test, but as of now they aren't shipping outside of the US...

[N21163]

Thanks, but I live in Australia

I agree majority of Southern Italians went to USA, while Northern Italians went to Argentina and Sao Paolo Brazil.
Australia took equal amounts of north and south.

Whats the next step...wait?

Do you have any matches when you run comparisons in Gedmatch?

[T E Peterman]

Does igenea.com from out of Zurich, Switzerland still collaborate with Family Tree DNA? I think their pricing is a bit different & their website clearly is. But if you look under Projects>Surname projects, you see the same ones available at Family Tree DNA.

If their data is included in the Family Tree DNA database, this might be a more meaningful way of getting residents of Europe to participate.

Timothy Peterman

[gtc]

Thanks, but I live in Australia

I agree majority of Southern Italians went to USA, while Northern Italians went to Argentina and Sao Paolo Brazil.
Australia took equal amounts of north and south.

Whats the next step...wait?

I note from your signature (which BTW has a code problem with [SIZE="3"][SIZE="2"]) that your Y hg is T. Looking at the Semargl figures, that hg appears to be quite rare in Italy, at least going by people who have tested to date and whose data has been scooped up by Semargl.

I gather from the Wiki that T1a2b is "Found in Northwest Europe and eastern Alps" so, for what it's worth, that tends to support a far northern Italy regional presence for your paternal line.

The FTDNA database is still overwhelmingly populated by American DNA data.

Have you joined the various applicable haplogroup, geographical and surname projects?

[Bartot]

Do you have any matches when you run comparisons in Gedmatch?

You mean the "one to many" , if so, then at 7cm about 50

I run at 10cm which gives me about 15, but of these 13 are females on data

[Bartot]

I note from your signature (which BTW has a code problem with [SIZE="3"][SIZE="2"]) that your Y hg is T. Looking at the Semargl figures, that hg appears to be quite rare in Italy, at least going by people who have tested to date and whose data has been scooped up by Semargl.

I gather from the Wiki that T1a2b is "Found in Northwest Europe and eastern Alps" so, for what it's worth, that tends to support a far northern Italy regional presence for your paternal line.

The FTDNA database is still overwhelmingly populated by American DNA data.

Have you joined the various applicable haplogroup, geographical and surname projects?

"found in Northwest Europe ( british Isles) and Eastern Alps". These match exact with my FTDNA haplogroup origins as I only have Ireland and Italy.

yes, It does support the far north of Italy and the further I track registrars the further north into the alps I go, I just found another 2 generations maternal line yesterday and moved 12k further north.

In semagyl look at DYS390=22 for T and the half dozen or so are , central Germany, Swiss, Denmark, Norway, Bulgaria, Poland, Pomerania and Wales.

In 23andme..I have 148 matches of which the biggest is 0.047 ( whatever that means) 3rd cousin. Of these 148, all but 5 are maternal. The five paternal are, South France, Galicia Spain, Austria, Alsace and Slovenia.

DNA papers, state between 4 to 8 % of my marker in the alps between Italy and Austria.

In conclusion, being 100% European seems to mean very little in terms of trying to zoom in on ancestry.

To all, thank you for the information.

kindest regards