Which test is appropriate for me

[jaslin108]

Hi I would appreciate clarification on something.
I read the information on the test for the paternal line, it said it follows the father's father's father etc. line. Does it show anything female information? For example my father's mother. That is on the paternal side but she is a female.
Am I correct in assuming information on the females within the paternal line shows up...and it is listed on the test?
Thanks in advance
Jasmine

[B52]

Hi I would appreciate clarification on something.
I read the information on the test for the paternal line, it said it follows the father's father's father etc. line. Does it show anything female information? For example my father's mother. That is on the paternal side but she is a female.
Am I correct in assuming information on the females within the paternal line shows up...and it is listed on the test?
Thanks in advance
Jasmine

No, to get any genetic information on her you'd need a Family Finder test.

[LynCra]

It sounds as though the Family Finder test on yourself will be the best one to meet your needs. Your own autosomal DNA is a combination from all of your ancestral lines, so there is a possibility that you may get matches who are connected through your father´s mother´s ancestors.

[Jim Barrett]

Is your father alive? If not, does he have any living siblings? Did he have any sisters who had daughters? Your father and his siblings would all have their mother's mtDNA. If your father had a sister who had a daughter, the daughter would have her mother's mother's ntDNA.

What are you trying to learn about your father's mother?

Y-DNA is passed from father to son, women have no Y-DNA, it traces the males paternal line, father's, father's, --- father.

mtDNA is passed from women to all of her children, but her sons do not pass it to their children, it traces the maternal line, mother's, mother's, --- morher.

Autosomal DNA (atDNA - FTDNA's Family Finder)carries information about all of your ancestors, BUT the amount it carries is cut in half (more or less) with each generation back. 1/2 of your DNA is from each parent, 1/4 from each grandparent, 1/8 from each great grandparent and what you get is a random mix. I match a 4th cousin, but I don't match his sister because in the random mix from their parents she didn't get the DNA her brother has that matches me.

[jaslin108]

which test is appropriate for me

Thanking you for your replies especially Jim Barrett that was a clear concise explanation I have a much clearer picture of it now.
My father and his siblings are all deceased. I was wanting to find a possible match(to find the family line) of some females on my fathers side.
Now I is see what is possible and what it not!
Family Finder looks like the test for me.
Do people find it is advantageous to get a few members of the family to do the test? Is that a worthwhile thing to do?

[prairielad]

testing yourself will only cover half of your fathers DNA and half of your mothers DNA.

For better coverage of parents DNA the more siblings tested the better.

in respects to your paternal grandmother, your father received a random half of her DNA.
You in turn received from your fathers 50%, on average, half that amount.
On average we inherited about 25% of each grandparent, but this can be anywhere from 0% to 50%

For the best coverage of her(depending on budget) you would want to also test any paternal cousins as their parent(your fathers siblings) would have received different mixtures of her DNA that probably was not inherited by your father, each sibling(your fathers) received different mixtures of half her DNA.

[jaslin108]

Which test is appropriate for me

I have decided to do the a few relatives FF tests and a male relative a YDNA test.
What is the significance between the 37 or 67 marker tests.
I read on the web site it is about 'confidence' I assume that means the more markers the more sure it is the result is reliable or definite?
The more markers you have are you able to go back more generations?
I would appreciate information on this to help me decide which test to get - thanks Jasmine

[Jim Barrett]

The more markers you match on the more recent the possible common ancestor. Additional markers will eliminate more distant relationships (assuming both people have tested the same number of markers). FTDNA shows you the number of markers your match has tested.

[B52]

Thanking you for your replies especially Jim Barrett that was a clear concise explanation I have a much clearer picture of it now.
My father and his siblings are all deceased. I was wanting to find a possible match(to find the family line) of some females on my fathers side.
Now I is see what is possible and what it not!
Family Finder looks like the test for me.
Do people find it is advantageous to get a few members of the family to do the test? Is that a worthwhile thing to do?

No, it won't help to have a few members of the family to test. Extra tests only help if your have a family member or relative with a documented or suspected historical tie and you want to prove that.

e.g. My mom's paternal line is supposed to be descend from Walter de Falaise, brother-in-law of William the Conqueror. While it would be interesting thing to prove it's not something historical and archeological scholars are working on or likely to ever work on proving. However, the history of the name is well researched and where such a test available to prove the historical research is correct I'd have to ask my uncle to take the test as I don't carry that YDNA. I suppose in the future the might be able to derive and imply via autosomal DNA from someone like myself such a descent but that's probably a few years out. Those events took place about 1000 years ago now.

So save your money or use it to do a complete set of tests on yourself.

[ShellyH]

Whether or not it would be beneficial to test others in the family would depend on what you're trying to achieve and who was available to be tested.

A few questions:

1. Is your mother still living? If so, testing yourself and her with the Family Finder test will enable you to separate your matches to your mom's side and to what is not your mom's side, presumably your father's side.

2. You will carry 50% of your father's DNA. Any other children of his will also carry 50% of their father's DNA. Because of the randomness of DNA inheritance, the DNA they received will not be the same as what you received. They will have paternal matches that you do not, and vice versa. Therefore, testing any of your father's other children will provide matches to people on your grandmother's side that you won't have if you only test yourself. My father is also deceased, but I was able to test my mom to sort to his side, then test myself and my two sisters. I have discovered a number of matches to paternal cousins that I wouldn't have found if I hadn't tested my siblings.

3. DNA inheritance is NOT necessarily passed down 25% from grandparent to grandchild. There will be entire chromosomes that will not match between a grandparent and a grandchild. My daughter matches my mother entirely on Chr. 9, but doesn't match her at all on Chr. 19, 20, and 21, with only a sliver of a match on Chr. 22.

4. Is this grandmother a fairly recent immigrant from an area outside of the British Isles? If so, even if you carry significant DNA from her, you may not be able to see it until there is a greater number of testers from her place of origin. My maternal grandmother's line is Prussian (now Poland). I am seeing distant matches from Poland, Finland, and surrounding but they are relatively few in number. Thankfully, they're pretty easy to spot since they're quite different from my maternal grandfather's deep Colonial roots.

5. Have you done standard research to identify folks related to you on your paternal grandmother's side? If she had siblings with descendants, that could also help you because any segments you shared in common with them are likely to be from your grandmother's side. Further to that, if your grandmother had a brother and he had a son who is still living, you might consider yDNA to pick up your grandmother's paternal line.

Keep in mind the lines where the DNA is inherited in deciding who to test. For example, if the question you're seeking to answer is about your paternal grandmother, testing your child will not add anything to the question about your grandmother, but it would add answers about his/her father. Your siblings will add to those answers, but your mother's siblings would not. Ultimately, you may want to test these other people to answer other questions, but if your money is limited, just make sure you're spending it to answer the questions you want to answer.