FTDNA Help Solve One Issue But Need Help On Next One

[belkpott]

I have been researching a family mystery which goes back 6 generations. At that point, we can't prove the lineage of Peter Long (Clements Township, Nova Scotia, circa 1786-1858). Through FTDNA testing (Y-111) of two cousins sharing 2 separate lines that join back to Peter, I have good proof that Peter was the father to these two family lines. The family trees back to Peter are fairly well documented. So I now feel more confident about how we descend from Peter (and how the other lines do as well).
But we don't know where Peter came from. Family lore had a little boy adopted into the Long family about this time but it is not clear who the boy was. I think that the testing now shows that it has to be Peter. Most likely he was adopted by a Jacob Peter Lange, a Hessian soldier who came with his wife to the same area in 1784.
When I started DNA testing (I am also pursuing the Ancestry route) I fell for the advertising that you will know where your people came from if you take the testing. It isn't that easy. But is there a route forward that would allow me to determine with some level of confidence that we descend from the German Lange or from the little boy (an Atkins or Atkinson likely from Wales, Ireland or northern England)? Can you weed out the noise from all the other inputs to your DNA from the generations that follow Peter?
I really only want to make sure that I am looking for the right haystack (geographic origin) for the needle (Peters parentage).
Any advice that you can provide is appreciated.
Belkpott

[belkpott]

More info

By the way, the Y-111 test indicates the haplogroup as M-269. I have got quite a few matches mostly at the Y12 level but it is hard to see how these matches have anything to do with our family tree.
I have just got advertising from FTDNA to purchase a new M269V2 Backbone SNP pack but I don't know what this would do for me. Beyond the one success that I have got from the testing, I am finding it hard to see what FTDNA can do for me. They seem to sell a lot of services but it isn't user friendly (a truly complex area but don't over promise). Given the reduced price for the next few days and my specific area of interest, should I look at this Pack and why would it help me?

[MMaddi]

By the way, the Y-111 test indicates the haplogroup as M-269. I have got quite a few matches mostly at the Y12 level but it is hard to see how these matches have anything to do with our family tree.
I have just got advertising from FTDNA to purchase a new M269V2 Backbone SNP pack but I don't know what this would do for me. Beyond the one success that I have got from the testing, I am finding it hard to see what FTDNA can do for me. They seem to sell a lot of services but it isn't user friendly (a truly complex area but don't over promise). Given the reduced price for the next few days and my specific area of interest, should I look at this Pack and why would it help me?

The R-M269 that FTDNA has given you as your predicted haplogroup is probably about 8,000 years old. That's as accurate a prediction that FTDNA can give anyone based on STRs, whether 12 or 111.

The SNP pack you're asking about will give you a confirmed haplogroup and subclade, fairly far downstream from R-M269. However, that subclade assignment will probably be from 2,000 to 4,000 years old. It would not be of much help to you in determining the ancestry of a paternal line ancestor who lived about 250 years ago.

In general, if you're trying to knock down a brick wall that's just a few hundred years ago or less, close matches at 67 or 111 markers will be more useful. You write that most of your matches are at the 12 marker level, which is not unusual for R-M269, the most common haplogroup among men with European ancestry. You'll just have to wait until you get some close matches at 67 or 111 matches to answer your question. At that point, targeted downstream SNP testing may be helpful, but that's not what the backbone SNP pack is.