Results Are In, MANY Matches?

[Jim Barrett]

Where to go from here

I have a total of 706 12 marker matches, 96 25 marker matches, and 10 37 marker matches.

Of those, 19 of the 25 marker matches are exact. I don't have any exact on the 37 marker level, only one genetic distance of 2.

Is it common to have so many matches?

To answer your last question first, there is nothing unusual about having that many matches.

Now, forget about your 12 marker matches and look at your 25 marker exact matches and those that are a genetic distance of 1. Looking at those matches how many of them have a (37) following their name? If they have a (37) following their name they have taken a 37 marker test also and you can forget about them from the 25 marker list.

Make a list of the names of those left in your revised 25 marker, that is the ones who don't have a (37) after their name and are either an exact match or a genetic distance of 1.

To that list add the names in your 37 marker matches that are exact or a genetic distance of 1 or 2. Make a new list of all of the surnames in the list you just created and indicate how many times that name is repeated in your list. If I were you I'd be interested in contacting anyone with a surname that repeated several time. See if they were in the same place your ancestors were in at the same time.

Using this method you may have missed a good contact, but you have to start somewhere. I won't suggest ordering any more test until you have a good understanding of your current results and what the additional test might show.

I just re-read your message and I see that you only have 1 37 marker match and he is a genetic distance of 2. Maybe you need to try to get some of those 25 marker matches to upgrade!

As someone else suggested you need to decide what information you are looking for. Do you want information about your paternal line within the last few 100 years or do you want to know where you live might have originated 1,000's of years ago. This has a lot to do with which test you might want to order.

[GhostX]

McCray,

That's fantastic that you have 19 25/25 matches! I don't have a single perfect match at any testing level (I've tested over 67 markers).

I completely agree with Deirwha that you should do the deep clade test and the 67-marker upgrade. As for the priority order, that's partly a matter of what's more important to you--identifying surname relatives, or examining your "deep" ancestry (thousands of years ago). A 67-marker upgrade is more valuable for the former purpose, though a deep-clade test will add an important layer of verification. If I were you, I would definitely do both.

In your 25-marker test results, do any of them have (Y67) listed after their names in your list of matches? If so, that means that those people tested at the 67-marker level, and it would be very helpful for you to upgrade to 67 markers to compare against them. Even if some of your 25-marker matches drop off your list at the 37-marker level, it's possible that they might reappear at the 67-marker level. This happens all the time.

If none of your 25 or 37 marker matches have (Y67) after their names, then upgrading to 67 markers will probably not help you to narrow down your list of existing matches at FTDNA, but it will certainly be helpful to you in the future as new matches appear (which they will--FTDNA's database is increasing very rapidly).

You should also transfer your results (not just the first 12 of them as Oriel suggested, but all of them) over to Ysearch (there's a link to do this automatically on your results page), as Ysearch includes a lot of people who have tested at labs other than FTDNA.

Congratulations on your initial results!

No I haven't, where can I find the ordering info/pricing on this test, and how exactly do you think it could help me?

Thanks very much,
Chris

If you click on Tests and Upgrades and click on Advanced Orders. Scroll down the page and you should see all available tests.At the bottom of the page you will see Additional SNP Information.Click on it and there is more info on the SNPs.If you enter your first 12 markers at ysearch and check out your matches, you may get an idea what clade you belong to and save yourself some money. Good luck.

[Deirwha]

by trying to keep it simple

I let a confusion creep in. If your interest is in genealogical matches and you have a ton of matches a 67 marker exam might well be the best step to sorting out those matches. In other words, matches will fall off. However, if you like me have no real matches beyond the 25 marker level, or your 37 marker matches are already taking you into a genetic distance range that raises ambiguity as to whether they are matches or the consequence of something called genetic conversion, the deep clade test helps you sort it out. You can have a 6 GD STR match on 67 markers who is not as close to you in ancestral origin as an 8 GD STR match who is a member of your same deep clade test. So, I have seen others asking your question advised to take the 67 marker test next and if they have money the deep clade. I advise the reverse because for me the SNP deep clade test provided me with a wealth of information I was not going to get. My best 37 gd match was 3, followed by the more ambiguous 6. I have no 67 marker matches at any gd level. So, for me coming at the question from the vantage point of the deep clade test was very helpful.

[Deirwha]

Deep Clade

There are a couple places on your FT DNA page that will lead you there. I went to Test and Upgrades and surveyed the choices until I saw it. I am not sure of this because I did mine before the Tree came out, but I think the Tree or your Recent Ancestral Origin page has a little box marked upgrades you can click. I have been out of Y upgrades since before I knew about this feature so never used it. I just went direct to the order sheet. Look along the left hand side at the list of pages that serves a table of contents and link to the page.

As to what you would get out of it, the deep clade tests "SNP's" and will provide 1) further more recent in origin information about the group of people with whom you share more recent ancestry and 2) probably a group of such people with whom to share information. Because of a number of factors that might just confuse you now to list, people who share with you these SNP's are more likely to share a recent recent ancestor with you than people who might appear closer to you because of their STR match (that's your 37 marker matches).

With your SNP configuration and group you often get a very helpful administrator who helps you understand this brave new world and apply it practically to sorting out the genealogical implications of all this. As a result of the work of the administrator for my group I am on the verge of connecting the dots with as many as 5 different surname families within a time frame of the past 700 years. Also, you may find that some in the group have paper trails that explain who they are in relation to who other people are dating back to early surname time or before. One of the challenges I have found in my little group is that undoubtedly because of the self selection factor in deciding to purchase these tests, there are relatively few people, less than 50, in my group and no surnames in common with me. It is in general a problem in my research that no one of my surname is as close to me. That does not mean much of anything except it would in the reverse if there was someone of my surname with a close match. The relative recency of testing and the self-selection process through purchase means for some of us "closer relatives" may not have tested.

Which brings me to another thing you can do- get relatives to test and also do the deep clade.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

[McCray]

Did you take the deep clade test? If not that is the next place to go in my view.

Congratulations on the matches. I have not had an exact since 12. My closest at 37 is 3 gd, 2 gd at 25. You have a lot of material to explore and with which to work.

No I haven't, where can I find the ordering info/pricing on this test, and how exactly do you think it could help me?

Thanks very much,
Chris

[Deirwha]

Just double checking

Did you take the deep clade test? If not that is the next place to go in my view.

Congratulations on the matches. I have not had an exact since 12. My closest at 37 is 3 gd, 2 gd at 25. You have a lot of material to explore and with which to work.

[McCray]

Hi everyone. I had a thread previously introducing myself, and my results were put online today. I did the 37 marker test. My surname is McCray, however it looks as though my paternal great grandfather's father may not have been a McCray, though I have no idea what his name was.

I am a member of the R1b1b2 haplogroup.

My allele results (in FTDNA order)...
13 24 14 11 11 14 12 12 11 13 13 29 17 8 9 11 11 25 15 19 29 13 13 15 17 11 11 19 23 14 15 18 18 37 37 12 12
......
I have a total of 706 12 marker matches, 96 25 marker matches, and 10 37 marker matches.

Of those, 19 of the 25 marker matches are exact. I don't have any exact on the 37 marker level, only one genetic distance of 2.

Is it common to have so many matches?

Anyway, I'll talk about my 25 marker exact matches.
I have NO McCrays or any variation of the name that are an exact 25 marker match. 3 of the 19 exact matches are Bryan/O'Brien, 3 are Butler.
There are lots of distance-1 McCraws/McGraws, but also lots of O'Briens/variants.

Also, my SMGF results show, of the top 10 matches (there are no exact on there), 8 are O'Briens/Bryan, etc.

I'm not sure where to go from here. Does anyone have any suggestions?