Y-DNA from a postage stamp ?

[Howard]

Any chance of getting Y markers from a stamp licked 60 years ago?

The male line I am researching, "daughtered out"; there is no living male descendant. However, I have a letter with a stamped envelope that my maternal gr-grandfather wrote, just before he died in 1946. It has been kept in a box, normal room temperature for 60 years now.

DNA is my only hope, as I have tried without success, for 30+ years to find any documental evidence of my parents of my gr-gr-grandfather John H. Moore.

[darroll]

I would call FTDNA.
If they don't do it, they can probably point you in the right direction.

[vinnie]

Any chance of getting Y markers from a stamp licked 60 years ago?

The male line I am researching, "daughtered out"; there is no living male descendant. However, I have a letter with a stamped envelope that my maternal gr-grandfather wrote, just before he died in 1946. It has been kept in a box, normal room temperature for 60 years now.

DNA is my only hope, as I have tried without success, for 30+ years to find any documental evidence of my parents of my gr-gr-grandfather John H. Moore.

Do you know if there are any male descendents that come from the same direct male line as your gggf? For example, did he have a brother who may have direct male descendents today? If you can find one, you could test him to find a perfect haplogroup match and a very close y-str analysis. That's what I did for my mother's father, who had no sons and no brothers - I went back two more generations and followed the male lines to find a distant cousin to test.

[rainbow]

Howard, I am curious to know if you asked FTDNA if they would try testing old stamps. Do they?

A long time ago I asked DNAPrint if they can do admixture testing from letters I have from my grandmother. They said yes. It would be $100 extra to try to extract the DNA. They said it could be from licked postage stamps and envelopes.

Can FTDNA extract DNA from envelopes, stamps, hair (does it have to have the root?), used chewing gum (i heard that was done in Europe), used toothbrushes, etc?

[gtc]

A long time ago I asked DNAPrint if they can do admixture testing from letters I have from my grandmother. They said yes. It would be $100 extra to try to extract the DNA. They said it could be from licked postage stamps and envelopes.

That seems a bargain price. I would have thought the labor involved would price it sky high. But there you go.