I must be a DNA pioneer

[gijoeinfinity]

I'm totally new to genealogy, not to mention DNA testing... and I went cold turkey and bought the superDNA package (and the Family Finder test). I can't think of any better way to spend one's money.

I contemplated hiring a professional genealogist to break through my wall, which is a mysterious gg grandfather on my direct paternal line who was not only orphaned as a child, but lived separate lives and identities. But the potential costs of hiring one (likely $1000+) and the high probability of that person coming up empty just didn't seem too feasible. Taking a DNA test seems like a much cheaper route (even though I would likely still need to find records in the event that I did have a good match).

I'm just excited about the many possibilities that may (or may not) happen when I get my results (not sure how quickly the turnaround will be once I send back the vials). I haven't a solid idea on what my haplotype on my paternal side will end up being (although I'm predicting a Highland Scot or Irish descent). For that matter, I'm not quite sure what my haplotype will be on my maternal side either (I'm predicting an Asian/Oriental marker).

In the event where I don't get any [good] matches, I have no problem being one of the early DNA pioneers for my type. Perhaps it may encourage others to follow my lead. At least the information is there for a future potential match to come along and bite the bait, so to speak.

Hmmm... this is starting to resemble something more like online dating, except it's primarily with cousins.

[Stevo]

I'm totally new to genealogy, not to mention DNA testing... and I went cold turkey and bought the superDNA package (and the Family Finder test). I can't think of any better way to spend one's money.

I contemplated hiring a professional genealogist to break through my wall, which is a mysterious gg grandfather on my direct paternal line who was not only orphaned as a child, but lived separate lives and identities. But the potential costs of hiring one (likely $1000+) and the high probability of that person coming up empty just didn't seem too feasible. Taking a DNA test seems like a much cheaper route (even though I would likely still need to find records in the event that I did have a good match).

I'm just excited about the many possibilities that may (or may not) happen when I get my results (not sure how quickly the turnaround will be once I send back the vials). I haven't a solid idea on what my haplotype on my paternal side will end up being (although I'm predicting a Highland Scot or Irish descent). For that matter, I'm not quite sure what my haplotype will be on my maternal side either (I'm predicting an Asian/Oriental marker).

In the event where I don't get any [good] matches, I have no problem being one of the early DNA pioneers for my type. Perhaps it may encourage others to follow my lead. At least the information is there for a future potential match to come along and bite the bait, so to speak.

Hmmm... this is starting to resemble something more like online dating, except it's primarily with cousins.

I wish you the best of success in your quest!

I am so glad I went with Family Tree DNA. I have no regrets about the money I have spent on testing with them, so I think you will be pleased, as well.

Good luck!

[gtc]

In the event where I don't get any [good] matches, I have no problem being one of the early DNA pioneers for my type. Perhaps it may encourage others to follow my lead. At least the information is there for a future potential match to come along and bite the bait, so to speak.

You have the right attitude about this stuff. All you need now is a lot of patience while the various tests wend they way through the lab. Some of the queues are rather long at the moment.

I hope you get some solid results for matching purposes.

[cacio]

You did the right thing with superDNA, one ends up upgrading anyway, so it's best and cheapest to do it right away.

There are so many people of Scottish and irish origin who have tested that I think it'd be pretty likely to find very distant relative. Don't expect anything on the maternal side, though. The mtdna is much less variable overall, so you cannot really find recent or distant relatives; you can, however, find out if it's an East Asian haplogroup.

cacio

[Arch]

[QUOTE=gijoeinfinity;212793 Hmmm... this is starting to resemble something more like online dating, except it's primarily with cousins. [/QUOTE]

Yeah, we all inbreds anyway when you look at the overall picture of all of us so called modern human beings going back some 120,000 -+ 10,000 years.

Hmmm. Just waiting for that Jerry Springer call any minute now. You did the right thing by plunging in now and we welcome you to the waiting game (I guess its much better than the crying game, lol).

With the luck of the Irish you will find a lot of information since it appears a lot of people in Ireland or of Irish descent are fully involved in this endeavor to see if they have roots to ancient high kings of the dark ages. Jewish DNA has a benefit too since its heavily researched by FTDNA it appears.

Anything else, good luck because it truly is a mess of everchanging alphabet soup and a head on collision into brickwalls for most of us. We need more peeps like you who are willing to share in our agony. Seriously, you did the right thing. Welcome to your deeper obsession.

Arch

[gijoeinfinity]

You know the odd thing is, even as much as I want to break through my wall to find out my real paternal line surname, I think I would revel at the knowledge that I am a mutated version of my father (being the marker for a new ancestral haplotype would be neat)... if that ended up being the case, I would like to take my preferential right in naming this new branch in human genetics. I mean, it's only fair... that the father of the revolution, name his own evolutional chain.

[lc0]

>> I can't think of any better way to spend one's money.

there are a lot of people in need of $help, but that's another story... :-(

>> break through my wall, which is a mysterious gg grandfather on my direct paternal line who was not only orphaned as a child, but lived separate lives and identities.

what you are saying is that you (?)
- don't know his real original name
- where he was born
- when he was born
- when he was orphaned (i.e., when his parents died at young age)
- there are no certificates listing anything of the above
- neither any orphanage registers that would have information
- you have absolutely exhausted the paper trail

What's the most significant piece of information that you are missing, the one that could help pick you up the paper trail again?

>> In the event where I don't get any [good] matches, I have no problem being one of the early DNA pioneers for my type

Most people don't get good matches, rightly so: to get a real good match you need to test against people that connect within recent generations, and these are likely far in between whereas for the big cloud out there the connection goes back so many generations that the match per definition isn't great. It also depends on which country/region/origin one is from!