Adoptee finds Birthfather??

[Bfnelson1]

Hello All

I submitted my 37marker DNA test to help aid me in locating my birthfather/parternal line with FTDNA in the first part of August I had gotten my test results back with some good news- I had matched someone in the FTDNA database with a 12/12 marker match and a 25/25 marker match with a 37/37 marker match with a Genetic distance of 3- I have no clue what that means- I was shocked

Thanks FTDNA for you help in this Brickwall of mine

Brooks Nelson

[amjb09]

Hi, that is outstanding good news I do not understand it all either but it works; perhaps someone on this forum can help answer your questions. Congrats on your matches; that's very exciting.

[Bfnelson1]

Thanks for the warm wishes- I have actually emailed the person but no reply yet

[darroll]

You are surely related to someone in your match.

[RichardH]

Brooks,

Having done this successfully myself, I should point out that the person you match is probably not your birthfather. The odds of you and your father both being in the FTDNA database are very small.

What you may have discovered, however, is the surname of your birth father. And this can be the breakthrough you need to guide further research.

Ask the person you match if any branches of his family lived in the geographic area of your birth. In my case there was no known connection because the common ancestor lived a couple hundred years earlier and by now there are many branches of the family who have no knowledge of each other.

Even if there is no known connection, you can now use conventional sources like old city directories to look for men with that surname who lived in the same area as your birth mother. If she was a student when she got pregnant, check old yearbooks for men with the correct surname.

For more information and ideas see my web site, DNA Testing Adviser.

This is exciting! I hope it leads to the answers you seek.

Richard

[amjb09]

clues to yourself

Hi, congrats are what you have found, keep the faith, each clue leads to another and I know you will have a happy successful journey through dna to your ancestors. Don't Quit the frustration and confusing moments are well worth the journey to what each of us wants and needs to research to find ourselves.

[Bfnelson1]

I have requested the Unit Roster that this person belonged to while he was stationed at the Presidio-San Francisco- I had the document before but lost it during a move

[mkdexter]

Same here

I too am using FTDNA to find clues to my birthfather's surname.

I am finding I have a lot of 12/12 matches who did not test further so I have to put their names down as possible matches and for those who did test further I can eliminate them from my list when they stop matching at additional markers.

In other words I have two lists: those who might match if they tested more and those who match at higher levels. This so far is leaving me with about 15 different names.

The moral of the story is one match may not be your birthfather's surname, depending upon all kinds of things, yet if you can narrow down a list of possibles its a first step.

In the case of an apoptee search it is unfortunate FTDNA even allows just 12 marker testing as it is really not definitive enough, at least in my example.

[gtc]

In the case of an apoptee search it is unfortunate FTDNA even allows just 12 marker testing as it is really not definitive enough, at least in my example.

Yes, 12 markers are usually too few to be all that useful, other than to see where further testing is required.

Another issue is haplogroup mismatch. At present FTDNA's Y-matches do not take account of haplogroup, so you can get false positives. They said they'd be implementing "SmartMatch" before the end of 2009 but, although it's been implemented for mtDNA, it doesn't look likely for 2009 on Y-DNA.

Have you put your results on Ysearch (http://www.ysearch.org)? If not, you may get a better "filter" via that means.

[mkdexter]

I may need a little teaching

I may need to better understand how these matches work. To really say it is a match both dys markers and haplogroups must match?

For an example - Does this mean R1b1b2a1b5b vs. R1b1b2e* is NOT a match even if 25/25 dys markers?

Thanks, Matt.

[gtc]

I may need to better understand how these matches work. To really say it is a match both dys markers and haplogroups must match?

Haplogroups are collections of similar haplotypes, that is haplotypes which contain the same values for a given chain of SNPs.

For an example - Does this mean R1b1b2a1b5b vs. R1b1b2e* is NOT a match even if 25/25 dys markers?

Here's FTDNA's explanation of matches at 25 markers when the surname is the same or a recognized variant:

http://www.familytreedna.com/genetic-distance-markers.aspx?testtype=25

Within FTDNA's matches page, at 12 markers you can currently get matches with people who have different haplogroups which is what happens in my case. I have 13 so-called matches at 12 which are spurious because they are different surnames and for those who I have contacted, generally different haplogroups, too.

Have you uploaded your DYS values to Ysearch?

[Jim Barrett]

For a Haplogroup match to mean anything you MUST know the method used to determine the Haplogroup, when it was done and what company did it.

FTDNA predicts the Haplogroup using your first 12 STR markers, you can order a Backbone test and you can order a Deep Clade test. To be meaningful the Deep Clade test is needed. The test need to have been run by the same company to be sure the same method of testing has been used. The test need to be current as new SNPs are being added all of the time.

I don't know of any case where people who have a 37/37 match don't have the same Haplogroup.

[mkdexter]

more info

Yes I did upload to YSearch.org. My haplogroup was tested with a deep clad test to r1b1b2a1b5b and my 25/25 match also has the same tested haplogroup.

Still waiting to see his 37 marker results. He and I have talked and he ordered the upgrade for my benefit.

I still wonder what happens when two deep clad tests don't match yet markers are only 1 or 2 off at 37. Should I believe the markers or does the "tested" haplogroup really need to match first? I have a different surname match at 35/37 markers but he is not the same haplogroup. At 67 markers this person is a genetic distance of 7. I figure he's not as close a match.

[mkdexter]

re my last

My 25/25 marker match dropped off between 26-37 by 5 markers. Wow i didn't think that was possible. I never figured out why some close marker matches can be completely different at the tested deep clad haplogroup reading but i'll just stay with using the markers as my indicators for now.

[~Elizabeth~]

I think deep clade takes precedence (is the most important). Look at that first, then if you and another person have the same deep clade, look at markers.