Family member just upgraded their Y-DNA kit...what to make of the results.

[vharris]

Hello,

My cousin just upgraded their Y-DNA from a 12 marker to 37 marker. Now that the results are in, we are having trouble understanding what the results tell us.

Now besides my cousin, we found another relative who has the same common ancestor as our family...be he tested his DNA with ancestry. Now ancestry tests markers in a different order than familytree dna... so even though the other cousin had 37 markers tested... they are not the same 37 as our Y-DNA test. Still out of the common tested markers, my familytree DNA cousin matched my ancestry DNA cousin with all but one maker. Now their common ancestor was born in 1801 and died in 1861 so not that long ago really. I know from my experience with my Harris DNA that being off by one marker is quit common. However, usually when a family member is off by one marker, it is only a slight difference for instance, one value might be 24 and the other will be 23. But does it mean anything if the difference is further off. For instance on the Marker Y-GATA-H4, my cousin who tested with Y-DNA has the value 11, while my cousin who tested with ancestry has the value of 22. Is this normal and if not, what could it mean?

Also, my familytree DNA cousin, matches another surname 36 out of 37 markers, and a couple of other surnames 35 out of 37 markers...does this mean there is a family connection between the lines somewhere?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[efgen]

For instance on the Marker Y-GATA-H4, my cousin who tested with Y-DNA has the value 11, while my cousin who tested with ancestry has the value of 22. Is this normal and if not, what could it mean?

That's normal -- Ancestry reports GATA-H4 differently than FTDNA does. The Ancestry value is always 11 higher than the FTDNA value, so your cousins actually match on that marker.

Elise

[vharris]

That's normal -- Ancestry reports GATA-H4 differently than FTDNA does. The Ancestry value is always 11 higher than the FTDNA value, so your cousins actually match on that marker.

Elise

Is there a website that tells or do you know which Markers ancestry reports differently from FTDNA? I am keeping a spreadsheet with all the families members who have been tested or will be tested on it so we can compare easily...I want to make sure I have the FTDNA values on all.

[MMaddi]

Is there a website that tells or do you know which Markers ancestry reports differently from FTDNA? I am keeping a spreadsheet with all the families members who have been tested or will be tested on it so we can compare easily...I want to make sure I have the FTDNA values on all.

Here's what you're looking for - http://www.ysearch.org/conversion_page.asp#RG

[MFWare]

That's normal -- Ancestry reports GATA-H4 differently than FTDNA does. The Ancestry value is always 11 higher than the FTDNA value, so your cousins actually match on that marker.

Elise

Say what? I have taken Ancestry's 46-marker Y-DNA test. I have also taken FT-DNA's 111-marker Y-DNA test. For each marker in common between the two tests, FT-DNA and Ancestry report exactly the same value. There is no offset between them.

[efgen]

Say what? I have taken Ancestry's 46-marker Y-DNA test. I have also taken FT-DNA's 111-marker Y-DNA test. For each marker in common between the two tests, FT-DNA and Ancestry report exactly the same value. There is no offset between them.

There most definitely is an offset for some markers. You need to look at your marker values and compare again. Also see the link that MMaddi posted, which shows the offsets.

Elise

[MFWare]

There most definitely is an offset for some markers. You need to look at your marker values and compare again. Also see the link that MMaddi posted, which shows the offsets.

Elise

I went back and rechecked the results of both tests. The common markers are not reported as identical as I had posted earlier. Most are identical. In the case of Y-GATA-H4, however, FT-DNA reports my marker value as 10 whereas Ancestry reports it as 11 for a difference of 1.

[vharris]

What about these other surnames that we are closely matching over 37 markers? We match one Stokes 36 out of 37 markers and another Stokes 35 out of 37. We also closely match a Prendergast 35 out of 37 and as well as a Morrison. Does this mean our families share a common ancestor?

[vharris]

I am finding so much common ground between all the families that I closely match.

Prendergast is an Irish family descended from Maurice de Predergast who accompanied Strongbow in his invasion of Ireland. He was granted lands in Ireland for his service including lands in County Mayo.

Maurice de Prendergast got his name from his family manor, the Manor Prendergast in Pembrokeshire.

Stokes is named after the village of Stock near Caen in Normandy but they first show up in England in Pembrokeshire.

Morrison is a Scotch/Irish name. They first show up in Ireland in County Mayo.

The Prendergast who cousin matches 35 out of 37 was born in County Mayo Ireland and immigrated to Wisconsin.

There is just so much common ground here...there must be a connection.