Perplexed by Y-DNA results.....

[bbutler247]

I am a white male, aged 69. No one in my family or lineage is known to be African, but my results came back with 45 matches - many with 0 distance - and most are African. I had my Autosomal test done with AncestryDNA & according to their chart, my ancestry is less than 1% African, with 97% being European. The results from FTDNA show a haplogroup of E-M2 for the most part and some with E-P1 or E-P277. There is only 1 surname match (E-P1) & I've never heard of him before.
Is it possible that my sample could have been mis-labeled and that my results belong to someone else? I am never surprised to find varying results, but such a total mismatch is concerning....your thoughts?
Butch

[hfp43]

[QUOTE=bbutler247;427210]I am a white male, aged 69. No one in my family or lineage is known to be African, but my results came back with 45 matches - many with 0 distance - and most are African. QUOTE]

Regarding the Y-test, it would be helpful to know the number of markers and the genetic distances. But absent an improbable lab error, it appears that you and your "African" matches (who I assume are "African-American") share a male-line ancestor. That should not be a surprise, especially if your male line runs through the South. A European male-line ancestor who was common to all of you seems more likely than an African one.

[jbarry6899]

What was your predicted haplogroup?

[bbutler247]

I tested at 67 markers.........

I have 45 matches @12 markers, 6 matches @ 25 markers, 2 matches @ 37 markers and no matches @ 67 markers. All of the matches are at 0 GD except those at 37 markers & they are at 2&3. The only surname match was one of the 37-marker matches.

My predicted haplogroup is E-M2

[MMaddi]

Your haplogroup, E-M2, is sub-Saharan African. That's why your matches also have that haplogroup and are African-American.

Haplogroups go back thousands of years. So, while your myOrigins shows that your overall ancestry is European (white), at some point in the past you probably had an African ancestor in your strict paternal line. It could have been 1,000 or 2,000 or more years ago. Your African ancestry from that one ancestor has been diluted over that time by your overwhelming European ancestry.

So, while myOrigins only picks up a trace percentage of African ancestry, your haplogroup indicates that you probably do have distant African ancestry in one line.

[Dabney Carr]

Back in the 1600's in colonial America, they used to house the black slaves and white slaves in the same quarters. They would sometimes intermingle, marry, and have children.

In my mother's line there was one such relationship; a young white Englishman indentured servant married a mulatto female indentured servant. Their descendants today are white though they may carry a tiny percentage of African DNA. For example, my mother shows 0.0% here at FTDNA, 0.0% at AncestryDNA, but she does show a trace amount at 23andme.

Something similar may have happened in your family.

[wombat]

It sounds like some generations back your strictly paternal line traces back to an African American and eventually back to Africa sometime in the last few centuries (although there is always it chance it could date to something way farther back in time, long before USA existed). The strictly paternal line just traces back one line of many, by 2nd great grandparent level it only contributes around 1/16th of your ancestry composition and each gen farther back about 1/2 less still (it does become a bit more random once you go back a ways and sometimes stuff just drops out almost totally and sometimes it sticks around longer).

[lgmayka]

I have 45 matches @12 markers, 6 matches @ 25 markers, 2 matches @ 37 markers and no matches @ 67 markers. All of the matches are at 0 GD except those at 37 markers & they are at 2&3. The only surname match was one of the 37-marker matches.

My predicted haplogroup is E-M2

A surname match at 37 markers is a lot better than many of us have, and is clearly the line of investigation to pursue. (This also makes the probability of lab error essentially zero.)

E-M2 (which YFull calls E-V95) has a TMRCA almost 27,000 years ago. As others have said, the African introgression of your patrilineage could have occurred 400 or even 4000 years ago.

[NCroots]

I just noticed this thread. I'm white but descended from an Ivey family known to have been mixed race in colonial Virginia & North Carolina. My male Ivey cousins have the y-haplogroup E1b1a8a (E-P277). My Ivey ancestry is on my mother's mother's side, so I don't share the Ivey y-haplogroup; I do, however, show a small amount of Subsaharan African in my autosomal DNA results. Recently, I noticed one of my Ivey cousins had his SNP change to E-P1 (the rest remained at E-P277). Is E-P1 in the same line as E-P277? I wonder why his changed, but not my other cousins?

PS Interestingly, my name is Butch too!

[The_Contemplator]

Whoever had their haplogroup assignment change could have done so through SNP testing. They may have tested a single SNP, a SNP pack, or the Big Y. It will cause the haplogroup to be refined to a more specific branch of their old haplogroup assignment. The haplogroup of the matches won't change unless they do SNP testing on their kits as well. You can join a haplogroup project and get advised by the project admin on SNP testing if that interests you. Though you can always go for the Big Y as anyone can take it without being advised.

[dna]

I just noticed this thread. I'm white but descended from an Ivey family known to have been mixed race in colonial Virginia & North Carolina. My male Ivey cousins have the y-haplogroup E1b1a8a (E-P277). My Ivey ancestry is on my mother's mother's side, so I don't share the Ivey y-haplogroup; I do, however, show a small amount of Subsaharan African in my autosomal DNA results. Recently, I noticed one of my Ivey cousins had his SNP change to E-P1 (the rest remained at E-P277). Is E-P1 in the same line as E-P277? I wonder why his changed, but not my other cousins?

PS Interestingly, my name is Butch too!

Did you notice the change on the 10th (Tuesday) or later?

If yes, there is a simple explanation for such a change. On that day FTDNA started working with their Big Y database, as they change the way the Big Y results and matches are presented. Some of those who took Big Y had their final SNP changed to a generic SNP above in the tree. (Yes E-P1 = E-M2 is above E-P277 = E-M4254.) You may want to check his SNP value a week from now, when (hopefully) everything is back to the new normal.

Mr. W

[NCroots]

Did you notice the change on the 10th (Tuesday) or later?

If yes, there is a simple explanation for such a change. On that day FTDNA started working with their Big Y database, as they change the way the Big Y results and matches are presented. Some of those who took Big Y had their final SNP changed to a generic SNP above in the tree. (Yes E-P1 = E-M2 is above E-P277 = E-M4254.) You may want to check his SNP value a week from now, when (hopefully) everything is back to the new normal.

Mr. W

Yes, I noticed the change just a few days ago. I'll keep an eye on it. Thanks, everyone!