The implementation of this page is quite unpredictable, as text brought over from editing sources is "run together," obliterating spacings and punctuation. I apologize for what I cannot control.

Q: What does YDNA "prove?" Is it guaranteed to reveal my lineage to a Paternal Ancestor?

A: Not exactly. Even if you sampled every single male ancestor that you suspected, which would require enormous expense and access to all remains, any one male along the line could be a brother to your linear ancestor (in other words, an uncle or cousin of yours at some level) and while you would still share a common paternal ancestor, your exact line of descent is not revealed, because you do not get names from YDNA. What you do get can strengthen the results of traditional genealogy. By analyzing records, both civil and personal, the genealogist builds up a case for an ancestry. If your results can be compared to a pool of other results, you may be able to find a common strand. Most importantly, if you or other researchers have a theory as to your paternal ancestor, your YDNA may be the most important clue in focusing research. YDNA is just a bunch of numbers, but if there is traditional genealogy to support a suspected ancestor, these numbers take on meaning when compared to other results.

Example: When my YDNA was analyzed, there were a few results to compare with from other suspected "cousins." By the time the fifth over-98% matching result arrived from someone who is not part of my direct line from at least five generations back, it appeared fairly obvious that men from three different ancestors were all cousins, and thus shared a Common Paternal Ancestor. Thus, the YDNA helped to strengthen conjectures based on standard (pre Personal Computer/Internet) genealogy.

A: If there is or ever will be a study of your surname or YDNA Haplo pool, your YDNA can be the key to determining a likely line of research that may represent the only link to a pool of descendants of known or strongly suspected ancestry. In other words, if your fourth great grandfather is a "dead end," then having your YDNA tested can, at least, offer the possibility of narrowing down the various lines that you may spring from, and at best, may help you towards "proving out your line" to your satisfaction. Even though we do not the name of your ancestor solely from your YDNA, we may be able to use the scores to compare with something that is known from another result.

Q: How can I tell who these families are?

A: The Most Distant Ancestor for a family line shows in the colored separator bar. The individuals below the separator are thought to share the ancestor(s) named in the bar. The individual donors also show a Most Distant Ancestor that is manually entered by them, and may not share the same format with other individuals. For the most part, it should be clear that those grouped under the separator bar come from a variety of named ancestors that are known to connect to the name in the separator bar. Most Distant Ancestor for individuals is thus capable of serving as a further subgrouping tool within a common ancestor group, but not always.  Read the Most Distant Ancestor entries carefully.  Unfortunately, FTDNA does not allow admins to order the individuals further than a single separator bar or to edit an unhelpful Most Distant Ancestor entry.

I am a donor or sponsor of results that are in your Project. When I run MATCHES from the kit site, I see all kinds of names and not the ones in the Project. 

Q: Should I ignore them?  

A: Large contingents of males share YDNA at 12-marker matches and above, because surnames are a convenient but not bulletproof indication of ancestry. Concentrate on 25-37 matches and above, and there may be some names that pop out that suggest a community where these names have been found using traditional historical and genealogical methods. Those matches may be worth some scrutiny. But do not assume that you are related in any meaningful way to these other names just because of these matches.  Matches among different surnames at the 12-marker level are more of a distraction than a pointer to any meaningful common ancestor. 

Q: Why do I see them?

A: The MATCH feature filter defaults to The Entire Database of YDNA results and can be filtered for any Project you belong to. Make sure that you are looking at the the Show Matches For: with the database you want.

Most importantly, the implementation of the filter for Markers:  is not intuitive. Logic suggests that if you match someone at 67 markers, you will also match them at 37, 25, and 12. But the filter requires that you enter each marker number in sequence for evaluation of results, you will get different results based on the number in the Markers: setting. 

Example: If you search MATCHES against the entire database with markers set at 67, you will see only those who tested for 67. You will seldom all results at one filter number unless every donor tested at the exact same marker number level.  Also, any results that were transferred from another source will not show up in MATCHES.

Q: My aunt had her DNA tested. Sshe was born a SLATON, can she join here ?

A: No. Females may sponsor a male result here, but females do not inherit the same "straight line" of markers from their fathers as males do. They have no need to join this Project except to see male results, which are open to the public in any case. Their personal results will not show here. If a female sponsors a YDNA result, that kit number will lead to a male. If the request to JOIN comes from a woman who sponsored a male result, that request will be honored, since the donor's surname will show with the kit that is joined, not the name of the sponsor. Even if that woman also had her own DNA tested, our site does not allow mitochondrial results to show, and her personal kit number would not be joined to the Project. 

Q: My great great grandmother was a Staton, and we still use the name in the male line, but we cannot find a marriage for her. Is our YDNA useful?

A: Under most circumstances, a male descendant of a Staton/Statton daughter should not match other males in the Project, but that YDNA can be posted as a type of proof of that concept. Also, the non-matching YDNA could focus research on a match with another surname that might be found in the community of your female ancestor.

If YDNA from a male descendant of a daughter does match, it suggests that a possible cousin marriage took place, very common in the US until about the mid-20th c, when it became more rare as legal barriers were raised against it for medical reasons. Unfortunately, there is no distinction between that result and what could be designated as incest. We cannot avoid that can of worms in cases such as this, except by intense research. 

Q: Can anyone tell anything about me from my results?

A: Do not confuse FTDNA with "genome" projects that suggest that medical information or "racial" or American Indian ancestry can be identified. There is no "racial" or medical component of the YDNA used in this Project. These numbers can only be used to suggest common paternal ancestry among groups of matching results. Also, your surname is all that appears to the public, not your given name. The answer is NO.

Q: I asked to join but do not see my results. Where are they?

A: Your Privacy settings on your kit page might be set to privacy. You must allow Project Members to see results, and Anyone to see your Most Distant Ancestor (even if one is not entered) , these are requirements for membership.