FAQ
If you have any questions after reading the materials here, email Susan at countykerrymtdna @ earthlink.net. If you expect me to see your email and want a reply, copy and paste the exact phrase COUNTY KERRY MTDNA into the subject line of your email.These topics are covered below.
✔ Ability to navigate your FTDNA account is needed and expected. Use the links below for external guides if necessary to help you with account navigation.
✔ Eligibility is understood. If you don't understand, contact the administrator.
✔ mtFull test is completed or on order.
✔ Family history documentation is entered into your account.
✔ Your data (family history and DNA) is SHARED with matches and with FTDNA.
Eligibility✔ Direct maternal line ancestry from County Kerry.
In case you are not fully aware of what direct maternal line ancestry means, take a look at the diagram below. If you are at the bottom, your direct maternal line ancestry is shown in the pink line on the right.
If you don't have first-hand knowledge of such ancestry, good circumstantial evidence of it through genealogical records should suffice. Secondary sources of information such as immigration records, censuses, death records, obituaries and even tombstones will help you build a strong circumstantial case.
Having a maternal ancestor from County Kerry somewhere else in your family tree other than your direct maternal line is not sufficient. You can, however, test and enroll a relative in the direct maternal line of descent from that ancestor.
Being a mtDNA match to someone with mtDNA ancestry from County Kerry is not sufficient.
✔ mtDNA Testing. A mtFull test at FTDNA is needed. This tests HVR1, HVR2, and the Coding Region. If you don't have one, log in to your existing FTDNA swab account if you already have a swab done. Point your browser here to order mtFull.
✔ Data Sharing. If you aren't willing to set up your FTDNA account so as to share your family history and results data with your matches and this project, then this is not the project for you.
✔ Familiarity with FTDNA Account. Written and illustrated instructions for all the required account settings are listed below. If you are unable to figure out how to adjust a particular setting, say so in your JOIN request. Or, ask for help on the Activity Feed.
✔ BEFORE CLICKING JOIN. The JOIN text on the BACKGROUND page must be submitted with your JOIN request.
The following instructions utilize a third party website (not FTDNA's) in order to better illustrate FTDNA's account features. Any links taking you to that website will have a tan colored background like this box.
Family History DocumentationSee external help: Set up Earliest Known Maternal Ancestor.
Set and Save Country of Origin to Ireland and type the phrase Co Kerry, Ireland in the mapper if you don't know the exact location of the origin of your ancestor in Kerry.
See external help: Family Tree.
A family tree showing the direct County Kerry matriline is REQUIRED. Approximate dates as best you can and specify locations down to the townland or civil parish if you can. The earliest maternal ancestor should be consistent with Earliest Known Maternal Ancestor.
Data SharingYou've probably already opted in, but in case you are not seeing any matches among your tests, check the following:
See external help: Opt in to DNA matching
See external help: Share ancestral origins with matches.
See external help: Family Tree.
Scroll to the bottom of the Family Tree external help guide.
See external help: Share DNA and ancestral data with projects
See external help: Share mtDNA Coding Region
✔✔ strongly recommended. Give the administrator permission in your JOIN request to include your anonymized data on our FTDNA Results page.
✔ strongly recommended. Take the Family Finder test at FTDNA in the same mtFull account. The FAQ illustrates a problem with relying on transferred autosomal data.
✔ strongly recommended. Join your relevant mtDNA haplogroup projects (see LINKS, left sidebar) and the Ireland mtDNA project.
Project CommunicationsIf you expect me to see your email and you want a reply:
Copy and paste the exact phrase COUNTY KERRY MTDNA in the subject line of your email.
If you are a project member and are asking about something in your account, include your FTDNA kit number on that subject line.
Inquiries should be BRIEF - 300 words or less. Do NOT send unsolicited attachments unless we agree in advance that I should look at them.
Send email to Susan at: countykerrymtdna @ earthlink.net.
Please do post on the internal Activity Feed, which is kept private. Use the Activity Feed to keep the group informed of your research progress. See you there!
The administrator does not give out contact information of members who do not match you.
The project administrator will keep any website pages allocated for the project updated. Maybe one bulk email will go out annually, coinciding with the year-end sale, to keep members posted on any major progress or revelations. It depends on the extent of project activity. Any other communication will be on the Activity Feed.
If you have any questions after reading the materials here, email Susan at countykerrymtdna @ earthlink.net. If you expect me to see your email and want a reply, copy and paste the exact phrase COUNTY KERRY MTDNA into the subject line of your email.
