It's a question of precision, and a hope that we may be able to uncover a "private" mutation that could connect you to a specific line. I talk about private mutations on this page: http://dgmweb.net/genealogy/DNA/General/SignatureMarkers.shtml I direct your attention to John (#G-6) and Gideon (#GX-1) in the "Gibson Lineage III-A" group. While everyone in the table is related, the GIBSONs in genealogical time and the JUSTICEs possibly before surname adoption, only these two individuals have a mutation from 13 to 14 at DYS392 (dark purple table cells). Because no one else in the table has these values, this must be a recent mutation, shared by a common ancestor nearer to them than the ancestor of all of them. A check of the paper pedigrees of these two individuals suggests John (#G-6) is probably the great-grandfather of Gideon (GX-1). I recommend studying this page because I believe the ideas here are key to making the best use of your test data. There's another example from my CORBIN project, where we have a CORBIN who is genetically a SHERMAN: http://dgmweb.net/genealogy/DNA/Corbin/CorbinDNA-results-HgR1b.shtml#Sherman This CORBIN shares a private mutation at DYS446 (bright green table cells) with a SHERMAN tested at SMGF, but with none of the other SHERMANs, meaning they have a near common ancestor. What's driving me up the walls is, as you may know, there is no way to contact someone tested at SMGF. The CORBIN would like to pay him to join FTDNA and fill out all 67 markers, but we've no way to reach him. But sooner or later, more SHERMANs will be tested, and another one with that mutation will turn up. We just have to be patient. If doing genealogy takes patience, and we all know it does, doing DNA for genealogy takes even more patience. So, one reason you test as many markers as possible is to find those shared, private mutations that connect you to a near common ancestor -- your branch on the family tree. These branches are especially important for someone with an NPE, where there's no paper connection. As for deep SNP testing, well, no, it's not necessary. If cost is an issue, I say test more markers and put off the deep SNP testing. It can be helpful in ruling out a coincidental near match of haplotypes, but those are very rare. It's definitely helpful to the research effort as a whole, and it will increase your understanding of your "deep" roots, but it's not going to help you with your genealogy. I have to admit to having an insatiable curiosity, so I'm a DNA testing company's dream. I'll take every test available! ;-) Diana > -----Original Message----- > From: brown-bounces@rootsweb.com On Behalf Of FBrown726@aol.com > Sent: Sunday, December 20, 2009 12:45 AM > To: brown@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [BROWN] Did the bull jump the fence? > > Thank you Diana. I am such a novice at this and I have a couple of > questions. Of how much value is an upgrade from a 37 to 67 > marker test? How much value is knowing the haplotree that you > talk about here? FTDNA predicts my deep haplogroup as R1b1b. > They will do a "Deep Clade-R test" for $89. Is this necessary? > > I have put my data in the Ysearch site but need to figure out > how to search for results. Frank >