I concur with Wendy. i was one of the near pioneers, i've been testing for 6 years, and it was tough at first, with little to go on, just a couple thousand testing and no way to compare between different companies, but now there's many, many more testees, better tests, and better systems all around. there's also a free website where some of the different companies tests can be sent in and compared to others (ie, a testee at FTdna and a testee at 23andme.com can now compare data to one another). i've tested my MTdna FGS at FTdna, and though my haplotype is fairly rare (H10e2) I have had one perfect match (who denies it!) and several close matches. I've had my husband's Ydna tested to 65 markers with no-one closer than 7 markers apart to him, though he has a very common (top 10 U.S.) surname. we'd like to test further but have been hit with major medical bills so will have to wait. before those bills we also tested with 23andme, but i haven't found a way to work out how anyone's related, and the close cousins never accept my invitations. we also tested with AncestryDNA, and I've found 5 matches, though all on well researched lines, ones we're very familiar with, not any of the brick walls we'd like to bust. but every time another group of cousins comes in, there's potential to find that missing piece. for those of us who are American, our biggest issues are the lack of European and British testees and the fact that many testees won't accept our invitations to share genomes when it can't possibly hurt anyone, or even share family trees. I have many British and German cousins who've tested and never accepted my invitation. i don't know whether they tested and checked in once and never again, or have no interest in American cousins, but i will tell you we're very disappointed. how can we trace our ancestry out of America without some of you responding? records here are sporadic, and in some areas, non-extant, so we need a little help from our British and European cousins to get back over the pond. please do respond and assist, if you've tested. DNA testing has really picked up over the past couple years and it has great potential now for making the discoveries that we are hoping for. each company has very good, very different tools, and i can't recommend one over the other for that reason. Ancestry has trees, and focuses heavily on genealogy. 23andme is focused on health but also has an autosomal section with a genealogy focus. FTdna has it's own autosomal test with a genealogy focus, as well as specific individual tests for the direct paternal line and maternal line. each of these give different types of information, and all can help discovering your ancestry one way or another. there's much to be learned from all of the tests. I learned that i am not, as i thought, part Melungeon, but have a bit of Eastern European and Ashkenazi instead. my sister has a perplexing touch of E. Asian and S. European as well. my husband has, to our great surprise because we have yet to find anything on paper regarding it, some Balkan, some Iberian and some Sardinian, though he's mostly British and German, with some Swedish. I know there is more to learn, and by this time next year we may have broken down some brick walls. there is so much going on in dna testing now, the potential is extremely good. for those who might find it frightening, for autosomal (all ancestors) testing, you spit into a test tube or brush your inner cheek (inside your mouth) with a brush or swab gently (depending on the company and the tools they use), seal it in the tube, and return it in a self addressed envelope, it takes 4 to 8 weeks to process, you get a list of cousins to contact, no name unless they chose to be public. when an invitation is accepted, you and your cousin compare genes in a section of the site reserved for it. very little information is given, and none of it is personal beyond a name. that's it, your name. at 23and me, there's a name, there's a number which refers to the chromosome you match on, a pair of numbers that tells you what section of that chromosome the match is in, and a number that tells you how much dna is shared, and that is all. no private data, no personal data, it's completely safe. and the other companies have comprable systems. stop being afraid, there isn't anything to be afraid of. and do share, most people are very conciderate. best, Cornelia On 31.12.2012 12:14, Wendy Reeve wrote: > Not a total waste Philip. FTDNA keep your sample for 25 years and there are > many more people testing every day. A match may come. I think you will find > things have moved on considerably since you tested - you must have almost > been one of the pioneers. If you are looking for genealogical matches, > perhaps the Family Finder test would have been better for you. The Y only > tracks the one paternal line. > Regards > Wendy > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message