On Friday, June 3, 2016 at 10:32:18 PM UTC-4, Stewart Baldwin via wrote: > On 5/31/2016 2:18 PM, taf via wrote: > > On Tuesday, May 31, 2016 at 9:53:17 AM UTC-7, joe...@gmail.com wrote: > >> Perhaps, but both have been useful. Y-DNA testing has been useful to connect individuals genealogically back 10,11, maybe 15 generations back or more. > >> > >> autosomal DNA testing has been useful to me to prove/connect to individuals on a must more recent timescale (5 or 6 generations back with confidence). > >> > >> So, Y-DNA has a lot more depth on the chart, but autosomal has much more bredth in lieu of depth. > >> > >> Both useful, but in different ways. > > I think Andrew was talking about a different type of autosomal analysis than you are. He was talking about SNP analysis used to determine ethnic proportions - basically useless for genealogy unless you don't know if your grandfather was a Finn or an Italian and you know everyone else is neither. What is more useful is the autosomal SNP clustering analysis that looks at conserved islands of contiguous DNA and can tell you someone is related to you within about a half-dozen generations. While it has limits, that can be useful data, though it proves no specific connection. > > The generation estimates given by the testing companies can be very > misleading, and I sometimes wonder if they are making the results sound > as good as they can possibly justify. I had my autosomal DNA tested by > FamilyTreeDNA, and I have not been fortunate to find many matches close > enough to be easily traceable, but when I got my results, I at least > thought that the relationship ranges would be close enough that a > significant percentage would fall within the range specified. Interesting analysis. On familytreeDNA my results are quite a mishmash and the ranges are terrible. On ancestry DNA I get the following: One "1st-2nd cousin" match who is a 1st cousin, once removed Two "3rd-fourth cousin" matches. One is a 2nd cousin, twice removed, and the other is a likely non-paternal event not yet traced. 42 "4th-6th cousin" matches, of which there are by paper: 1 2nd cousin, once removed 1 2nd cousin, twice removed 3 3rd cousins 1 3rd cousin once removed 1 4th cousin 1 5th cousin 1 5th cousin, once removed 7 cannot find the link 26 I have no information for