I've found DNA to be a tough subject. I've been lucky to have found a mentor from an FTDNA McMullen group who has been extremely helpful. I would encourage anyone who has tested to be sure to join a group for your surname, and reach out to the leader of that group who may be able to help (there are a lot of surname groups at FTDNA). I took the male Y-DNA37 marker test (I'm not aware of a 32 marker one at FTDNA?). There are 5 (fellow McMillan/McMullan's) of us who tested the same through 25 markers. The closest is off at only one marker at 37 markers (actually the only difference is at CDY which is 2 parts, and we only differ on the 2nd part), and I'm told that's a fast moving marker, so we are working to try to find common ancestry. Currently, it appears we share Irish ancestry. There were quite a few different surnames on my results list, but most were off by 3 or more markers overall. I recently also took the Family Finder test at FTDNA, and am awaiting the results. It's said this can help to find cousin's back to 5th and 6th generations, although odds get worse the further back you go. It's said this test can help find ancestor's from all your family lines. I'm looking forward to the results, but I know I'll need guidance to figure it all out. I'm hopeful to find more possible cousins from my Scottish lines, including Drummond/MacGregor, McAlister, Shaw and Todd's. The Family Finder test seems reasonable at $99 at FTDNA, when it used to be closer to $300. This was my last hope for my McMullen lineage, and I'm hopeful to find more relations as more people test. I may need to upgrade my Y-DNA to 67 markers, but will have to save my pennies. Thanks!!  Tom McMillan ________________________________ From: Cliff. Johnston <[email protected]> To: Maisie Egger <[email protected]>; "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, October 7, 2013 5:24 PM Subject: Re: [Lanark] LANARK Digest, Vol 8, Issue 165 Maisie,   It sounds as if you may have tested as Celtic or even Anglo-Saxon, although my money is on Celtic.  Some of the Celtic lines in the Isles are a nightmare of a puzzle to sort out as so many of them adopted the surnames of others, and in addition they were very mobile.  This accounts for the mubblie-jumblie list that you received with no surnames matching yours.  I've seen this before.  Of course I only hear about the difficult ones to sort out, and I hasten to add that I can do almost nothing to help in these instances.  I've got my hands full as it is with my own line.   Don't give up on the one down in York.  Follow up.  You may receive a great treat.  Then you'll be glad that you had your family Y-DNA tested :-)  As for further Y-DNA test upgrades - probably not worthwhile at this point unless you received a list with a lot matches with no mutations.  What is a lot?  That depends upon the size of your pocketbook.  I certainly would consider an upgrade to 32 markers, but I wouldn't go for any more than that.  That will sort out some of the 12-markers matches and leave you with a meaty fillet to chew on :-)   Good hunting,   Cliff. From: Maisie Egger <[email protected]> To: Cliff. Johnston <[email protected]>; [email protected] Sent: Monday, October 7, 2013 5:26 PM Subject: Re: [Lanark] LANARK Digest, Vol 8, Issue 165 Cliff, How I admire your “smarts” to untangle the different levels of DNA testing!  I can talk the hind legs off a donkey, but my brain freezes at trying to unscramble the different levels of  DNA testing, though you did your best to give a clear understanding. DNA testing is really not essential to me:  there is no huge heritance among relatives in contention or the birthright of this or that human, and so on, so as I remarked, I’ll just stick with the “tree” plunking names/relatives*** on the different branches as they are found.  I subscribed to the 12-marker at the “bargain price” of $39, but should have saved my money as all I’ve got out of it so far are lists of meaningless names, not one of which shares my surname. Thanks for taking the time to explain this to such as I who does not know which end is up where DNA testing is concerned. ***HOWEVER, there is one instance where DNA would be very useful where there is a possible family connection with its roots in York, one of whose descendants is still living in southwest Scotland (a direct descendant) and then my own male relatives in Lanarkshire whose DNA could be checked to see if one is from the other, but I am too inept about following through on this, plus the expense.  I’d rather use the money to hire someone to paint the bathroom! Maisie ----------------------------------------------------------------  From: Cliff. Johnston Maisie,   We get what we pay for with Y-DNA testing, only the testing companies do not tell us that ;-)   As I have said elsewhere many times, the only company worth testing with is FTDNA.  They have the largest and best support system.  Period.   Here is my take on the different tests available (my opinion only):   12-markers test:  just whets your appetite for more testing.  About the only ones who get useful information from this test are National Geographic and the I haplogroup Johnston/es [said tongue-in-cheek as we do have a very distinctive Y-DNA signature - I can tell if you are kin by looking at the first 4 markers - the others are a bonus ;-) ]  Not worth the effort to take, IMO, for genealogical purposes.   25-markers test:  about as useless as the old saying that my grandfather used about bulls, teats and how worthless they were on a bull ;-)   32-markers test:  helpful to eliminate more distant connections and reaffirm closer connections.  A decent test, but has too many gaps.   67-markers test:  the best test to take initially as it will put you on a family branch if enough have tested in your haplogroup for branches to start showing up.   111-markers test:  we are still working out the value of this upgrade.  So far it appears to be very useful for sorting close kin, say within 2-6 generations.  If enough have this number of markers tested in your haplogroup it is very helpful.   Should you test with any other company than FTDNA, you need to be aware that the alternative-company tests do not include all of the same markers as those done by FTDNA.  This means that in order for one to compare an alternative-source company's Y-DNA results to that of FTDNA's results one will have to buy an additional make-up test from FTDNA in order to make a valid comparison.  This takes more time in addition to more money.   Good hunting,   Cliff.     From: Maisie Egger [email protected]   I subscribed to the cheapest offering for DNA testing for my side, with my brother giving the sample.  I don't really know what I expected, but was disappointed that all I got was a list of names from all over the shop, with not one sharing my surname....   ------------------------------- WHEN REPLYING to a post please remember to snip most of the earlier message. 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