This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: ksaxe Surnames: Donald, McConnell, McDonald Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.mcconnell/2467/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Some Reasons and Ways to Use the Y-Search Database Y-Search is a public database created by Family Tree DNA to allow genealogists to share DNA test results, genealogical information, and contact information. Y-Search was designed to help genealogists with DNA test results from different companies compare their results, and so anyone with Y-DNA test results can enter them into Y-Search. In some cases, Y-Search is helpful to genealogists looking for matches who tested with the same testing company, but restricted their list of matches on the company match page. Y-Search may also be helpful to some researchers who are considering DNA testing and hope to find out whether men who may be related to them have already been tested. Because participation in Y-Search is optional, the absence of information on a particular family doesn't exclude the possibility that a family member has been tested, but a positive finding that known or potential cousins have already been tested can be very helpful to those who are on the fence about testing. Some examples: My cousin Robert McConnell has results for 37 markers and has a pretty rare haplotype. For a long time he had no matches on his match page at FTDNA. Recently I used the Search for Genetic Matches tab on Y-Search and instead of entering Robert's user ID, I chose the search by haplotype option and entered the results for Robert's first 12 markers. By looking for exact matches, I found two matches for Robert on Y-Search. Example 1 - The first match was another FTDNA customer with a surname that is not a McDonald variant. He has the same 12 marker haplotype as Robert, but he never showed up on Robert's match page, even when I set it to show 12, 25, and 37 marker matches, and to show matches outside the Clan Donald DNA project. However, the match must have had his match page set to display only matches within his surname project, or to exclude 12 marker matches. The display of matches is reciprocal; if either matching man's page restricts the display of their match, neither of the men will see it. In this case, it turns out that the match at the 25 marker level is not a very close one at all. Robert and his match only match on 19 out of the 25 markers. I haven't contacted this man, but I may try to someday, because the way the FTDNA database is set up to allow the exclusion of matches outside one's surname project, it is possible that at some point one of us may make contact with a ! 12 marker match who is a better match at 25 or more markers for the other. Example 2 - The second match had tested with Oxford Ancestors. He may have tested a long time ago; he had results posted for only 10 markers. Robert has results for 9 of those markers, and the 2 men match perfectly on those 9 markers. His match does not have a McDonald variant surname and has English ancestry, so the chance that he is related since the introduction of surnames is rather slim. However, he has shown the initiative to enter his results into Y-Search, and I think it would be a smart move for me to contact him. If there is a way for people who aren't customers of Oxford Ancestors to search their database, I don't know it, and he might be willing to keep his eyes open for another genealogist with a somewhat similar haplotype. If we had a really common haplotype, I would have to hope for a much closer match within the Oxford Ancestors database to help me in this way, but with our rare haplotype, this man is probably not swamped with matches and so may be! willing and able to help. Question: Does anybody else know of a way for people with test results from another source to search the Oxford Ancestors database? Does Oxford Ancestors have a service similar to Y-Search? Example 3 - The researcher in this one is hypothetical, but the circumstances are real. A McConnell researcher in New York state knows that his family lived in the area around the Finger Lakes and Southern Tier regions of the state. His research shows that there are multiple McConnell families who lived in these areas and that they may or may not be related to his family. He knows that at least one of these families came from Pennsylvania and one from the area of Orange County, NY and northwestern NJ. By searching Y-Search for the surname McConnell, he finds four entries for men who trace their lines to Pennsylvania, one for a man who traces his line to northwestern NJ, and a number of entries which don't specify where family members have lived during the last 250 years. Two of the Pennsylvania Y-Search entries are especially tantalizing. They are both for descendants of the PA family which has a branch in the Seneca County/Finger Lakes region. If he checks for genetic matches of the man who traces his line to Morris County, NJ, he will find a close match for that individual. So this man will know that if he tests, he will be able to compare results with men from at least 2 different families that may be related without having to recruit anybody else to test. If he contacts any of these individuals through Y-Search, or looks for their posts on Rootsweb and Genforum, he will find additional information. In fact, if he can trace his line to the Pennsylvania family, he will be very encouraged to know that the PA line researchers are actively seeking a third member of their family to test. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.