Y-DNA testing is only for males and ONLY provides information about the straight paternal line of your ancestry (usually the SURNAME line from your father on back) -- the very top line of the pedigree. mtDNA tells you about your MOTHER (whether you are male or female) and tells you about the very BOTTOM line of the pedigree--mother's side straight on back which is not connected/linked by a single surname (in most cultures). Autosomal DNA is every other aspect of your DNA --- regardless of which side of your family tree it falls on. Y DNA and mtDNA are inherited intact from one parent of the other -- it can more easily be tied to a specific ancestor in common. Autosomal DNA isn't inherited INTACT and unless you have a paper trail to compare notes with those who share matching segments on a chromosome you can't pinpoint (at present at least) exactly where the connection lies to others with matching segments to yours. Scientists believe that in the future they may be able to recognize a tag on autosomal DNA to identify the ancestor it is coming from...but that isn't available to us as yet. Let me give you an example of a situation where my autosomal DNA test helped me find a cousin. The 23andme Relative Finder said we were probable 3rd cousins. That is exactly what we turned out to be. We had 2 matching segments. A small segment of chromosome 2 and a HUGE segment of the X chromosome. Our X chromosome match was about 90%! Males only inherit a SINGLE X from their MOTHER and get the Y from their father. So we KNEW on the surface our match was on his mother's side. Females inherit TWO X chromosomes (and no Y). So we didn't know until we compared notes whether our match was on my mother's or father's side. Through a paper comparison of our trees we learned that his mother's father's mother and my father's mother's mother were siblings. Since this match is not a straight line male or female line match...mtDNA and Y DNA (where available) wouldn't have found our match and relationship. Autosomal testing coupled with our own knowledge proved our relationship. Joan On May 16, 2012, at 4:48 PM, Kirsten Bowman wrote: I have a fair understanding of the use of yDNA in genealogy but the blurbs I've read about autosomal DNA don't give a clue to whether that test would help solve a longstanding brick wall in my maternal line, which is as follows . . . My 3rd great-grandfather was born in 1788 in a sparsely-populated region of Canada. I suspect he was the son of one of 7 brothers who settled in the area in the early 1780s. Roughly a dozen direct male descendants of those 7 brothers have done yDNA tests through FTDNA. Some have tested up to 67 markers and one has done the FTDNA Family Finder test. My own line daughtered-out with my 2nd great-grandfather and I知 unable to locate any direct male cousins for yDNA testing. Now I'm wondering whether an autosomal DNA test would tell whether I'm related to any of the fellows who have already tested, or would an autosomal test of a female descendant of one of those 7 brothers show a relationship to me? Would the $99 test from Ancestry.com do the trick, or is the $289 Family Finder test from FTDNA necessary? I realize that no testing could tell *which* of the 7 brothers was the parent of my 3rd great-grandfather; I'm simply wondering if I can narrow him down to a certain clan. Can anyone answer those questions or direct me to a site that gives a thorough explanation of what autosomal DNA testing will do?

Interesting. I can probably upgrade my test results at FTDNA at some point to include mtDNA. For now my focus is on finding the right Gormans in Ireland at 1803 and beyond. Gale Gorman Houston On May 16, 2012, at 6:42 PM, JYoung6180@aol.com wrote: Y-DNA testing is only for males and ONLY provides information about the straight paternal line of your ancestry (usually the SURNAME line from your father on back) -- the very top line of the pedigree. mtDNA tells you about your MOTHER (whether you are male or female) and tells you about the very BOTTOM line of the pedigree--mother's side straight on back which is not connected/linked by a single surname (in most cultures). Autosomal DNA is every other aspect of your DNA --- regardless of which side of your family tree it falls on. Y DNA and mtDNA are inherited intact from one parent of the other -- it can more easily be tied to a specific ancestor in common. Autosomal DNA isn't inherited INTACT and unless you have a paper trail to compare notes with those who share matching segments on a chromosome you can't pinpoint (at present at least) exactly where the connection lies to others with matching segments to yours. Scientists believe that in the future they may be able to recognize a tag on autosomal DNA to identify the ancestor it is coming from...but that isn't available to us as yet. Let me give you an example of a situation where my autosomal DNA test helped me find a cousin. The 23andme Relative Finder said we were probable 3rd cousins. That is exactly what we turned out to be. We had 2 matching segments. A small segment of chromosome 2 and a HUGE segment of the X chromosome. Our X chromosome match was about 90%! Males only inherit a SINGLE X from their MOTHER and get the Y from their father. So we KNEW on the surface our match was on his mother's side. Females inherit TWO X chromosomes (and no Y). So we didn't know until we compared notes whether our match was on my mother's or father's side. Through a paper comparison of our trees we learned that his mother's father's mother and my father's mother's mother were siblings. Since this match is not a straight line male or female line match...mtDNA and Y DNA (where available) wouldn't have found our match and relationship. Autosomal testing coupled with our own knowledge proved our relationship. Joan On May 16, 2012, at 4:48 PM, Kirsten Bowman wrote: I have a fair understanding of the use of yDNA in genealogy but the blurbs I've read about autosomal DNA don't give a clue to whether that test would help solve a longstanding brick wall in my maternal line, which is as follows . . . My 3rd great-grandfather was born in 1788 in a sparsely-populated region of Canada. I suspect he was the son of one of 7 brothers who settled in the area in the early 1780s. Roughly a dozen direct male descendants of those 7 brothers have done yDNA tests through FTDNA. Some have tested up to 67 markers and one has done the FTDNA Family Finder test. My own line daughtered-out with my 2nd great-grandfather and I知 unable to locate any direct male cousins for yDNA testing. Now I'm wondering whether an autosomal DNA test would tell whether I'm related to any of the fellows who have already tested, or would an autosomal test of a female descendant of one of those 7 brothers show a relationship to me? Would the $99 test from Ancestry.com do the trick, or is the $289 Family Finder test from FTDNA necessary? I realize that no testing could tell *which* of the 7 brothers was the parent of my 3rd great-grandfather; I'm simply wondering if I can narrow him down to a certain clan. Can anyone answer those questions or direct me to a site that gives a thorough explanation of what autosomal DNA testing will do?