For Kirsten: I looked at it in a different way....and chose to do the kit and caboodle......I had my full-sequence mtDNA done and the Autosomal test because I was curious and because genealogy has become my most engaging hobby. I felt that spending the money on my hobby could be justified a couple of ways: 1. I wasn't out on the streets shopping, 2. if I gave up Starbucks for a year I could pay for something that lasted a lifetime, 3. once I'm gone my children will have information that may help them at some point, and 4...the most unexpected.....my mtDNA is NOT what I would have anticipated from what I know of my ancestors and that discovery has taken me in a wonderful new direction! It was worth every penny, to me!! m Mary Villalba Denver, CO 80206 > Your answer is possibly, if you choose the right test. > > > > Y-DNA (of the strict father-father-father... etc line) and MT-DNA (for the > STRICT mother-mother-mother... etc line) will tell you if you have a match > IF the person you want to match is a member of the above strict lines (the > edges on a ancestry chart ONLY). The autosomal tests are for all the other > lines. In other words the Y-DNA and MT-DNA ONLY test two lines in your > ancestry chart and are pretty much useless for identifying specific > individuals. What those two tests are good for is giving you your > haplogroup > and telling where your ancestors came from 30,000 or so years ago. In > other > words, beyond 20 generations AT LEAST! The chances of you finding a > specific > individual randomly that falls on the two lines given above are VERY SLIM. > > > > The autosomal testing is not at all like that. It tests ALL lines in the > family tree back about 5 to 7 generations quite accurately. Beyond that, > the > autosomal clues are pretty much diluted out as far as identifying specific > families or individuals that are related to you... but all lines are > tested. > If you want to identify if a family is related to you AND THEY HAVE BEEN > TESTED, or their DNA is available to test, then the autosomal tests will > probably give you much more information than the Y-DNA or mitochondrial > DNA > testing. > > > > As far as Autosomal testing - Family Tree DNA is the largest in the world > and provides one of the best testing services. Ancestry.com is just > starting > out and I know little about their testing but the general rule of thumb is > that you get what you pay for. It is your choice though but unless there > is > a large enough database to compare against, it is useless for you to go > looking for a match... if you know what I mean. FTDNA does have the Family > Finder on sale from time to time for $199 or is you are a member of a > surname group or other recognized group, you could get a special offer. > You > can go to ftdna.com and check all this out - they are very open about > letting people browse to learn about DNA testing and what is available and > what it will do you you. Check it out, what do you have to loose? > > > > And also MT-DNA is NOT found in the nuclear wall or membrane, it is found > in > all cell cytoplasm within the cell in structures called mitochondria - > thus > the name MT-DNA. > > > > Hope this helps and if you have further questions, you can email me direct > if you wish. > > > > Dave Michaelson > > > > > > > > P.S. > > > > Gale, > > > > Y-DNA testing will not give you the information you are looking for - > neither will MT-DNA testing. These test only test two SPECIFIC lines as I > mentioned above. Autosomal testing will test the other lines but will > only > help you if both parties have been tested (or the situation in the next > paragraph exists) which is true for all DNA testing. > > > > ALL these tests are useless for identifying people whose DNA is not > available. What the autosomal testing is good for is to test people alive > today that have provided their DNA and been tested and compare their DNA > to > yours. In that way, using information from both (yours and theirs) trees, > you could possibly get the data you need. The more people that match you, > the easier it is to narrow your search and identify specific individuals > and/or families. > > > > Again, I hope this helps. > > > > Dave > > > > > > ==================================== > > > > In you email, you wrote - > > > > "Kirsten Bowman" <viking@rvi.net> > > Subject: [ROOTS-L] Autosomal DNA? > > > > 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 linewhich 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?m 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 testedor 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 trickor 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-grandfatherI'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? > > > > > ------------------------------ > > To contact the ROOTS list administrator, send an email to > ROOTS-admin@rootsweb.com. > > To post a message to the ROOTS mailing list, send an email to > ROOTS@rootsweb.com. > > __________________________________________________________ > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com > with the word "unsubscribe" without the quotes in the subject and the body > of the > email with no additional text. > > > End of ROOTS Digest, Vol 7, Issue 152 > ************************************* >