The higher the resolution of the test, generally, the more refined the result ie 67 markers has more resolution than 37 etc. Among the alleles certain markers mutate more easily and frequently than others. Much work has been done on mutation rates of the individual alleles. Having a 1 step mutation even with in father son pairs, cousins even those removed, etc. is not unusual. The DNA with in a surname may establish relatedness but doesn't establish the relationship; thus there are indeed several layers of information which may be considered with in the context of these matches. A rule of thumb...if two people with in a surname match 37/37 it would be good if both parties would up-grade to 67 or even 111 markers. It would be unusual to find a perfect 67/67 match unless those individuals are fairly closely related, although the 111 marker test is more pertinent for say the last 4 generations and FTDNA defines their generation averages at 25 years per generation. Even at that if the paper trails haven't eaked out the relationship, at least you know there is relatedness there and the genealogies must be chased if you are so interested to do so. Keep in mind, as with the paper chasing, some common ancestors may not be identified but the added knowledge that indeed there is one is enough for some. On 12/28/2011 3:00 AM, scotch-irish-request@rootsweb.com wrote: > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: DNA sale (Les Tate) > 2. Re: DNA sale (marsha moses) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:22:58 -0800 > From: Les Tate<lrtate@live.com> > Subject: Re: [S-I] DNA sale > To: scotch-irish@rootsweb.com > Message-ID:<BLU0-SMTP435BEF9644FFD89580A9BBFB9AB0@phx.gbl> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > You would be fortunate to find a perfect 67-marker match within the last 7 or 8 generations. I did and it's a distant cousin from the same common ancestor, but through sons by different wives. However there are two cousins from the same son as his, but through different greatgrandsons of our common ancestor, and their results differ from us by one unit on two markers, but with only one of those "deviant" markers being the same for each. We also have 2-marker differences with two people with the same (or similar) surname, but we (and they) have not been able to establish a common ancestor even though we all appear to be related through an even older ancestor. > > Thus, you should also be looking for matches who differ from you by one or two markers and not concentrate on finding perfect matches. Let genealogical data should be your primary tool, with Y-DNA testing serving as additional information to aid further searching. > > Les Tate > N44383 > ================== > > Dec 23, 2011, at 10:45 AM, Neil McDonald (macbd1) wrote: > >> On the other side of 'approaching,' and having no matches at the 67 marker >> level, I'm chuckling at your wry humor while waiting... > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2011 22:27:41 -0500 > From: marsha moses<mosesm@earthlink.net> > Subject: Re: [S-I] DNA sale > To: scotch-irish@rootsweb.com > Message-ID:<5EF9C282-242B-49D1-AC58-B6B3E1EA7AB6@earthlink.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > My son and husband's test results came back with one marker difference....there is already a mutation in one generation down. I agree with Les. > On Dec 23, 2011, at 4:22 PM, Les Tate wrote: > >> You would be fortunate to find a perfect 67-marker match within the last 7 or 8 generations. I did and it's a distant cousin from the same common ancestor, but through sons by different wives. However there are two cousins from the same son as his, but through different greatgrandsons of our common ancestor, and their results differ from us by one unit on two markers, but with only one of those "deviant" markers being the same for each. We also have 2-marker differences with two people with the same (or similar) surname, but we (and they) have not been able to establish a common ancestor even though we all appear to be related through an even older ancestor. >> >> Thus, you should also be looking for matches who differ from you by one or two markers and not concentrate on finding perfect matches. Let genealogical data should be your primary tool, with Y-DNA testing serving as additional information to aid further searching. >> >> Les Tate >> N44383 >> ================== >> > > > > ------------------------------ > > To contact the SCOTCH-IRISH list administrator, send an email to > SCOTCH-IRISH-admin@rootsweb.com. > > To post a message to the SCOTCH-IRISH mailing list, send an email to SCOTCH-IRISH@rootsweb.com. > > __________________________________________________________ > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SCOTCH-IRISH-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 SCOTCH-IRISH Digest, Vol 6, Issue 324 > ******************************************** >