Hi Richard, You have just encountered one of the problems that has developed as more and more people undertake DNA testing. So many people have now taken the 12 marker test that its usefulness is being swamped by the sheer number of individuals with those very -few- 12 markers. I now advise new participants to test at the 25 or 37 marker level of testing. This is a problem of random chance resemblance between the individuals tested placed against such a small number of tested markers (12). This is especially true for western European folks who are part of the R1b haplogroup. Individuals with R1b haplotypes tend to group together under those first 12 markers. Plus, there's convergence - where chance mutations cause those who aren't related to resemble one another. The solution to this problem is what I advise folks who ask me about testing. Start with either a 25 or 37 marker Y-STR test. That will eliminate many of those 12 marker false positive matches. Most such fall away at either the 25 or the 37 marker levels of testing. However, it has occurred that such 'matches' haven't fallen apart until people have taken the available 67 marker test. But then, from my other project I know of two men who match on 66 of 67 markers and they do not share the same surname. One is a Ruddick and the other a Hull. However, both have Irish ancestry from County Down (or Antrim - I can't recall). Their individual genealogical tracks lead back to the same geographical region. It is likely that they are actually genetically related, even though they don't share the same surname. This simply reflects upon the relatively recent adoption of surnames within the last 500 or so years (plus or minus, according to place). Their last common ancestor likely lived just prior to the common adoption of surnames in that region of Ireland. Per RootsWeb policy, I cannot mention prices for services. However, you can go to the FTDNA site and see just how much it would cost you to upgrade from your 12 marker test to either the 25 or 37 marker level of testing. Upgrade and you'll see many of those 49 matches disappear. Also, upload your results to Ysearch.org and then try a comparison of your results against their database. You might find a matching Taylor who tested through another DNA testing firm such as Relative Genetics. Unfortunately, there are SIX separate surname projects that list Taylor as a participating surname at RG. Five of those projects actually contain tested participants (I checked this just a few hours ago). This is unfortunate because it splits up the pool of Taylors and makes it difficult to compare them for matches among the other Taylors who have been tested. But then, others may have a different philosophy or worldview when it comes to trying to discover who they are related to. I hope that these suggestions prove to be helpful. Dale ________________________________ Richard Taylor wrote: > Dear Dale, > > I just had my dna tested by family Tree. I received a printout of my > Y-dna with 49 matches. However, to my surprise there is not one Taylor > listed on the sheet out > of 49 12-marker matches. > > Where do I go from here? > > > Richard Taylor > > >