You know, this is the BEST explanation of these tests that I have ever
seen.  Thank you very much for taking the time to explain.  I think I will
go back and have another look at my father's test now.

Connie


On Sun, Jun 9, 2013 at 10:18 AM, Bill Davidson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> The Y chromosome test (that only men can take) has certainly been the
> "gold standard" over the years. That test is "representative" of the male
> donor's father, his father's father, his father's father's father, etc.
> etc. So....if the male DNA donor is a Mr. Jones, for example, then the Y
> chromosome DNA test result would typically be "representative" of his
> entire "Jones line." The "monkey wrench" that can be thrown into this test
> (and into any other DNA test), however, is if there was a "non-paternity
> event" (i.e., an adoption or an out-of-wedlock birth), somewhere in the
> donor's line. For example, my mother (who was born a Miss Brown) had a male
> cousin who is a Mr. Brown, but his Y chromosome DNA test results were a
> match to only three men who are all Mr. Smiths. We now know that my
> maternal gg-grandfather named Smith W. Brown was actually an "Smith infant"
> who was taken-in, named and reared by a Brown family in Middlesex Co., VA
> (hence, my mother was actually a "biological Smith" versus a "biological
> Brown"....though she went to her grave in 1997 without knowing that).
>
> The mtDNA test (which can be taken by a man or a women) is
> "representative" of the donor's mother, that mother's mother. that mother's
> mother's mother, etc. etc. While similar in concept to the Y chromosome
> test, the results from this test present a much harder challenge to
> research. That is because every time a woman marries, she receives a
> different last name. For example, my mother was a Miss Brown/Mrs. Davidson,
> but her mother was a Miss Roudabush/Mrs. Brown, while the mother of this
> last woman was a Miss Messick/Mrs. Roudabush. So....it can become quite
> complicated to "use" the results of this test (plus, a lot of people have
> no idea what the maiden name of their mother's mother's mother's mother
> was, for example).
>
> The third popular DNA test is called the "Family Finder" test by Family
> Tree DNA, and other companies like "Ancestry" and "23andme" have a similar
> test. This test can be taken by a man or a woman, and it will basically
> show "DNA matches" to people (who have also taken this same test) who share
> any common MALE or FEMALE ancestor with the donor within the last four or
> five generations (this test apparently can provide some "false
> positives"....and/or omit relatives all together....once you go back more
> than about four or five generations). People who take this test frequently
> have hundreds of matches, since all kinds of male and female cousins can
> "appear" (with a variety of last names). So....this test can be even harder
> to "interpret" than the mtDNA test....but is has still proven to be very
> valuable to some researchers. As an example of the difficulty, one of the
> donor's "matching" relatives (who also took this DNA test) could be a Mrs.
> Jones/Miss Smith, for example, but the REASON that the donor is a match to
> that Mrs. Jones/Miss Smith could be because both donors share a "common
> Brown relative" from a few earlier generations....plus that "common Brown
> relative" could have been on either donor's father's "side of the family"
> or on the mother's "side of the family"....so you can image the effort it
> can take to "make sense" of the results from this test.
>
> I took the 37 marker Y chromosome test at Family Tree DNA, and I have six
> other men named "Davidson" at this time who are an "excellent DNA match" to
> me....and I now know how every one of them connects to my "Davidson line"
> (and I have similar DNA test results for the above-mentioned Smith/Brown
> family). I have "traced" all three of these surnames (Davidson, Brown and
> Smith) to men in those families who were in Virginia in the 1600s.
>
> Comments/questions?
>
> Bill
>
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