There is a difference in the quality of result you will get at different DNA testing laboratories - in the reporting of results,  in the reporting of matches and in the cost.  There is also a large difference in the service and support provided by the various testing companies.  Please consider all 4 aspects and do your homework before you buy a DNA test!

I have personally tested at ... Read more

Bennett Greenspan is the founder of Family Tree DNA.  He created the concept of Genetic Genealogy and his company tests more than 90% of the genealogists who use DNA to further their learning.  He is also a very nice man.

Here's a link to a recent interview with Bennett:

http://www.thebusinessmakers.com/episodes/shows/2012/july-2012/episode-371/bennett-greenspan-371.html

Hope you Enjoy!

Terry ... Read more

I just had an email discussion with an administrator who was trying to decide whether to allow people with only a Family Finder test in his project.  I shared with him my philosophy - which I repeat here:

A surname project is for yDNA tests of men with the project surnames, those who know of a name change from one of the project surnames to the one they currently have, and those who match project members. ... Read more

Most Project Administrators have probably had a discussion with someone who insisted that a person matching them  couldn't possibly be related because they spelled their name differntly - often with a very minor difference - such as  with (or without) an "e" or an "s".  

We support a project that is really fun to look at for the  name evolutions as immigrants came to America - the Palatine project at http://www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/palatine/results ... Read more

JoGG has a new issue: ... Read more

A number of researchers we know followed "Biscuits" blog back in 2005/6 when he was stationed in Iraq.  I also sent out update emails to a number of friends.  It was a tough time during a very serious stage of the Iraq War.  We are so pleased that all of our Military are finally coming home from Iraq! ... Read more

From time to time, I see an extraordinary situation where a man will have dozens of genealogically relevant matches with men of different surnames.  I still recall the first extreme situation I stumbled across several years ago, where a man had about 50 matches at 37 markers with about 45 different surnames.  When I searched for an explanation, I learned that this was not uncommon for Eastern European Jewish families.   ... Read more

For more than 10 years, we have made rapid and useful progress in using yDNA for our genealogical research.  This work has mainly been through ySTR - "markers" - that are tested by the commercial companies.  If you test at FTDNA (like I do), you are familiar with 25, 37, 67 and maybe even 111 markers.  A steady increase in the number of markers has helped us refine our understanding of who we match - and who we don't match.  We've struggled with "false matches" at 12 and 25 markers, upgraded to 37 and 67 markers to confirm our matches and used ... Read more

I just answered a question from a researcher about 464.  This is a confusing marker - so I've summarized the main aspects for anyone who needs a better insight. ... Read more

I just answered a researcher's question about how to “... identify the apparent haplotype of the MRCA”. 

In case you don't know what the ancestral haplotype is - it is the marker values that the ancestor would have had in order for his descendants to have the values they have  - which must be mostly the same as the ancestor's values - but possibly with one or more random mutations mixed in. ... Read more