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Understand Your Project's Results Page

An Overview of Results Page at Worldfamilies.net Project Websites

  • Click the link "Y-Results" in the black bar across the top of the project's website page.  (You do not need to be logged in to view the project's website.)
  • Understand the terms on the Results Page

    • Haplogroups--Results are usually grouped first by Haplogroups.  Two men must share the same haplogroup in order to "match".
    • Haplogroup Profile--Within each haplogroup, men are compared against the Haplogroup Profile, using a color code to show markers that do not match the Haplogroup Profile (also called mutations).  This color coding helps us see which results have the same numbers at the same markers within the haplogroup.
    • Individual Haplogroup posted with project member's results --these differ within a group according to whether it is estimated or tested. 
    • Lineage--Men who match closely enough to confirm that they share a common ancestor are grouped into a Lineage, and the Lineages are numbered within each haplogroup.
    • Probable Lineage--Men who match closely enough at 12 markers are grouped as "Probable Lineage' members of the lineage, as 12 markers is considered too few to confirm a common ancestor. 
    • Apparent Ancestral Profile--The probable DNA result for the common ancestor of a Lineage appears in the top row, on the same line as the name of the lineage.  
    • No Matches in the Project As Yet--Members of the project whose results do not match anyone else in the project as yet are grouped together with other project members who share the same haplogroup, with the header "No Matches in the Project As Yet."
    • FTDNA kit number --identifies the member of the FTDNA project.  Some older projects also retain a Project ID number, left over from our past method of giving each member a code identity numbers.  Thus, some projects have these ID numbers for some, but not all, members. 
    • Earliest Known Ancestor--picked up automatically from the Most Distant Ancestor the member submitted through his MyFTDNA page or from information submitted to us by the project member.  If the results are listed with "not provided" the member needs to go to his MyFTDNA page and provide that information so that it will be included the next time the project results are updated. 
  • Finding your matches on the Project's Results Page:

    • Look to see if you are in a Lineage.
    • If so, look at the Earliest Known Ancestors for your matches in the Lineage.
    • Write down the kit numbers for your matches and look at the project's Patriarchs Page to see if they have provided pedigrees.
  • Contacting your matches on the Project's Results Page:
     

 

 

  • Lineages

    • Project members' who match at 23/25, 33/37/, 61/67 or better - the commonly accepted measure for sharing a "recent" common ancestor.
    • Generally, the common ancestor lived since the advent of surnames (c1100) and probably was born in the last 200-400 years - though sometimes less.
    • The common ancestor could be the earliest ancestor on the oldest pedigree, could have lived as little as one generation earlier, or could have lived generations earlier than any of the listed earliest ancestors.
    • The Lineages within a Haplogroup are named in sequential order (Example: "Haplogroup J - Lineage 1")
    • Project Members who only have 12 markers, but match a lineage, may be grouped under the lineage with the heading "Possible Lineage".  
  • Apparent Ancestral Profile:   
    • When men are grouped together in a lineage, we can estimate the yDNA profile for their common ancestor by deducing what his profile had to be in order for his descendants to have their specific results. 
    • This Apparant Ancestral Profile appears in the top row of the lineage, on the same line as the name of the Lineage.   (Note:  The Apparent Ancestral Profile's mutations are colored to show how they differ from the Haplogroup Profile.)   The Apparent Ancestral Profile is not the same thing as the Haplogroup Profile.  (See Above)
  • Mutations:  
    • Generally an exact copy of the yDNA is passed from father to son, but occasionally, and at random, a slight difference may occur, called a mutation.  (Typically this mutation will show as a difference of one count, but there are special cases where it can be greater than one.)
    • Where the mutation matches a mutation from another result within the Lineage, the match likely indicates a more recent shared common ancestor (or a "branch" within the Lineage) as the two men probably both inherited the mutation from a recent common ancestor.
    • We use color-coding to mark the mutations from the Haplogroup Profile.  Markers that match the Haplogroup Profile are shown in the Haplogroup Profile color, while the mutations are marked using our color-coding: 

      Using this coding for mutations, a number that is 5 less than the Haplogroup Profile number at that marker would be colored yellow, 4 less would be orange, 3 less would be hot pink, and so on.  

Your Matches At WFN Project Websites

  • Comparing Your Results at Your Project's Website at Worldfamilies.net

    • Your results will be listed by your kit number and your earliest known ancestor (if you have provided his name--otherwise we will use your surname)
    • Any mutations (differences in the number of times the pattern repeats at a particular marker) between your test results and another you closely match will be colored in a different color.
  • Lineages

    • Your matches share a Lineage with you. 
    • This means that they share enough common markers with you to confirm that you share a common ancestor. 
    • The common ancestor could be the earliest ancestor on the oldest pedigree or could have lived as little as one generation earlier (or could have lived centuries earlier than any of the known ancestors.)
    • A Lineage is "declared" when two men are matching 23/25, 33/37, 61/67 or better. 
    • Matches at only 12 markers are not considered enough to confirm a shared ancestor, and cannot be included in a Lineage. 
    • These men are probably already listed among your matches on your Personal Page at FTDNA.  If you are not sure, you can contact your Project Administrator to check for you and to put you in touch with the other members of your Lineage.  (See below)
  • Earliest known ancestor

    • See if your matches have submitted an earliest known ancestor.  If so, do you recognize this name from your family tree?
    • If your match does not have an EKA listed, email him to ask that he provide it.
  • Patriarchs Page - see if the person whose results you match has posted a pedigree.

    • You can identify his pedigree by the kit number which appears at the end of any pedigree that we can match with a test participant. 
    • You will find his contact email address on the first line of the pedigree.  Change the AT to @ and remove spaces to send him an email.
  • Contacting your matches

    • If your match has not posted a pedigree and you would like to contact him, send an email to your project administrator.  He/she will usually be happy to pass your email along to your match to request that he contact you to share information.
    • Some (most) of your matches on the project’s Results page will also appear as a match on your personal page matches at FTDNA.

      • However, some of them will not, as they may not have tested at FTDNA, they may not be a member of your project, or they may have chosen not to show publicly as a match at the FTDNA website. 
      • Currently, it is difficult to correlate which project members you match on the project’s Results Page with the persons your match on your personal page at FTDNA, as Project websites use the kit number or an identity number to identify project members, while FTDNA identifies your matches by name.   You can ask your Project Administrator to tell you if a match on the Results Page already appears on your "Matches" page at FTDNA, to avoid contacting the same person twice. 
      • To protect privacy, project websites will not use the member’s name, so you may have to ask your project administrator to help you get in touch with your matches shown on the project website’s Results page. 
      • More information on contacting your matches
  • Your Next Steps

    • Keep Checking the website

      • Your Project Administrator may alert you whenever a new posting is made on the Results Page or the Patriarch Page.  Take a moment to check it out to see if it is of interest to you.
      • If you are looking for a specific ancestor, post it on the project's forum.  An interested researcher may see it and you may end up working together to test the key person for your research. 
    • Take the Appropriate steps on this page: Your Next Steps
  • Understanding Results FAQ
  • Terms you need to know:

    Kit Number                              Haplogroup                             Lineages
    DYS Values                             Haplogroup Colors                  Probable Lineage
    Earliest Known Ancestor        Haplogroup Profile                 Not Yet Assigned to a Lineage
    Marker Panels                        Haplogroup Letter Colors       Apparent Ancestral Profile
    Mutations                                Color Coding of Mutations      Matches on the Project's Results Page

     Marker Panels : the vertical numbers and letters in the header across the top of the Results Table show the DYS ("address") names for a location on the yDNA strand. 
                                                                                                                

  • Kit--the number assigned by FTDNA to a test kit
    (Some Project Administrators include a column for ID#, which is a code identity for members of the project.  WorldFamilies.net no longer includes this ID#, except for the ones that were issued early in the project's history)
     
  • Earliest Known Ancestor--the male who is the farthest back in the paternal line of the  participant - as traced through a paper trail. 
  • Haplogroups  ("Haplo"):  This name is used for the branches of the "Family Tree of Man" based on analysis of yDNA. 
    • Results are grouped by Haplogroup.
    • The Haplogroup Profile is the apparent common marker value for men who have that haplogroup.

      • The Haplogroup Profile is used by WFN for comparison and colorizing results within that haplogroup. 
      • The Haplogroup Profile is NOT the same thing as the Apparent Ancestral Haplotype for a Lineage.  (See below)
      • Haplogroup Background Colors - Currently, we have assigned each Haplogroup Profile a different color. To see the Haplogroup Profiles:  http://www.worldfamilies.net/geo/haplogroups/results
      • Haplogroup Letter Colors tell how the Haplogroup was reported for each member:

        • Red means FTDNA has estimated the Haplogroup, based on matching the yDNA profile to men who have been formally SNP tested
        • Green is used when the project member has been SNP tested to determine his Haplogroup or Clade. 
        • Black is sometimes used for estimates created in any other way
        • For more information on Haplogroups 
      • DYS Values in the Results Table

        • The number shown for each marker tells the number of times that pattern repeated at that location on that kit's test results.
        • Lineage - two or more men who match at 23/25, 33/37/, 61/67 or better
        • "Haplogroup * - Not Yet Assigned to a Lineage" - Results of only 12 markers or results that do not match anyone else in the project are grouped under this header
        • "Probable Lineage *" - Results that may be part of the Lineage, but have not been tested at enough markers to confirm it are often shown under this header.

 

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