My Xmas present to myself in 2007 was a Y-DNA test with FamilyTreeDNA. It was wll worth it to me.

Is anyone having problems in loading the Family Tree DNA website?

RT@Trevor Penfold. It is loading fine at the moment for me using IE8; however, there were sporadic problems over the weekend.

Still problems in loading Family Tree DNA in IE8, Firefox and Google Chrome
Other websites fine.

It's working for me in Firefox.

I have not been finding the website at all with IE8 or Firefox since Sunday morning. I wrote to the FTDNA helpdesk and they say that there is a DNS problem that they know about with one ISP called Bluewind. However it seems that this problem must also extend to other ISPs, but obviously not all, as some people are still able to access the website.

The FTDNA website is now accessible to me again.
Hurrah!

A report and pictures from the big Clan Gathering in Scotland have now been added to the FTDNA website and can be found here.

The latest issue of Facts and Genes, the FTDNA newsletter, has just been published with details of the deep clade sale, new fun tests for various inherited traits such as longevity and male pattern baldness, and much more. You can read the newsletter here if you do not already subscribe.

There is a fascinating interview with Dr Michael Hammer the "Ancestor Hunter" and FTDNA's chief scientist, which is now available online on the Miller-McCune website. It can be found here, and I've also added it to the links section so it doesn't get lost.

Had my DNA checked and I seem to have originated from the area around Turkey and Afghanistan. Travelling over the centuries through Europe to where my home is now in Somerset UK!

Roy, Are you a haplogroup G by any chance? If so there is a very active haplogroup project at FTDNA which you might like to join. You can find a full list of all the haplogroup projects here.

Good time to have a yDNA test done, FTDNA has a pretty good sale on!!!!

The latest issue of the online Journal of Genetic Genealogy has just been published. The interview with Bennett Greenspan, CEO of Family Tree DNA, will be of particular interest. JOGG can be found online here.

Please vote for Family Tree DNA in the Your Family Tree magazine awards. They are nominated in the category "Best Family History Service" (Question 12). You can participate in the poll by clicking here:

http://www.yourfamilytreemag.co.uk/awards

My husband just had his DNA tested with FTDNA and we got his 12 marker results in this morning, we are waiting on the remaining 24 markers to come back. I cant make heads nor tails about most of it. I am unable to load the Haplotree, but when I search his matches I get matches on Haplogroup R1B1 can I safely say that is his Haplogroup? We were almost certain he had Native American in him, but there is No Native American in that particular group right? Once the other markers come back is there a chance they could show some NA Lineage or is he way off base in assuming that? I certainly do not understand much about DNA, had mine tested a couple years back, but his is more in depth, I went through Ancestry dot com for my Testing and it seemed way more simple. Any thoughts?

Hi, Nelda,

I think that it generally takes about a day from when a man's results are posted for a prediction of his haplogroup to be made, so that might be why you are having trouble getting into his Haplotree. There are some men who don't get a haplogroup prediction based on their STR results, too, but FTDNA will do a free backbone SNP test to determine their haplogroup. The backbone tests are supposed to be ordered automatically, but FTDNA does advise people to request them if they don't get a prediction or an automatic backbone test.

If he has matches in R1b1, he probably is part of that haplogroup, and he probably isn't Native American in his strictly paternal line. Of course, he could have all sorts of Native American ancestry from other lines.

Kirsten

Nelda, Is your husband in a project? If not see if you can find an appropriate surname and/or geographical project for him to join via the Join projects menu, and get the project admin to look at his results.

Dick Hill has just added an excellent new page to his website entitled "Why I recommend FTDNA". You can find the page here.

Those of you in the UK will be interested to know that Family Tree DNA are again sponsoring the DNA workshop at this year's "Who do you think you are? Live". The event takes place from 26th to 28th February at Olympia in London. The workshop speakers have just been announced and the full list can be seen here.

I have had my mtDNA done both HVR1 & 2. The result is Hoplogroup C. I've done a little more research and I think it is C1 for sure and maybe C1b. Most of what I've read says C is fairly rare. It is a group that includes Native Americans which I am from Sault St Marie, MI. Any help or good websites suggestions would be great

I have had my mtDNA done both HVR1 & 2. The result is Hoplogroup C. I've done a little more research and I think it is C1 for sure and maybe C1b. Most of what I've read says C is fairly rare. It is a group that includes Native Americans which I am from Sault St Marie, MI. Any help or good websites suggestions would be great.

Marilyn, There is a special Amerind DNA Project at Family Tree DNA which you can join. You can find the project here:

http://www.familytreedna.com/public/AmerindFoundermtDNA

The admin should be able to tell you more about your results and perhaps suggest some websites for further reading.

Thank you; I'm already a member of that group. Yesterday I found a site that sited two studies or journal articles that were very well written yet still fairly easy to understand. They provided answers to many of my questions. The first site is www.healthanddna.com/document/NAAnthroplogicalPerspectiveSchurr2002... and the second site is www.healthanddna.com/documents/NAPhylogenyof4PanAmericanmtDNAhaplog... One problem is the C1b results are relatively rare. They seem to be found in many different Amerindian tribes as opposed so some other haplogroups that are more confined to a specific tribe or specific area. Also according to these articles fewer Amerindians have been tested and therefore there have been fewer migration studies done.

At the recent Who do you think you are? Live show in London Max Blankfeld and Bennett Greenspan of Family Tree DNA were interviewed by BBC London. The interview is now on the FTDNA website. You can listen to it here.

I've also written a piece on my blog about WDYTYA and FTDNA's new Family Finder which is currently in beta-testing but was introduced at WDTYA. You can read the blog post here.

Max Blankfeld of Family Tree DNA is one of the interviewees in this short video from this year's Who do you think you are? Live which took place in London at the end of February. You can watch the video on You Tube.

Family Tree DNA have now announced the launch of their new Family Finder test. In case it's of any interest I've done a write-up on my blog of my experiences with my dad's results from the beta-testing programme. The posting can be found here.

Debbie, Thanks for the review of the Family Finder test. I'm waiting on results from my dad.

New to DNA testing. Just sent my kit back and waiting for my test results.

Ok....got most results back...now who can help me read these so I don't screw it up.

Bob, Which test have you had done? If it's a Y-DNA test have you joined a surname or geographical project? Let us know what you have and we'll see if we can help.

I did Y-DNA 67 marker test

Hi Bob, Have you joined the Moon/Mooney project:

http://www.familytreedna.com/group-join.aspx?Group=Moon

Do you have any matches? What is your haplogroup?

Yes.....just did today.....slowly figuring this out.......lol

Halogroup R1b1b2

Bob, I’m pleased to hear that you’re now in the Mooney surname project. It’s really a matching game and you’re hoping to find close matches with other people who share the same surname. Ignore all the 12 and 25-marker matches, and focus on the 37-marker matches and 67-marker matches if you have any, though bear in mind that not everyone will have tested to the full 67 markers. These pages explain the significance of 37-marker and 67-marker matches:

http://www.familytreedna.com/genetic-distance-markers.aspx?testtype=37

http://www.familytreedna.com/genetic-distance-markers.aspx?testtype=67

As you’re R1b you can join the R1b and subclades project:

http://www.familytreedna.com/public/r1b

If you’re interested in learning more about your deep ancestry (your ancient origins) then it’s worth ordering the R1b deep clade test which will refine your haplogroup further. There are separate projects for the various R1b1b2 subclades.

Wow this is gonna be interesting to figure out.....might require some help...lol

Finally got all the markers back. Now the fun begins.

Bob, are your results up on the Mooney website yet?

Family Tree DNA are currently offering a 40% discount on new kits for a variety of tests in celebration of them receiving 5000 likes on their Facebook page. You can find details of the offer and the promotional code on their Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/FamilyTreeDNA