FTDNA Results in. Now What?

[Elian]

Well, my results finally began to come in today from FTDNA. Predicted Haplogroup I-M253. However, I am not sure as yet what I am actually looking at. I know that it is early and they will evolve over time as more come in. Thus far it appears the highest nummber of matches are in Norway and England with next being Germany and Ireland. Out to the right side of the results it shows "Notes" and lists Shetland, Oslo, Kvinnherad, Isle of Man and Lancashire. I know from looking at all this info I am certainly going to need some directions as to how to read it or what it all means. Mr Nordtvedt asked me months ago to review my results when they arrived so maybe that is where I will find out the specifics. This is exciting, but a whole lot to digest. Does any of this info point to an origin of the results? In other words, what people/populations my father's side likely picked up the I-M253 from? I see the STR panels and the Haplo Tree SNPs. Is that the info that tells the deeper story?

[Elian]

Well, just this morning another genetic geneaologist looked at my detailed results and said he does not see any original Irish ancestry due to the lopsided percentages of matches from Norway. He said it appears to him that somewhere along the line there was what he called a "non paternal event" wherein a child in my line was given another family surname. Could be adoption, illegitimate birth, child taken in by a family and given their last name. That leaves my Irish ancestral search a bit dead ended. I have gone through all the Irish projects including those of my specific family surname and found no others with my dna makeup. My Scandinavian match percentages particularly in Norway are a large amount more than any from the British Isles though they do list Shetland, Isle of Man, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Waterford Ireland. My matches are close at all marker levels from 12 - 67. There are 2 men who are exact matches at 12 and 25 marker level and one of those men has my surname with same spelling. I believe he resides in Scotland while the other man lives in Norway. There are a lot more Norwegian matches all the way through to 67 marker level. I am not at all certain how to go about searching for ancestry or possible relationships in the Isles or Norway at this point.

[Aberdeen]

Well, just this morning another genetic geneaologist looked at my detailed results and said he does not see any original Irish ancestry due to the lopsided percentages of matches from Norway. He said it appears to him that somewhere along the line there was what he called a "non paternal event" wherein a child in my line was given another family surname. Could be adoption, illegitimate birth, child taken in by a family and given their last name. That leaves my Irish ancestral search a bit dead ended. I have gone through all the Irish projects including those of my specific family surname and found no others with my dna makeup. My Scandinavian match percentages particularly in Norway are a large amount more than any from the British Isles though they do list Shetland, Isle of Man, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Waterford Ireland. My matches are close at all marker levels from 12 - 67. There are 2 men who are exact matches at 12 and 25 marker level and one of those men has my surname with same spelling. I believe he resides in Scotland while the other man lives in Norway. There are a lot more Norwegian matches all the way through to 67 marker level. I am not at all certain how to go about searching for ancestry or possible relationships in the Isles or Norway at this point.

There are some family research projects that discuss in-depth analysis of the Y DNA markers that are specific to that family. If you do a search for your haplogroup and a few of the important markers, you may turn up such a family based website, which would give you information about your paternal lineage. However, at this point only a few families have that kind of project going. And if there is one for your specific lineage, it may be in Norwegian.

[Elian]

Thank you Aberdeen. I am looking at all the info on my ftdna profile but other than my matches I have no idea how to make any sense out of the STR Panel or the SNPs section. I would like to order some specific SNP tests but I don't know enough about any of it to know what to order etc. I do belong to the I1 group but none of their forum pages are available anymore. The links are dead. I'm waiting for Mr. Nordtvedt's reply so hopefully he can get hold of my results and offer some more in depth meaning to them. Other than that as I say, I don't know what any of the numbers mean.

[Elian]

I was informed tonight after my results were looked at that I fall into a category called "Ultra Norse" clade L813+ I wonder if there are any other SNPs related to this that I ought to have tested? I don't know enough about it to know what to choose if so.