FTDNA – what product to pic?

[Ina]

Hi everyone!

As recommended on this site I am considering to sign up for all the three major DNA-testing sites (I am already a member of 23andme). When it comes to FamilyTreeDNA it seems most logical to me to order the “Family finder” service but I would like to know if you have any pros or cons on their other services you would like to share before I order “Family finder”.

[wmdoran]

@ina-rosdal Great question. Because you’re female you don’t have a Y Chromosome so you can’t do that test. You could have a brother do it for you if you know of one. The Family Finder is the one you should do. It will tell you your closest relatives in the database. You should absolutely do all 3 dna sites since they are each a separate database. My closest match was on 23andMe but it could be on any site. FTDNA used to have a discounted transfer package where you could download your dna off 23andMe’s website and upload it in FTDNA. You save about $40 and processing is quicker. 23andMe recently changed how they process samples so not sure if it will work if you tested recently on 23andMe. Worth looking into. Good luck!

[Ina]

@matt I ordered my kit from 23andme just two weeks before their health report was banned and I know for sure that the new test they do after the ban (called v4) isn’t compatible with the current system on FTDNA (I buyed the autosomal transfer and tried to upload my data from 23andme without luck. Customer service confirmed that it wasn’t possible to transfer v4-data).

I do know of two donor brothers but I haven’t had much contact with them and find it embarrassing to ask them for saliva for a Y-chromosome test (even though I would really like one). If I should only ask one of them to help me out with ONE test, which one should it be? (23andme, FTDNA, Ancestry?)

[wmdoran]

That’s good you beat the ban! That was so lame. So they refunded you and you’re buying the FTDNA regular test now? I wouldn’t feel bad about asking your brothers. In fact, I would confirm the biological relationship with a DNA test always. I would ask them at a minimum to do the 23andMe autosomal test. As a bonus if they are confirmed your brothers if one of them would do a minimum Y-37 test on FTDNA that could possibly tell you your paternal surname. If they will do both I would do it all on FTDNA. The processing of the Y-DNA will be quicker if they already have a Family Finder sample in the FTDNA storage. Good luck!

[jrizzo]

@Matt – I have a donor brother on 23andme and we are sharing genomes. Do you have any suggestions or resources you can point me to as to how I can use this to further trace the donor family? I saw in another thread you were able to deduce that you have 300+ donor siblings…

[wmdoran]

@jrizzo I’ll PM you my phone number if you want to chat sometime. That’s great you found a brother! I found my father through a 2nd cousin once removed match. She didn’t even know who he was. Through her she referred me to the family geanologist who gave me a tree. Then her father tested. That showed we did not share similar paternal haplogroups. That meant I must have been from his mom’s side. Her name was Katherine Wendler. I looked down that family tree and found Kip Wendler (search for the group on here about him. After lots of information gathering and fact verification I pieced everything together. I am pending dna test results with a closer relative to be 100%. You could also test Y-37 or greater on FTDNA to possibly find a paternal surname. Make sure you go through DonorChildren for any tests to support the site!

[jrizzo]

@matt – Thanks for sharing your experience. I started watching the 23andme webcast they did recently (available at http://blog.23andme.com/ancestry/23andme-ancestry-basics/) to see if there is some tool I haven’t found yet. I’m only about halfway through, so I’ll update back here if there’s something I find useful in a search for donor sibs.

[wmdoran]

@jrizzo DNA is our strongest tool. Next is social networking. Lastly is the news media. We just got myself and two other members in two news papers and on TV in Kansas City. Getting publicity can be productive. Contact Idant and see if you can get any information from them. Lastly, have your mom test on 23andMe. That way you can filter out your maternal from paternal DNA relatives. That will help you narrow your search. Setting that up on 23andMe is kinda tricky, let me know if you need help after your mom’s test is in.

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