Family Tree DNA - Is it Worth the Price?

I had been reading a lot about using DNA testing as a part of genealogy research for sometime, and my curiosity finally got the best of me. I decided to take the plunge, but found that there are many choices out there. After surveying (not a scientific survey by any means) a number of DNA testing sites on the Web, I just kind of closed my eyes and picked. The site I picked to give my money to was Family Tree DNA. I really don’t know if they are any better then the others, but I did discover that they currently have the largest database in the business – their website says that as of January 29, 2007 they have 127000 records.

Signing up was easy, but I have to warn you though, this whole process was not cheap. After closely reading all of the information on the website, I concluded that you have to be willing to spend some money to get results you can actually use. There is a complete menu of test choices. For example, here are the prices for Y-DNA testing that looks at the paternal line: 12 marker Y-DNA for $149; 37 marker Y-DNA for $239; 67 marker Y-DNA for $349; and a Super DNA test that costs $839. They also have a similar price range of testing available for mtDNA which looks at the maternal line. Males can order both Y-DNA and mtDNA tests; while women can only order the mtDNA tests (men carry both chromosomes and women only carry mtDNA). Family Tree DNA also offers combo testing options where you can get both Y-DNA and mtDNA tests. I finally came in for a landing and chose a combo 37 marker Y-DNA and an mtDNA Plus test that set me back $389.

I mentioned earlier that you have to be willing to spend some money to get results you can actually use. This is where the process gets very, very complicated – at least for my non-scientific mind. My understanding (and I don’t guarantee this is absolutely correct) is that a 12 marker test will place you in the cave man era. If you just want to see how your ancestors migrated from the “Garden of Eden”, then this test might be for you. If your 12 marker test matched with someone else, you probably had a common ancestor thousands of years ago…and you will have a lot of matches. I have exact matches with 84 people using this test. This means that sometime in the last thousands of years I had a common ancestor with these 84 people. In my opinion, this doesn’t tell me much. That’s just too far back to be of any genealogy value. In contrast, I have an exact match with only 8 people on 25 markers. According to the Family Tree DNA calculations, there is a 99.66% probability that I had a common ancestor with these people within 24 generations (which equates to about 600 years ago). I feel this is information I can actually use for genealogy purposes. Unfortunately, I have no matches on 37 markers yet. If I did, the time frame would reduce to a common ancestor with the highest probability within the last 7 generations (about 175 years). Family Tree DNA uses 25 years as a generation. Bottom line, if you want results you can use, you have to spend the bucks.

What I like about Family Tree DNA: 

1. The sign up is easy. A couple of weeks after you pay you will get the kit in the mail. You take some scrapings off of the inside of your cheek with a tooth brush like instrument and mail it back. In a couple of weeks you will get an email with a link taking you to your results…very simple stuff.

 2. They have all sorts of geographic and surname projects where you can submit your results and compare them with others who have the same interests. I like this because you can narrow down where your ancestors came from, or migrated to, and also compare notes with other people in the project.

3. You can submit your results with a click of your mouse to the Genographic Project sponsored by National Geographic which studies the migration of human history. The more people who submit results, the more refined this study will get. The Genographic Project also gives a more understandable explanation then Family Tree DNA on how this whole DNA testing thing works.

4. Family Tree DNA also sponsors a free website called ysearch.org where you can submit your results and search for genetic matches in many different combinations of data.

5. They also have something called the Family Tree DNA Forum. There are a lot of nice people here who will answer your questions regardless of how dumb they may sound to you. This is a critical part of the site. The people who post in these forums will answer your questions under many different topics…and are very patient and helpful!

6. The Family Tree DNA people are very responsive to issues or problems relating to the tests. When one of my tests turned out to be later then was predicted, I sent an email asking for the status and they responded with apologies and a detailed explanation on why it was late.

What I don’t like about Family Tree DNA:   

1. I don’t like the organization of the website. Once you get your results and are given logon information, it’s fairly straight forward. However, before my results were in, I had a hard time understanding the whole thing. Maybe I’m just not smart enough, but I really couldn’t make out the process before I ordered the test. They have links within links that leads to more links and before I knew it, I wasn’t sure what I initially started reading in the first place. In my opinion, they need a “DNA for Dummies” explanation right up front on the home page that explains the entire process from start to finish. They do have tutorials, but I didn’t find them very helpful. You can eventually find what you’re looking for, but it was a chore for me.

2. I don’t feel they do a good job of breaking down the subject into terms that are understandable for someone who has no background in the genetics field. I know this is a really complicated subject, but the majority of people who are paying for this service really don’t understand what they are paying for. If you browse the Family Tree DNA Forum, and see the questions asked, you will understand what I’m saying. Luckily there are a lot of folks there who will take the time to answer those questions. I found I had to look at a lot of other sources to gain just a basic understand of how DNA can help in genealogy research.

Bottom line:  I’m glad I spent the money. I discovered information about my genetic background that was very surprising. I was able to take that information and really put my family history into a historical context that I wasn’t able to do before I took the DNA tests. If you have the money to spend, I recommend you do it, but just make sure you understand what you’re getting into before you enter your credit card information – in other words, don’t do what I did. Despite the few things I don't like, Family Tree DNA does deliver on what it advertises.

Comments

[Ken]

One of the problems with this DNA testing is that it ONLY shows direct relationships by males but there are at least four ways I have found this test shows connections with similar OR dissimilar names;

1) Names similar or the same - Direct name line handed down from father to son. Names and spelling change over time but usually are somewhat close (Lewetag vs Levedag).

2) Out of wedlock - Great Granddad had a relationship with someone and a child was born out of wedlock breaking the family name but preserving the DNA chain (child keeping the mothers name or taking on the name of whom she eventually married)

3) By death or other means - The child was moved into a new family when either the father passed away or the marriage ended and the mother remarried taking her child with her and the child then taking on the new step fathers name. The other possibility is both parents pass away and another related family (married sister of the mother as an example) or just friends of the family adopt the child.

4) Deliberate name change - This applies big time to the US names, the male just outright changes their last name. This occurred a lot when immigrating to the US but I have others in the family that changed due to a family conflict from Hamm to Hohman,

[Miriam Robbins Midkiff]

Tim, you can also add your data from your DNA test results to Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation's database. The cool thing about this is that they will accept data from all the major DNA testing companies and then give you a coded list of matches. So it expands the potential of being in contact with others who match your markers. Go to www.smgf.com for more info (I learned this at the free LDS genealogy conference last March, when they had a speaker from the SMGF).

[Igman]

Great post. I found your post by conducting a search on best options for ancestry testing. Very helpful.

Amar