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YDNA for Genealogy: 3 Scenarios When YDNA is Useful
Have you been wondering what’s up with the Y? After taking an autosomal DNA test, many genealogists want to know what next steps to take, and if YDNA can help further their research. YDNA, which can only be taken by males, may be able to bust additional brick walls in your family. DNA expert Diahan Southard is here to share 3 reasons to take a YDNA test–or have a male relative do so.
The Y chromosome DNA test, more affectionately referred to as the YDNA test, is the darling of the DNA testing industry. (At least, I think so.) In fact, of the three kinds of DNA tests, the YDNA is my favorite. Currently, the YDNA test is available at Family Tree DNA. Here’s their quick recap of what YDNA is:
“Y-DNA is what we call the sex chromosome “Y” that is passed from a father to his sons only, women do not receive a Y chromosome. Testing the Y chromosome allows for investigation into a male’s paternal family line and can help identify surname lines, living relatives whose Y chromosome is similar to yours, and ancient migration routes your paternal ancestors may have taken.”
At Family Tree DNA, there are four levels of YDNA testing available. 37 markers is the base level and a good place to start making connections. You can also increase your marker count to 67, 111, or if you’re a DNA expert, you can opt for the whopping 700 marker test. The good news is that you can start with the 37 marker test and have the option to upgrade to the larger test without needing to provide another sample.
YDNA has several excellent qualities that make it useful in many genealogical scenarios. Let’s look at three to give you a good start!
Use YDNA for Genealogy When…
1. You Have a Missing Father
All of us should be able to identify with this genealogical problem. Every line in your family history has this problem. Any ancestor whose father is currently unknown falls in this category. And YDNA can help.
The specific quality of YDNA that makes it so attractive in this case is its faithfulness in passing down its record generation after generation, without fail, without changing, from one man to the next. That means that any living male today has the same (or very similar) YDNA as every male in his direct paternal line, back 8, 10, 12+ generations.
Therefore every man’s YDNA is the clue that could lead you to discover that missing father. Usually what it takes is a match in the YDNA database with another descendant of your common ancestor. Ideally, this person knows something that you don’t about that missing father, and the two of you can work together to verify and extend your family history.
2. Your Relative is Worried About Privacy
While DNA testing has certainly entered a season of relative acceptance among genealogists, there are still many skeptics who wonder what the eventual ramifications of having your DNA tested might bring. While this is a subject that certainly deserves some attention, the YDNA is actually the easiest test to sell to a nervous relative.
The very qualities that make YDNA testing valuable, namely that every male descendant of a given ancestor will have the same YDNA, make it equally impossible to identify any particular individual uniquely. This means that the YDNA record that is created when a man takes a YDNA test cannot ever be traced back to him alone. That same record could have easily come from his brother, or 1st, or 5th cousin.
Similarly, the YDNA test results do not have a link to your health. The regions that are tested are generally parts that are not useful for determining any kind of personal health or trait information.
3. You Have a Surname Mix-up
One of the best applications of YDNA for genealogy comes when trying to disentangle the relationships of various men living in close proximity with other men of the same or similar surname. Having descendants of these men test their YDNA is like traveling back in time and conducting personal interviews of each of these men. It’s like saying, “Excuse me, Mr. Moffat? Is this neighbor of yours, Mr. Moffit, your uncle?” Wouldn’t you give anything for a chance to have that conversation? Well, YDNA testing gets you almost there. You might not be able to determine if they are uncle and nephew, but you will at least know if they are kin.
So what are you waiting for? If you have your own YDNA, go out and start the testing process. If you have been blessed instead with two X chromosomes, send this article over to your favorite male relative and let him know that he holds a very old, very valuable record in his DNA and you want to help him make use of it.
Learn More About DNA Test Options in This Free Video Class
Learn more about YDNA testing and the other types of DNA tests in this free video class, filmed live at RootsTech 2018! You’ll get answers to questions like:
- Which DNA test should I take?
- What will I get from the DNA test results?
- Will DNA testing help with genealogy?
If you or the relative you want to test wants more information about what DNA testing is all about, this is the perfect recap. And best of all, it includes helpful slides, graphics, and it’s all in plain English!
About the Author: Diahan Southard has worked with the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, and has been in the genetic genealogy industry since it has been an industry. She holds a degree in Microbiology and her creative side helps her break the science up into delicious bite-sized pieces for you. She’s the author of a full series of DNA guides for genealogists.
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links and Genealogy Gems will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for supporting Genealogy Gems!
This article was originally published on April 27, 2016 and updated on May 2, 2019.
Record (and SAVE!) Audio Interviews: FamilySearch Memories App
With the FamilySearch Memories app, record conversations on your mobile device, automatically upload them to your FamilySearch tree–then save the master audio file to your computer.
The free FamilySearch Memories app helps users capture family memories, photos and even conversations. You can use it to take pictures of history-in-the-making or images of old family photos, documents and artifacts. You can also use it to record audio files, like an oral history interview with a relative, or your own re-telling of classic family stories or jokes. The app is available for iOS and Android users. Click here for a tutorial on how to use the app.
But there’s a catch: the FamilySearch app is built to sync all that content automatically to your tree on FamilySearch.org. For the sake of an extra file backup option and for sharing purposes, this is just fine. It’s definitely nice to be able to tag those files with your relatives’ names from your tree and have the files show up in their individual profiles.
But Lisa is constantly teaching genealogists to keep their master genealogy files of all kinds on their OWN computers, and to back up that computer securely. This includes photos, GEDCOMs tree files, text files, digitized documents–and oral history audio files. That way, you’ve always got a copy and you’re not relying on anyone else to back up your precious files. (Because, bottom line, you’re the one who cares most about them.)
We asked FamilySearch specialists to share with Genealogy Gems how to retrieve audio files from the app or the online tree, so users can have their own copies. Here’s what their project management team had to say:
About the FamilySearch Memories audio file type:
“Audio files that are uploaded from the Family Tree mobile apps, both iOS and Android, are uploaded in the original file format from the device which is called M4A. So the file name would have an extension of .m4a such as: sample.m4a. This is important is so you can: 1) understand what files to look for when you want to copy, download, etc. AND 2) When you want to play the audio file on another computer you may need to know the file type and convert it to MP4. Most audio players and web browsers will play a .m4a file just fine, so for most people it is not an issue, but still good to know. (Click here for a free online file converter.)
How to Download FamilySearch Memories Audio Files from FamilySearch.org:
This applies to users of both iOS and Andriod apps: “When a user is in the FamilySearch mobile apps, you can open the audio file and tap the SHARE icon and it will share a web URL to the audio file. If you open the audio file on a web browser such as Firefox, you can click on the DETAILS icon on the screen and there is a DOWNLOAD option that will let you download the file to your computer. So once the audio has been uploaded to FamilySearch you can download the audio from any web browser by going the the audio file, open, click details and Download.”
How to Download FamilySearch Memories Audio Files from Your Mobile Device:
For iOS users: “The Apple OS system does not currently provide a way to retrieve an audio file on your phone/ipad like a photo. There is not an audio library that you can see or open a folder like for photos.”
For Android users: “The app will save the audio file locally to the device to a folder called FamilySearch. With a utility or app that is a type of ‘File Manager for Android’ (you can download those from the Google Play store), you can navigate to that FamilySearch folder and copy, transfer that file to another computer or share with others, if the app provides a share function.
The name of the file folder and location on the Android device should be as follows or similar based on the manufacture: In the file manager app go to DEVICE than tap on Android/data/org.familysearch.mobile.memories/files/FamilySearch. That is where the audio files are stored.”
Genealogy Gems: your home for learning about the best genealogy apps! Lisa’s book Mobile Genealogy: How to Use Your Tablet and Smartphone for Family History Research will teach you about top apps (most of them FREE) for all those important genealogy tasks we do on the go: note-taking, file storage and management, photos, reading, collaborating and communicating, genealogy website apps and more. You’ll find recommendations for both Apple and Android device users. Why not pick up your copy today?
3 Tips for Finding WWI Ancestors and Their Stories
How did World War I affect your family’s lives? Start your search with these 3 tips for finding WWI ancestors.
Our current Genealogy Gems Book Club title takes place at the outset of WWI. The Summer Before the War: A Novel
by Helen Simonson has endearing characters who experience fairly light-hearted dramas–and then they are plunged into war.
Through their eyes, readers begin to understand that those who lived through ‘the Great War’ experienced something totally unprecedented. There had never been such a massive loss of life and devastation.
1. Ask family what they know. Ask all living relatives what they know about ancestors’ involvement in World War I. Listen for stories about anyone who may have served in the military, dodged military service, took care of things on the homefront, lost their own lives or loved ones or lived in an area affected by the war. Ask about any old documents, photos or letters that may survive.
There are lots of ways to ask your relatives these questions. Poll everyone at your next family gathering or reunion. Use Facebook (click here for some great tips) or other social media. Connect with other tree owners who have documented ancestors of WWI interest (see step 2, below) through communication tools provided at sites such as Ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com and FamilySearch.org.
2. Identify ancestors affected by WWI. Look for families and individuals who were alive between 1914 and 1918. Where did they live? Was it an active war zone? Research local histories and maps to determine how their city–or even neighborhood or property–was affected. Scan death dates on your family tree–did anyone living in a war zone die during that time period?
Were they in a country that sent troops to war? If so, look for soldiers on your tree. The age of those who served in World War I varied. In general, look for men born between 1880 and 1900 who were alive in 1914. Again, look for death dates during the war.
3. Search military records on genealogy websites. Fold3.com’s WWI landing page is the place to start for WWI ancestors in the U.S., since it specializes in military records (you may be able to access it from your home library). Ancestry.com users can go to this landing page to search all WWI records from the U.S. and here to search U.K. records. Findmypast.com users can search WWI records here, including an extensive collection of British military records but also others from around the world. If you’re searching U.S. records, remember that draft registrations are not records of military service.
If you’re looking for a country or region not represented in these online collections, start Googling! Google search phrases such as “Germany WWI genealogy” will bring up results like these. (Click here to watch free video tutorials about Google searching for genealogy records.) You may discover new databases online or records collections you could access through archives or libraries.
Available at http://genealogygems.com
These tips are just to get you started. As you discover records, you’ll have a better sense for the stories of your WWI ancestors. Then you can start chasing those stories in newspapers, local histories and other sources. Turn to a book like Lisa Louise Cooke’s How to Find Your Family History in Newspapers to learn
British volunteers for “Kitchener’s Army” waiting for their pay in the churchyard of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London. August 1914. Wikimedia Commons Image
sleuthing skills you’ll need for searching out your WWI family stories in the news.
More WWI Genealogy Gems for You
Europeana World War I Digital Archive
