mtDNA

[peter...@yahoo.ca]

I've been thinking about getting the mtDNA test. I'm wanting to try to confirm some existing lines that there is some uncertainty over and to find leads to possible new lines. Will it be of use to me, for example, in trying to confirm an 18th century line that goes from female to male to male to female to female and then to me? Is there any test, other than autosomal, which I've done with Family Tree DNA and with Ancestry, a line such as this?

Peter D. A. Warwick

[wjhonson]

On Tuesday, August 30, 2016 at 1:19:21 PM UTC-7, peter...@yahoo.ca wrote:
> I've been thinking about getting the mtDNA test. I'm wanting to try to confirm some existing lines that there is some uncertainty over and to find leads to possible new lines. Will it be of use to me, for example, in trying to confirm an 18th century line that goes from female to male to male to female to female and then to me? Is there any test, other than autosomal, which I've done with Family Tree DNA and with Ancestry, a line such as this?
>
> Peter D. A. Warwick

mtDNA will not allow you to confirm this line.
mtDNA is strictly maternal. So it is passed mother to daughter to daughter to daughter to daughter and then to the son which is the terminal node.

If another man intervenes in the descent you get no mtDNA from him to his children. It only comes from the wife, in whom you're not interested right now.

Your mother is better spent by paying to have various cousins tested who can each confirm a portion of the pyramid shape of your tree. Or not confirm that portion.

[taf]

On Tuesday, August 30, 2016 at 1:19:21 PM UTC-7, peter...@yahoo.ca wrote:

Any test of mtDNA would only address your direct female line, so would be of no value to this question.

There is autosomal and then there is autosomal. If you are talking about the simplest 'what nationality am I' autosomal, that is useless for genealogy. If you are talking about the 'does my DNA show me to be closely related to anyone else in the database' autosomal, that entirely depends on who else is in the database. If you want to use it to answer a specific question, you need to have your DNA tested against someone else that you know descends from the other side of the relationship you wish to investigate, but 18th century is at the outer limit, and you would have to get lucky.

The only other option is ancient DNA - you would need to exhume the individuals in question, and have their DNA isolated and sequenced - you won't get that result for less than a 6-figure cost.

taf