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Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2004-06 > 1086105661


From:
Subject: Re: [DNA] Interpreting
Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2004 12:01:01 EDT


In a message dated 6/1/2004 10:04:56 AM Central Standard Time,
writes:
> I have spent the last few days at the
> computer, trying to compare these results, and trying mightily to
> understand. (I am cross eyed and fuzzy headed from the eff

There is little genealogical value to having just one set of results. The
real value lies in comparing them to proven or possible relatives of the same
surname. If you have a family genealogy going back some time, you would normally
want to find distant cousins to test in order to corroborate your paper
research. They will also verify that you are biologically related to other Grahams
for many generations. There is always a chance of a non-paternity event in
someone's line.

It looks as if only 20 Grahams have been tested at FTDNA, so it is not
surprising that you haven't found a match. You may need to locate possible
relatives to test through Genforum or the Rootsweb surname list.

You may be able to locate some with same-surname matches in databases. A
match with the same surname at SMGF is the most useful since they show some
pedigrees. they do show Graham and variants as being in their database. The others
have useful geographic information that might suggest a link, also.

Finding matches with other surnames has little genealogical value, unless you
have some traditonal evidence to suggest a name change. However, some people
factor in the rarity of the haplotypes or individual markers into their
relatedness decisions.

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