From j.markham@virgin.net Sat Jul 12 13:33:09 2008
Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:10:57 +0100
From: John Markham 
To: mcharmed2006@myway.com, markm1935@embarqmail.com, 
cmarcu34668@peoplepc.com, rhodaburks@aol.com, philmarkham@earthlink.net, 
j.markham@virgin.net, markham@post6.tele.dk, jkmarkham1@cox.net, 
thomasw208@comcast.net, shane_t_25@yahoo.com, sayseabone@comcast.net, 
damorgan@nyx.net, fsm@fsm.bz, dam112960@yahoo.com, texasgoose512@aol.com, 
frankmarkham@hotmail.com, marcgrlin@aol.com, Carole@CaroleWilhite.com, 
a.r.markham@live.com, kris.morgan@halliburton.com, 
dmarcum@southernclassicfood.com
Subject: Marcum/Markham DNA - Getting Results


Dear Members,

I recently had a 25/25 match with someone of a different surname, which 
means we are related; although after he had upgraded his results the 
60/67 match places our common ancestor probably beyond the possibility 
of us being able to establish a paper trail.

Surnames can and do change for a variety of reasons, and the purpose for 
this message is to show that it is only because I opted to receive 
notification of matches from the whole database (NOT restricting matches
to surname only) that I was aware of this match.

A number of our members currently have opted for results from "Surname 
Project" only, and it struck me that they may not be aware of the 
significance of this restriction and could possibly be missing out on 
finding relations.

If you wish to change this preference, login to your "myFTDA" page,
select "USER PREFERENCES", then under
"Please choose your preference for matching purposes:" select the
option, "I want my matches to be set against the entire database."
It may be worthwhile UN-ticking the "12-marker matches/close matches" in 
the next section, as there will be many (possibly several hundred) 12 
marker matches which are of little value.

Or if you prefer I can do it for you. Just drop me a message asking me
to change this preference 

On your "Y-DNA MATCHES" page, 25 or higher marker matches are the ones 
to look at. Any previously unknown exact or distance1 or distance2 
matches could be worth looking into.
For example, let's say you find a 25 marker match, if that person does
not have a (37)or(67) next to their name, this indicates that they only 
have results for 25 markers, so it would be worthwhile contacting him to 
see if he would consider upgrading.

This raises a secondary point which many of you will be aware, but could 
advise new members on.
12-markers provide nothing more than indicate haplotype, whilst 
25-markers can indicate the existence of a relationship, but possibly 
several hundred years ago, and will always need an upgrade anyway.
37-markers is a good starting point. And if sound paper research 
indicates a relationship, a 37-marker match is good enough for most to 
consider it a confirmation. However, consider this: Three of our members 
in Group 1 have 36/37 matches to the others. My recent match, based on 
37-markers gave a 35/37 result! Only when judged on 67-markers is the 
obviously earlier common ancestor apparent.

The point here, is that unless the paper research is substantially good, 
a "proposed" or "believed" link into a family should really be backed up 
with a 67-marker test result.

Regards - John AR Markham
Co-administrator Marcum/Markham DNA Project