Thanks Temic for a comprehensive reply. You refer to "digging up grandad" to be certain. If it were a possibility it might come to that in my case! The husband of my grandmother was at least 71 when my father was born. I have taken a 37 marker Y chromosome test, and so far I have no certain matches with my own surname, which is quite scarce. One person with whom I have a possible 400 year old paper connection matches 33/37 markers, but is of a different haplotype, his J mine I. In view of the scarcity of the surname I have asked FTDNA if we could be related. They replied the match was co-incidence, and I have asked them (twice) if an error has been made. There has so far been no reply, this question is either too difficult or they are now ignoring my requests. I have a 36/37 match with a person with a different surname, and both families were in the same area between 1795 and 1900 when any unofficial adoption or illicit relationship must have occured.
As I say I have no certain match with my own surname, neither does the other man have with his, so we remain somewhat in limbo until either FTDNA respond, or further tests refine the results.
