No Paternal DNA matches

[calvert]

Hi some years ago I undertook dna testing through ancestry and have since put the data on myheritage, livingdna and familydna.
Lots of hits on maternal side, and on my fathers maternal side, but not one for Calvert’s. (Fathers father).
Recently I discovered that my paternal grandfather isn’t who I thought it was, thus accounting for no matches.
I therefore want to take a y-dna test now but don’t know where to start. Has anyone any advice please.
Thankyou.

[Biggles50]

There are some Y-DNA test Companies out there 23&Me and Living DNA to name but two.

As it happens I have on my table a Y-DNA test kit from Living DNA, as I have doubts about my Paternal paper trail.

The issue seems to be in actually having recent DNA match’s once the test is processed.

Living DNA does, if the reviews are correct, have more accurate Haplogroup identification, presumably as their testing process tests more SNPs in the Y chromosome than 23&Me does.  At least that is what Family History Fanatics reported in their Review video, this group is the one behind the video tutorials on Gedmatch.

So basically if you are in no rush, I’d wait a while to see how it goes with my test as I’ll post the findings here in due course.  I’ll take the test Thursday and post it the same day, not sure how much that will cost as it has to go from the UK to Texas in the USA, so about a six week turnaround if a prior My Heritage test is any indication.

[coombs]

Hi some years ago I undertook dna testing through ancestry and have since put the data on myheritage, livingdna and familydna.
Lots of hits on maternal side, and on my fathers maternal side, but not one for Calvert’s. (Fathers father).
Recently I discovered that my paternal grandfather isn’t who I thought it was, thus accounting for no matches.
I therefore want to take a y-dna test now but don’t know where to start. Has anyone any advice please.
Thankyou.

What makes you think your paternal grandfather is not your actual paternal grandfather? Or is it simply no one has yet tested from that side? 

[calvert]

Thanks for your reply, I was informed this information from another family member.
Others have suggested familytreedna is the best to test y-dna, but I am looking for any advice. Thanks

[coombs]

I always check anything told to me by family for myself. Also just because you cannot find any matches on your assumed paternal grandfathers line does not always mean something is awry. DNA testing is not as cut and dried as it seems, it could be no one on your paternal grandfathers side has tested yet. I know the Y DNA is passed down the paternal line, form father to so and so on. Like mt DNA is passed down the maternal line. Your mothers, mothers mother etc.

[calvert]

Thanks again. I do know who I thought was my paternal grandfather, isn’t.
Do you know the best means of testing y-dna.

[coombs]

Thanks again. I do know who I thought was my paternal grandfather, isn’t.
Do you know the best means of testing y-dna.

Was your father born within marriage, if you do not mind me asking, where was your supposed grandfather at the time? Was he away in service or something?

[calvert]

Thanks for reply, I’m afraid I can’t answer those questions on here. I do know my grandfather (as I thought he was) couldn’t have fathered my dad.
Any idea on best site for testing y-dna.

[David Nicoll]

Hi, I am more than happy to be shot down by other people but I am not sure how much YDNA is going to tell you. The number of people having had it done to a sufficient level of accuracy is still pretty small. At the Y700 level on FTDNA, I have nine matches none of whom share my paternal Surname, though I have a fair number of matches on the Ancestry Autosomal tests, so I know it is correct. The confirmed links I have are in the flexible spellings zone, pre 1600.
I think you are more likely to get mileage out of the hard work of cluster analysis. MyHeritage has quite a nice auto cluster tool. Or I have done it manually in Ancestry using the colour tool.
If you have a reasonable number of matches then I would expect that you will have a reasonable number of unexpected close matches?  Seeing how they cluster is your best bet I would think.
It should be simplified hopefully by the new Ancestry Parent 1 and Parent 2 feature.
There is a lot of information out there on how to approach this. There are some good links in the forum and I am sure there will be other people who can suggest others.
I have had good success in working out where matches who do not all have trees fit into my tree using this approach.
I hope this is not too long winded a reply.