Which FamilyTreeDNA test should I order?

I'm asked this question often. It very much depends on what your specific goals are. However, I understand that many people are unable to articulate their goal(s) until after they've been tested in some manner or have done much self-educating first. For me personally, I couldn't even wrap my brain around what possible goals "could" be reached until after I ordered and received results from my Y-DNA12 test (which is essentially the baseline and cheapest y-Chromosome test). Later, I ordered several upgrades.

You could say I'm an extremely visual/hands-on kind of person, like many people.

Originally, my two primary goals or desires developed into this: I wanted to find out if my father's direct line was apart of the Cohen Modal Haplotype (Jewish Priest markers) and I wanted to find out if my father's particular line was connected to a possible ancestor who migrated to Virginia in the 1600s. It turned out that I was negative on the first goal, but positive on the second. The second goal connected me with thousands of living distant relatives that I had no idea existed.

Some possible goals

• If you (being male) want to find out for certain what haplogroup is connected to your direct paternal ancestral line, you should definitely take a Y-DNA37 or Y-DNA67 test.
• If you're more interested in learning more from all your family branches/ancestors, it would be good to take one of the Y-DNA tests plus the FamilyFinder test. If you're female, take one of the MT-DNA tests plus the FamilyFinder test.
• However, if you want to find out more about... say... your mother's father's direct-line, then you need to get her dad or one of his sons to take a Y-DNA test. Basically, you need to find someone who is a carrier of that specific Y-Chromosome, which only travels father to son to son to son, etc.

If I could do it all over (and money was not a concern), I would of course purchase FamilyTreeDNA's "Comprehensive Genome" test.

My personal Haplogroup assigment:

• Paternal Haplogroup: Q1a3 (yChromosome)
• Maternal Haplogroup: H1 (Mitochondrial)

Like most people, my Autosomal DNA matches are all over the radar. I even share an ancestor with a half-Palestinian/half-Jordanian gentlemen... but most of them are European, American, and Central Asian.

Regardless of my DNA results, it has been an exciting educational journey... and well... a wonderful social one... because of all the family connections made.

You can read more on FamilyTreeDNA's product page, using the "more info" links there... for specific details on different tests available.

Link: FamilyTreeDNA.com

Kind regards,
Hanok ben-Isaak

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