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Origin of the Daltons at the Focus of Our Project

History of Our Family Group Project

How do I join the Dalton America project?

Privacy and Sharing my DNA Results

Which DNA test should I purchase?

For Y-DNA Members

How do Y-DNA results tell me about my ancestors?

Working with my Y-DNA matches

Step 2: Adding your Family Information (Y-DNA)

Posting a couple pieces of limited additional information will enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of your work with Y-DNA matches.  We recommend your doing so when your kit first arrives.

First some background. To discover your family through a Y-DNA test, two kinds of information must be brought together:

• your DNA results, and
  
• your documented genealogy captured in a family tree or through correspondence (for Y-DNA, the male to male to male line as far back as you know it).
  

If you already have a family tree, simple or complex, adding your family information to your dashboard is relatively easy.  In fact navigating to the place to add it is the hard part.  There are two places we will direct you to.

Adding the Paternal Earliest Known Ancestor

Since you and your match will be trying to locate your common ancestor, the name, dates, and place where your earliest known ancestor lived will aid the search.  Remember this ancestor (1) is in your paternal line: father to grandfather to great-grandfather to great-great-grandfather, etc.; and (2) is the earliest known.  You may be able to speculate back further than this, but just name your earliest reliably known ancestor, and inquire of your match how certain they are that they descend from the earliest ancestor they have listed.

To complete this task, click on your name in the upper right hand corner of the dashboard, then click on Account Settings on the drop-down menu that opens (see left below).

Adding Your Paternal Family Line (Your Family Tree)

The second useful addition is your family tree.  The male line is the necessary beginning, but if you already have a tree prepared, go ahead and add the basic information for all your lines.  There are two options for doing so on the FT-DNA dashboard: Create a new tree from the keyboard or Upload Gedcom using an externally created file.

Begin by clicking on Family Tree at the top left hand corner of your dashboard.

A window will open presenting you with the option of entering your tree via the FT-DNA tree maker or uploading a gedcom gedcom.  Select the option that you wish to employ and follow the prompts provided to complete the process.  Remember under either option the home person in the tree is the person whose Y-DNA was tested.  If you are a manager of a kit, enter the name of the person tested, not your own; enter his tree, not yours.

If you chose the Create option:

There are any number of instructional videos online for constructing a family tree.  But if you decide to use this option we recommend you download the detailed information pdf for some additional advice specific to a Y-DNA useful tree.

If you chose the Upload Gedcom option:

The following window will open:

The dialogue box will look like that above.  Use the BROWSE button  on the Select GEDCOM line as you normally do to find and input the name of the gedcom file.

We recommend that you enter a Tree Name under Tree Profile with the tested person in the title.  And we recommend that you enter in the Tree Description an explanation for the degree of proof for the information you entered in your tree: Was the tree best labeled speculative, documented, or reliable?  If you need some help with this decision see the detailed instructions we provide.

FT-DNA will not provide the opportunity to include documentary sources for the information in your tree, but if you construct a tree in computer software be sure you include such sourcing there.

Managing Your Tree After Entry

Once you enter or upload the tree you will manage the tree by clicking on the Family Tree link in the upper left corner of your dashboard.  Your tree will open.  In the upper right hand corner click on the Tree Mgmt link and you will see this screen:

You can edit the tree name or the tree description if necessary.

Useful Tree Enhancements

Once your tree is completed there is a method for adding additional information that a correspondent might find useful in identifying your ancestor.  Open your tree and click on the box for one of your ancestors.  You will receive a menu with four choices, choose View Profile.  A window like the following will open with that ancestor's profile and a red line under Profile.  Click on Tree Notes and then click on Edit at the bottom:

You will be able to enter information you believe might be useful to the correspondent but which has no place in the FT-DNA tree.  For example, the FT-DNA tree has no place for the date and place of marriage.  Or the various places the ancestor may have lived.  Or the evidence you have that this ancestor is father of the son or son of the father in the male line, and how certain you are of this conclusion: documented, reasonably inferred, or speculation.  This information can be added on this notes page.  Note that this is information that could be important in locating your common ancestor with your match.