Prices and other considerations
Links to pages
provided by FamilyTreeDNA, the testing company:
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Click
here to
order a Phelps project DNA test at Family Tree
DNA
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The
test will be conducted by
Family Tree DNA,
of Houston TX, the World's leading testing company for Surname DNA
Projects. The co depends on the number of
markers tested, but all tests include an estimate of the Haplogroup
(an indication of deep ancestry). A 12-marker test will tell you if you do NOT match
with someone but you will want to upgrade to a 25-marker test to tell
you if you do. Matching at 12 markers is like have the same
first three digits of a zip code. If you do not match at 12
markers you won't match at 25 any better.
Add $2 for US postage and $4 for international postage
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The test is a simple
cheek swab. The kit will arrive and leave your house by mail. You
simply rub the inside of your cheek a number of times with a special
scraper, put the kit back into the envelope, and put it in the mail.
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If you
have concerns about privacy, see What
About Privacy and please contact dphelps61 AT
alumni.wfu.edu for special ordering proceedures.
Other considerations
The DNA information is to be
used in conjunction with historical and traditional research. DNA
testing will prove a common ancestor and can be extremely helpful
in guiding research. On the other hand, if a DNA profile does not match traditional
researched genealogy, a hypothesized relationship may be incorrect. At other
times DNA results may point to an unknown adoption in the family, or
some other so-called non-paternity event.
Please
understand that the y-dna results may not confirm even the most
meticulous researched family genealogy. Your ancestries will
always be displayed as you have provided, but may not be indicated as
"proven" or "confirmed" if there are insufficient or
contradictory y-dna tests.
I urge you to NOT test the DNA
of a close relative which would point to a living common
ancestor. There is no point in doing so since your dna should
match almost perfectly and you have proved nothing. On the other
hand, if your dna does not match you have unnerving information.
added 2/2007
Once your order is placed you are automatically a
member. Your kit number and earliest ancestor will appear on the
"Y-results" page of the
Phelps FTDNA page. Your supplied ancestry and your DNA kit
number will appear on this page. As a member you will have access to a
private "forum" at a Google discussion group just for you family line.
So that all our Phelps "cousins" can make sense of the DNA results, all members
are requested to provide a brief male ancestry - as they understand it - to be
posted on the Ancestry page Only your kit number will be placed with it. Living
people are omitted. If you have reasons for not providing the ancestry or have
no idea of your ancestry, let's discuss it. In
a few cases the tested person will not be actively involved via email but will
have another person, with an email, who will act as his proxy
(one authorized to act for another).
In rare cases where dna
results cry out for a missing ancestry, it may be best to
drop a member from the project and its
pages. Even so, dropped members can continue to log on at FTDNA using their
kit numbers.
You may want to read
the article "What Are The Rewards And Risks
of DNA Testing"? found at
http://www.kerchner.com/anonftp/pub/introg&g.htm
Since a
Surname Project traces members of a family that share a common
surname, and females (a) don't carry their father's Y-DNA, and (b)
acquire a new surname by the way of marriage, in order to be relevant
to the Surname Project, the tested individual must be a male
that wants to check his paternal line (father's father's father's...).
The test to be ordered is either the Y-DNA 59, Y-DNA37, Y-DNA25 or
Y-DNA12, and females should look for a brother or cousin with that
surname to be tested.
Remember that Y-DNA testing is strictly
for the male inherited chromosomes. It has nothing to do
with physical characteristics. A test submitted has no affidavit
proving who took the test. However, if you want to completely
isolate yourself,
have the kit mailed to a person to be tested at your
home address using the name of a non-existing person – or even a
test naming your wife or anyone with any name you choose. Of
course, it must be deliverable. The scraping would be done by you
but the release signature and the identified name on the kit would
name the other person (real or not). For example, it could be sent
to a fictitious Eunice Phelps named as the one taking the test,
in care of you or your wife at your address. The usual
release-of-information signature would have the signature of Eunice
Phelps. FTDNA does not care. Only those of us who are doing
genealogy would know that it is of your male line – at least we hope
so - but have no proof of it. We don’t really have to know if it
was from you or your close male Phelps relative.
Additionally, we at our volunteer Phelps
genealogy web site would like to list your ancestry (no living
people) and include your kit number and the name Eunice Phelps (as
an example). Those that need to know would be told of how to
contact you – if you allowed that.
We strongly recommend to not test more than one
member of the same family lineage (son, father, uncle, grandfather
for example). There is no point in doing this since the Y-DNA
is the same for all.
If you have further concerns about privacy at the
testing company, give FTDNA a call at (713) 868-1438. They
are open to any questions.