Getting the Most out of your Y-DNA Test

There are a few essential actions you should take to get the most out of your Y-DNA test. The main objective of these actions is to make yourself visible to your O'Malley cousins so that you optimise your chances of making a breakthrough in your research. Here are my top tips.

1) Add your O'Malley Ancestral Line as a Comment on our Post your Pedigree Page. This will potentially help other people to connect with you. It would help if you could provide it in the following format:

1) James O'MALLEY b c1835 Ardagh, Co.Longford, d 12 Nov 1879 Keenagh, Co. Longford, m 13 Apr 1860 Maria COYLE, Keenagh, Co. Longford
2) Mortimer O'MALLEY b 1861 etc ... (birth, death, marriage details)
3) Abigail O'MALLEY b 1890 ... (as above)
4) Francis KENNEDY b 1914 … as above, but not including dates for a) births <100 years ago, b) marriages <75 years ago, or c) deaths <50 years ago
5) BOM (father)
6) DOM-9482 (test taker = initials plus last 4 digits of kit number)
Researcher's email address: someone AT something.com
Link to online tree: (insert your link here) www.somewebsite.com

2) You should also add your MDKA information (Most Distant Known Ancestor) including dates & locations for both birth and death. The format we recommend is the same as the one above, but you may have to abbreviate it as only a certain number of letters (50) are allowed in this field. Location of birth is the most important piece of information so make sure this gets in there. Here is an example:

James O'MALLEY b1835 Kilcullen, Co.Kildare, d1879 New York

To add this information, simply click on your name in the top right of your homepage - Account Settings - Genealogy - Earliest Known Ancestors ... and then go to Direct Paternal Ancestor and enter the above information in the first field entitled "Name and Birth/Death Date". This is important. If you don't put it all on the one line it will not show up on the Results Page.

This is what your results will look like to the general public. Recognise anyone? No. Exactly! That's the point. Your anonymity is preserved.

3) Optimise your Privacy settings so that your potential cousins can see your results. This will still preserve your anonymity, but will allow them to see your surname, your Earliest Known Ancestor, your ancestral locations, and the string of numbers representing your DNA results:

• Hover over your Name in the top right
• Click on Account Settings, then the Project Preferences tab, then scroll down to Group Project Profile and then click on the "Opt in to Sharing" slider.

4) Join the relevant Haplogroup & Geographic DNA Projects

Your results will reveal your haplogroup (your branch of the Tree of Mankind). Once your results arrive, make sure you join all the relevant projects as these will assist us in the further analysis of your data and in particular your deep ancestry (where in the world your particular ancestors originated several thousand years ago). The projects are run by volunteer project administrators and they are a rich source for advice, guidance, and support. Frequently there is an associated mailing list or Facebook group you can join to keep abreast of up-to-date developments (this is a fast-moving field).

Relevant Y-DNA haplogroup projects identified thus far include the following:

• R-M269 members should join R1b ALL subclades (and other relevant subclade projects)
• R-M198 members should join the R1a Project
• I-P37 members should join the I2a subclade project

Relevant Y-DNA geographical projects include the Ireland Y-DNA Project, but there may be more.

You can see if there are any other relevant projects to your research on these lists below:

• http://www.isogg.org/wiki/Y-DNA_haplogroup_projects
• http://www.isogg.org/wiki/Geographical_DNA_projects

Maurice Gleeson

May 2018