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I'm thinking you don't understand the meaning of "Y-Haplgroup."
Y-DNA is passed solely from father-to-son. You say you are E1b1b1a1b1a, well, then whatever that is, and I can't remember who they are, that is what you are.
The other branches? Those are totally irrelevant. Those other branches are neither your father nor your forefathers. You have only one father, and he has only one father and so on all the way back to whenever E1b1b1a1b1a mutated and split from whatever forerunner it was.
I understand the meaning of Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup, thank you Murrrica, I said it was my father's father's father's father's etc. back to the most recent mutant and eventually infinity, just like you said it is solely passed from father to son.
I'm thinking you don't understand that it is only a single branch going back on that one line!
While the Y-chromosome is great, it is just one little piece of the puzzle, like what about your branch from mom's dad and his DNA, or your Dad's maternal grandfather and that branch and so on, there are so many branches besides that Y-chromosome, same thing with your mtDNA, it's just one branch!
You do realize you have 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, 16 great-great-grandparents and so on and so forth, that are passing on bits and pieces of DNA, besides just the direct lineage of your Y-chromosome and mtDNA?
Heck, females don't even have a Y-chromosome, so no help to them.
Here's a great visual for everybody showing how the Y-chromosome and mtDNA (direct lineage) is only showing a single branch going back for basically infinity, but the autosomal DNA shows how the DNA is inherited from all of your ancestors, obviously not equally as you go back in time.
This deserves one of these (I just have to): ROTFLMAO.
You don't think companies are capable of cheating? You'd be suprised. The place I work uses scientific algorithms to make very accurate guesses of someone's ethnicity based on their shopping habits and their name. I could potentially see something along these lines happening with DNA testing - take their neighborhood, location, birthplace, name, names of people living at the same address - cross-reference and apply analysis.
My dad's DNA results came back 25% native American blood. Not suprising considering his family's long heritage in northern Mexico, except that he doesn't have native features and doesn't recall any native american people in his family tree. Particularly there are no native Americans in either of his grandparents.
You don't think companies are capable of cheating? You'd be suprised. The place I work uses scientific algorithms to make very accurate guesses of someone's ethnicity based on their shopping habits and their name. I could potentially see something along these lines happening with DNA testing - take their neighborhood, location, birthplace, name, names of people living at the same address - cross-reference and apply analysis.
My dad's DNA results came back 25% native American blood. Not suprising considering his family's long heritage in northern Mexico, except that he doesn't have native features and doesn't recall any native american people in his family tree. Particularly there are no native Americans in either of his grandparents.
It isn't that they couldn't try to cheat, it's that there isn't any evidence that the major commercial companies do. If you have evidence to the contrary, please share.
Stick around and you will get 101 ancedotes about how the information you listed, like surname, place of residence, family status, etc. played no part in the results people received. You already got one anecdote from me, I have plenty more.
The other branches? Those are totally irrelevant. Those other branches are neither your father nor your forefathers. You have only one father, and he has only one father and so on all the way back to whenever E1b1b1a1b1a mutated and split from whatever forerunner it was.
I've seen postings where people harp on how informative and wonderful the 'Y' chromosome haplogroup is. I have next to no interest -- it is a novelty at best. I don't really care that my far-distant paternal ancestor, "Og the Strong", lived near the Caspian Sea or proto-Kazan or east of Baalbek some 9,000 years ago. For me to be here today, somebody back then was a good hunter, probably killed Mastodons and ate horses. Farther back somebody had a Neanderthal love-child. They all might have been cannibals. They roamed around a lot. Beyond that, there is nothing that is very meaningful or relatable compared to more recent DNA. My Y-haplogroup is the subject of so much debate that there is no point in worrying much about it until the science moves forward.
The genetic hiccup that resulted in a 'Y' chromosome mutation those thousands of years ago didn't change a thing when it happened. My ancestor migrating across the sea in the 1600s to a new continent changed almost everything.
You don't think companies are capable of cheating?
No, I just think it would be instantly identifiable if they were to create a DNA profile based on asking you questions. Sorry but every few months or so, someone new comes to this forum and makes this kind of accusation, as though no one had ever thought of this before - and those of us who have been using our DNA for research for years now understand how ridiculous this idea is and it gets tiresome. No, the companies don't require you complete a questionnaire first. But they do match you with other testers and literally millions of people report being correctly matched to known family members, without disclosing it to the company. Even if you're saying they could process the DNA but only really use it for matching while the ethnicity report is fabricated, most companies are transparent in how they determine ethnicity complete with very detailed white papers on it. Here's AncestryDNA's: https://www.ancestrycdn.com/dna/stat..._091118dbs.pdf
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You'd be suprised. The place I work uses scientific algorithms to make very accurate guesses of someone's ethnicity based on their shopping habits and their name. I could potentially see something along these lines happening with DNA testing - take their neighborhood, location, birthplace, name, names of people living at the same address - cross-reference and apply analysis.
Now that would be an actual scam. But that's not what they are doing. Like I say, they are pretty transparent about how they do this, it's not like it's some big mystery what's going on.
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My dad's DNA results came back 25% native American blood. Not suprising considering his family's long heritage in northern Mexico, except that he doesn't have native features and doesn't recall any native american people in his family tree. Particularly there are no native Americans in either of his grandparents.
That doesn't mean the report wasn't accurate. It's quite common for Mexicans to have Native American ancestry they don't know about, even in such high amounts. It's usually from further back on the tree than people are aware of, but on multiple branches so it adds up. Appearances can deceiving and don't prove or disprove anything. My understanding is that in Mexico, it's not considered desirable to have Native American ancestry so often, people tried to bury it and the result is that today, descendants are unaware of it. Like I say, the report is very accurate on a continental level and in such high amounts, there's no way this is in error - your dad has Native American ancestry, no doubt.
It isn't that they couldn't try to cheat, it's that there isn't any evidence that the major commercial companies do. If you have evidence to the contrary, please share.
Correct, I'm not saying that they are cheating. They very well may not be ... I'm just leaving it open as a possibility considering the occasional reports of odd/inaccurate results. Like in my dad's case - where are they getting the 25% native american blood from? Odd because none of his parents or grandparents were Native American. But, considering that Spanish people lived side-by-side with tribes in the New World for 400 years, it's possible there was enough "mixing" in the past.
No, I just think it would be instantly identifiable if they were to create a DNA profile based on asking you questions. Sorry but every few months or so, someone new comes to this forum and makes this kind of accusation, as though no one had ever thought of this before - and those of us who have been using our DNA for research for years now understand how ridiculous this idea is and it gets tiresome.
Sorry, I'm not trying to debunk anything. I know very little about DNA testing and I haven't seen anything that stands out as a "major red flag" .... Just a couple oddities that make me wonder.
The fact that they're not making people fill out a questionnaire is good - that's one of the things I wanted to rule out. Your other info is good too, so it seems like probably the testing is on the "up-and-up".
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That doesn't mean the report wasn't accurate. It's quite common for Mexicans to have Native American ancestry they don't know about, even in such high amounts. It's usually from further back on the tree than people are aware of, but on multiple branches so it adds up.
No family trees on any website are "vetted" - that's not really possible anyway, but it's also the responsibly of the individual(s) working on the tree to practice good research methods, not the company or the website to police them.
I posted my comments because many people believe Ancestry's trees are accurate and copy them with abandon. Have you ever seen an Ancestry TV ad with the leaf??? They promote this idea heavily. Just hit the leaf and you'll have your whole lineage.
I would say that if you're advertising that something works accurately, you should not be denying all responsibility for verification. What other company/ies could get away with false advertising?
Most amateur genealogists don't know anything about research methods and what constitutes acceptable proof.
Correct, I'm not saying that they are cheating. They very well may not be ... I'm just leaving it open as a possibility considering the occasional reports of odd/inaccurate results. Like in my dad's case - where are they getting the 25% native american blood from? Odd because none of his parents or grandparents were Native American. But, considering that Spanish people lived side-by-side with tribes in the New World for 400 years, it's possible there was enough "mixing" in the past.
The problem is with the term Native "American". Americans just assume it means Native Tribes of the US. Perhaps these DNA sites should call it Indigenous People instead.
My DIL's sister got 15% Native American. Her family did not come to the US from Puerto Rico until the 1950's and never left NYC. She was stunned with that result. Did some research. What her percentage was from was the Native Tribes of PUERTO RICO. As the above link says Indigenous People can come from all over the Word. It does not only mean the Americas.
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Sorry but every few months or so, someone new comes to this forum and makes this kind of accusation, as though no one had ever thought of this before - and those of us who have been using our DNA for research for years now understand how ridiculous this idea is and it gets tiresome. No, the companies don't require you complete a questionnaire first. But they do match you with other testers and literally millions of people report being correctly matched to known family members, without disclosing it to the company. Even if you're saying they could process the DNA but only really use it for matching while the ethnicity report is fabricated, most companies are transparent in how they determine ethnicity complete with very detailed white papers on it. Here's AncestryDNA's: 
