Home Page - DNA Groups

Much of the original information included within TRP's DNA pages was copied by TRP volunteers from the web pages of The Reeves DNA Project on Rootsweb in 2011 and 2012 and has subsequently been updated and enriched within these wiki pages. The primary Reeves Y-DNA Project information is currently to be found on our companion project at https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/reeves/about. If your line is represented there, why not Join Us here at TRP and contribute proven information about your extended family?
Even if you choose not to join us, TRP encourages every Y-DNA Donor to make contact with us as described on our page Permission from DNA Donor.

DNA Groups and Your Family Tree

Your DNA testing results are in and you find yourself in the same DNA group as another person who has proved their ancestry back many generations.

•     Are you related? Yes, but . . . .
•     Can you adopt their research results? Not necessarily.

Y-DNA results are used to determine the relatedness of individuals, but it cannot directly determine the degree of relationship. At ten generations there are as many as 1024 ancestors in a family tree. A DNA test represents only one individual out of 1024.

When you were tested you ordered the results in terms of a certain number of markers (e.g., 12, 25, 37, 67).

The more markers you test and match, the more closely related you are to the person you match. If you are a perfect match with someone at the 67-marker level there is a very high probability (95%) that you share a common ancestor within the last seven generations. There is a 90% probability that the common ancestor can be found within five generations. And, there is a fifty percent chance of sharing a common ancestor within the last two or three generations.

Of course, if your results vary by one or more markers, then the greater the variation in your tree from others in the group. At 37 or 67 markers people with a perfect match are tightly related. If you differ with someone by only one marker (genetic distance of one) you are closely related. If the difference is as much as seven markers you are probably related, and with a difference of 10 or 11 markers there is no relationship.

Even with a perfect or near perfect match at the 67-marker level, it is unwise to rely upon DNA test results as the sole basis for adopting someone else's family tree as your own. You are both on the same tree, but it may require going back 140 years (7 generations) or more to find the branch where your common ancestor resides.

DNA testing is an amazing tool to use in the quest to identify ancestors, but it is only a tool. Old fashion research is still required to find positive links among specific individuals.

For more information there are many resources on the Internet. One such site is http://www.familytreedna.com/.

Lineage Challenges

Researchers may sometimes disagree about the individuals listed in a particular lineage. In some instances that lineage may have been copied from a publication that contains errors. Within TRP we aim to adopt a constructive approach to such challenges and you'll find more information here.