John Martin, of Old Rappahannock County - R-BY27212 (Y-DNA)

I don't know that a discussion on Geni about Y-DNA results will be of much use. I recommend the FTDNA Y-DNA Project for the Martin family. They have discussions related to the Y-DNA matches, etc. My son is a member on FTDNA for the project for his paternal surname and it was on FTNDA that one of my lines was sorted out by the surname project group years back.

With all due respect, Debbie, I belong to the Martin Surname Group, where I have numerous matches. We are trying every which way to prove the lineage, so I humbly disagree with you that Geni is not the place to discuss this. Just the opposite. We pay big bucks to belong to its parent company, and thus we have a right to ask questions and participate in discussions. I have 229 cousins following my private Facebook genealogy page, and many of us have spent decades trying to find our paternal ancestors and especially to find our immigrant forefather.

I have been researching my family since the 1970s. I have spent a fortune on testing. I have taken Advanced YDNA training. What I want to see are the facts. This profile has none, yet it is labeled a Master Profile and has incredibly important information like a YDNA haplogroup and a possible immigration clue. Where is the sourcing? Someone in Geni land put up this information.

For example, the YDNA is attributed to R-BY27212 based on a "private" tester at 67 Markers. I know for a fact that this cannot be possible. A 67 Markers test - which is no longer sold - only would show that the YDNA haplogroup is R-M198. The only way it could be R-BY27212 is if the tester took the BigY-500 (the old version) or BigY-700 (the new version). So why isn't that information relevant? It certainly is of great interest to the dozen men who are trying to find their common ancestor.

In fact, Debbie, I would propose that a YDNA discussion is of great interest if not only for proving a paper trail but also a genetic one.

Respectfully disagreeing with you.

Ken, I wasn't trying to be argumentative, just that I've tried to have Y-DNA discussions on Geni due to the fact that there are a number of male profiles with multiple haplogroups attached, my son's paternal line being one of them, and I've never gotten anywhere with my efforts. So I was speaking from my personal experience. Maybe you'll have better luck.

Erica and Debbie, that information helps. I already know the identity of this tester and spoke with his family about two years ago :)

I also know that we are in Group 8, not Group 1, because we do not carry the R-M269 SNP.

Group 8 is a very large one with almost 50 testers.

I've also been creating dendrograms to try to sort through so many matches to try to narrow down my immediate surname ancestors. That suggests Shadrack Martin may be the ancestor of great interest to my YDNA line. Shadrack would be on a younger YDNA branch than R-BY27212. We have two BigY tests underway that may reveal more in the coming weeks.

Thanks for your replies.