Hello List,
Some of you may have noticed that FTDNA has a new test, the "BIG Y." This test
is deep SNP testing of the male Y-chromosome, basically replacing the old,
"Walk-the-Y" test. It tests nearly 25,000 known SNPs on the Y-chromosome, plus
some 10 million base-pairs looking for new SNPs. It is the most thorough Y-DNA
SNP test available.
As you know, SNP testing is generally useful only for researching your deep
ancestry. The basic tests do not reach near enough in time to be of much use
with your paper genealogy, but that is changing with more exhaustive SNP
testing. I even have an example with my STRAUBs.
My mother was a STRAUB, descended from the STRAUBs of Großgartach, Württemberg.
One of my male STRAUB first cousins took the old WTY test and discovered a SNP
(L592+) that is, so far, unique to us, in other words, a "private" SNP. I'm
now
having one of my other STRAUB cousins take the BigY test, to see what else might
be discovered.
One problem American CARRICOs have with our genealogy is that it seems nearly
certain that all CARRICOs who were here before the turn of the 20th Century
descend from Peter CARRICO, 1674 immigrant to Maryland, but many of us have not
made a paper connection to him. Our shared Y-DNA STR test results tell us we're
closely related, but many of us don't know exactly where we connect.
There is hope that some of these connections can be made via Linda Boorom's
analysis of FamilyFinder test results, but there is also hope that some
"private" SNPs can be found to do the same. That is, it's conceivable that
some
branches of the CARRICO tree have unique SNPs that may point to our real
connections. Most likely, such a SNP would be possessed by the entire family
(as with my STRAUBs), which would only confirm what we already know. But we
could get lucky and find that one branch of the family has a SNP not possessed
by the other, which would at least support sorting us at that level.
The BigY is an expensive test ($695), but it's currently on sale for an
introductory price of $495, a price that will expire on December 1st. I would
encourage our CARRICO males to take this test if at all possible.
You can learn more about this test by visiting your FTDNA member page.
Diana
CARRICO Y-DNA Surname Project Admin