I finally received result from the Family Tree DNA test that I had Charlie Brock take back on August 20, 2008. It took almost 91 days to get the results back, roughly three months. That is quite a bit longer than expected. All I have received from them so far is an e-mail that read as follows:
"New Y-DNA 1-12 results have been posted for your Family Tree DNA Kit. If you ordered a Y-DNA25 or Y-DNA37 test, please note that the tests are processed in sections and the remaining results should be posted within one to two weeks.
With the increased popularity of DNA testing, you may be asked to export your results to other databases not endorsed by Family Tree DNA. Please note that Family Tree DNA cares about your privacy and can only be responsible for the integrity and use of your data contained in our databases or automatically transferred from Family Tree DNA to Ysearch.org. We strongly recommend that you never share your kit number and password outside of Family Tree DNA as it may give away your personal information, including the ability to see and modify your personal contact information.
Follow the link below for more information at your Family Tree DNA personal page.
XXXXXXXXXX
Since genealogy is all about matching to people with your surname you should now verify if a Surname Project exists for your surname. You can do that by clicking on the JOIN button located on your personal page. If you find a Surname Project for your surname just navigate to the Surname Project, click the link and then click the next JOIN button to become a member of that project. You may also join a subsequent Geographic Project; however you will have the best chance of matching someone if you are in a Surname Project. If you are already a member of a Surname Project you do not need to take any action.
Please remember to add your results at www.Ysearch.org, the FTDNA-sponsored public database. Go to the Y-DNA Matches tab, on your personal page, linked above, and you will see an explanation and a link for automatic upload.
Family Tree DNA...
The world's first and largest Genetic Genealogy organization"
Okay...here are several things to note. First of all, ysearch that they promote is not working. If you go there, it displays the following message:
"Due to excessive and abusive usage of the free Ysearch.org service, the site has been temporarily disabled while we implement changes in order to improve performance and user experience. We appreciate your patience in this manner."
According to the web page, that message has been displayed on the site since Thursday, March 06, 2008 at 4:00:57 PM. Why is Family Tree DNA partnered with a site that has been down for apparently seven months? I have also recently had several people complain that they have waited a long time for DNA test results from FTDNA. There must be something going on with them to be so disorganized.
To top it off, after all of this waiting, they cannot tell us which Haplogroup Charlie belongs to and there are only eight matches in their database of 139,861 Y-DNA records at the 12-marker level (but all are private). According to information provided by four of the eight matches, it looks like Charlie's ancestors were possibly Ashkenazi Jews. According to Wikipedia, Ashkenazi Jews "...descended from the medieval Jewish communities of the Rhineland in the west of Germany." That probably makes sense, seeing as though I was always told the Brocks were from Germany and came over during the American Revolution.
The page that the e-mail linked me to was very hard to understand. It was difficult to find the actual results. I am somewhat familiar with their site and with genetic genealogy, so I knew what I was looking for. Even with that said, it still took me a good ten minutes to figure out what was what.
Overall, I would say that this experience has been somewhat frustrating. When I took my own test several years ago, the experience was wonderful. This time...not so much. I think I am going to wait a few weeks and then get someone else to take another test, giving FTDNA one more shot at redemption. I will let you know when that happens.
"New Y-DNA 1-12 results have been posted for your Family Tree DNA Kit. If you ordered a Y-DNA25 or Y-DNA37 test, please note that the tests are processed in sections and the remaining results should be posted within one to two weeks.
With the increased popularity of DNA testing, you may be asked to export your results to other databases not endorsed by Family Tree DNA. Please note that Family Tree DNA cares about your privacy and can only be responsible for the integrity and use of your data contained in our databases or automatically transferred from Family Tree DNA to Ysearch.org. We strongly recommend that you never share your kit number and password outside of Family Tree DNA as it may give away your personal information, including the ability to see and modify your personal contact information.
Follow the link below for more information at your Family Tree DNA personal page.
XXXXXXXXXX
Since genealogy is all about matching to people with your surname you should now verify if a Surname Project exists for your surname. You can do that by clicking on the JOIN button located on your personal page. If you find a Surname Project for your surname just navigate to the Surname Project, click the link and then click the next JOIN button to become a member of that project. You may also join a subsequent Geographic Project; however you will have the best chance of matching someone if you are in a Surname Project. If you are already a member of a Surname Project you do not need to take any action.
Please remember to add your results at www.Ysearch.org, the FTDNA-sponsored public database. Go to the Y-DNA Matches tab, on your personal page, linked above, and you will see an explanation and a link for automatic upload.
Family Tree DNA...
The world's first and largest Genetic Genealogy organization"
Okay...here are several things to note. First of all, ysearch that they promote is not working. If you go there, it displays the following message:
"Due to excessive and abusive usage of the free Ysearch.org service, the site has been temporarily disabled while we implement changes in order to improve performance and user experience. We appreciate your patience in this manner."
According to the web page, that message has been displayed on the site since Thursday, March 06, 2008 at 4:00:57 PM. Why is Family Tree DNA partnered with a site that has been down for apparently seven months? I have also recently had several people complain that they have waited a long time for DNA test results from FTDNA. There must be something going on with them to be so disorganized.
To top it off, after all of this waiting, they cannot tell us which Haplogroup Charlie belongs to and there are only eight matches in their database of 139,861 Y-DNA records at the 12-marker level (but all are private). According to information provided by four of the eight matches, it looks like Charlie's ancestors were possibly Ashkenazi Jews. According to Wikipedia, Ashkenazi Jews "...descended from the medieval Jewish communities of the Rhineland in the west of Germany." That probably makes sense, seeing as though I was always told the Brocks were from Germany and came over during the American Revolution.
The page that the e-mail linked me to was very hard to understand. It was difficult to find the actual results. I am somewhat familiar with their site and with genetic genealogy, so I knew what I was looking for. Even with that said, it still took me a good ten minutes to figure out what was what.
Overall, I would say that this experience has been somewhat frustrating. When I took my own test several years ago, the experience was wonderful. This time...not so much. I think I am going to wait a few weeks and then get someone else to take another test, giving FTDNA one more shot at redemption. I will let you know when that happens.
