Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) of Y-DNA

[Alan H]

Alan H, Thank you. So now that leads me to think I could just get one of the less expensive DNA tests. For what ever use they would be.

Honestly, think about your goal.

Do you want to trace, person to person to person, your direct lineage as far back as you possibly can? If that's the case, then IMHO there is no DNA testing that is worth the money. Spend it on airline tickets and go to the counties and look up parish records.

if you want to know the general makeup of your genetic material, understanding that people have moved around the world since.....forever..... and you are almost certainly going to see linkages to populations that you don't expect, then DNA testing might be interesting.

Do you know that a very large number of "Scots" especially Scots that live in the Borders share genetic markers with a significant population of people from the Caucasus and Steppes?

It's because the Romans fought the Sarmatian empire for hundreds of years. In one battle, they won and wound up with 30,000 male Sarmatian hostages. They took those young men, put them in Roman uniforms and sent then to Hell...otherwise known the very furthermost border of the Empire..... where the Borders are, now. Well, what happens when you drop 30,000 young men into a local population?

But would you be shocked to find out that you shared genetic polymorphisms with people from Azerbaijan?

How about Hannibals march across southern Europe? Do you think some local women got raped along the way, and genes from Hannibals soldiers got spread into Europe? Do you know that apparently a significant subset of the population of Pakistan (not that many Pakistani's have been tested) share genetic markers with a subset of the Greek population? Son of a gun, remember that Alexander the Great guy?

Resign yourself to the fact that there's a good chance that you're going to share genetic markers with people from Saudi Arabia. Remember the Islamic empire? "Moors"... in Spain? Just how far is it from Spain to the Cotswolds?

This is the sort of thing which if INCREDIBLY LUCKY, you might find out by "DNA Testing".