Family Tree Population Finder

[Barreldriver]

I did the Population Finder test when it first came out at FTDNA prior to testing with 23andMe, since then they've upgraded to the Illumina chip from Affymatrix. This thread is for those who've also tested with Population Finder to post their results, I've been tested on both PF platforms and I have to say even though the Illumina results are more specific I got some weird calls. I had sent my raw data from PF to Dr. McDonald but he said the results he got from the Illumina update are identical to what I had from 23andMe so no need to delve into that here.

Me results:

The Affy chip results were simply 100% Western European with a margin of error of 0.01%.

The Illumina Results were 86.80% Western Europe (my Western European component according to the regions listed under the colored map being French, Orcadian, and Spanish) then 13.20% Europe (the populations that make up this percentage being Tuscan, Finnish, Romanian, Russian and Sardinian). The margin of error was 9.72%, I had emailed Dr. McDonald about my margin of error and he agreed with my view regarding it, basically with the margin of error 9.72% of my DNA was hard to split between the populations I matched under Western Europe and Europe, a more realistic result in line with my known ancestry would be had if I give the margin of error in favor of the Western European category giving me percentages of 96.52% Western Europe (French, Orcadian and Spanish) then 3.48% Europe (Tuscan, Finnish, Romanian, Russian and Sardinian).

The French and Orcadian components being explained by my predominating British Isle's ancestry, someone with ancestry from England and such I would assume to fall in between an Orcadian and a French person, the Spanish component is explained by some Iberian ancestry allegedly Portuguese, others say it's Spanish the surname being Carrica/Carrico settled in Maryland prior to the revolt against the crown.

The little bit of Sardinian that shows up I could possibly attribute to a hypothesized Maltese connection as from what I've read on wikipedia Sardinia and Malta has a degree of similar settlement (Phoenicians, Romans, Vandals, Goths, Byzantines, and Saracens) my Pass family claimed to be descended from the same family as the John Pass who owned in part the foundry which the Liberty Bell was recast in, John Pass was said to have been Maltese, what is interesting is Dr. McDonald picked up some Middle Eastern segments on his version of the chromosome mosaic so I'm guessing that this has something to do with it, that or Moors via my Iberian ancestors. The Tuscan component struck me by surprise as did the Russian and Romanian, I cannot explain those in the context of my known genealogy.

[Sicilianu101]

Do you have the contact information for Dr. McDonald and any other suggestions to obtain an admixture analysis from FamilyFinder raw data? I am expecting my results from FTDNA in early September and can't wait to see the results!

[Transhumanist]

Their analysis is a bit bare bones compared to Eurogenes, Dodecad, Harappa, and others.

Middle East (Middle Eastern) Druze 52.20% ±1.20%
Middle East (Iranian) Iranian 47.06% ±0.91%

My PF map is attached. They do not have Assyrian reference samples, hence the Druze-Iranian mix.

[Transhumanist]

Do you have the contact information for Dr. McDonald...

Here you go, bud: mcdonald@scs.uiuc.edu

Also, see this. It was prepared by the FTDNA Sicily Project admin: PF_results_SicilyProject_070411.xls

[Sicilianu101]

Here you go, bud: mcdonald@scs.uiuc.edu

Also, see this. It was prepared by the FTDNA Sicily Project admin: PF_results_SicilyProject_070411.xls

Thanks a lot for the e-mail adress man. & I am already part of the Sicily group on FTDNA! That's how I got my discount.. Thanks for the excel spreadsheet. I hadn't seen this before.

Did you notice the 1/2 Sicilian, 1/2 Latvian person on the spreadsheet? How can they show up as 100% Middle East? What are the differences between the 2 Middle East categories and what is the difference between the two different admixture analyses?
I'm guessing from your results that "Middle East (ME)" in the excel spreadsheet means Druze & "Middle East" means Iranian?

[Sicilianu101]

Are their samples for admixture analysis for the "Europe" category taken from all over the Orange area in the map? That is a very broad group of very diverse peoples..

[Barreldriver]

Their analysis is a bit bare bones compared to Eurogenes, Dodecad, Harappa, and others.

My thoughts too, I think it's because unlike the other projects FTDNA's basic test is catered towards industry basically cranking out basic results in order to meet a customer demand while the independent projects are more concerned with getting all they can possibly get irregardless of how long it takes since they're not worried with customer demands.

[Barreldriver]

Are their samples for admixture analysis for the "Europe" category taken from all over the Orange area in the map? That is a very broad group of very diverse peoples..

Under my map I had a list of the populations that made up the percentiles.

The West European category was: Orcadian, French and Spanish

The Europe category was: Tuscany, Sardinia, Russia, Romania, and Finland.

Very broad, this is the Beta version still though so there may be some changes once they get around to finalizing their method.

When talking with Dr. McDonald he stated that the results for myself look more accurate if I were to put the margin of error in favor of the West European category which makes a lot more sense in the context of not only genealogy but other results from the independent projects that I've submitted my sample to.

[Meerkat.86]

The little bit of Sardinian that shows up I could possibly attribute to a hypothesized Maltese connection as from what I've read on wikipedia Sardinia and Malta has a degree of similar settlement (Phoenicians, Romans, Vandals, Goths, Byzantines, and Saracens) my Pass family claimed to be descended from the same family as the John Pass who owned in part the foundry which the Liberty Bell was recast in, John Pass was said to have been Maltese, what is interesting is Dr. McDonald picked up some Middle Eastern segments on his version of the chromosome mosaic so I'm guessing that this has something to do with it, that or Moors via my Iberian ancestors. The Tuscan component struck me by surprise as did the Russian and Romanian, I cannot explain those in the context of my known genealogy.

Those civilizations you've listed (Romans, Byzantines, Vandals....) had settled colonies everywhere in the Mediterranean, not only in Sardinia and Malta, btw I'd like to know which are the Saracens settlements in Sardinia.....honestly it's the 1st time in my life I read that Saracens have established settlements here. I knew about a supposed pirate camp which according to a legend lasted less than 3 years, but doesn't exist any ruins or historical proves of it.

[Barreldriver]

Those civilizations you've listed (Romans, Byzantines, Vandals....) had settled colonies everywhere in the Mediterranean, not only in Sardinia and Malta, btw I'd like to know which are the Saracens settlements in Sardinia.....honestly it's the 1st time in my life I read that Saracens have established settlements here. I knew about a supposed pirate camp which according to a legend lasted less than 3 years, but doesn't exist any ruins or historical proves of it.

That was a typographical error on my part.