Your personal FTDNA page will include many useful ways to help you interpret results

Sinclair DNA - About DNA Testing

Y-DNA testing is a supplemental tool for genealogical research; it allows you to connect with or without a paper trail. It will scientifically prove/disprove relationships and distant origins and is valuable both to descendants who have quality paper sources and to descendants who are still working to locate sources. This test is for kinship only and the DNA sample is not useful for anything else.

Video - Bennett Greenspan, Founder & CEO, Family Tree DNA

What's In It For You

If you have a well documented line, you'll have another form of evidence to back up your papers, you'll scientifically learn/confirm your Haplogroup, and you'll be helping out people who can't or haven't found a sufficient paper trail or don't have a direct paternal line to a male Sinclair.

If you don't have a well documented line, you'll be able to identify which lines to pursue and which lines to eliminate based on science. This will be especially helpful for people with ancestors in counties where court house and other records were lost, destroyed or simply do not exist.

Five News broadcast, a broad overview

How Y-DNA Testing Works

  • A small portion of the Y chromosome, found only in men, is tested. This small portion is passed from father to son. That means that even if the last common ancestor two Sinclair men shared was in 1700 it will still show up as a match in 2004.
  • Two DNA samples are collected at home by brushing the inside of the cheek with a swab (see DNA Collection Method for photos of the simple process.
  • The samples are mailed back to the test lab Family Tree DNA of Houston, Texas (FTDNA) which is affiliated with the University of Arizona.
  • The test results are a string of 12 or 25 numbers depending on the test selected. The string of numbers has no value by itself, and does not contain any personal information.
  • The value of the string of numbers is compared to another person to determine if they are related, and approximately when the common ancestor occurred.
  • The values of the string of numbers is assessed for Haplogroup which identifies deep ancestral origins.

How to Participate

  1. Follow the instructions at Participation Application.
  2. Purchase your kit through FTDNA (credit card or invoice).
  3. Receive your kit in the mail, collect two samples and return it to FTDNA.
  4. Wait 4-6 weeks for results. You can check the progress of the testing at the FTDNA website.
  5. FTDNA will send you your test results; the project will also get copy of the test results and they will be added to the St. Clair Research Y-DNA Project Results Page.
  6. Review your results. See DNA 101 for a layman's tutorial on interpreting results.
  7. Email me your results to post, either with your email visible, or completely anonymously.

Sponsorships

Partial and full sponsorships may be available for lines that are not yet represented in the study. If you would like to be considered for a partial or full sponsorship, please email me or call me at work, (917) 676-6788.

Learn More

To learn more about Genetic Genealogy and other y-Surname projects please visit the following websites: