Ordered a Y-DNA test for my father
I decided to take advantage of Family Tree DNA’s Father’s Day sale to order a Y-37 test for my father.
Y-DNA testing looks at the pure paternal line of a person: the male individual’s father’s father’s father’s father’s, etc. So this test gives a look straight down the Lucenó line.
The Y-37 test is the lowest level of Y-DNA testing. It casts a wide net in terms of matches, but not all the matches are “true” matches. Some of them will be eliminated at the Y-67 or Y-111 levels.
You can think of a Y-37 test as telling you that there are 100 individuals standing on a baseball field. It doesn’t tell you whether they’re standing in the outfield (very distant relatives or people who you’re only apparently related to), the infield (people you’re more likely related to), or at the backstop (male individuals you’re certainly related to). Getting a higher level Y-DNA test—such as Y-67 or Y-111—narrows the focus to the infield and the backstop respectively.
The advantage of a Y-37 test is that it’s a way of finding out what’s out there in terms of matches. If there are Filipino matches or many Spanish matches, this would count as evidence in favor of the Spanish origin of the Lucenós. That would then justify getting a higher level test to see if those matches are “true” matches. This will also require getting those individuals to get the higher level DNA test, if they haven’t already.
If you are a Spanish or Filipino Luceno male and would like to assist with this research, please contact me.
If you are an Italian Luceno male and would like to help, please contact me before ordering a test, as only some male Luceno samples are useful to my research.
Family Tree DNA’s sale goes until Sunday.