DNA icon puzzle

Question

Trammell-88 has a Y DNA icon from W Harris.  But W Harris's Trammell line is different.  There's no common paternal relationship. Why is the icon displayed?

Answer 1

the common relationship is Trammell-34

Comments

Yes, if you go back up the tree enough you get to a common ancestor.  But the wording on Trammell-88 says quite clearly that W Harris is in his "direct paternal line".   To me that means something other than what it apparently means.  W Harris is not in Trammell-88's paternal line.  But it might be interesting for male descendants of -88 to compare their Y-DNA to W Harris's.  I don't know what words I would use to describe this but "direct paternal line" doesn't do the job for me.  W Harris claims to have Trammell paternal DNA.  That's all.  (And, yes, I hadn't really thought this topic through very well!)

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But the wording on Trammell-88 says quite clearly that W Harris is in his "direct paternal line".

Where does it say that specifically?

On the Connections page, it says "Here are family members that have been connected for W Harris's Y-chromosome DNA test. We built this list by tracing W's direct-line paternal ancestry, finding the earliest-known paternal grandfather, and then going down all of this ancestor's direct male lines."

From that description, I would expect the test results to link all male descendants of Trammell-34 to each other.

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If you visit Trammell-88 you'll see "direct paternal line" just above the Y-DNA icon. The wording just threw me off.  It looked like the icon shouldn't be there.

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I see what you mean. Even though Trammell-88 and Harris-21124 share a common ancestor (Trammell-34), they are technically each in two separate paternal lines.

But I think its just an unfortunate choice of wording. Since each of their direct paternal lines both point to the same common ancestor, I think its the common ancestor that actually links the paternal lines together. So even though the wording is awkward, I still think its valid.

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It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Dennis by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. Y-chromosome DNA test-takers in his direct paternal line on WikiTree: 

This means that both Dennis Trammell and W Harris share a direct ancestor; in their case, it is Trammell-34.

As you and the other Dennis (Wheeler!) write, the wording may be a bit confusing - just one of the many delights here at WikiTree!

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I would suggest changing "in" to "who share" - just a thought!

The phrase would then read:

Y-chromosome DNA test-takers who share his direct paternal line on WikiTree:

Does that sound more accurate and clear?

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who share a male ancestor on WikiTree:
who have a common male ancestor on WikiTree:
who descend from one of his paternal ancestors:

It's hard to be clearer and compact.  Maybe punt.

Relevant Y-chromosome DNA test takers:

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all great alternate suggestions for Chris to implement... so far though, I personally like Ken's the best

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Yes, I agree that "in his direct paternal line" should become "who share his direct paternal line".  It's not technically accurate, but it's very much closer to the truth, and the text needs to be brief.

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There are two types of relationships that need to be considered.  

(1) The relationship between DNA test-takers. With the single exception of brothers, every test taker has a different paternal line, They may share part of a paternal line, but the list of paternal ancestors is different. 

(2) the relationship between each individual test taker and the current profile page. With a few exceptions, their lines are still different. 

Why not use similar language as auDNA...

"It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share DNA with Ken:"

for yDNA testers...

"It is likely that these y-chromosome test-takers will share DNA with Bob."  or add " along paternal lines"

Answer 2

Hello, Steve!

According to the Relationship Finder, W Harris-21124 and Dennis Trammell-88 are first cousins four times removed. Their common ancestor is Trammell-34.

Answer 3

I don't believe the problem is with the icon being displayed. I believe it is the wording. 

Here is the wording...

"Y-chromosome DNA test-takers in his direct paternal line on WikiTree:"

This indicates the test-takers are in my direct paternal line, which is almost never true.  A true statement would be something like...

"Y-chromosome DNA test-takers who should be related by a common male ancestor(s) along direct paternal lines..."