Cece Moore

And both of these types of DNA change really slowly.

So you're looking at deep ancestry.

You're looking at the origins of your direct paternal line and your direct maternal line, but you're not examining the inner parts of your family tree.

And so autosomal DNA is a different type of DNA.

What comes back is a list of men with the Y chromosome that would have similar or identical Y chromosome signatures.

Now, because in many societies, surnames are passed down from father to son, father to son, just like the Y chromosome, you often will see surname continuity.

So many of us started these volunteer surname projects.

Well, they don't know.

You have to interpret it.

So in my case, I tested my dad's brother to make sure they had the same Y chromosome, same father.

I tested a second cousin to make sure his Y chromosome was the same.

And I finally tested a fifth cousin.

to confirm that my dad's great, great, great, great grandfather was the person that the paper records tell us it was.

So I was following his surname, my surname, Moore, back generation, you know, generation, generation.

So keep going back in that tree, confirming my grandfather is the correct person, my great grandfather.

They don't, that's what you do.

So you would get a list of people who say shared your brother's Y chromosome or it was very similar to his Y chromosome.

Modern day.

Yes, and probably a lot of them would have the surname Kelly.

Now that is only if there was no break in your direct paternal line, meaning no adoption, misattributed paternity, that type of thing.