In the FTDNA 67 panel, I'm exactly the same as my Elmer 67 counterpart. The two pink numbers we have in common are DYS520 (21) and DYS572 (12). At the U106 project, the closest big Y test so far to our Elmer tester is also a 21 at DYS520 (Lunsford). There are others that are 21 there as well, like the Knowltons (always close) and Jensen from Denmark. The 12 at DYS572 is not as common among 67 testers at U106. There is another person with that value at the Z18 project, Ralowicz from Poland, but it's not carried by the Knowltons or Lunsford.
At 67, my match list has one Elmer kit (our only 67 tester) at a distance of 2 and several Knowlton kits at a range of a distance of 6-7. I would say there is a bias in sampling, but there are several other DF95 men at 67 to compare to, so it's not that there are no more kits out there to look at. These two families are just closest to me.
If you look at the 67 match results for our Elmer kit, they have several more Y67 kits in their match list than I do. Some of my mutations away from the other Elmers also limit my matches. My DYS449=29 (which I share with only one Elmer) and DYS576=18 seem to be particularly troubling to other R-DF95 men.
At this point, I've reached the stage where there is little doubt about who I'm related to on my direct male line circa 1610. I've eliminated enough variables to get down to my core Y family. I'm feeling really confident that I've covered my bases. I'm related to Edward Elmer.
He came here, pretty well alone as far as I can tell. He was a Puritan (oye, he would certainly not approve of me) and he was part of "Hooker's Company". People who disagreed a little with the Puritans in Massachusetts and moved on to found Hartford Connecticut.
Getting from point A in 1974 to Point B in 1610 may still hold some surprises. Only further Y testing or autosomal testing of new candidates will help me narrow that gap and solidify my theories..although they seem really solid to me for the time being. Solid enough to include the Elmore family from Peoria as possible links for Family Finder and 23 and me testers.
There is still a margin for error in there in my autosomal results. Although we had a good autosomal match with a member of that Peoria family, I haven't put together all the clues or groundwork to prove it's a match through the Elmores. I think being related to the Elmores is just the most likely scenario..but not the only possible one.
This summer I'll be approaching what I expect to be my final move with my Y chromosome. Big Y testing to compare to my closest Elmer match. I'll be working with the Elmers and Knowltons to try to layer out our SNP results.
There may be some surprises for the group hidden there too. We'll see what we see. That is where the fun is.
That testing and layering should give us a framework and some benchmarks for testing other people and it should bring the costs down. Effectively we can take what we've learned about our SNPs within the Knowlton and Elmer families and devise cheaper SNP tests at YSEQ that would give someone the Y branch of the Elmer family they belong on. If they wanted to go farther they could then take the ball and run with it.
So if I ever do get to the point where I have a willing Elmore tester who may be closer to me on the Y than my current testing buddies, we can find the definitive answer for $17 instead of $500 plus.
I also expect that I'll be able to take all the knowledge I've gained and the tools I've found and use them to get my Thompson family over it's brick wall. I'm actually hoping I'll be able to streamline the process for them.
As ever, the journey continues one step at a time.
