New and not sure how to begin

[SCATPACK]

I've been researching my family tree for a short time and have finally took a DNA test. I was adopted by my step father and did not know my biological father. I did finally get a copy of my original birth certificate. The surname is DeRamus. So when I got my results I was stunned I was mostly Irish on my fathers side. Here are my results:
R1b1a/L389/P297/M269/L23/L51/L151/P312/L21/DF13/Z39589/DF49/Z2980/Z2976/DF23/Z2961/M222 Any help would be greatly appreciated Thanks-Jeff

[Osiris]

What tests did you take?

What are you goals? Identify your biological father? Meet family on that side? Or are you interested in your whole tree?

[SCATPACK]

I have no desire to meet my biological father. But I want to know about my ancestry. I've traced my Mom's side back a couple of hundred years and they all came from Poland. The surname has been very difficult to find. I find it in the U.S. and in Ireland and England. But it's very uncommon. Just want to know "who" I am.

[Osiris]

It kind of sounds like you've done 23andme and so did your mother to give you some Y chromosome SNPs and the autosomal test to give some ethnicity breakdown for your father's side.

You can download the raw data from there and upload it to GedMatch.com and play with the ethnicity calculators there but they probably aren't going to take you much further then you know now. Really want you want it a paper trail like on your mother's side.

The best thing to do is to look for matches so you can pick up a paper trail on your biological father's side. I was able to do that for my mother on 23andme with two 3rd cousins. By exploring their trees I found a marriage link between them at the 1st cousin twice removed level and rightfully concluded that the married pair were the parents of my mother's biological father. As the years past more and more matches came in confirming the link. Since people can test anyway I also suggest you try at Ancestry.com and at FTDNA with the Family Finder. I've got significant matches at all 3 locations. Of course the more you test the more likely you are to find cousins on your biological father's side and then find you.

If you're interested in your Y chromosome which looks to have formed around 2000 years ago. There are Y chromosome tests you can take to try and find newer SNPs than M222. Maybe identify where your paternal line was 1500, 1500 and 500 years ago. You can build up with the autosomal tests but also build down with the Y chromosome tests.

[SCATPACK]

Thank you for the info. I did Living DNA and i'm waiting on results from Family Tree.

[Osiris]

Once you get your results it can be a little confusing. There's some good blogs out there where people were going through similar stuff and wrote up how they worked their way to something useful.

Hoosier Daddy: roots4u.blogspot.com - He starts out proving that the person he thought was his father wasn't and then he uses matches to figure out who his biological father really was. The early on entries are really interesting to watch as he starts out with just his matches and what he is able to accomplish.

Segmentology: segmentology.org - He does some really technical stuff. Maybe good read once you get comfortable with matches.

Robert Estes: dna-explained.com - She had some good entries which range from beginning to advanced.

[RobertCasey]

Since you are R-M222, this is the largest known haplogroup with Irish origins. If you were to order the YSTR 67 marker test and join the R-M222 project, you could learn a lot about your all male line. They now have 240 branches under R-M222 and economical SNP packs are available from FTDNA for R-M222. This haplogroup is so prolific in offspring as it includes the second king to unite the entire island of Ireland - Nial of Nine Hostages (present day O'Neil surname). There are a lot of skilled researchers under this haplogroup with over 2,000 testers with 67 markers. Many of the YSNP branches are genealogical in nature (under 1,000 years old where the majority of testers have the same surname or variant). For more information on R-M222:

https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/r-1b-1c-7/about/background

[SCATPACK]

Thank you for the help and info to get me started. I ordered an FTDNA 67 marker test to join that R-M222 project. I will also check out those websites and blogs for additional info.