Project Status Update

The arrival of new participants seems an opportune time to summarize where we are and review what's outstanding.

Just yesterday Scott Berry joined the Project as our 66th Y-DNA participant, and just this evening we had a new member transfer in from the Genographic Project.   He is Participant #67, John Berry from Ottawa, Canada.   John is a 12 marker match for previously unmatched Participant #52, Christopher Berry from Bicester, UK.   John hasn't had a chance to furnish his male ancestry yet so we don't know whether they already knew about each other or if this is a pleasant surprise to each of them.   We still need to be cautious about a 12 marker match, though.   Although hopeful, anything short of a 25 marker match between same surnamed individuals doesn't really prove a relationship.

We're still waiting for 12 marker results for David Berry, #57;  25 marker results for Robert Berry, #65;  37 marker results for Harold Berry, #62;  and the upgrade from 37 to 67 markers for Brian Berry, #49;  as well as DeepSNP-R1b tests for Brian and Keith Berry, #54.

All of our Y-DNA participants to date have tested with FTDNA except Lawrence Berry, #61, who tested with Relative Genetics, and Jim, #7, who had 18 additional markers tested with Ethnoancestry.   Several members have also furnished samples to Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation for their research project and hope to be able to find those additional markers when they become available.   Charles Berry, #27, has already obtained his SMGF results.

In addition to our Y-DNA participants, we have four mtDNA participants;  Philip Berry, #10, and Brian Berry, #49, who are also Y-DNA participants, and Betty Berry, #m1, and Maryann Berry, #m2, who have tested mtDNA only.   Jim Berry, #7, is awaiting the results of his mtDNA test from Argus BioSciences.

Several of us are just waiting for the first wave of 67 marker upgrades to be returned before ordering ours.   I formerly believed that 37 markers would probably tell you about everything that you might be able to learn about your genealogy from DNA.   Since I saw how additional markers enabled the cladograms to assist in separating family lines, however, I've come to the opinion that there is much more to be learned the more markers we have to compare.   My advice is to test as many markers as you can afford.