mtDNA news

Well, good news!   I received my mtDNA test results from Argus BioSciences on Sept. 28.   They are:  Polymorphisms: A263G 315insC T16519C, Haplogroup: H.   You would more commonly see the results written as HVR1 16519C & HVR2 263G, 315.1C.   They're posted on the Project mtDNA Results page (mtResults) with details linked from there.

In our previous discussions of mtDNA we talked about how slowly it mutates and how that makes it relatively useless for genealogical investigation.   Not completely useless, just relatively useless.   An illustration of this is found in a comparison of my mtDNA with that of Carol Vass.   Her haplogroup is H6a and her markers are HVR1 16519c and HVR2 152C, 263G, 315.1C.   Pretty close but she differs from the CRS at 152C and I don't.   Just for the sake of illustration, let's include her with the Berry mtDNA folks and look at some of the tables and a cladogram.

Here are all the Berry mtDNA markers, with Carol's included:
and here is the distance table:
and finally, the cladogram:
As you can see Carol and I are only a distance of one apart but her matrilineal line back to 1790 goes to the Kershaw Dist., of South Carolina and mine in 1780 is in Mercer Co., Kentucky, nor do they ever seem to get near one another in the intervening years.   I expect that there is a connection somewhere but whether it happened since the adoption of surnames some 700 or so years ago, we can't tell from what we know at this point.   Interesting but not too helpful.

That is not to say, however, that you can't come across a match that does turn up someone that you can connect with and knock down all sorts of brick walls -- it just won't help as often with mtDNA as it will with yDNA.

To see the current Tables and cladogram only for the Berry mtDNA folks, Click Here.

I'm sure you recall that I told you about the great mtDNA testing offer by Argus BioSciences.   If you think you might need, or just want, one I'd suggest taking a look at them.