Follow Up

Just in case a cladogram might shed any light on yesterday's discussion, I prepared this one including all in both families (and Mr. Bell) who had tested FTDNA's contiguous 37 markers -By definition, this excludes #31, #59 and #84.    Too bad.

One interesting observation:    Mr. Bell and David, #161, are a genetic distance of two separated by a median vector.    According to Forensic Genealogy by Colleen Fitzpatrick, PhD, "median vectors can represent future participants in the study or ancestors whose haplotypes have become extinct."

Those pesky Faires Berrys again

Preston Bell has just received the results for his Y-DNA38-67 upgrade and is a pretty fair match to our Faires Berrys.    Unfortunately, at the moment, none of them have tested beyond 37 markers.    Rodney, #146, has ordered his upgrade to 67 markers and that could be somewhat informative.    Anyone know of any Bells who were neighbors of your ancestors?

I thought this might be an opportune time to discuss some of the things that the distance tables may suggest.    I'll leave it to you all to decide what they mean.

Here's the entire 'family' including Mr. Bell:
We seem to have at least 2, perhaps 3, groups within the family.    Dennis, #31, Sam, #139, David, #161 and Bell in one group and Paul, #36, David, #59, Henry, #108, Edward, #110, John, #114, Theodore, #137 and Rod, #146 in another.

Here's the latter group, including Sam, #139, who, at best, seems only 'probably' related:
Here's the 'small' group, including Sam who doesn't seem related at all:
So, here's the small group without Sam:
And the large group without Sam:
Also, consider that David, #59, only has tested to 12 markers and things could change markedly for him upon further testing.

But wait    --    I wonder what if we also looked at the Rockingham Co. Berrys who have also been suspiciously close to the Faires Berrys?

Here's the entire group:
Hm-m-m-m-m.    Maybe we ought to just put Kevin, #84, with the Faires Berrys 'large group':
I have not reviewed anyone's yAncestry to see what the paper trails indicate.    I'll let you all take a look at that.

I'd like to be copied on your discussions, though, please.    And if you could include your Participant #s with your emails I won't have to take the time to try to figure out who you are.    Thanks.

FTDNA Sale

FTDNA has extended this sale.    The final date is now June 30th, 2009.    Kits must be paid by July 7, 2009.

In my view this is a good deal if you were going to order the Y-DNA37 marker test anyway.   

Out of Touch

I'm on a street bench in downtown Marlinton piggy backing off somebody's unprotected wireless network.    This is about five miles from where we are having our music workshops.    There, we don't even have cell phone service.    Something to do with the nearby Greenbank Radio Observatory, I think.

Having a great time.    We'll be back Sunday.

* * * Hiatus * * *

Hopefully, not a complete hiatus.    But I will be here until Sunday and then at

in Pocahontas Co., WV, at fiddle camp for the next week.    Internet access is unknown.    I'll try to get online when I can to let you know of anything new.

Premature celebration?

It would seem so.    Bill sponsored Brandon, nominally #136, early last December hoping to 'flesh out' his Barry/Berrys family.    Over six months have now passed without Brandon returning his kit.    What to do?    Obviously not an oversight.    I'm sure Bill is not that overjoyed that FTDNA will give him a replacement kit.    Finding the right person to test is the hard part.

There's an app for that

The iPhone is truly an amazing device!    Undoubtedly the most satisfying and useful device that I've ever purchased, and I rarely make a phone call.

I've been searching the Ancestry.com DNA results for Berry haplotypes and among those I found was one for Donald Wayne Berry.    Even better, comparing Donald's haplotype to all the others in the Project shows that he's related to me!    He's an Augusta/Washington Co. Berry!

I'm sure that there are many more things to complain about re Ancestry.com but I don't subscribe so the two that come immediately to my mind are that the DNA section is so clunky as to be almost unnavigable and that there is no sure way to contact someone you do find there.

Well, there's an app for that!    Ancestry does have a map function showing the geographic distribution of your potential relations so, looking at that, I could see that Donald lives in the vicinity of Fresno, California.    Using the iPhone's free White Pages app I searched for Donald Wayne Berry in California and among the many hits I got there was a Donald W. Berry in Xxxxx, California which, using the same app, I was able to determine was near Fresno.    So I called him.

No answer.    So I tried again about 10 last evening (7:00 in California) and it was the right Donald Berry.    After a very nice chat with Don and his wife, Janet, Don is now Participant #170 in the Project.

There's an app for that.

Another Sale, ho-hum

As much as I appreciate FTDNA's offerings that help grow the Project (and their bottom line), I'd much rather see sales like the recent upgrade sale that encourage current customers to add to the family knowledge or, even better in my view, a sale that would reward those who have already maxxed out their standard markers.    But then, that's just me and probably includes a significant slice of self-interest.

What we have is a good deal for a narrow group of people.    The problem with it is that the mtDNA portion is of little use in any genealogical pursuits.

Max Blankfeld has just announced a sale of the combination of Y-DNA37+mtDNA for $119 (The regular project price is $248).    The promotion will begin today and will end on June 24, 2009.    Kits ordered in this sale must be paid for by June 30, 2009

F.Y.I.

Busy July!

Seek, and ye shall find

How long have I been looking for Roger Dale Berry?    At least since early 2006.

Where in the World is Roger Dale Berry?

more DNA news

The lost is found.    Roger answered an inquiry I made through the GeneTree message system and is now Participant #168, a Benton Co. Berry, and he was indeed, as suspected, the person we previously called SMGF Berry/Anderson.

To repeat what I said yesterday, after testing elsewhere and having manually entered my DNA profile into the GeneTree website, www.genetree.com, I was able to gain access to genetic-genealogy research applications developed by SMGF, and to search for genetic matches in the SMGF database.    'Matches' are ranked, from 100% down depending on the number of markers that match out of the number compared.    So, as in my case, you don't have to just be interested in very close 'matches'.    Try it.    It's free.

You missed it!

On numerous occasions I've urged ALL of you to test with SMGF whether you tested elsewhere or not.    Simply because it was FREE!

Well, now you've missed it.

"SMGF will no longer collect new samples directly through our website. Instead, sample collecting will be handled by affiliate organizations, freeing SMGF resources previously dedicated to sample collecting to support data analysis and innovation."

Unfortunately, SMGF is steering potential testers to GeneTree.    The problem with that is that in addition to not providing the level of service and usefulness that FTDNA does, GeneTree does not test several important markers for family matching, namely DYS607, 576, 570, CDYa and CDYb.    Four of these; DYS570, 576 and CDYa&b, have been useful for separating lines in some families and in some cases determining whether there is a family match or not.

For this reason I would not recommend testing with GeneTree.    I would, however, recommend that after testing elsewhere you go to the GeneTree website, www.genetree.com , and create your free account and manually enter your DNA profile to gain access to genetic-genealogy research applications developed by SMGF, and to search for genetic matches in the SMGF database.

Let's get real!

Why are you here?    Looking to connect with new genetic cousins?    Want to get over (or around) that brick wall?    Like to prove or disprove that relationship you've been troubled about?

Well, this is the page for you!

Everyone should go to your FTDNA Personal Page:   First, click on the 'Setup Preferences' tab and select your matches to be set against the entire database.    Leaving it set to "display of matches only to my Surname Project" will severely limit your opportunity to see matches that may be of interest to you but are not yet in the Project.    Severely, as in 'No Chance'.    One exception to this advice is that if you have more than 12 markers tested it will probably be a good idea to uncheck the 12 marker button.    Since 12 marker matches are mostly meaningless this will avoid those 'dear cousin' emails from folks with different surnames.

Next, you should all check your Y-DNA 'Matches' tab.    Those of you who have gotten new results, be sure to upload them to ySearch.    Take a look to see if the 'Click here to upload to Ysearch.org' line is there.    If that line's not there, no worry.   You've already done it.    If it is there, click it. This doesn't happen automatically, only semi-automatically.   You don't have to type the numbers in but you do have to click the 'Click here to upload to Ysearch.org' line in the Y-DNA 'Matches' tab.

Also, while you're at your Personal Page, you have the opportunity to upload a gedcom of either your Y-DNA family tree or your mtDNA family tree, or both.    Just click on the 'GEDCOM - Family Tree' line and follow the instructions.    Or you can ask me for help.    Having this information available online can be very helpful to others trying to make a connection to you, particularly on the mtDNA side.

FTDNA's third panel, Y-DNA26-37, contains five fast-moving markers, four of which, DYS570, 576 and CDYa&b, have been useful for separating lines in some families and in some cases determining whether there is a family match or not.    Those of you having only 12 or 25 markers tested might want to consider upgrading to 37.

Unfortunately, those of you who have tested elsewhere than at FTDNA are missing those important 'fast-movers'.    I suggested to FTDNA that there must be a price point at which they could offer that third panel as a 'stand-alone' product but they seem to be having none of it.    At this writing the most economical method of getting these markers that I've yet been able to devise is to order Y-DNA1-12 from FTDNA's Promotion for individuals that have tested their Y-DNA with Relative Genetics, DNAHeritage, Ancestry, Oxford Ancestors or Genebase (not SMGF) for $59 and then order Y-Refine12to37 for $99.00, total $158, or the just the missing five markers, DYS607 $7.20, DYS570 $7.20, DYS576 $7.20, CDYa&b (DYS724) $12.00, plus a $9.50 transfer fee, $43.10, total $102.10.

I'm assuming that you've gone to the trouble and expense of DNA testing to further assist your family research.    These steps will help optimize that possibility.

Another friendly reminder - If you've been considering upgrading or ordering any new tests where FTDNA already has your DNA sample on hand, take this as a sign that by Wednesday is the day to do it.    It will save you up to a week on getting your results back.    Place the order before 4:30 or so that day, Mountain Time, to avoid waiting up to a week additional for the next batch to be shipped out.