Northwestern Lake

I grew up in the small town of Bingen, Washington, in the Columbia Gorge.    I left there in 1954.     This isn't going to be a memoir but merely setting the scene for this film documenting a recent event.

When we were kids one of the family activities we irregularly engaged in was a picnic at Northwestern Lake.     I never gave it any thought at the time but Northwestern Lake was the result of a hydroelectric project on the White Salmon River between Klickitat and Skamania Counties called the Condit Dam.

Recently, it was decided to reverse that project.    If you have half an hour to spare, this is an interesting narrative of the blowing of the Condit Dam and the resulting changes to the White Salmon River.
[I suggest watching it 'full screen' by clicking the small square in the lower right corner of the display.]

Watch The White Salmon River Runs Free: Breaching the Condit Dam on PBS. See more from Oregon Field Guide.

Additional information:

White Salmon Restored: A Timelapse Project ~ documenting the removal of condit dam

Y-DNA12 for $99 $39

FTDNA Press Release -

HOUSTON, Feb. 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/   --   Family Tree DNA, the genetic genealogy arm of Gene By Gene, Ltd., is dramatically lowering the price of one of its basic Y-DNA tests to $39, making it the lowest-cost DNA test available on the market, in order to take a major step toward universal access by individuals to their personal genetic data.

By dropping the price of its basic Y-DNA test by 60 percent to $39, Family Tree DNA  --  the world's largest processor of Y-DNA and full mitochondrial sequences  --  is working to eliminate cost as a barrier to individuals introducing themselves to the insights and knowledge to be gained from personal genetic and genomic research.

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If you've been wanting to check whether you might be related to that certain person, here's your chance to do it on the cheap.     Down from $99 for a limited time (I think Feb. 28th but don't hold me to that), you can find the particulars HERE.

As I've mentioned before, 12 markers will NOT tell you for certain that your ARE related to another, but it will tell you for certain when you are NOT related to that other.

More 'Improvements'

I decided that it was counter-productive to update the 'Family' portion of the Family yResults page to facilitate the efficient use of Dean McGee's Y-DNA Comparison Utility without updating the Unassigned folks.     I undertook, and have now competed, that task, adding them to the end of the Family yResults page.

Running a new Genetic Distance exam thru Dean's Utility indicated (to me) that a couple of folks were related to others that we hadn't previously recognized.

Participant #153, Thomas Jeffrey Barry, now appears likely to be a Faires Berrys but since Tom has not shared his yAncestry with us we have no way to check.     We may have a clue, however, from the yAncestry of John Henry Barry IV (ID #114), Tom having listed his earliest known ancestor as Thomas Henry Barry 1814-1891.     Tom tested only 12 markers originally but also decided to do a DYS464X test for some reason.     Even though no other Faires participant has done the extended DYS464 test, the basic values match nicely.

Also, Participant #70, Charles Henry Berry has only tested 12 markers but appears likely to be a Strawbery Banke Berry.     His yAncestry doesn't indicated it in any way but also doesn't preclude it and Dean's Utility says yes so we'll call it a 'possible'.     More markers tested would tell for sure.

The third is one of the haplotypes I 'gleaned' from Ysearch, Thomas Berry, ECNWC, who matches one of the 'Other matches' at the bottom of the page comprised of C. Berry, Ysearch W2YZ9, and Thomas Willard Berry, Participant #51, who seems to be descended from an early Albemarle Co., Virginia, line.     All three claim to descend from Isham Berry, 1753-1827.     I should probably suggest that they get in touch with one another.

Project Update: Genetic Distance Comparison Table

A couple of upgrades/updates to the Project website to report.

First, in an attempt to accommodate FTDNA's conversion to 111 markers I have had to recode the Numerical yResults and Family yResults pages.    For some reason, the Family yResults page was very time consuming and took the better part of the past year.    I do know that part of the reason was that I wanted to set it up so that I could relatively easily copy its data for pasting into Dean McGee's Y-DNA Comparison Utility (found here:    Utility) without having to thereafter tweak it so it didn't clog the utility.

Both the tables contain 'hidden' values which 'show' by hovering the cursor above them.    An example is the identification square at the beginning and end of each row.    Hovering there reveals the participant's name and testing company/kit number.    Multi-copy markers are another instance where additional data is available that can't be shown (for ease in copying, mentioned earlier).    In any instance where additional data is available the square will 'highlight' when the cursor is hovered over it.

Also, a current genetic distance table for all the Project members has been run and may be studied here:    TABLE

The current table is always available through the link at the bottom of the Numerical and Family yResults pages.

The arrangement of the table is DNA families first in the same order as displayed on the Family yResults page, followed by the unassigned participants in numerical order at the bottom of the table.    The top row and the first column contain the participant's numbers.

On Genetics: Genetic Genealogy and the Single Segment

As I've mentioned in the past, I can help you all out with surname relationships indicated by Y-DNA but am not much help with autosomal matching using FTDNA's Family Finder or 23andMe's Relative Finder.

I've come across a short article that some have indicated was helpful to them and am linking it here for whatever assistance it may provide in finding relationships using those tools.

Click the link below.
On Genetics: Genetic Genealogy and the Single Segment