Boo 2

This is for those of you who neglected to add to our Berry Family DNA pipeline today.


Boo!

Today's the day!

If any of you are toying with the idea of ordering an upgrade test on your sample stored at FTDNA today is the day to do it to save a whole additional week before you get your results.    The reason for this is that FTDNA prepares and ships 'batches' of orders to the lab once per week, on Wednesday, sometime around 5:00 p.m. Mountain Time.

Open your Family Tree DNA personal page, click on the 'Order Tests & Upgrades' tab and select from the choices offered.    Everyone should try to get to at least 37 markers to get the most information for the least cost.    67 markers is good if you can afford it because it may help not only you but those others in your 'family' to try to distinguish between different family lines.

Another reminder.    Each of you from time to time should check to see that all your results have been uploaded to ySearch or mitosearch to give you the best chance to find or be found by related persons.    It doesn't happen automatically but it's very easy to do.    Simply click on your 'Matches' tab on your FTDNA personal page.    If you see a darkened line that says 'Click here to upload' it means that all your markers have not been uploaded.    So click on it and follow the instructions.    It's really very easy to stay current.

If you need any help with any of this, I'm here to help so let me know by clicking here.

How Interesting!

Gordon Berry, #99, has just had more results come in this afternoon.    His Y-DNA26-37 Markers came in so that all he's missing now of his Y-DNA67 order is the group Y-DNA48-60.    These are very interesting, too.    Gordon now has an additional marker difference from everyone else.    I think these results are going to make really fun, and hopefully informative, cladograms.

Gordon's results have been posted to the yResults pages and he continues to match the Augusta/Washington Co. Berrys, now 54/55.    I misspoke the last time I reported Gordon's results.    He was actually 42/42 at that time.

Gordon again.

Life is good!

Gordon Berry, #99, has had more results come in during my absence.    Specifically, his Y-DNA13-25 Markers came in on the 25th and his Y-DNA38-47 and Y-DNA61-67 Markers on the 26th.    His last two groups are still 'expected' on Nov. 23 but they may also come in early as these did.

Gordon's results have been posted to the yResults pages and he continues to match the Augusta/Washington Co. Berrys, now 41/42.

* * * HIATUS * * *

We've come to the end of our (scheduled) trekking for the year.   We leave this morning for the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, WV.   October Old Time Week.   This week I'm again taking an intermediate fiddle class but this year with Dave Bing, and Betty's again working as a staff assistant with the elderhostel folks.

October Old Time Week is followed immediately by the Old Time Fiddler's Reunion next weekend, so we'll be back next Sunday to see what exciting DNA stuff you all have gotten into while I've been at play.

I haven't reminded you recently what a mess this administration has made of our Country so let me just mention "W"'s War again since it seems to be taking all our blood and our treasure so that we can't even afford to provide health insurance for our poor children.

Since we invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003:

      3,834 U.S. service members killed.

     27,753 U.S. service members wounded.

     - Iraqi civilian deaths estimated at between 75,383 and 82,126 

          in "W"'s War.

                            "When a man don’t use good judgment it’s the innocent who pays"

                                                                                                                             -- Echo Mountain

upgrade news

Janice ordered John's, #42, Y-Refine12to25 upgrade test yesterday evening.    That's a good move.    12 markers are really too few to tell anything meaningful about any matches they show.    John has six 12 marker matches with folks surnamed Barrett.    This should help determine whether they mean anything.    37 markers would be better, in theory, but only two of the Barretts shown have tested that far while four have tested to 25 markers.

Too bad she missed the Wednesday cutoff   I've mentioned before.    It will now be next Wednesday before the order is shipped to the lab and an estimated results date established.    It will be interesting to see what this upgrade shows.

In the meantime, Janice, and anyone else who hasn't yet done so should upload your results to ySearch.    I'm here to help if you'll just let me know you need it.

Good-o, Gord-o!

Gordon Berry's, #99, results have begun to come in even earlier than I expected!    And he's not disappointing!

You will recall that Gordon's kit arrived at FTDNA on Wednesday, September 26, and promptly went right out to the lab, resulting in this estimated results schedule -

Well, last night Gordon's first 12 markers were returned - 21 days!

And they matched the Augusta/Washington Co. Berrys, as hoped expected.

This is important because Gordon's Berrys emigrated directly from Ireland to New Zealand and our U.S. Augusta/Washington Co. Berrys have not yet been able to discover their direct link back to Ireland.

. . . . and for bonus points - - Gordon has already uploaded his results to ySearch!

Key West Cemetery

Luckily, since we have no new Berry DNA to write about, I do have a backlog of gravestone photos to get online to keep me off the streets!    Again, still-to-be-indexed but OK for viewing.

See it here.

Some of the monuments shown include:

"General" Abe Sawyer (1862-1939) - Key West's famous 40-inch tall midget who requested burial in the grave of a full-size man.

Thomas Romer (1783-1891) - an African-Bahamian who served in the War of 1812 as a privateer.    His gravestone attests to his 108-year life and his standing as a "good citizen" for 65 years!

Elizabeth Johnson (c. 1897) - A fine example of the Everlast Company's cast metal markers, made principally of zinc and marketed as "white bronze," that enjoyed brief popularity late in the Victorian period.

Richard T. Barry (1874-1919) -
Florie Mayfield Carey (1908-1920) -
John W. Allen (1857-1918) &
Cornelia M. Allen (1863-1929) -
Joseph Key (1853-1916) -
Frank C. Cale (1872-1947) -
Henry W. Carey (1877-1933) - These gravestones in the form of a tree bear the insignia of the Woodmen of the World, a fraternal order that provided death benefits to members and their families, including life insurance and a choice of monuments.

"Sloppy" Joe Russell (1889-1941) - Key West's best known barkeep and fishing guide to Ernest Hemingway in the 1930s.

B.P. "Pearl" Roberts (1929-1979) - Local hypochondriac who had the last word with her marker:    "I Told you I was Sick."    The only other gravestone with that epitaph that I've come across is in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Gresham, Oregon.

Gloria Russell (1926-2000) - Says "I'm just resting my eyes."

P. [Piedad] L.F. de Ayala (1859-1891) - Her grandfather wrote the Cuban national anthem.

The Sockish

Has anyone lost Stizzy Berry?

I've been using this 'slow DNA' time to catch up a little on my Graveyards & Gravestones Project.    Sorry if it seems that I've been neglecting you all lately.    I admit that I have but it's really difficult reporting on new Berry DNA stuff when nothing's going on.

But in the meantime, I've just finished the Sunset Cemetery in Murphy, North Carolina and I've found a Stizzy Berry, 1887-1962, who married a Ferguson.    Anyone know her?

You all recall Murphy, North Carolina.    That's down in the Southern Appalachians.    Down where the Atlanta bomber was able to elude authorities for so long.

Mapping the human genome

This episode of the Human Genome special on the Charlie Rose Show featured Paul Nurse, James Watson, Eric Lander, and Craig Venter.

Berry cemeteries

Since I don't seem to be able to make anything Berry DNA happen I thought I'd post a list of links to all the Berry cemeteries I have online.

I have a total of 213 cemeteries online with Berry gravestones in most but these are only those actually called Berry cemeteries:

• Berry Family Cemetery, Rye, New Hampshire


• Berry Cemetery, Benton Co., Tennessee


• Berry Cemetery, Hawkins Co., Tennessee


• Berry Cemetery, Carter/Unicoi Co., Tennessee


• Berry Cemetery, Kanawha Co., West Virginia

Happy birthday, Jon!

The most beautiful cemetery

Well, until SMGF releases the next update to its database or Gordon's, #99, results are back (estimated 11/23/2007 but I'm guessing 11/2) we're going to have to make-do with regular genealogy or whatever.

You will recall that last January I told you I'd visited the most beautiful cemetery I'd ever seen when I went to Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia.    I've spent the past several days putting it online and, other than still-to-do indexing, it's ready for viewing.

Bonaventure Cemetery

60 minutes

You may be interested to see the 60 minutes piece on genetic genealogy tonight.    I haven't seen it but it has been reported to be pretty fair.

Ready to sequence your complete Genome?

Think you might someday want to sequence your complete genome?    That might not be all that far off in the future for some of you younger folks.

Here's a chart showing today's costs for sequencing the complete genome -


. . . . and you can read more about it in today's online Wall Street Journal.

DNA for the Genealogist

Lifted verbatim from the
Relative Genetics website -

Genealogists are interested in three main kinds of genetic testing: Autosomal, mitochondrial, and Y chromosome.
Autosomal DNA are the 22 pairs of non-sex chromosomes found in the nucleus.    Autosomal DNA testing will perform a scan throughout all your chromosomes to find the answer to your genealogical question.    The benefits of autosomal testing are that you can verify/establish nuclear family relationships, there are no gender limitations, and you can test directly for a certain relationship, e.g. grandparent or sibling.    The limitation of autosomal testing is that currently you can only test relationships as far back as the grandparent generation.    The most popular application of autosomal testing is in determining paternity. (Extended Family Testing also uses autosomal analysis.)

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) testing is conducted to determine information about your direct maternal line.    MtDNA is maternally inherited meaning that a woman will pass her mtDNA to all of her children, but only her daughters will pass it to the next generation.    The benefits of mtDNA are that sequencing can be used to determine if individuals share a direct maternal line and mtDNA haplogrouping can be used to determine an individual’s deep ancestral roots.    The most popular application of mtDNA haplogrouping is in determining Native American ancestry.    (For more information about these procedures see Biology 201.)    The limitations of mtDNA testing are that you are restricted to direct maternal line testing, and that deep-rooted ancestry information gained from the haplogroup test, is not traditionally genealogically valuable.

Y chromosome testing is the most widely used application of genetics in genealogy.    The Y chromosome is passed practically unchanged from father to son, generation after generation.    Therefore, it is an ideal candidate for genealogical testing as in most western cultures the Y chromosome follows the same path as the surname.    Thus, direct paternal descendents of a common ancestor will have the same or similar Y chromosome.    The Y chromosome test can verify current genealogy and establish direct paternal links in the absence of written information.    The limitations of Y chromosome testing are that any female interruptions in the line will negate the test and the specific relationship of the individuals tested cannot be established.    (For more information, see Y-Chromosome Markers.)

Culpeper Co. has become Madison Co.

Well, in response to my previous inquiry [Name change?   MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2007] about changing the designation of the Culpeper Co. Berrys to the Madison Co. Berrys, from the eight folks directly involved I received one yes, one rather not, one combo and two don't cares.    I've decided to go ahead and have made the changes.    If anyone spots someplace I've missed, please tell me.

The century mark

Our 100th Y-DNA participant joined us last night!    He is Jeffrey Scott Berry who joins us from the Genographic Project with 12 marker results in hand.    His 12 marker results match exactly the first 12 markers of Robert, #46.    Robert has tested 25 markers and to this point had no matches.    It would be nice if both Jeffrey and Robert upgraded to 37 markers so they could see whether this 'possibility' might really be something.

In addition, Jeffery should upload his results to Ysearch by going to his FTDNA personal page, clicking on his Y-DNA MATCHES tab and then clicking on the line that says, "Click here to upload to Ysearch.org".    That's all there is to it.    You then have the opportunity to enter contact information and basic information about your earliest known ancestor.

Welcome, Jeff!