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Progress!!!

The FTDNA sale is half over and we have made some real progress. We have gained several new members recently, some members have taken advantage of the Big Y/Free Y-111 one-time only offer (must have a minimum of YSTR-12 either previously tested or currently batched) and many STR upgrades. This is very exciting and I cannot tell you how important your contribution is to our cause. We share many issues with our brick walls and as you are keenly aware many of us bottleneck in Ireland. This is why it is incredibly important to Y-STR test as far out to YSTR-111 as you can. Those subtle mutations in our markers help sort out our cousin lines. The Big Y test gives us more permanent marker values that can be aged to help give us a reasonable time period when our specific cousin branch may have occurred. This is important to help give us the Who, What and Where. Secondly, I was able to get FTDNA to develop a SNP test for our most recent major subclade, FGC60974, which you can take if you a
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Christmas Sale at FTDNA is On!

The Christmas sale is on!!!  In addition to the sale prices below it is also possible that a coupon will be available to use in conjunction with the sale price. You will either need to leave a comment below or email me directly regarding which test you are interested in so I can check the availability of the coupons. It is likely there will be some available but don't delay, they do go quickly. If you have taken the Big Y test there is no need to purchase any other Y-Chromosome test. You have tested as much as you can. FTDNA is still working on the Big Y data files for all of the testers in their database. It might be possible that you are showing Big Y results on your profile page but the data file is not available. It will be soon. This data file is important as once it becomes available we will need to have it analyzed. Stay tuned for instructions on how to accomplish that. If you have tested Big Y but have not tested your ySTR markers out to 111, there is no need to do s
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Important Change to Big Y Analysis

I've resisted writing about the change that has been taking place at FamilytreeDNA with the upgrade and to how they will analyze Big Y results going forward. The reason for the delay was to allow the dust to settle and see how the process was progressing in order to give you the most accurate update to what is going on. This affected our DNA group in that we have four members of our group who are anxiously waiting for their results. The untimely setback for our Sproul testers during this upgrade is still a positive move for our group. For one, these four members are the first Big Y testers for our project so we have no members waiting to have their previous results to go through the re-read. What is occurring is how the analysis program reads the DNA results. Each SNP that is targeted for genealogical analysis is assigned a numeric location in our strand of DNA. What the change is doing is adjusting the numeric location for that SNP giving it a more refined result. It will also
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PRONI Making Available Digitized Church Records

Starting tomorrow PRONI will make available digitized church records dating from 1642. These records include the  horrendously  microfilmed and mostly unreadable St. Anne's of Belfast records which have been  re-scanned and digitized . Unfortunately these records are not available online which will require a visit to PRONI.  The records available are: Link to PRONI Digitized Church Records Page Church of Ireland St Columb's Cathederal (CR1/113) Londonderry Baptisms 1642 – 1983 (records from 1905 – 1983 are closed) Marriages 1826 – 1830, 1843 – 1904 Burials 1829 – 1955 (records from 1874 – 1955 are closed) Vestry Books 1741 – 1793 Vestry Minutes 1823 – 1935 Derryloran Parish, ( CR1/114)  Co. Tyrone  Baptisms 1797 – 1995 (records from 1913 – 1995 are closed) Marriages 1832 – 2000 (records from 1930 – 2000 are closed) Burials 1855 – 1878 St. Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast,  (CR1/115)  Co. Antrim  Baptisms 1745 – 1911 Marriages 1745 – 1914 Burials 1745 – 1809
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Why this Addiction Called Genealogy?

No doubt there are many, many reasons we have such a passion for genealogy. For me it started with an innocent question from my doctor. During a routine exam when I was 28 years old the doctor asked me what kinds of illnesses and diseases are prevalent in my family. I told him my father and three of my four grandparents were already deceased. They all passed but the only one I really knew the circumstances of their death was my father. This was a wake-up call for me. It was highly unusual for my family to have lost so many close family members at relatively young ages, but why? So I began to investigate. I found governments are not as forthcoming as to how people died. New Jersey is the worst. In my humble opinion this is an outdated and unreasonable denial of important health information that could possibly prevent premature deaths but that’s a topic for another day. My goal was to look for trends. In the manner in which my father passed away frankly scared the hell out of me
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ySTR or Autosomal Testing???

After the last emailed "newsletter" I received some questions and comments regarding what ySTR or S hort T andem R epeats of the Y chromosome is, and the difference between it and autosomal testing, and which test is beneficial to my research. Well to answer that question let's take a look at what each test is, who can take it and what will they tell us. Y Chromosomal or Y-DNA Testing A Y chromosome DNA test or more commonly known as Y-DNA test, is primarily a genealogical test that is used to determine a direct male (more specifically your father's) patrilineal or direct male line of ancestry. Certain identified ySTR markers that are tested by the DNA testing company are given a particular numerical value. Those values are compared to the values of another tester cousin to see if any mutations occurred over generations of time, causing a difference in value in any of those markers between the two testers' results. It cannot be used to test your mother's
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Sproul Project Newsletter from August 2017

SPROUL Project Group Newsletter Dear Members, Please excuse the appearance of this “newsletter” as it is more of an update than anything else. I’m currently working on an email format with graphics, etc. so please stand by. If you have a desire to contribute something from your particular line, have any ideas or suggestions for the newsletter please feel free to email me. Due to the recent (and exciting) participation in the FTDNA summer sales there are things already to announce from results. Before we get to that however, I’d like to announce that one of the features of the newsletter will be for our members to have an opportunity to discuss your brick walls. I’m going to call this the “Demolition Zone.” We may not solve the brick wall immediately but over time, and as folks continue to test and upgrade a larger picture will emerge. Family Feature I would like to feature several family lines in the newsletter. Giving some background into the family you are researching ma
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