I’m a newspaper publisher in Washington state and have become addicted over the past decade to the detective work involved in genealogy and the big rushes that come when those last pieces fall into place to solve mysteries or make connections. It has given me a tremendously enhanced feeling of connection with my family’s past and with American and European history. Being able to place my ancestors within the context of events -- great or mundane -- still feels rather miraculous. Far improved access to genealogical records along with DNA analysis make this the golden age for family research. I so wish I could share all I’ve learned with my late father. Along with administering the Winter-Winters project, I’m involved with the H4 mtDNA project, and keep meaning to find time to ramp up that site. Although it still isn’t an especially common surname, Winter and its related forms were independently adopted by quite a number of family founders in the British Isles and the Germanic region. Although we’re closing in on two dozen project members, one of my third cousins and I are really the only participants with an absolutely solid familial connection. Two other participants match 23/25 and thus may be related. A couple other potential matches have only tested 12 markers, which I consider next to worthless. Although mostly R1b, we have members who are I, J1, J2 and C3. A non-member on Ysearch is Q. Aside from genetic matchmaking for other participants, my personal goals are to (A) confirm paper genealogical findings by recruiting more descendants of my immigrant ancestor, John Winter of Watertown, Mass., and (B) recruiting more participants from Britain in hopes of placing John in Norfolk, from whence all inferences suggest he came but where early written records are challenging at best. I’ll look forward to whatever advice and support this discussion can provide.