Genealogy Resolutions and Year in Review

The End of the Alexander Forgey paper trail  is 1807, picking up from here in 2014

Happy New Year 2014! 

It's been such a fruitful year genealogy wise; it's hard to recall every single new find, there were so many.

1. My mother took the Family Finder autosomal test through MtDNA in August. This has led to finding more distant cousins. The best outcome of this is that she looks like a DNA match to a distant Forgey cousin, further cementing our relationship to the McMinn, Tennessee Forgeys.
2. My cousin Darryl Kapple took the Y DNA test and we now have a Haplo group of J2b. So we know our family had been in the Mediterranean area at some point.
3. I took the MtDNA full sequence test and found out I belong to the African Haplo L2a1F. 
4. Some of my Forgey first cousins took the 23andme DNA test.
5. A third cousin, Sophia Preston, tested with 23andme and we discovered we share the maximum DNA that a third cousin is likely to share.
6. The Virginia Memory Chancery court project led to more indepth information about the Lewis Zirkle family, plus great stories! The same database contained a court case naming Benjamin Wray's children and grandchildren, which is conclusive proof we descend from him.
7. Another big breakthrough came from Ohio court records. Eve Urmey is named as a sister of John Urmey in his Ohio will. This John is son of Jacob Urmey and Susannah Brower. This is satisfactory proof, for me, that Eve is their daughter. 
8. After adding Brower to the tree I was able to find some great information about this family and their origins in Germany. I've also collected up Urmey and Brower wills this year.
9. It looks like Edward Browning's wife was Elizabeth Drane.
10.  This past week I've added another name to the Kapple tree, the name Rottenstummer. I did this with the help of a Kleinmurbisch, Austria cousin. Rottenstummer seems to have originated in the village of Kleinmurbisch.

My to do list for 2014

1. I think my number one priority this year is going to be trying to find out more about the mysterious Alexander Forgey of Washington County, Virginia. We don't know who his children are, and we don't know where or when he died? We lose all track of him in 1807.
2. While researching the Brower family I saw Brenneman given as Susannah Brower's mother Eve's maiden name. I can't confirm this. I would like some documentation for this?
3. I've been doing some Browning family research this year. I would like to find more documentation linking the Tennessee Brownings with Maryland. Also need to find documentation that Elizabeth Drane was Edward's wife.
4. I still don't have any photos of Frank Kappel and Mary Kurta, my great-grand parents, so I will be continuing to search for those.
5. Another carry over from previous years is finding the death information for Patrick Mullen and Mary Huvane who died in Ireland.
6. The partnership of Ancestry.com and Familysearch will produced more records to search, and I plan on using them as soon as they are available. When I don't know?
7. Another resolution from years past is learning more about my Nicaraguan ancestors. I did look into getting more information about them, but was disappointed to find out that the vital records office for Granada, Nicaragua doesn't respond to mailed in requests. You must request records in person. So finding out more on this line may mean a trip to Granada, Nicaragua?
8. I'll continue searching War of 1812 records as they come available.
9. I've upgraded my cousin Darryl Kapple's Y DNA test, and should get the results in a few weeks. We'll see if there as any matches at 37 markers?

In conclusion I've made some great headway, and confirmed the parentage of Eve Urmey and Elias Wray, this year. We've confirmed our paper trails using DNA. We've also added some great stories, so we have more than statistical information. I've compiled much of what we have so far into several books I've printed, through Lulu, this year. This included printing this blog into a book. If next year is as fruitful I will be very grateful!

Welcome Catharina Rottenstummer to our tree!