Happy Halloween!

Aunt Grace  Forgey-Wilmot and Uncle Bill Wilmot  at Forgey family Halloween Party

Put Yourself in the Picture

Great-Great Grandfather Hugh Forgey and I

Photo editing software. I've been playing with photo-editing software available for free online. Face in the Hole is fun. You can upload your own photo or use their template photos. I found some fun photos when I searched the site using the word "Victorian". I found the photo above which I used; and added my great-great grandfather Hugh Forgey and my picture to. I also uploaded a picture of my great grandmother Isis Browning-Forgey and her sister. I removed her sister's face and replaced it with my own. It's fun to play with this. You can snip a copy of your creation and edit it with free Picasa photo-editing software. The Halloween effects at Picnik are also fun to play with. Being a typical genealogist I love cemeteries. The cemetery over lay at Picnik is a fun, spooky, effect to add to photos. You can get to Picnik through Picasa photo-editing.

Tracking Down DNA Matches and Digging Deeper

Tracking Down Matches The newest match for Roger Forgey came in yesterday and was a 25 marker match with Kenneth Ferguson who had a genetic distance of 2.  It seems like there is a match every week now. This is due to the efforts of the The Ferguson DNA project which seems to be growing tremendously. We are lucky to have a large project relating to our surname.

Above is a list of Roger Forgey's DNA matches. I decided to copy the image from FT DNA and add the places of origin for his matches. I got this info from emails sent to me by matches, and family histories posted at the Y Search DNA website.Several of the matches had no place of origin in the old country for their ancestors. A quick survey of the places does confirm our belief that the Forgeys were Scots Irish. All of the families, except a Hernandez match, appear to be Scottish or Scots Irish. Also the Scottish matches have Southwest Scotland origins. These people settled Ulster in large numbers. 

Digging Deeper The chart below is from the Ferguson DNA project which shows marker associations for I2b1 British Isles subclade. It seems that the Gabriel Joseph match and Wayne Forgie match share the markers most often found in those from Cavan and the Belfast area of Ulster.

There is an I2b1 study at FT DNA. You can see all of the participants and their countries of origin here http://www.familytreedna.com/public/M223-Y-Clan/default.aspx?section=yresults . The countries of origin for this Haplo group also confirm Scottish origins for Roger Forgey's line. Something which stands out is the prevalence of the I2b1 group in Germany. After doing some additional research I have come the conclusion that the early Forgeys might have migrated to Southwest Scotland from England. I believe the Forgeys were likely Anglo-Saxons or Norse. The Anglo-Saxons had invaded England in the 5th century A.D. Most experts agree that the I2b1 Haplo group mainly stem from two sources, Norse and Anglo Saxon invaders. About 200,000 Saxons invaded England. Southern Scotland was heavily populated by Anglo Saxons, French, and Flemish settlers.The Saxons took refuge in Scotland where they fled from the Norman invaders.With the I2b1 Haplo being more common in Saxony, Germany the most likely scenario is that the Forgeys were Anglo Saxons, with a more slight possibility that they were Norse. According to some the I2b1 haplo type originated in Saxony 9,000 years ago. 

As more research and DNA testing is completed we should be able to get a better idea of our Forgey family origins.

Ancestry.com's DNA Group Layout

Comparing the FT DNA Group layout to Ancestry.com. 

Ancestry.com has a more user friendly layout. It's more ascetically interesting to look at. The ability to add photos make this site more interesting and accessible to non DNA geeks. It's a very basic site which makes it easier to use than FT DNA.  You can compare results between members, add files, photos and videos. You don't have to have tested with ancestry.com to join a group. The cons are a smaller database of individuals to compare with; as opposed to a larger database at FT DNA. Of course Ancestry.com's mission is much broader than FT DNA. They are not solely in the DNA testing business. This is reflected in the group layout at ancestry.com which is much less scientifically oriented, and more personal. FT DNA, with it's scientific orientation, provides many tools for  advanced analysis of DNA results. The charts and statistical info are useful tools for in depth analysis. I think that FT DNA is best for large surname studies. The Ancestry.com group model is best for small family group studies.

A downside to FT DNA is that many people use it as a quick easy way to discover their family history. Some members have not done any traditional genealogy research. This makes finding a common ancestor with matches difficult. I find myself researching match's family histories in order to find the common ancestor. This can be time consuming and frustrating. I don't have any experience with matches at Ancestry.com but assume they have done some research using the databases at Ancestry? I have heard of people having successes using both sites. The most important thing is completing  some research before testing, and hopefully having a someone else to test against in the database.

Are you curious about the group site layout at Family Tree DNA?

This is what the Member info page looks like 

Our surname DNA Project is growing :)! Not quite as large as the Benjamin Franklin study but growing :) (by the way there is a wonderful website for that project http://www.roperld.com/franklinbendna.htm). Here are some pages from the group website at Family Tree DNA. There are some great tools for comparison of DNA results. FT DNA also offers webinars and other educational opportunities which are displayed at the home page. Test kits can be purchased from the group site at a discount.

The only drawback to FT DNA's project groups is the fact that you have to buy a test in order to join. Ancestry's DNA groups allow anyone to join whether or not you purchase a test through them.

This is the Homepage with News and links

This is a list of the links to helpful info and charts for comparison of results

Here is an example of the discounts available through a group. Some tests are only available through projects such as the Y 12 marker test. 

An example of a chart. This is a chart showing project joins statistics.