Many Projects - Upcoming Posts

I have many irons in the genealogical fire at the moment. These will end up being posts over the next several weeks. They'll take some time to get the results or just for me to get the information organized. Here's what you can expect:

1. I purchased a yDNA-37 test. I expect this test to help me identify which of the many many Miller families in Germany my great-grandfather was a member of so I can begin the genealogical work on his family. I expect the first result about March 22. I'll be posting as soon as I learn more.
2. I've documented some information about my family tree that, previously, I relied on other people's research. Expect to see documentation of the Menke family in Ankum/Schwagstorf area of Hannover, Germany. I also obtained the church records of the Treherz, Wurtemburg area documenting the Bixenman family. On each of these projects, I expected to see that given the years since the other researcher's (Jim Menke and Sister Catherine Seemann) hard work, that more information would be available or that my near OCD digging into every bit of information would result in me being able to find at least a little more of our family tree. However, it seems Jim and Catherine were very thorough researchers and unfortunately, no information was found. I do like to have the documentation for my family tree, however. It almost makes me feel like I know my ancestors a little better.
3. It was my pet project, every time I make it to southeast Iowa, to take photos of headstones in St. James Cemetery in St. Paul, Lee County, Iowa and post them to Find-A-Grave. The last time I did this, the percent of the photographed went from 22% to 44%. I figured just two or three more visits and I'd be done. Now, it seems someone else has taken up the task. It is virtually completely photographed. the only reason it's not 100% complete is because some of the headstones are impossible to read, so they can't be posted with the correct entry on the web site. I exchanged a couple of emails with the gentleman. He said this was his winter project this year. Time for me to move on to the Dodgeville cemetery, or maybe another one in the area.
4. I'm currently in Salt Lake City, taking vacation with my wife. I'm spending a large amount of time in the Family History Library seeing what I can find. Beside the documentation mentioned in #2, above, I've been doing some original research. The Dunzinger line remains as stubborn as ever, but most genealogists I speak with say that this amount of circumstantial evidence is probably as much as I could hope for and I should take it as the truth.
5. The Kelly line, surprisingly, seems to have broken through the brick wall. This will likely be my next post, once I get everything in order but it seems that Hugh Kelly was born in County Fermanaugh, Ireland, but then his family, including his father Thomas and mother Vilot (Violet) moved them all to near Edinborough, Scotland, to escape the famine. Two additional children were born there. The boys and men worked as coal miners and the girls worked cotton. Hugh left for America, likely alone, on the ship "Ann Harley" in 1847 at the age of 20. This seems to be becoming an interesting, exciting story. I can't wait to find out more about it today.

--Matt