Our first success story: While I was adding Gordon Challeen's queries to the Broome county site, I noticed that there was already a Pratt query there: one from George Walker.
I urged Gordon to contact George, and although they were not the same line, George had several pages of data on Gordon's line he had collected over the years to identify the various Pratt's in the area. The information filled in Ezra Pratt's parents, brothers, sisters, children and grandchildren.
Our second success story:
Since there are so many Johnson researchers in the area, I try to get additional facts for each Johnson query. That way, I can point people in the right direction. Early in September, Debbie Barnes, a frequent submitter to the site, sent me a Johnson query. Just as I was asking for more details, a second query came in, this time from Jean Owen, who was also looking for a Charles Johnson.
Sure enough, they were looking for the same person. Jean is the great grand-daughter of Debbie's great-great grandmother's brother. They have many relatives in common.
Our next success story:
This success story also involves queries. When I was reading a query sent in by Joan Ferguson Shuttleworth, the names sounded really familiar. I checked the queries and found that the same information was submitted by another user.
They were indeed looking for the same person and they have also found 2 other connections in their family lines. Congradulations Janie and Joan.
Another success story:
Surname registry is also starting to connect researchers. When I entered Helen Graves surname entries, I noticed that her name DeGues was very similar to the name DeGuise submitted by Suzan Kaye in May of 98.
They were indeed looking for the same family, even though the spelling had come down differently to each researcher.
Yet another success story: Chris Carlson and Mary Rowley are our next success story. They found out that they were 2nd cousins, twice removed. Even better, they live only an hour apart so they will be able to get together and share notes and pictures. Congratulations, Chris and Mary.
And you can never tell where that "hit" will come from: Joan Henderson Kennedy checking through the new information added to the Broome County web site and came across the Hurlburt Diary. She was very surprised to see the names Patience Hurlburt and Bele Johnson listed as siblings of Isaac Hurlburt. They are my great-great grandparents. Thanks to the diary, she now has the names of her g-g-g grandparents.---William and Elis Hurlburt.
Hopefully, these are the first of many success stories for the Broome County NYGenWeb site.
