It's official! The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania has accepted my application for their First Families of Pennsylvania lineage society. My Keystone State roots go back to 1840. That makes me a "Keystone and Cornerstone" member.
I've always been proud of my PA roots. I've never lived there, I wasn't born there, and I've not spent nearly enough time visiting, yet I love the state of Pennsylvania and now I have the official certificate showing one reason why!
As I mentioned in my earlier post at the time I mailed my application, I combined all my research into this line of my family into eighty-three final pages, including sixty-five pages of documentation and a sixteen-page summary of the generations and sources I used to document them. All in all, I compiled documentation for six generations of my family spanning 174 years back to 1840 in Pennsylvania. Not bad for a spare-time genealogist!
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| Documentation for the two earliest generations of my Cowhey family members in Pennsylvania. |
- Patrick Cowhey (c. 1807-1871)
- Ann Cowhey (c. 1812-1893) - Patrick's wife
- William Cowhey (1834-1892) - Patrick and Ann's son
- Margaret Foley Cowhey (1855-1912) - William's 2nd wife
If you are a cousin of mine and we are connected through Patrick & Ann's family tree, please contact me and I'll give you details about making your own application to the First Families of Pennsylvania.
Good news! I've done the hard work for you (finding proof back to our earliest ancestors in PA). Now you just have to connect the pieces in later generations, send in your application and - voila! - you, too can be an official First Families of Pennsylvania member. Please let me know if you'd like help with the process. I'd love to have some cousins join me in celebrating our Pennsylvania roots in this way!
