My Genealogical Goals for 2014

With the new year quickly approaching, I decided to make a list of genealogy goals I am going to strive to achieve in the coming year. With having begun researching my family tree well over thirteen years ago, I still have a lot to research. I've intentionally left different branches of my family un-researched, so that I'd continue to have research to do as the years went on. With how much research I have completed on my Hungarian ancestry (the majority of my research), I am far from done. A vast majority of that consists of nobility resources; there's a wealth of information to be found, and I'll likely need to conduct that research on-site in Hungarian archives. With all that being said, here is my list of goals for the new year:


1. Write more. I need to write more. A lot more. I've sorely neglected my several blogs during the year due to medical issues within the family. Things have gotten much better, and I'm regaining the time I'll be able to devote to writing. Apart from my blogs, I'm going to be dedicating a very large majority of my time to writing two books. They're going to be related to Hungarian genealogy, my area of expertise, and completely unrelated to one another. I can't go into much detail about what the books will be about yet, but know that both will be extremely helpful to any research being conducted within the former Hungarian empire.

2. The most important family for me to research this year, is the family of my 3rd-great-grandmother, Martha Ann Miller. She was the wife of James Andrew J. Costilow and died fairly young; 45 years before her husband passed. I was fortunate enough to have found a record that was a crucial breakthrough in Martha's family, which then lead me to her parents and half of her grandparents. I plan to focus a lot of attention on researching these new families.

3. I plan on indexing far more records relating to Győr city and county. It's the sixth largest city in Hungary, and the largest and most important city in northwest Hungary. It's very close to the borders of both Austria and Slovakia and is situated on one of the most important roads in Central Europe. Because of this, it was a large hub for migrants and immigration. There were six Roman Catholic parishes in Győr, comprised of 27 microfilms of data. So indexing marriage records for this city would be extremely beneficial for those researching in this area.

4. There are a handful of military organizations I would like to join. The main ones including the SAR (Sons of the American Revolution), General Society of the War of 1812, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and Sons of Confederate Veterans. My goal is to obtain all the documentation required to apply for membership within these organizations. I could easily piggy-back other applicants with their membership numbers and previous documentation, but I want to do it on my own.

5. My Polish roots are aching to be discovered. I'm more Polish than anything else, yet the majority of the records aren't readily available for research. My lines from Barycz and Osobnica will be extremely difficult, as I'll have to physically write to the church and request information. It's a hit or a miss and I won't make much progress. Hence why I haven't touched at all in all the years I've been researching. Two sides that I do need to focus on, are my Adas and Domagalski families. The Adas' came from the Putzig parish and I've been able to research the family back to the 1750's so far, but the records began in 1593.. so there's LOTS to be discovered! I also need to figure out the collateral line to the Adas family, the Pletzke's. They're from a neighboring parish and there's also lots to be found.

6. I need to research my Stümpges line. Previous researchers had traced the family line back to the 1540's, but I'm not content. I need to research the family in the church records myself, and verify that the direct Stümpges line is correct. Almost all of the maternal lines are completely blank, also. Those need to be researched and known. There's so much information to be found here!

Surname Saturday #14: Costilow

I've been researching this line ever since I started doing genealogy, and it has been a pretty dead-end line. Here is what I know on this family:

1. Samantha Aylene "Mancie" Costilow
b. 02 Dec 1869, Holmes County, Mississippi
d. 13 Aug 1908, Carroll County, Mississippi
m1. L. Joseph Lancaster; date unknown
m2. Samuel Christopher Columbus Martin; abt 1900
*Willie David Lancaster, b. 08 Sep 1895, Montgomery County, Mississippi
*Joe Lafayette Lancaster, b. abt May 1897, Montgomery County, Mississippi
*Samantha "Sammie" Martin, b. abt 1901, Carroll County, Mississippi
*Ellen Inez Martin, b. 04 Jun 1902, Carroll County, Mississippi
*Mossie Glispie Martin, b. 28 Dec 1904, Carroll County, Mississippi
*James Gordon Martin, b. 17 Aug 1906, Carroll County, Mississippi
*Sam Hart Martin, b. 03 Jun 1907, Carroll County, Mississippi

2. James Andrew J. Costilow
b. 25 Dec 1833, Yazoo County, Mississippi
d. 22 Feb 1923, Montgomery County, Mississippi
m1. Martha A. Miller; 25 Jul 1855 (place unknown; source of this date unknown. Anyone have information???)
m2. Alvana Adams; 29 May 1879 (place unknown)
m3. Sarah F. Elizabeth "Sallie" Tollison; 09 Nov 1896 (place unknown)
*Mary Catherine "Mollie" Costilow, b. 28 Apr 1856, Holmes or Yazoo County, Mississippi
*Frances A. "Fanny" Costilow, b. 19 Dec 1857, Holmes or Yazoo County, Mississippi
*Octavia Jane Costilow, b. 21 Sep 1861, Holmes or Yazoo County, Mississippi
*James D. Costilow, b. 19 Dec 1861, Holmes or Yazoo County, Mississippi
*Walter Lynn Costilow, b. 23 Oct 1865, Holmes or Yazoo County, Mississippi
*William Thomas Costilow, b. 02 Dec 1867, Holmes County, Mississippi
*Samantha Aylene "Mancie" Costilow, (above)
*Samuel James "Bud" Costilow, b. 19 Nov 1871, Yazoo County, Mississippi
*Ceabron Callihan "Pony" Costilow, b. 19 Nov 1871, Yazoo County, Mississippi
*Edward Jefferson "Babe" Costilow, b. 24 Jan 1874, Yazoo County, Mississippi
*Amanda Viola "Mandy" Costilow, b. 13 Aug 1877, Yazoo County, Mississippi

3. James Costilow
b. abt 1775-1794, place unknown
d. between 1838-1848, Holmes or Yazoo County, Mississippi
m. Mary Bethia Hopkins; 17 Sep 1818, Adams County, Mississippi
*Daughter Costilow, b. abt 1818-1820, Adams County, Mississippi
*Mary Jane Costilow, b. abt 1829, Adams County, Mississippi
*James Andrew J. Costilow, (above)
*Henry Costilow, b. abt 1835, Yazoo County, Mississippi