Network of Founding Family Genealogies, NFFG

A family history resource Project.

NFFG will pay you $50.00 USD, by sending the funds to your email address using Pay Pal, or up to $100.00 NFFG credit to apply to your own research project, or to any NFFG product or service, including an NFFG CD, if you can provide high-quality source or other information, about specific family research projects. You can help other family researchers and receive recognition and reward. This is a service which is provided on behalf of NFFG Members and Expert Connect clients. Please click on the 'Help Us' image above, to go to our 'Help Wanted' page, and see what we need. Only these specific research needs are payable by NFFG.

Notice to Expert Connect Project Clients...

NOTICE: If you are a previous Expert Connect Project client of Richard Ripley, you have already completed most of the steps necessary for NFFG Membership. There is a special process at a reduced fee for you to join NFFG as a Member. For this fee, you will receive a fully readable version (on your home computer) of the entire NFFG Family Tree and an official NFFG Membership Certificate. These will be sent to you by UPS. In addition, your own previous research will have qualified you as an Advanced Level or Expert Level Family Research. There are several other advantages to, and benefits of, NFFG Membership. See why this is an advantage, and see how easy it is. Click here to see the details of this special opportunity.

If you are a previous client of Richard Ripley at Expert Connect, and need a copy of your Completion Report, sent to you as a .doc file by email attachment, there is no charge for this service. Please send an email to request a copy. In your message subject line, please type "Request for copy of report". Click here to send this email to nffgfamily@hotmail.com.

If you wish to re-open and extend your project to include additional people or new information, you will be able to do so for a special reduced fee. Please send an email to initiate this process. In the subject line of your email, please type "Request to extend project". Click here to send this email to nffgfamily@hotmail.com.

EC Partner Program: If you are a friend or relative of a previous client, and wish to obtain your own genealogical analysis and Completion Report, you may be eligible for a special credit of up to $100.00. Please send an email to describe your project, and mention the name of the previous client who referred you. This will start a process. When we reply to your email, we will ask you to describe your research expectations. We will then submit a proposed bid, with payment terms, for your project, and show your special credit amount. Finally, when you approve our bid and agree to the payment terms, your project can begin. At the end of the project, you will receive a Completion Report which will show all sources, notes, and details which we discover while working on your project. Please send an email to initiate this process. In the subject line of your email, please type "Request for Partner Project". Click here to send this email to nffgfamily@hotmail.com.

Notice to Previous NFFG Members...

NFFG is indebted to its early Members, who joined before it was a well-known genealogical service. NFFG wants to help you keep updated.

Previous NFFG Members will see considerable changes in the structure of the NFFG website, and of NFFG services and features. If you joined at some time in the past, you may wish to update your membership and your access to family files and services. You may wish to update your CD, or to obtain a new or replacement or updated Certificate. There is a replacement package available for a reduced fee. Click here for details.

Did you reach this page from the online NFFG Family Tree,

and you need to view sources and details which are not shown there?

Then You will need a CD, to read the details on your home computer.

Click below to obtain a CD…

Our Mission:

Tracing the Living families and descendants

of our early national founders

By

Providing Reliable and Proven professional genealogical research services to establish family Genealogies

Welcome

to Members, Contributors, and Family Researchers.

We will help you find (see samples below from previous Family Research Projects)…

Family Grave sites, Family Churches, Family Records & Documents, and More…

Would you prefer to bypass all information on this page, and immediately enter the NFFG Online Family Tree?

Please click here for entry to the NFFG Online Family Tree.

Our Research Services: Do you wish to obtain information and a no-obligation bid

for a possible NFFG Research Project for your family genealogy?

Please click here for more information.

Top image: Grave of John Delaney Sculley of New York. The death record and grave location were found by NFFG Forensic Genealogy; the photographic assignment was given to Ric Marder. photo by Ric Marder Imagery of Garden City, NY. For the Sculley family of New York.

Lower image: family church of the Wray family of America, originating in England. the Church of St. Cuthbert, in York, Yorkshire, England. This important family site was identified by NFFG Forensic Genealogy, and then the photograph was provided.

General Photograph Information: As part of your NFFG Family Research Project, NFFG may be able to locate and obtain photographs, old or new, of your important family sites.

Credentials: Richard Ripley UE, MA, RDF, the Project Co-ordinator of NFFG, is listed as an Expert Researcher at Expert Connect at Ancestry.com. We have a Five Star rating, as determined by ratings from multiple clients at the completion of projects. Be sure to read the comments by the many previous clients whose family research projects were successfully completed. You will have to be a member of Ancestry.com or Ancestry.ca to see this service. If you are not such a member, you may have not yet taken the first step in serious family research. However, you may use our access to these records if you are not a member, and leave all the hard work to us. Membership in Ancestry requires payment of a substantial annual fee. Click on the banner below to have a look.

_____________________________

Lead Genealogist and Project Co-ordinator

______________________________

If you are an Ancestry member, you may submit your project needs at Expert Connect, Then, you may send a research request to Richard Ripley.

Or, if you are not a member, and would prefer to save the annual fees from Ancestry.com, we will use their resources on your behalf. you may submit your research needs here, and request a no-obligation research estimate …

DETAILS: What is a Family Research Project?

What types of research and what are the parameters and preliminaries of a Family Research Project?

NOTE: NFFG uses professional Forensic Analysis to make decisions about events and families which Cannot be proven 100% by hard source records. Professional Forensic Analysis is now used extensively by many branches of science.

Click here to request a bid on your family research project, by email. Be sure to give as much detail as possible in your email message. You will receive a no-Obligation estimate within 24 hours, by email. At that time, there will be additional discussion by email of your potential Family Research Project, until we are both satisfied with the scope and pricing of your project.

What type of services are provided in a Family Research Project? Please click here to see some information.

If you have reached this page, you are a family researcher. If you would like to see some suggestions for courses to take to build your skills, or some ideas of how to have your skills recognized, or possibly to earn income using your genealogical skills, please click here.

If, as a family researcher, you find yourself buried under piles of research notes on your desk, with many notes buried on your hard drive, or if you suffer from disorganized family research files, you might need to get a fresh start. Please click here.

If you would like to view the areas of research, and the families under study by some current NFFG members, please click here. (Family Research Projects are not shown at this link).

Every family researcher owes a debt to the Mormons (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). The best single resource repository in the world, are the vaults at Salt Lake City. If you have ever wondered why the Mormons are engaged in this massive ongoing project, or if you have listened to much gossip and chatter about this, and would like to read the exact reasoning, please click here.

Time present and time past

Are both perhaps present in time future,

And time future contained in time past.

- Burnt Norton, T. S. Eliot

Please note that this site is a private, professionally hosted service, which is open to new members. All research projects which are begun at Expert Connect at Ancestry.com, are also accessible here. This site is primarily dedicated to the genealogies of descendants of early founding families. If you would like to read information about how and why we choose families for inclusion at this web site, and about details and limitations of our research, please click here. Members have unlimited copy rights and may request information from our archives. New members are welcome.

View the NFFG Online Family Tree. If you wish, you may bypass all messages on this page and visit and browse the NFFG Online Family Tree files. All source records and notes are blocked to prevent piracy, so if you need to see source records and notes, you will have to either join NFFG, or order a CD with a generic but complete version of the NFFG Family Tree, which may be opened using any genealogy software. See details about CDs below. Membership in NFFG requires a small or large Family Research Project by NFFG to confirm your records, and to keep our interlocking family information valid. Membership allows you to confirm or evaluate your personal research. See details & sample costs of such a start-up Research Project by clicking here.

Do you want a CD ONLY?

How to obtain a CD, which contains a standard gedcom file with all records, sources, details, and notes for every individual in the NFFG Online Family Tree. This gedcom version, is guaranteed to easily be opened by any genealogical software. If you need help getting this working, we will provide assistance quickly by email.

NOTE: (1) this CD is provided as a resource only, to family researchers. There is no guarantee as to how many records or sources are shown for any given individual who appears in the NFFG Online Family Tree. (2) No images are included in the gedcom version of the NFFG Family Tree. If you need the full pictorial version, that is available only in Family Tree Maker version 4.4. This was the most reliable version of Family Tree Maker; you can find one at Ebay or elsewhere, or NFFG may be able to supply a copy for additional cost, upon request.

for existing NFFG Members: a CD will be shipped to you by first class airmail for preparation and shipping costs only, for $50.00;
for existing and previous clients at Expert Connect: a CD will be shipped to you by UPS, for $150.00;
for non-member family researchers: a CD will be shipped to you, by UPS, for $250.00. You may use the CD for personal research purposes only, and may not share any information or post it online, without written permission from NFFG

Please click here to send an email requesting a CD. Be sure to state which category describes your NFFG status and determines your cost. Then, you will be sent an Invoice using Pay Pay. All NFFG products and services must be prepaid using Pay Pay, or otherwise by mutual agreement. Members & EC clients will be verified. (Our email address is nffgfamily@hotmail.com)

DNA TESTING: NFFG no longer recommends DNA Testing for Genealogical Purposes. See why by clicking here.

What are you, relative to your ancestors and descendants, in the river of time? For the answer, click here.

This page updated April 11, 2010, or later.

Stories and records of the time when our family journey here began...

Make your ancestry official. After your new research information is verified by us, you become a Member. Members will receive Certificates which are dated from their earliest proven pioneer ancestor, and receive professional research assistance in building & verifying their family ancestry. (The number of hours of research depends on the level of Membership chosen.) The Certificate is laminated, ready to frame, and embossed with a signed gold seal. The main title of the Certificate may refer to a specific family surname, or to a known family-cluster grouping, or to the research status level/research focus area of the new member, as chosen by the new member. . Founding Families and Groupings are available for America and Canada.

My role in my family tree. Your role on your family tree.

Who we are and always will be....

"I borrowed from all, without any exception.

I am sewn between ancestry and posterity.

I am a drop of water in a flowing river of time; a molecule in a mountain;

a cell in a great family tree."

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Rules for email contact: NFFG welcomes the receipt of possible error corrections to, or omissions in, the online family tree files, by email: please send your proofs for the errors which you identify. NFFG also welcomes general brief messages, of a positive or constructive nature, by email. Non members: do NOT send a genealogical inquiry to this email address. Also acceptable: members or known contributors may send an email message for any reason. We welcome receipt of such messages - Please click here to send such an email. Such an email will reach the Project Co-ordinator of NFFG at nffgfamily@hotmail.com. Most messages are answered within 24 hours. Other unsolicited inquiries and comments must go through filters - we used to answer ALL inquiries, and became buried under a mountain of complex and difficult queries, overload, spam, and viruses.

Non-members wishing information, please click here for instructions.

Welcome to a linked family genealogy, a Founding Families Project.

NFFG provides a private forum in which family genealogies are linked with other family genealogies, and thereby linked back to early Founding Families of the U.S.A., Canada, Quebec, and Newfoundland. All North American pioneer settlement was one large, interwoven pool until the end of the War of Independence (The Revolutionary War) in 1783. The interwoven linkages are found in the bloodlines and marriages, which have been contributed to this project. All of the family records which are found in the genealogical files here, have been provided by contributors and members. NFFG genealogists co-ordinate these genealogies and interweavings, and make every effort to ensure accuracy.

While the earliest pioneer founders are the ultimate roots, the merging and intermarriage of many other later pioneers from many lands and cultures make up many of the branches, of this family tree.

This site and its families and records, consisting of contributed materials which may not be available elsewhere, may be helpful in your efforts to get back past ancestral hurdles, where existing research ends in mystery or uncertainty. In turn, new members and contributors may help others find their own links to Founding Families, and unravel their own genealogical mysteries. When you join NFFG and contribute your family records, the NFFG files are used to help solve your mysteries and questions. Your records will appear online here, and your research will become a beacon to new family researchers. The posting of your family's records at the NFFG Online Family Tree is free- included in your Membership fee. This posting will assure that they can be accessed by a simple Google search, and are not buried within inaccessible locations within private genealogical sites - and may thus generate more feedback from Google-browser-researchers, and thereby add to your knowledge of your early family.

NFFG stands for Network of Founding Family Genealogies. RDF is a descriptor of a member of NFFG, a Registered Descendant of a Founder. RFR is an NFFG designation of a Registered Family Researcher. Levels of RFR include Advanced or Expert.

We support genealogical tracing by bloodlines as well as surnames, whereas many online sources are primarily concerned with surnames. Surname genealogies link fathers to sons, with casual reference to the mothers along the way. Simple surname genealogy implies a poor understanding of genetics. Everyone is equally related to the mothers along the way. The mothers in our family tree will have many different surnames.

In a time of wavering values and uncertainties about self-identity, the linkage to a Founding Family may help provide an anchor of identity. No matter what happens, you will always be a child of your ancestors. Your genes, your identity, came from them. And the Founding Families were fountains of the best genes that were available.

Open YOUR sack of ancestral treasures Join NFFG today and start the process.

Menu for this NFFG Website...

Find out more about membership and adding your research to this project, or to see how to initiate a formal, professional, Family Research Project. Click here.

Rules for email contact: NFFG welcomes the receipt of error corrections to, or omissions in, the online family tree files, by email. NFFG also welcomes general brief messages by email. Non-members: do NOT send a genealogical inquiry to this email address. Also, members or known contributors may send an email message for any reason. Please click here to send such an email. This email will reach the Project Co-ordinator at nffgfamily@hotmail.com. Non-members requiring information, please click here.

If you would like to view the areas of research, and the families under study by some current NFFG members, please click here.

Visit and browse the NFFG Family Tree files. All source records and notes are blocked to prevent piracy; if you need to see source records and notes, you will have to either join NFFG, or order a CD with a generic but complete version of the NFFG Family Tree, which may be opened using any genealogy software. Membership in NFFG requires a small or large Family Research Project by NFFG to confirm your records, and to keep our interlocking family information valid. Membership allows you to confirm or evaluate your personal research. To view source records, notes, and details which are not available online, you will need a CD - see below. To see what information is found at our NFFG Online Family Tree, please Click here to go to the explanatory portal to the Family Tree files.

Find out about placing a Bronze Plaque on a family home or site, complete with an NFFG Registration Certificate. Click here to view the information.

Here are some examples of the startup, parameters, and scope

of NFFG research in a Family Research Project on behalf of a client…

First, the technical details…

All projects will begin with a clear description of the research needs of the client, as provided to Richard Ripley and NFFG by the Client, by email message.The Client will provide all previous research which has been done, and will offer all suggestions, ideas, and thoughts about their ancestry;

The Project may be spread over a period of time, according to the work schedule of NFFG, and to possible delays which may arise when information or documents which are ordered by NFFG from external sources is unproductive or delayed.

The project must be prepaid, at once or in stages, by invoice which NFFG will send to the Client by Pay Pal, or by other means which are agreeable to both the Client and NFFG. If the project is spread over several months by monthly instalment, the Project may be cancelled at any time, by request of either the client or NFFG, by mutual agreement, but there will be no refund of previous payment(s) made to Richard Ripley or NFFG.

Next, the research details…

NFFG will provide a Completion Report at the end of the Project, which will include all sources, notes, records, and other information, which were used in preparing the Completion Report. This Report will be in the form of a .doc file, sent as an email attachment.
If the Project is spread over a series of months, where there is a monthly Payment for each step, then NFFG will provide weekly Progress Reports of the ongoing research;
The resources of Ancestry.com and Ancestry.ca will be carefully examined, and any information which is a part of the client's range of research will be included in the Completion Report. It is not necessary for the Client to have an account at Ancestry for this process, but such membership is recommended.
NFFG will use all available resources of the Mormon Archives, including online resources, and films which may be available at Family History Centers; and any information which is a part of the client's range of research, will be included in the Completion Report. Richard Ripley & NFFG will not go to the vaults at Salt Lake City, unless the full cost of such a trip is prepaid by the client.
NFFG maintains a number of remote-location researchers who will do lookups of parish church & other records from Ireland, Germany, Scotland, and other countries. Such records are not available in the U.S.A. or Canada. All such lookups must be prepaid to the researchers by NFFG, and no researcher will guarantee any specific results. Therefore, the costs of any such lookups which are needed by the client, will either be factored into the original Project Fee, OR added later by mutual agreement with the client. Any information which is found in such lookups, which are a part of the client's range of research, will be included in the Completion Report.
NFFG has a number of Members and Researchers who may have information, which is not available from any other sources. NFFG will make inquiries from these internal sources. Normally, there is no charge for such inquiries. Any information which is found in such lookups, which are a part of the client's range of research, will be included in the Completion Report.
NFFG has a genealogical library and a collection of source materials and records, from various locations. These will be consulted for no additional cost. Any information which is found in such lookups, which are a part of the client's range of research, will be included in the Completion Report.
In some cases, a client wishes to have photographs of old family homes, graves, or other sites. In such cases, NFFG hires a qualified local photographer to take pictures. Such photographers are generally paid about $200.00 for this type of assignment. The cost for this service, if needed, will be added to the initial cost of the Project, or added later, by mutual consent, before any photographs are taken. Photographs are often hard or impossible to locate, but when they can be located, add greatly to a Family Research Project.
Sometimes, it is necessary or helpful to have information which is only available onsite - at the location of an actual family event at a previous time.. If this is desired by the client, NFFG will engage a local researcher for the purpose. If it is desired by the client, that Richard Ripley should personally attend the site, then the fee for this must be calculated, and included in the Project Fee, by pre-payment. This is also the case, if Richard Ripley personally travels to an archive or research location which requires more than one hour of travel.

Forensic Analysis of difficult records. In some cases, a precise source record which absolutely proves an event (birth, marriage, death, etc) cannot be located, especially as we go farther back in time. In such cases, Genealogical Forensic Analysis will be required. Richard Ripley & NFFG will provide the best possible professional genealogical reasoning and analysis which was used in any such records which are included in the Client's Completion Report.

Mutual satisfaction is the goal of all professional research.

Send an email to describe your goals, and begin the no-obligation process of setting up a Professional Family Research Project.

Special Offer to previous Expert Connect Project Clients of Richard Ripley....

Your NFFG Membership is available quickly and at a greatly reduced fee. This is because, some of your family ancestry (the portions researched in your Expert Connect Project) has already been proven by NFFG processes. Membership in NFFG will keep your project alive, and will allow other researchers and visitors at our NFFG Online Family Tree to see your ancestry here, and to offer feedback, extensions, and possible corrections to your family records. NFFG will contact you with your new family information, and you may add it to your own Family Tree. This extended feedback happens many times for our members, sometimes over a period of many months and years.

Beyond this long-term benefit, here are some tangible things which you will receive.

You will receive a CD with a fully readable version of the entire NFFG Family Tree and an official NFFG Membership Certificate. These will be sent to you by UPS. The CD contains a gedcom version of the entire NFFG Family Tree, which may be opened and read by any genealogy software. You will find all details of your own family research, and everyone else's research. In this wider family context, as you browse through possible connections with your family, you may see previously unknown connections to your own family, which you may use for your own research purposes. If you need help with this step of opening the gedcom file on the CD, we will provide immediate assistance, if needed. It is not a difficult process.

In addition, your own previous research will have qualified you as an Advanced Level or Expert Level Family Research. Some people have achieved a high level of research skills, and would like an official certificate, which acknowledges this achievement. You will receive such recognition with your NFFG Certificate. And, if you yourself decide to become an Expert provider for Expert Connect at any time, we will provide a letter of reference to Expert Connect on your behalf.

The price for this NFFG Membership package is only $195.00. Please send an email to start your special-offer Membership process. Once your interest is confirmed, you will be sent an invoice using Pay Pal. If you prefer to simply paste our email address in your email address line: the email address is nffgfamily@hotmail.com. This message will reach Richard Ripley, the Project Coordinator.

Updates available to Previous NFFG Members

NFFG says 'Thank You' to its early Members, who joined before it was a well-known genealogical service. NFFG wants to help you keep updated. The special pricing below is only available to previous Members.

Previous NFFG Members will notice considerable changes in the structure of this website, and changes in access to our research services. The style and design of Certificates has changed. The family pages at the NFFG Online Family Tree no longer contain notes or sources, including notes which you may have provided. This information has been removed from public view, after we discovered literally hundreds of examples of unauthorised piracy and copying. We do not do our research, so that our work can be freely stolen. Therefore, you will need an updated CD to view these records on your home computer.

You may, therefore, need a new Certificate, or an updated NFFG Family Tree CD, or both

If you are a member and never received a Certificate, or lost or damaged your Certificate; or if you would like to update your researcher status shown on your Certificate; or if you need to revise your Certificate due to new research, you may obtain one (sent by Air Mail) for the price of shipping and mailing only, which is $50.00. Please send an email with your details for this member service. In the Subject line of your email message, please place the line "Request for an Updated CD. As always, our email address is nffgfamily@hotmail.com.

If you only require an updated CD, you may obtain one (sent by Air Mail) for the price of shipping and mailing only, which is also $50.00. Please send an email, with your details for this member service. In the Subject line of your email message, please place the line "Request for an Updated CD. As always, our email address is nffgfamily@hotmail.com. This version of the CD contains a .gedcom version of the entire family tree. This may be easily copied onto your hard drive, and then opened by any genealogical software, guaranteed. If you need assistance with this process, we will walk through it easily by email message. NOTE that this .gedcom version does not contain any images. We can substitute the full version with the FTM version of the family tree, only if you use Family Tree Maker version 4.4. Please indicate this preference in your message. If you would PREFER to have the full version AND the FTM 4.4 software, please see the information in the next paragraph.

Some previous Members received the full version in Family Tree Maker format, which does contain all images. This file is created on FTM version 4.4, which (in our opinion) is the best version of Family Tree Maker. Many of the newer versions will not open our FTM 4.4 Family Tree. If you would prefer this full version of the CD Family Tree, we can ship you a two-CD set. The first CD contains the FTM 4.4 installation program, which is known to load and open easily on any version of Windows up to, and including, Vista. It does not work on MAC computers, so far as we know, although it may work if you have a Windows emulator on your MAC computer. We can ship you this two-CD set for the special price of $175.00, for fast Air Mail shipment. Please send an email with your details for this member service. In the Subject line of your email message, please place the line "Request for a 2 CD Package. As always, our email address is nffgfamily@hotmail.com.

This page was last updated April 11, 2010, or later.