I've been working on my family history off and on for the last 20 years. When I first started, I had limited time and resources to devote to it. The brick walls at the time were so frustrating that I gave it up for quite a while. A few years ago, I was finally at the point where I could spend more time on it. I renewed a subscription to Ancestry and took a dna test in the hopes of breaking through some of those brick walls. Many years ago I made a promise to my Mother who was dying that I would keep working on our family tree, find the missing families and find answers to so many questions about our family. I have spent the past year immersed in all of our history and I finally feel like I am keeping that promise to her.
I have been unable to accomplish as much as I would like with her German ancestry but have been more successful with her Driver family ancestry which goes back to James Driver and wife Margaret Henry who came to Maryland from England in 1773.

When I started, I knew very little about my Father's ancestry other than that his Father was Clarence Workman and his Mother was Dora Belle Mills originally from Iowa. With the help of dna matches, I have been able to trace my Workman ancestry back to Abraham Woertman and Annetje Smith in early New Jersey.

I have managed to break through most of those "brick walls" but have a few left. I have managed to trace my Mills ancestry back to John Mills born 1760 New Jersey and wife Elizabeth Pierson born abt. 1780 in New Jersey but as yet, I have not been able to connect them any further back than their marriage in 1801 at Roxbury. They are my third great grandparents and I am currently trying desperately to break that wall to find out which families they belonged to!