Hi Michelle, This year I had a simple but breakthrough achievement when I found the family of an Adelaide Van Sek and her actual name and this came about in a 'meant to be' manner. We had been trying to find information about her for years. Adelaide was not a convict but her daughter married a convict. I had my dna tested recently with one of the american companies and among the hundreds of american matches I had was someone whose name sounded phonetically a bit like Van Sek. However, he was actually adopted but the family who had adopted him had a large family tree which he sent me and among the names were Van Schaicks who originally owned an island in New York. I searched for Adelaide Van Schaick and up popped our Adelaide. We knew she had married an Irish soldier named O'Connor and there was her marriage to him in Dublin. Adelaide Rosealvena Van Schaick. I still have no idea how I am related to the person I contacted though or how our Van Schaicks are possibly connected to the early New York family. Hope the New Year treats you kindly Natalie