It saddens me to tell you that Richard Raley died unexpectedly on May 27. This information came to me from his wife. Richard was a serious, dedicated, well-respected researcher. He hosted a website, www.raleyfamilyhistory.com, and also was the group administrator for the Raley surname project on FTDNA.

One of Richard's ancestors was Samuel Raley, born about 1796 in South Carolina. Through DNA testing, it was determined that Richard and the great-great grandson (my brother) of Benjamin M. Raley had a "recent" common ancestor. However, Richard and I were never able to find the "missing link" to connect our Raley lines.

I hope that someone will continue the work Richard started. I think this is something he would want.