According to a report written by the Registrar General of Ireland, in March of 1901, the surname FORGEY/ Forgy is a variant of the surname FERGUSON. According to the same report the spelling FORGEY is found in the Portrush District of Co. Antrim, and the Warrenpoint District of Co. Down, Ireland.
The spelling most commonly used in Ireland and Scotland is Forgie. History of the surnames Fergus, Forgie etc. from a book on the subject: " First found in Galloway (Gaelic: Gall-ghaidhealaibh), an area of southwestern Scotland, now part of the Council Area of Dumfries Galloway, that formerly consisted of the counties of Wigtown (West Galloway) and Kirkcudbright (East Galloway), Ireland where St. Fergus (Fergustian) (circa 730 AD) was an Irish bishop, who went to Scotland as a missionary." Clan Fergusson link: http://www.ancestralscotland.com/search/clan-search/?view=ClanInfo
A branch of the Forgey family in Quebec Canada changed their name to La Forgey.
A branch of the James Forgey family of Hawkins County, TN changed their name from Forgey to Forgety.
Some African-Americans also took the name Forgey, or Forgy, after the civil war.
According to the website One Great Family there were 2500 Forgeys listed on the 1990 Census for the US. They did not have any figures for the spelling Forgy. In 1880 there were 359 Forgys and 309 Forgeys. In 1920 there were 753 Forgeys and about 556 Forgys. In 2000 according to the US Census Forgeys constituted 0.001% of the population, so there were between 3000 and 6000 Forgeys in that year and less than 3000 Forgys.
See a list of the first Forgey families to settle in America: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~forgey/First%20Generation%20Forgeys.html.
The Lucille Forgy- Wallace book is a good source book for Forgey genealogy even though there are some errors:
A Genealogical History of the Forgy, Forgey and Forgie Families in America By Lucille Forgy Wallace Published by Wallace, 1957 the book I am referring to.
Links for Early Forgey/ Forgy settlers:
The first Forgey/ Forgys settled in Pennsylvania. I have added links to Footnote's Pennsylvania Archives Collection below which contains info on probably all of the early Forgey and Forgy families
(except those who settled in New England) Forgey:
eq_year Forgy: http://www.footnote.com/search.php?vs=1&nav=4294966929&id=185749&query%5B0%5D=forgy&query%5B1%5D ">eq_year
Forgy: http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.footnote.com%2Fsearch.php%3Fvs%3D1%26nav%3D4294966929%26id%3D185749%26query%255B0%255D%3Dforgy%26query%255B1%255D&h=d6287
John Forgey Cumberland County, PA: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=REG&db=ohioforgys&id=I39
I have changed Archibald of Scott County,VA, James A. and Andrew Forgey's (married to Anna Roller) father to Hugh Forgey instead of James.
See my site for more info on corrections ( Andrew Forgey and Margaret Reynolds-Forgey):
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~forgey/Forgey%20family%20Update.html
Forgey Brothers on the Oregon Trail:
http://forgeyfamily.blogspot.com/
Andrew Forgey married to Elinor Randall ( scroll down to second article): http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tnsmith/ccarticles/Apr14-ABC-1955.htm
James G. Forgey (scroll down to his biography): http://mississippi.mogenweb.org/goodspeed/mcf.htm
Alexander Forgey married to Elizabeth Sawyers (father may have been Alexander FORGEY of VA, and brother Andrew Forgey of Maury County, TN):
Sawyers Harris Family History:http://books.google.com/books?id=qTdPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA17&dq=sawyers%2Bforgey&ei=jJKtSdncLoWQNv_ylJIF#PPA16,M1
Van Rensselaer C. Wisner Site: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vanrcwisner/genAGF.html
William Alexander Forgey son of Alexander Forgey and Elizabeth Sawyers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sengercm/mfor.html
William Forgey Pennsylvania ( members of this family settled in Montana and Nebraska): http://www.lindapages.com/wags-ohio/bioahforgey.txt
Tombstone Picture for Jame Forgey son of William Forgey and Rebecca Thornburg: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~njm1/forgey.jpg
Samuel Forgy of North Carolina
http://web.archive.org/web/20090808025351/http://geocities.com/elaineclow/surname/forgey.html
Carla Rotmans site: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~carlarotmans/genea.htm#forgy
Jonathan Forgey Laurens County, South Carolina Links:
Wife's will : http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=otime&id=I13505
Hugh Forgey of Kentucky Revolutionay War Pension Page: http://freepages.family.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~forgey/hughforgey.jpg
Hugh Forgey family tree: http://freepages.misc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~forgey/forgeyh.pdf
James Forgey of Kentucky and Ohio (may be brother of Hugh Forgey above) : http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=AHN&db=%3A1520060&id=I68415160
Forgey Bible Transcription: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~forgey/copy.jpg
F.B.I File Charles E. Forgey: http://freepages.misc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~forgey/f.b.i
Hugh Forgey Crawford Letter transcribed by Ken Edmondson: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~forgey/Hughforgeycrawford.html
*********** Most important site links:***************
Carla has a wonderful site with family group sheets for many of the Forgey/Forgy families.
This is the address to the index scroll down to Forgey:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~carlarotmans/html/names7.htm#FORGEY
This is the page for Forgy:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~carlarotmans/html/names8.htm#FORGY
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