DAR....What's In It For ME?

 

"The DAR of our grandmothers has grown and flourished. Inspired by our Founders, we are celebrating history while shaping the future." So stated an email message from DAR headquarters inviting me into membership. 

The email went on to extole and explain:

*DAR member achieved 7.4 million service hours to their communities in 2024.

*DAR is heavily involved and promoting the America 250! celebrations nationwide.

*DAR gave a $2 million contribution to help preserve Washington DC's iconic cherry trees.

*DAR's Patriots of Color Database now featured on the 10 Million Names project, providing public access to research on those of African descent who lived in pre- and post-colonial America.

*DAR donated $250,000 to the Military Women's Memorial.

And the list went on for a full page. 

Did you know there are 36 DAR chapters in Washington State? Surely there is one in or near your town. Click to www.dar.org/national-society/become-member-chapters to find one.

If you've been doing family history for most any time at all, and if you have Colonial era ancestors, you do most likely qualify for DAR membership. You most likely do have a patriot ancestor. Be proud to recognize your connection! 

An Apple A Day?

 

David Benscoter is a pomologist on a mission. That means he studies fruits and in his case, his passion is apples. 

He's given several presentations in the area, and I enjoyed learning about his apple passion at a Westerners meeting in November, 2025. 

David explained that by the early 1900s, there were over 17,000 cultivars of apples in North America. A "named cultivar" is any apple someone thought was good enough to give a name to after immigrants first came to North America. But unfortunately, over 12,000 of those apples are lost and probably extinct today, he told us. 

In his 2024 book, Lost Apples: The Research for Rare & Heritage Apples in the Pacific Northwest, Benscoter states "When the earliest settlers reached Washington, Idaho and Oregon, one of the first things they did was plant apple trees. They knew each apple tree planted had a specific purpose. Some apples ripened early and could be enjoyed in the middle of summer. Fall apples were especially good for canning or drying while late fall apples kept well in the cellar until the next spring."

For over a decade, Benscoter has searched out old homesteads.... old apple trees.... wanting to resurrect some of the lost apples. And he has succeeded in identifying (by DNA) some 1623 previously-lost varieties. He said that evening that he's still on the hunt. 

"Did you know," he said, "that the Spokane Beauty apple was introduced about 1900 by a WSU nurseryman? This was a big commercial success. Cosmic Crisp is one of the newest varieties to come out of WSU."

David ended his excellent presentation with a quote from Henry David Thoreau: "Surely, the apple is the noblest of fruits."

Dead Fred..... A Delightful Website

 

What can you do here? "Trace your roots for free with our searchable dtabase containing thousands of identified and mystery photos for genealogy enthusiasts looking for long-lost family." Wowsers, indeed!

Did you catch the word "free?" And could you read the fine print under the photo? 23,659 surnames, 163,161 records 

At this really fun website (and it's FREE to use, remember) you can search photos and post photos. I searched for the surname "Gurney," and there was one entry, for baby Forrest Gurney. I don't know where he fits into my tree, but I'll be looking. 

Do check out www.DeadFred.com.  You'll be glad you did.

Baby Names..... Opinion, Please?

 

One of my favorite things to do is, when I spot a nametag showing a most unusual name, I'll ask that person, "How did your mother come up with such an unusual name?" And most usually they know! And are happy to share their story.

Besides the baby girl names listed above, Google helped me find rare baby girl names: Perach,  Phannie,  Salomi,  Megara,  Caliste,  Lune,  Zixuan and Darana. (Yes, these were really-used names.)

Baby boy names weren't much better:  "Nicodemo,  Cathan,  Finian,  Prentice,  Lazare,  Sophus, Thorley and Negasi. 

Google also found the best exotic baby boy names:  Amari,  Daxton,  Kairo,  Ryker,  Zephyr, Bodhi,  Jaxon and Koa. 

Overall, would you choose one of these baby names:  Akira,  Averill,  Sky,  Cayson,  Petronilla,  Osbert, Vidura,  Finrod,  Ares, Jovan,  Nyx or Caiman. 

Personally, I'm watching out for names from Star Trek or Deep Space Nine:  Odo,  Kira,  Nerys, Quark, Ezri,  Nog,  Dax, Dukat or Sisko. 

So far my great-grandchildren have pretty standard names. What about YOUR grandchildren? And do you know the reason your mother chose YOUR name? 

Ken Burns American Revolution

 

The 12-hour, 6-part, series telling the background, history and story of the American Revolution was surely one of Ken Burns' best efforts. It first aired in November, 2025. This was an university-level presentation and one that really needs to be watched a second, or third, time to fully grasp the whole story. And every American should know this story. 

There was so much more to this story than men-painted-like-Indians-dumping-tea-in-Boston-Harbor. Perhaps that's the highlight taught in grade school. To quote Burns' words, given in a September 2025 interview with David Leonhardt:

"I'm just offering a good story. I'm not offering it as anything other than an attempt to tell a complicated story, to make it come alive and to suggest that maybe it's possible to coalesce around the complexity of our origin story..... to revel in it, rather than reduce it to something binary and simple."

"Within that complexity, it may be possible to draw people to the ironies, the tragedies, the exultant ideas. Because this....the American Revolution.... is the most important event in world history since the birth of Christ. Period. Full stop. And I'll defend that. Because for the first time, there was possibility, even for those who did not yet have ownership of themselves. And to me, that is the essence of the liberating story of the American Revolution."

Yes, those are big words and deep thoughts. But that IS the story of America's Revolution. I encourage you to watch it, perhaps twice.  

Find-A-Grave Cannot Be Topped

 

Have you spent some time with the fantastic FREE website, www.findagrave.com? Over the recent holidays, I spent some happy time looking up my ancestors to look for photos of their tombstones. Oh, the things I learned......... I knew Grandfather Mel died long before Hope but 28 years she was a widow? That's a long time.

Ron Marvin. EWGS member,  gave a great workshop last November on this website. He offered several excellent tips:

* Understand that the photos have been added to FindAGrave by volunteers who live near that cemetery and have tromped around, photographed and uploaded the images. 

* Confirm that you do have the correct person.

* Review the listed links (if present) to parents, spouses, children and siblings......... often you can reconstruct an entire family here!

* Check to see who added flowers....... an unknown cousin? Consider adding flowers yourself so that cousin can contact you. 

* Once confirmed, you can snip-and-save the image to your computer clipboard and then upload it to Ancestry or FamilySearch. 

* If you wish to upload additional information for this ancestor, or suggest corrected information, click on Suggested Edits. 

* If the FindAGrave entry for your ancestor does not have a biography page, do consider compiling and uploading one. Ditto for an obituary or a photograph. 

Go spent some happy time with your ancestors and FindAGrave. You'll enjoy it, I guarantee. 

What Was A Barn Dance?

 

Ever been to a real barn dance? Likely not..... at least not like the ones our ancestors enjoyed. 

In an old magazine, quoting a 1909 newspaper, I found this description of just what was a real honest-to-goodness barn dance:

"The barn dance is a country cousin to the schottische, and the music must be furnished in convulsive jerks. The man shoots out with his heavy fluke, grabs the girl around the waist and she places her lily white paw on his shoulder near his wishbone. The man then kicks out with his right pedal and his partner with the left. They jump many times like they are dodging snakes, then resume the first position. They then hop, three times on one foot and then on the other, like a fellow that has stumped his toe, and the first position is taken again. The dance commences with a bounce, and the dancers never cease bouncing until the music stops of the fiddle string breaks. At the conclusion of the south house the performers get a broom and sweep up the buttons that have been shaken off during the spasms."

Wouldn't we love to watch the 1938 movie "Old Barn Dance?" A horse trader named Gene Autry (Gene Autry) arrives in Grainville with his horses and outfit prepared to put on a barn dance to attract potential horse buyers to an auction. The horse trading business has been affected lately by the increased use of tractors to replace horses for farm work. Radio station owner Sally Dawson (Joan Valerie) approaches Gene and offers him a contract to sing on a program sponsored by Thornton Farming Equipment, the area's leading manufacturer of tractors. Unconvinced that tractors could ever replace horses, Gene refuses her offer, but is still attracted to her and invites her to his barn dance that night.