Why Join A Lineage Society?

 

Why would you want to join a lineage society? To have a monthly lunch date with like-minded friends? Or to honor and help perpetuate the memory of a patriotic ancestor?

Lineage societies are organizations created to honor a specific heritage or event and to document an ancestor's participation in that event. 

Those joining such societies must prove with documentation their descent from an ancestor involved or participating in historical events. That creates paperwork!! Such paperwork can be so valuable to future descendants seeking to know more about that ancestor. 

Click to www.lineagesocietyofamerica.com for a long list of such societies. Pick one to join that appeals to you and click to their website for details on how to join. 

I chuckled as I read through the list of societies:  Bloodlines of Salem? Descendants of the Illegitimate Sons & Daughters of the Kings of Great Britain? Descendants of Whaling Masters? Military Order of the Carabao? Noble Society of Celts?  Order of the Daedalians? 

There were lineage societies for Mayflower passengers, early New England towns, ethnic heritage and most military wars. 

What You Missed: The April 2010 General Meeting

We haven't had a "What You Missed" post on this blog for over a year. Preparations for the Washington State Genealogical Society's State Conference held here in Spokane in September 2009 took up a lot of time, and so the WYM posts went by the wayside. I thought we'd start them up again!

Today's program was titled "Lineage, Historical, and Family Societies." We had six presenters talk about nine different organizations:

• First Families of Maine - Doris Woodward
• Sons and Daughters of the First Settlers of Newbury, Massachusetts - Doris Woodward
• The Spokane Corral of Westerners International - John Ellingson
• The Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865 - Judith Emry
• The Daughters of Colonial Wars of Washington State - Judith Emry
• The Van Voorhees Family Association - Patricia Ewers
• The General Society of Mayflower Descendants - Tony Birch
• The Daughters of the War of 1812 - Marian Binsfield
• The Daughters of the American Colonists - Marian Binsfield

Each presenter shared what motivated them to join their group, the mission of their group, the qualifications and fees for membership, when and where local groups meet, and how genealogy or an interest in history plays a part in joining. Several pointed out similar groups that others could join; for example, when Pat Ewers did her presentation on the Van Voorhees Family Association, she mentioned that Cyndi's List has a page of Family Associations. She also referred the audience to Google, stating that many Family Associations could be found that way. Another thing to keep in mind is that along with all the many "Daughters of..." organizations, there are usually corresponding "Sons of ..." organizations. Also, many states other than Maine and communities other than Newbury, Massachusetts have "First Families", "First Settlers", or "Pioneer Families" Associations. You also don't have to have ancestry that stretches back deep into American history to join a lineage group: Doris Woodward briefly mentioned the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society, which provides pioneer certificates if you can prove your descendency from Czech immigrants.

Most stated that the advantages of joining one of these organizations were to feel a strong sense of pride in their heritage, to reward themselves for the hard work of researching one of their lines, to access assistance in tracing an ancestor who might qualify them for membership, and to leave a genealogical record with the organization for future descendants. Many of these organizations have genealogical libraries, and/or do good works to preserve historical landmarks, or have community projects such as photographing Civil War veterans' graves. These repositories and projects contribute to society in general and are advantageous to us as genealogists, even if we are not members of these societies.

The variety of organizations that were represented ensured a little something for everyone. I myself knew I qualified for several of these organizations, and I decided to pick up a brochure and application for the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865!

What do you think? Did you like this program? Did it inspire you to consider joining one of these groups or a similar one? What other similar organizations are you a member of that you would like to highlight?  Please click on the comments link below (where it has a number and the word "comments") to add your thoughts! If you're reading this from your e-mail inbox or from a feed aggregate such as Google Reader or Bloglines, please click this link to come directly to the blog so that you can leave your comments.

DAR Databases Now Online

From the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution:

After nearly a decade of scanning, indexing, and other behind-the-scenes work by DAR members and employees, the Daughters of the American Revolution is pleased to announce the availability of the DAR Genealogical Research System on our public website. Here are the direct links:

http://www.dar.org/library/online_research.cfm or www.dar.org (and click on the Library button at the top, then the second tab in the left-hand column).

The GRS is a growing collection of databases that provide access to many materials collected by the DAR over the past 119 years. Included in this collection of databases is the GRC National Index which has been available to researchers for the past few years. There are still some kinks we’re working out here and there.

When you go to the link above, you will find several tabs that will enable searching in the various databases:

Ancestor – established DAR Revolutionary War Ancestors and basic information about them with listings of the applications submitted by descendants who joined the DAR [updated daily]

Member – limited access to information on deceased/former DAR members – not current members.

Descendants – index of generations in applications between the DAR member and the Revolutionary War ancestor. There is much eighteenth and nineteenth-century information here. [ongoing indexing project]

GRC – everyname index to 20,000 typescript volumes (some still being indexed) of genealogical records such as cemeteries, Bibles, etc. This index is not limited to the period of the American Revolution at all.

Resources [In particular, the digitized DAR Library Revolutionary Pension Extract Card Index and the Analytical Index Cards. Other information sources will be coming in the near future, mostly relating to Revolutionary War service, bibliographies, Forgotten Patriots (updates), etc. Read the introductions to these to learn why these are both important genealogical indexes. For example, the Rev. War pension index includes the names of people mentioned in those pensions that were abstracted (not just the pensioner or widow)!!!!]

Library Catalog – our book, periodical, and manuscript holdings

Each of these has interrelated content, and a description of each is given more fully on the website. You will notice restricted information in many search results. This is the result of a concerted effort to protect the identity of our members while providing historical genealogical information to researchers.

The national numbers of members (without the names of living members) given in the search results are needed to order copies of applications and supplemental applications. They do not lead online researchers to any other information about the member.

P.S. Randy Seaver has written a wonderful tutorial on using these databases on his genealogy blog, Genea-Musings.

Updated List of Local Lineage Societies

Judith Emry was kind enough to send us an updated list of local lineage societies in Eastern Washington and Washington State:

The Society of Daughters of Colonial Wars In The State Of Washington

Contact:
Ms. Judith A. Emry
2307 E. 6th Ave.
Spokane, WA 99202-4101
E-Mail: jae1234@comcast.net


National Society Of United States Daughters of 1812, Spokane House Chapter

Contact:
Mrs. Irene Berg
E. 15407 Springfield Ave.
Veradale, WA 99037-9536
(509) 924-9687
E-Mail: IreneRBerg@q.com


National Society Daughters Of the American Colonists, Spokane Falls Chapter

Contact:
Mrs. Deanie Binsfield, Regent
11213 N. Astor Ct.
Spokane, WA 99218-1603
(509) 466-8006
E-Mail: hdbinsfield@comcast.net


National Society Colonial Dames XVII Century, Meetinghouse Hill Chapter

Contact:
Mrs. Debra Clark
11920 E. 38th Ave.
Spokane, WA 99206-6326
(509) 926-0670
E-Mail: deb_wa_clark@ comcast.net


Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865, Lizbeth Turner Tent #4

Contact:
Mrs. Irene Berg
E. 15407 Springfield Ave.
Veradale, WA 99037-9536
(509) 924-9687
E-Mail: IreneRBerg@q.com

Local Military Lineage Society Meetings

Donna Potter Phillips shared these meeting times for some local military lineage societies. The dates refer to each month, i.e. "2nd Sat" means the second Saturday of the month:

Daughters of the American Revolution:
Jonas Babcock Chapter, meets 2nd Sat, 10:30, Sons of Norway, 509-838-0373
Esther Reed Chapter, meets 2nd Sat, 9:30, St.John's Cathedral, 509-838-1502
May Hutton Chapter, meets 1st Sat morning "for breakfast," 509-928-4790

Daughters of Union Veterans Civil War:
3rd Mon, 509-928-2566 or 509-466-8006

There apparently is also a Spokane Garry Chapter of the DAR, a chapter of the Daughters of 1812, and a chapter of the Society of Colonial Dames. If you have meeting or contact information for any of these societies, please e-mail me at kidmiffatgmaildotcom.

Sons of the American Revolution Still Going Strong

Here's an interesting story from our local paper that highlights a twenty-one-year-old young man who has recently joined a local chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution (click on the first link on this page). With his dark hair in a ponytail, Travis Miller makes quite a contrast against the other silver- and white-haired members of the SAR, but he is among a growing population of young people interested in their roots. Kudos to EWGS members Bill Ailes and John Ellingson for also being featured in this article, either by being photographed or quoted.