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Wednesday, July 20, 2011

DAR

DAR--Daughters of the American Revolution,that is. I've been researching our family history and putting a family tree together for about 3+ years now. I love history and I love researching family history,so it's been great fun for me. It can be a confusing headache sometimes-it's funny how many people have the same name-and named their kids the same names~! It can be frustrating trying to untangle each branch of the family tree--and I've run into plenty of brick walls where I can't find anything about that person except for family stories. And family stories don't always turn out to be the whole truth.Back to the DAR. I've found several ancestors that were involved in the American Revolution,but I've finally found a really close ancestor that I have a direct line to--my 4th great grandfather on my mother's side. I filled out an application for more information about the DAR a week or so ago. I wasn't expecting to hear anything so soon,but I got a phone call yesterday evening from a lady in the local chapter. She's invited me to their next meeting where I can really see what the DAR is all about and she can hopefully give me some tips to make my research a little easier. I have to gather birth certificates and marriage certificates of a few people in the family.If anyone in the family is already a member of the DAR it will make my paperwork that much easier.I'll just have to document how I am related to that other person. I am so excited!!!!!!! I want to get enough research and documentation to join other "groups" too,but am going to take it one step at a time. I know we have ancestors that came over on the Mayflower,but I don't know what type of documentation you have to have to join that group. Did I say I enjoy research!? Have you ever looked into your family tree and family history? You just might be surprised who and what you find!

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

OH, I want to hear all about the DAR meeting!

As for Mayflower, it's very simple and straightforward - you need birth, marriage, and death certificates for all the generations from you, up until about... Oh, maybe the 6th or 7th generation.

Most Mayflower ancestors are proven through the first 5 generations, and found in the silver books (I own about half the silver books, so if you ever need a look-up and don't feel like going to the library, PLEASE feel free to ask! I also have a NEHGS membership and can look up any Massachusetts vital records at any time! Again, please feel free to ask).

In fact, if you'd like, I can prepare you a sample of what a Mayflower application would look like and mail it to you, and then all you have to do is fill in the rest. Once you know what needs to be done, you can contact your local Mayflower society, and the historian will send you an application, with the first 5-6 generations already completed. :)

Though if you apply to Mayflower, you have a year to complete the application, I found that having all of the documentation ready to go was nice. No deadline to worry about!