Ummmmmm - who were you directing this to?
I think I pretty much summed up my feelings on the adoption topic above.

If you meant this for honeychile, I'll butt out.

--add
:)

It was mostly meant for honeychile....I forgot to quote...sorry...:p

LOL!!!! We have three - count 'em, three! - "Asian kids" who will be full members of our chapter when they reach 18!! Their father has the DAR lineage, and their mother just enjoys coming to the meetings.

Seriously, imagine a tea party, or a ladies' luncheon. Nice clothes, nice food, nice ladies event. Some wear pins or other insignia, but not all of them. Some are members, and some are not. Now, I'm only speaking for the chapters which I have visited, but I have NEVER, EVER felt as if I didn't belong simply because I wasn't a member. And I was going to meetings long before I was able to prove my lineage.

See, the vast majority of the DAR ladies that I've met are terribly nice. Everyone goes out of her way to make everyone feel welcome. So, would an adopted daughter feel left out? I would think that would be how the mother approached the topic - just like any other adoption-related topic.

Silver, your PM box is full - and THANK YOU for your kind offer! :)

honeychile, I think it might be the second J.S. from MA and NH. He was the Major General according to any research I have done. I just googled him and came up with this and this and this.

It's a small world regarding St. Mary's Church. My great-grandparents and great great grandparents were married there. My great-grandfather's brother was a priest, Rev. John F. Sullivan, in the area who wrote a few books about the Catholic Church. This is the problem. They all have the same name. :) Of course, they are all gone now and have been for many years. It was exciting finding and reading the actual documents that my great great (great?) grandfather signed when he purchased his house in the 1850s or 1860s for the enormous sum of $750. Imagine buying a house for $750. :)

Does anyone have any suggestions about how to go back further in my family tree? I have no idea how to do it. My mother is the oldest living person in that branch, and I have all the information that she has. Thanks in advance. :)

DAR
 

I am also thinking about adopting, and, to me, this argument is truly moot. I seriously doubt that any of us have our personas so tied up in the DAR that we would make one of our children feel uncomfortable (or make someone else's child feel uncomfortable for that matter). I daresay that most women in the DAR are family historians and are part of the group as a component of their larger involvement with geneaology or US history. Again, I REGULARLY attend meetings for a chapter of which I am NOT a member. I have always felt right at home at the groups that I visited as well. I argee with Honeychile...it is much like a business meeting/tea party/women's informational group. Most of our women wear pins [Must be the high quality Insignia Chair;)].
Besides, it is the same argument for AOII...even though my future child [Silver wishes strongly for a healthy daughter in the next two years ;)] would be a double legacy and a courtsey for AOII, if she goes to a different group or I have a son, then they could not share AOII with me. It is just not a big deal. Give it a try. I will bet that you might like it!

Now, back to our regularly scheduled debate on pins....

No, Honeychile I do not yet have the Cameo. This year, I think. As for the actual order on the ribbon, the DAR member's site has a booklet (cost 2 or 3 dollars) that can be ordered. Let me know if you need me to PM the web address. I just cleaned out my PM box. Please try again...so sorry...

Add, my mom is one of those ladies with a TRIPLE ribbon. Mom and I now have 3 matching DAR outfits for the various seasons for meetings. So much fun. My favorite pin of mom's is her 25th anniversary pin of the DAR from the 19teens! It is really super nice.

Peaches-N-Cream, sounds like you need to have a trip to your state or national archives. In case you did not know, the National Archives rocks! Census records should be the next step. Using your Great-great-grandfather's name, you can find children and sometimes "place of birth." This can then be the link to go back even further using the family surname.
Kudos to other family historians...Just remember, family historians never die, they just lose their census! :D

AOIISilver
ETA: Info for Peaches-N_Cream who posted while I was typing...yes, I am slow and old! :)

I haven't googled your links yet, but will when I'm done with this. Have you tried census records, church records, tax records, court records? Sounds like you have the deeds under control - now, you just take a step back & see where he was living prior to buying that $750 house! ;) Will books are especially rich, and the New England Genealogical Society has a TON of records!

I hear you about the same name - there has been a John & a William in literally every generation of my family thus far! It become sheer torture when we found a completely parallel family in the same area - two each of John McCulloughs who married Elizabeths, with a brother William for three generations! We pretty much had to do both family trees to keep them straight as to who belonged to whom!!

Honeychile: I'm assuming that the Asian kids who'll be full members at 18 are mixed? That's a little different from being an adopted child from China.

AOIISilver: Being a member of a sorority is kind of different than a linage society like DAR because an adoptee can choose to or not to become a member of the sorority. Unless DAR changes its rules to include adoptees, she cannot be a member of DAR even if she wants to.

I'm thinking about joining the DAR. We have a local chapter. My mom's side of the family are descendants of Christopher Gist, but I don't think he counts. If not, I have a cousin on my dad's side who's in the DAR, I believe, so I can always go that route.

Since there's an organization for descendants of Confederate veterans, does anyone know if there's one for the other side?

I'll be your third!!! How many more do we need for our national charter?

I probably could trace my maternal grandmother's side back to the Amer Rev. There is a rumor floating around the family was on the like 5th boat after the Mayflower or something insanely early like that. My grandfather is working on her lineage right now, since she is the missing link (my other grandparents are all 100% something). Too bad he is still lurking in the 1800's. The family is now in Missouri. He hasn't even traced them back to the East Coast yet.
I know the surname would be Ward. And I entered that into the database, via the DAR website, and I have a BUNCHA hits. I don't know what to do next.

I never even thought about the DAR before this post....hmmm...another thing to persue on my free time... :cool:

Actually, no...
 

Now, back to the regularly scheduled discussion....Yes, there is a group for women descendants of the Federal Army in the Civil War....several, in fact. Check out
http://www.duvcw.org/ and Listing of the Associated groups

Silver

ETA: Edited because I do not wish to be anything but helpful to others in my life. :) Life is too short....

Re: Actually, no...
 

To answer your question: Before joining the Junior League, I toyed with the idea of joining the IODE (Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire). It was never really a consideration as I didn't know anyone who was in it. Anyway, I mentioned this to a relative in the US, and she asked me why I could join IODE, despite having no British roots, but she couldn't join the DAR. The only requirement for the IODE is that you're female, according to their website (http://www.iode.ca/join.html), despite having the term "Daughter" in their name.

Post-Googles on John Sullivan: colorful character, wasn't he?! And kind of cute, too!

If you think this is your Patriot, go to www.dar.org, and double click on Genealogy. Then, on the right hand side, you'll see Patriot Lookup - double click. Fill out the form, asking if you could obtain any Record Copies on him, should they have them (they will). If you check the box that you're interested in membership, they will be in touch with you concerning local chapters - and vice versa.

The Record Copy is a complete DAR application for the Patriot you name. For all you know, that problem generation of yours may already be solved! If not, it will give you the sources that the original applicant gave, which will help you with your search. Record Copies are one of the very best sources, as none of the information on them will be questioned!

Feel free to ask me any more questions - and let me know how your search is going! I can only hope that you'll enjoy DAR as much as Adrienne, Silver, and I all do!!

You'd have to prove that to me. And if you're going to use that tired old saw about the one time Marion Anderson didn't sing at Constitution Hall, please be fair enough to realize the year it happened, AND that she felt fine about being invited back to perform several other times! Get over it - she did.

And I'm with Silver. This was to be about helping people, not a defense of an organization. For heaven's sake, how strange is it that members of a GLO would find rules for membership odd?

My mama is using the G-Q volume of the Patriot Index, or I'd look up Christopher Gist, Achtungbaby. He's not listed in earlier volumes, though.

FIVE pages of Wards! Yikes!! Have you any clue as to which state(s), DolphinChica?

That explains things....
 

Taualumna, thanks for the info..that explains the questioning about being a "daughter."
Does your US relative know for SURE that she cannot join the DAR? Unless EVERY branch of her family came to the US after the Revolutionary War, chances are that she does have a relation that qualifies. It just takes WORK to find the connections. See that is the whole thing...for those of us who LOVE family history, it is the challenge to find the dusty record, to find the family Bible, to find a way to prove that illiterate family members existed when they signed with an X.
I really enjoy my DAR experience. We do a lot of good for people in a wide-variety of projects, both locally and nationally.
:)
Silver

AOIIsilver,

My cousin's from Hong Kong, and we have no known non-Chinese blood relatives.

Probably not--he was Washington's guide, but I doubt he was a soldier or anything. I like the idea of the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, though...my mom's excited, too. I think we'll check into that. Thanks, AOIIsilver! :)

Now it all makes sense
 

Taualumna, now I see....still your relative might like being involved. Until I got my papers in, I, too, attended just for the fun of it. I just met a lady and asked if I could be her guest. You can learn LOTS about US History.
PS-Thanks for the PM. That is awesome. :)

OH...AchtungBaby80, you don't have to have been a soldier to join DAR. Other kinds of service counts, too! Washington's guide. Wow! Make sure to check out the other two groups listed on the Associated GAR groups as well. :)

Happiness,
Silver

AchtungBaby -
I just looked up that person's name on the online Patriot Index. He's not listed, but that may only mean that none of his descendants applied for DAR membership.

Patriots served in all kinds of capacities, not just military. There were munitions suppliers, farmers, even ministers in the PI.

Just some info to think on.

Adrienne
:)

ETA - I posted this before I saw Silver's response.

I wanted to check a link prior to posting it. There is a complete passenger list of everyone who was on the first three boats to Plymouth, the Mayflower, the Fortune, and the Anne at the link I just gave.

A very high percentage - if not all - of the genealogies for each of these passengers is available, up to about 1730 (?) or 8 generations. I guess they figure that you're on your own after that!

This may sound crazy, but I have very fond memories of our first mixer with Delta Tau Delta. It was the first we had for years prior to my joining Alpha Delta Pi. Anyhow, I started talking to one Delt, whose girlfriend I knew, and it turned out that we were both interested in genealogy. In fact, he is a direct descendant of Edward Winslow (Mayflower). While everyone else was dancing and generally doing the mixer thing, Win & I were getting comparing genealogical notes! Do I have to tell you that both of us took a lot of teasing afterwards? :)

Nope. I get the same thing - I get talking on genealogy and history and the rest of the world stops existing. Then I hear about it afterwards. :p

--add
(Wm. Brewster descendant, BTW)
:D

Teasing over family histories
 

At work, frequently when someone is introduced as a new faculty member, etc, my fellow teachers comment, "I'll bet that Silver is his/her cousin."
Good grief :rolleyes:
Silver

ok I feel stupid-where do I look up names? I think Adrienne is going to look for me but now I am being impatient :)

What kind of names?
 

What kind of names? Patriots or persons in generations after the Revolutionary war?
Silver

The DAR Patriot Index is online for society members. This is a listing of American patriot ancestors whose descendants have joined the DAR.

The membership listing is not online (that I can find.....) so that sort of inquiry might take a phone call to the Registrar General.

PM me - I'm going to be awake for a little while and I can check a few things.

--add
:D

I could join Daughters of the Confederacy, but given my experiences with that organization in my small rural southern hometown, I can't say that I desire to!:eek: I'm not sure if I'm eligible for DAR or not--but my guess is yes.

That's so sad! The only ladies who I'm not wild about in my chapter are the "wannabees" - older women without the papers, but still keep coming to meetings. The one is a real pill. :rolleyes:

Quote:

I'm not sure if I'm eligible for DAR or not--but my guess is yes.

If you ever decide to take the plunge, just hollar!

My MIL qualifies for DAR but she never joined bec all the ladies were "100 years old." Her surname is Hawbaker (or may be spelled Hawbecker).

*frustrations*

My mama borrowed the one volume of the Patriot Index - G-Q. My family names mostly begin with G, H. K, or M - except for two rouge C's!

I'll try to get it back from her by the weekend!

Hey, could one of you ladies look up some names for me in the Patriot Index? I went back through my files tonight and found the three direct ancestors who would have been alive at the time.

The names are in the "W"s.

Let me know and I'll PM you... thanks in advance!!

-----
out of curiousity, do the relatives have to be direct ancestors? Like I said, I have three names... but each of those people had about 11ty billion kids, so someone's got to be in there ;)

I have my book with the W's right here - PM away! :)

A direct ancestor is Patriot to child to child to child to child to you (with more or less generations).

A collatertal ancestor would be Patriot to niece/nephew to child to niece/nephew to child to child to you (with various mixes). The DAR doesn't accept collateral descendants, but if you've found that an Uncle John served, go back a generation, see if his father/mother gave service (remember, "gave patriotic service"), then come down on a direct lineage. One lineage society that does accept collateral ancestors is the UDC; I'm not sure of others.

Thanks! Adrienne looked up my relatives for me, and I am a direct decendant for a Private from North Carolina! (Born on the 4th of July, no less!) Now I just need to rustle up my documentation, and away I go. :D

Three cheers for adduncan!!!

For people interested in lineage societies, I found this handy link a few months ago. The Hereditary Society Community of the United States of America - http://www.hereditary.us It lists a large number of societies from the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts (1637) to the Order of Descendants of Pirates and Privateers (2003). There is a section for the “Accepted Customs and Practices for Dress and Insignia.” In the Ladies section, particular attention is paid to DAR. http://www.hereditary.us/ladies.htm

I also found a lineage society for the descendants of slaves. Information on the International Society of Sons and Daughters of Slave Ancestry can be found at http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilissdsa/#info.

To echo what others have said, it is so important to know your history. If you are not interested for yourself then think of your children. Write down your stories, record older relatives, take lots of pictures, and document them! Take time to share what you have learned. That is a daunting task so just start with your immediate family.

From a personal standpoint, I lost 11 family members in a 3-year period. This included my mother, grandparents, great-aunts, and great-uncles. Going through boxes of personal items is hard enough but when it comes to photographs, I cry. I have no idea who many of these people are and there is no one left to identify them. I have never seen a good picture of my mother’s mother. She was one of those that turned her head when a camera came near.

WOW!
 

AOPiRose,
This was the best worded post ever. :)
Silver

Tell me about it!!! Now, the majority of the Ward family is in Missouri (pronounced Mizzoura...I love my grandmother) and Illinois. But at the time of the Rev War, I have no idea. My mom thinks they were in one of the Carolinas, and the after the Lewis and Clark Expedition, they went to MO, and was there since.

And now grandpa has decided to take a break from the geneology thing, and take a 2 month extended vacation to Fl... which can only mean two things: I must wait at least another 2 months to see whats going on with my family (unless I pick up where he left off....hmmm....) and BRING ON THE SNOW TO NJ!!!

Thanks, Silver.

I saw this medal on Ebay and thought it was quite interesting & beautiful...it's a "Daughters of the American Colonists" medal.
I quite like the acorn motif at the top.


There seems to be a number of organizations that are called "Daughters of something". :)

I've seen this before too. The DAC are ladies descended from American settlers who arrived prior to about 1700 (don't quote me just yet on that..... need to cross-check that fact.)

Bummer that their insignia was on Ebay. DAR, DAC, etc, etc all have the same rules about their insignia that GLOs do: Thou Shalt Not Let Thy Insignia Go to a Pawn Shop or on Ebay. Upon Thy Demise, Thy Insignia and Thy Service Pins Shalt Be Returned to National. ;)

Pins
 

Thy pins shall go to national or to the family member who is given them....BUT, even a daughter may not wear a pin to which she is not entitled! This gets especially sticky with financial donation pins....Who is going to be the lucky one who gets to tell the 90 year-old-woman that she can't wear her mother's President's project pin? Do you think THIS Insignia Chair is going to do that? NOPE! I do not ever wish to be bludgeoned by a large black patton handbag! Those things hurt when they hit you in the head!:p
:)LOL
Silver

Do y'all just love those letters that come with the address labels & memo pads that say, "If you donate x amount, you will be eligible to buy the President's Project pin..."? I am officially eligible. I am also officially too broke to buy the darn thing!