DAR Membership

I am proud to say that my mom and I were recently (Sept 2019) accepted into the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) organization.  I think this was something my mom wanted long ago... and I knew for sure I had to work hard to get this done for my mom before something happens to her.  But to be honest, my mom is the one who really 'saved the day' every time we needed a piece of the puzzle for our application. 👼

Why do I bring up the DAR membership on a genealogy blog site? Well, many

people who start researching their ancestors begin to realize that they have ancestors that served in various wars, were among the first families of America, descendants of the Mayflower voyage or signers of the Declaration of Independence. But many of our fellow genealogy researchers strive to establish lineal descent from a Revolutionary War Patriot by going through the rigorous application process of becoming a member of the DAR.  What an honor and a tribute to those soldiers.
(Note: There is also an organization for men: Sons of the American Revolution)

For our initial application to the DAR, my mom and I submitted an application to prove lineal descent from Abel Hollister. Abel actually descended from the Hollister family who were among the First Families of America... The Founders/ Pilgrims of our Nation.  Therefore, that means we are daughters of the Founders and Patriots of this country. Historically, to prove that is a big deal!! (I guess it depends on who cares 🤣)

Stay tuned as I'll be adding a summary of our patriots and ancestor research to this site routinely.

Genealogy Blog Launch

I have decided to launch a genealogy blog site. Blogging is a great way to share information with others, whether it be personal stories or even educational information that others can learn from. If you are lucky, you can gain followers that will also share information and help increase awareness, education, and interest.

Inspiration: My inspiration for genealogy comes from my mom - Diana. She has researched family history as far back as I can remember. She has spent countless hours driving around the country, visiting old homesteads, driving through fields to get to remote cemeteries, photographing gravestones, visiting libraries, and so on. For many years, she would talk about the family history but none of her children took much interest, including me. Personally, it wasn't a lack of interest per se, but I was still going to school working on my PhD and simply didn't have time to contribute or take interest.  As soon as I finished my doctorate, I started digging around, doing DNA tests, and I was hooked. Now, it's something my mom and I do together.  Honestly, I am sure she gets tired of my emails in her inbox, or the late night phone calls where I am asking her about an ancestor again, but one thing is for certain - when I say "hey - we are missing a link to this person"...  inevitably, my mother digs through her books and whips something out! She is like a miracle worker when it comes to finding documentation we need for our ancestry tree or lineage documentation for DAR documents.

Importance of relatives: My mom has a cousin, Henry Timman. He is a historian writer for the Norwalk Reflector in Huron County Ohio. Many of our ancestors were early settlers (first families) of Huron County Ohio. Henry has been able to provide a lot of documentation for mom and I when we needed something for our lineage paperwork. He has some pretty neat stories too. With his involvement in the historical society of Huron County (an authority on Firelands History), he is also a resource for us when we are trying to find information on our ancestors... his ancestors too!

Advice: Whether you have a relative working as a historian or not, it is so important when visiting relatives to record conversations, take notes while talking to them, go through old photos and document people, dates and places on the back of the photos, etc.   Trust me, if you wait until people have passed away - it's too late and you have lost that valuable information.