Madison
County Genealogical Society
Minutes of the Meeting – February 19, 2023
On February 19, 2023, the
Madison County Genealogical Society held a meeting at the Edwardsville Public
Library.
President, Robert Ridenour, called the meeting to order.
GIFT
MEMBERSHIPS AVAILABLE
Do you have a family member that is
interested in (or even obsessed with) genealogy? A membership in the Madison
County Genealogical Society would be a very thoughtful gift. A gift card will
be sent to the recipient of any gift membership.
The following memberships are available:
Individual/Family Annual Membership $25.00
Patron Annual Membership $35.00
Institutional Membership $25.00
Contact our Correponding Secretary, Lynn Engelman, at lae21@verizon.net, about a gift membership.
February Meeting
On February 19, 2023, Paula Mattix-Wand, Registrar for the
Ninian Edwards Chapter of the DAR made a presentation on Daughters of the American Revolution – Who and What
We Are & Would You Like to Join.
Who and What We Are
We are here to talk about DAR and how to join. The Sons
of the American Revolution had already been established, but the women were
also interested in expressing their patriotism. So in 1889, four enterprising
women: Eugenia Washington, Mary S. Lockwood, Ellen Walworth, and Mary Desha met
in Washington, D.C., and the DAR was founded on October 11, 1890. The DAR
headquarters is comprised of three adjoining buildings that take up an entire
city block in Washington, D.C. near the White House. It is one of the most
valuable pieces of property in the world that is completely owned and
maintained by women. In 1986, the DAR was incorporated by an act of Congress,
so every year, the DAR President-General has to give a
report to Congress.
The DAR Mission
The Daughters of the American Revolution mission is
threefold. It is HISTORICAL to perpetuate the memory of the men and women who
achieved American Independence.
They have an EDUCATIONAL mission: civics education in
school, Good Citizen Awards, Constitution Week, etc. The Educational Mission
can be almost anything that has to do with education.
Obviously, PATRIOTISM to maintain, cherish, and extend
the institutions of American Freedom; to foster true Patriotism, love of
country, and to aid and secure for mankind all the blessings of liberty
Some Local DAR Projects
Some of the projects of the Ninian Edwards Chapter
have been:
Benjamin Godfrey is buried in the Godfrey Cemetery. His family burial plot was surrounded by a wrought iron fence on
top of a concrete wall. In World War II, the iron fence was removed to be used as defense materials. The Society of
the War of 1812 in Illinois marked his grave as a War of 1812 veteran (he
served in the navy). Members of the local DAR Chapter were at that dedication
and were inspired to replace the fence and return the burial plot to its former
beauty. The replacement of the fence was sort of the kickoff of the Benjamin
Godfrey Legacy Trail Project.
It was found that there were numerous unmarked graves
in Vaughn Cemetery in Wood River. So the Ninian Edwards DAR Chapter, along with
other groups, constructed many wooden crosses and placed them in Vaughn
Cemetery to give the unmarked graves some respect and acknowledge that there
are many people buried there that do not have markers.
The DAR is heavily involved in Wreaths Across America.
It has been a national and state project to make sure that every veteran’s
grave is marked in December
The DAR are heavily involved in naturalization
ceremonies, where our representatives attend to congratulate the new citizens
with small gifts of flags, bookmarks, etc.
The DAR is always in the Alton Memorial Day Parade.
How Can You Join?
An immediate family member who is a member of DAR can
be the easiest pathway.
Members of other lineage societies – 1812, Mayflower –
are already doing genealogy, so why not prove the Revolution connection? Family
tree researchers who make the connection come to us and want to know more. They
stumble on to the website and they kinda remember a relative saying, “I think
there’s a patriot in there somewhere.”
The easiest way to start is to contact a local
chapter. If you know that a chapter exists and you know someone who is in the
chapter, contact them. Or, you can go through the National website DAR.org. There
is a place where you can input information and that will trickle down to a
local chapter. Depending on where you live, they will assign you a chapter. You
are not committed to that chapter. But they will say it looks like they are in
your area, why not give them a call.
You have to prove is that you are a woman over the age
of 18 who is a lineal bloodline descendant of a person who aided in achieving
American Independence, through either military or patriotic service. The
documents you need to gather – start with yourself – a birth certificate, a
genealogical copy is sufficient; it need not be a certified copy. Including
your spouse on the application is not mandatory. However, if someday one of
your descendants wants to join a lineage society, it will make it much easier
if your spouse is on your application.
For generations 2 and 3 you need birth, death, and
marriage dates. For the first three generations of an application, it needs to
be solid. Every line needs to be filled out, every date and every place needs
to be there, and vital records are where they want that information to come
from.
Then there is something called the connecting
document. In between each generation you have to have a document that this
person is the son or daughter of the preceding generation. The farther back you
get in your lineage, the harder it becomes. About generation 5 or 6 is usually
the hardest. Some other types of connecting documents might be censuses, wills,
and probate records.
Generation 4 through the Revolutionary patriot the
process is the same. The documentation you need is one date and place for the
birth or one date and place for the death of each person. Oftentimes, you have
to do both because the information is not quite complete. You may have a birth
date but you do not have a birth place, so you have to
have a death date and a death place. And a connecting document is required for
each generation.
Every application is unique; there is no standard. The
only standard application is if you have a daughter come in on her mother’s
application.
There is a way information from previously approved
DAR applications can be used. It is a process called Build an App. It is a
computer program, but registrars can look at what information is available in
the DAR database and kind of cut and paste from previously approved
applications onto a new one. Any errors or mistakes have to be fixed and the
most recent application for that patriot has to be used.