Madison
County Genealogical Society
Minutes of the Meeting - May 12, 2011
The May 2011 meeting of the Madison
County Genealogical Society was held at the Edwardsville Public Library on
Thursday, May 12, at 7:00 pm.
President, Robert Ridenour, called the
meeting to order.
The following reports were presented.
In the
Library
Elsie Wasser
reported that the Society had received two new books:
Cherokee Commission Dockets, Vol. 4 by Jeff Bowen (1800's)
125 Years of
Grace l848 - l973, Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Collinsville, Illinois by
Louise Nicol Meier - Donated by Cindy Reinhardt
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 $20.00
Patron Annual Membership $30.00
Life Membership $250.00
Contact our Secretary, Barbara Hitch, at racerbarb@aol.com,
about a gift membership.
May
Meeting
On May 12, 2011, the meeting of the Madison County Genealogical Society was
held at the Edwardsville Public Library. Lola DeGroff
and Linda Rosenthal presented a program titled How to Become a U.S. Daughter of 1812. The
program also included information on becoming a member of the men's group, The
Society of the War of 1812.
Lola DeGroff retired from the Department of Defense
following more than 20 years of service. She is the outgoing regent of the
Silver Creek DAR chapter, having served four years. Lola is a member of the Illinois
War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission, a member of the Daughters of the
Confederacy, and the United States Daughters of 1812. She and her husband, Jim,
actively support many heritage and historical events.
Linda Rosenthal has a BS in Art Education K-12 and is working on a Masters in
Archaeology/Anthropology. Linda is a past member of St. Clair County Junior
Service, Past President of the American Cancer Society of Washington County,
Past Chair of the Washington County Arts Council, and a Past Washington County
Representative for the Southern Illinois Arts Council. She is currently the
Vice Chair of the Illinois War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission, a member of
Hill's Fort Society, a member of the Madison County Historical Society, a
member of the Madison County Genealogical Society, a member of the Kentucky
Historical Society, and Regent of the Ninian Edwards
Chapter NSDAR. She has researched and compiled a book on the Ninian Edwards Chapter's 100 years, researched and found 14
more Revolutionary Soldiers buried in Madison County, and has been instrumental
in placing stones and markers for 18 soldiers, 4 wives, and 2 daughters of the
Revolution. She is currently researching War of 1812 Soldiers buried in
Illinois.
Lola DeGroff made the following statement:
"People ask: Why do you join these lineage organizations? My answer to
that question is, I feel that if my ancestor was brave enough to leave his
family and everything he had to go off and fight a war to protect the citizens
of this country, the least I can do is to make sure that whatever that person
did is never forgotten. Sadly, a lot of our veterans' graves are not marked as
being one who helped protect our country since it was organized."
On the website USdaughters1812.org, there is
a link to the Illinois Chapters. There are three chapters in Illinois. The
closest one to Madison County is the Kaskaskia Chapter. The other two chapters
are the Sangamon River Chapter and the John Kinzie
Chapter near Chicago. There is talk of starting another chapter in the Morgan
County, Illinois, area. There had been a chapter in that area in the past.
The Daughters of 1812 website includes a database of 1812 soldiers associated
with the members. Your ancestor may already be in this database. You must be 18
years of age to be a member of the Daughters of 1812. Junior membership is
available to girls and boys from birth through age 21. Young women between the
ages of eighteen and thirty-five are known as Flora Adams Darling Daughters in
honor of the Society's first president. The Daughters of 1812 covers the period
from 1784 to 1815. If you have an ancestor who fought in a war in that period,
or contributed some other kind of service (See the USdaughters1812.org website for details of this
service.), you would probably be eligible to become a member.
The men's society, The Society of the War of 1812, is a little different - your
ancestor must have served in the military between November 7, 1811, and July
18, 1815.
The Daughters of 1812 website also has links to other databases including
Archives.org, where you can find Pennsylvania and North Carolina soldiers'
records.
Ancestry.com and HeritageQuest.com
are great sources of information to help prove genealogy of War of 1812
ancestors. The C. E. Brehm Library in Mount Vernon,
Illinois, is an excellent source of information on Revolutionary War soldiers
and their families. Many of the soldiers of the Revolutionary War and/or their
sons were veterans of the War of 1812.
Many of the books listing veterans of the War of 1812 are not definitive.
Bounty land records can reveal those who served in that war. Ancestry.com gives you access to the General Land
Office records. From the land records, you can find whether an individual was
given land for their service in the War of 1812 and the county where that land
was located.
Once you have the county location, you can go to Graveyards.com
to find the graveyards near your ancestor's land. The odds are that your
ancestor was buried in a graveyard near his home. If your ancestor, in his
advanced years, went to live with one of his children, you will have to use
census data (also available at Ancestry.com) to track him.
The available records of 1812 veterans in Illinois do not always include the
Rangers. The Ranger service may also be found using Ancestry.com.
Sometimes locating the required information on an individual requires using
several sources. To find the information you want, you must be a detective.
Linda and Lola demonstrated some of the websites available to find land grant
information. In spite of some problems with the WiFi
connection, they were able to find information on individuals for people in the
audience.
This presentation was well received and generated many questions. In fact, the
meeting lasted until almost 9:00 p.m.