DAR membership invitations - Blbazid
Subject: DAR membership invitations
From: Blbazid
Date: January 09, 2000

Does anyone know what the practice is re: invitations to going DAR?  When I 
graduated from high school (way back in 1952) I received an invitation to 
join DAR.  I had no idea what it was based on or, frankly, what DAR was.  I 
was busy going off to school and did not respond.  Since I have grown older, 
I have begun trying to do my genealogy and I would LOVE to know upon whom the 
invitation was based. I don't know if there is any way to find out at this 
late date!

My lines are Bryant,  Perdue & Howell in VA, TN, KY;  Miller and Lamb in TN, 
KY and TX-OK;  Holland &  Snider in VA; Cantrell in SC, TN, MO; Fowler, TN;  L
egate in SC;  Thomasen in TN & MO.

Betty Bryant Barker

Date: Sun, 09 Jan 2000 14:15:26 -0500
From: ELIZABETH RUSSO 
To: [email protected]
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: unacceptable sources
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Unfortunately, not all DAR members' files contain the "original fully
documented applications."

Several of my cousins who joined in the early 1900s on the basis of some
HARRIS ancestors (we supposedly have at least 4 Patriot direct ancestors
on our Harris side alone) just stated their genealogies.  I viewed their
records, both original and on microfilm, while at the DAR library with
the aid of a wonderful staff person there. Most of my cousins' works do
correspond to Boddie's Historical Southern Families, and to another
publication.  

Once I learned that I could not just tie in to my cousins (the DAR has,
thankfully, much higher standards for proof these days), I realized I
had to start from scratch.

Imagine my first surprise when I discovered a pension application and a
will which stated that one of my alleged Patriot ancestors died with no
mention of wife or children, and his sister was found to be next of kin
for bounty warrant purposes.  Then my next surprise was that the widow
of another one who was granted a pension was not even closely related. 
Both instances came after research at NARA.

I have yet to prove that several in one line of ancestors that my dearly
departed DAR cousins "documented" even existed.  Not one shred of
evidence for two of the generations (for whom they had not documented
any spouses or siblings, either)--no land records, no tax records, no
Bible records, no genealogies, no census records, no nothing.

Now, my ancestors as my cousins laid them out may well have existed, and
they may well have been Patriots, but they hooked into the wrong lines
for their proof.

Having said all that, while I sorry to have to almost totally reinvent
the wheel, and while I won't be joining the DAR as soon as I thought, it
certainly taught me more than a thing or two about trusting sources (yes
I use them, but as roadmaps) and about the value of doing my own
research.  I'm having a ball doing the latter.  And by the way, the DAR
library in Washington is in my top three favorite research spots in the
world.  Usually, I rank it first.

Elizabeth DuBois Russo
An alleged descendant of at least 7 alleged Patriots.

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