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 [email protected],
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.
