My mom often said we could join the Daughters of the American Revolution through her mother’s line, but she was stuck on the “proof” part of applying for membership. “What proof do they need,” she often said. “I just KNOW it. That’s proof!”
She was right, too, about the family lineage required for membership in the D.A.R. When I started researching her mother’s line, I found much of the needed documentation at the New England Historic Genealogical Society and on their AmericanAncestors.org website. Grandmother Brown’s line runs back through American history to a Revolutionary War musician who served on the Connecticut Line.
I’ve researched at the NEHGS Library in Boston and attended their guided research programs, but these days I do more research online using the AmericanAncestors.org databases from my home in Southern California. With searchable indexes, online digital images, and a library of tutorials and videos, the NEHGS website is always my first-stop for researching early American families.
I’ve found the AmericanAncestors.org website to be a valuable benefit of NEHGS membership, and during the week of July 10-17 historians may access the databases free of charge as a registered Guest Member. Access includes searchable databases for the Great Migration Study Project, for the world’s largest Mayflower database, and for the new NEHGS collection of Roman Catholic records from the Archdiocese of Boston for 1789 to 1900.
NEHGS notes: This free summer research offer from American Ancestors and NEHGS began at 12:01 a.m. EDST on Tuesday, July 10, and extends through 11:59 p.m. EDST on Tuesday, July 17. The public is invited to search more than 1.4 billion names by registering as Guest Members (it’s free) at AmericanAncestors.org/July.
Lately I’ve been reading about events commemorating the upcoming 400th Anniversary of the voyage of the Mayflower and the founding of Plymouth Colony. It’s an exciting time to be an American genealogist and I’m planning now to return my focus to Grandmother Brown’s colonial ancestors. Maybe there’s a Mayflower passenger hiding away somewhere! Mom would have loved that.
Thanks for this ihelpful and timely info, Denise!