My Medals

As long as I'm sharing my genealogy interests with you, I have another aspect to share. This is one I knew nothing about until I accidentally stumbled on a certain website late one night. I've since become fascinated with it.

I'm sure you're all familiar with the D.A.R. - Daughters of the American Revolution. Perhaps some of you or your family are members. It's a hereditary society open to women who can prove the are a descendant of someone who took part in the American Revolution.

Well, did you know that there are dozens of hereditary societies and they have some really neat insignia? I found this website that lists many of the societies and even shows the insignia. When I started reading the requirements of some of them I realized that I qualified for several.

Instead of applying to the D.A.R., for which I qualified, I chose a lesser known organization: The National Society  Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America. To join this group, you must be descended in an unbroken paternal line from an ancestor who settled in any of the Colonies during the period from May 13, 1607 to May 13, 1687 , plus an ancestor in an unbroken line who by personal service in a civil or military capacity assisted in establishing American independence during the Revolutionary Period 1775-1784.

Instead of proving one ancestor, I had to prove two and believe me, documenting the required proof takes time and lots of hard work. It took me months to gather all the documentation I needed, but I did it and am now a proud member. Here is my certificate.

And here is my medal.

While I was doing my research and gathering all the proof I needed, I also applied to the Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford. One of my great grandfathers was among the founders of Hartford, Connecticut and I already had the necessary documentation, so I applied and was accepted. Here is my certificate...

and my insignia.

For now I belong to those two , but there are a couple more that I'm thinking about joining such as The National Society New England Women and General Society of Mayflower Descendants.

  There are some that I don't qualify for, but have really neat insignia such as the Order of Descendants of Pirates and Privateers...

 and Society of Descendants of Lady Godiva.

Have a look at the list and you might find that you qualify for one or more of these organizations that celebrate our history.