The DAR

Some of you may know that I have taken the plunge and I am going to attempt to get all the paperwork in order to make my grandmother’s dream come true by applying to join the Daughters of the American Revolution.  I attended the meeting of the local chapter, Susannah Chandler, on the 10^th.  They are a nice group of ladies and were very welcoming to a prospective member.

I have 4 suspected lines that are in the DAR database; which when I discovered that completely floored me.  Only 4?  Bet you I can find more…go on, bet you.  Now, I was disappointed not to find my suspected Arvin ancestor (still proving that line) or my suspected Combs ancestor (which William Combs) in the database.  That is a personal goal of mine, to find them and bring them to the attention of my living relatives.

The lines that are there and I just need to gather the documents to prove my findings to their satisfaction are:

James Drake (mother’s side)
Rodolphus Norris (mother’s side)
William Hayden (father’s side)
William Price (father’s side)

A few of these lines I am still tracing, well, how about I am double checking the sources on published genealogies to make sure I am satisfied that the person is correct.  One of those very first lessons I had, not all trees that are published are sourced well…never trust an Ancestry.com public tree.

Of course, I also have a new trail to follow.  I was doing random surname searches on the DAR database and I came across a James Cannon who died in Daviess County Indiana 1849.  Looking at some of the information on the available descendants lists it appears that he and his children resided in Martin County Indiana…where my mother’s family is from. 

This is interesting to me as I have a Bethena (Betheny) Cannon on my mother’s side of the family.  She was born in Martin County Indiana 1838, to parents who were from Virginia and Indiana according to the census information given.  Taking the information from the DAR site I am going to go and do some searches for the family using the possible siblings and aunts/uncles listed.  Love it when I get new leads!

*Image from the Library of Congress, "Daughters of the American Revolution. Exterior of Daughters of the American Revolution Building"