Sounds impressive to the grandkids once a year at Thanksgiving. The truth is that over 30 million Americans are descendants of Mayflower families. As for prestige, the Mayflower was a tiny wooden cargo ship. The cargo on this run was a bunch of Pilgrims. Of that thirty million, only 23,000 are members of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. The GSMD is a genealogy-based organization based on one event, a small ship of 102 immigrants who got lost on the way to Virginia. Dozens of groups claim lineage from early British Colonies. There are hundreds of groups whose membership is genealogically based on an event, war, profession, or country of origin. DAR or Daughters of the American Revolution is for women only. SAR is Sons of the American Revolution. Their claim to fame is an ancestor who picked the winning side in an insurrection against their King. They were Patriots if they won. They were traitors to be hung by the Crown if they lost. In this case, winning insured generations of DAR teas, luncheons and scholarships. Each one of these groups has a different set of criteria for membership. The exclusivity (read prestige) depends on proof of your lineage, often through 14 generations of Americans. For example: A GSMD application requires documents for every generation. Your tree is then matched against their extensive research library before being accepted. Back East, a successful claim to Mayflower lineage carries heavy prestige. To document a family for 14 generations is not easy. Out West, a lineage to Buffalo Bill would carry more weight. Some lineage organizations are easy to get into. Clan Donald of America only requires a couple of documents showing a Clan Donald surname (there are dozens of variations like McDaniel). So, the question is, if my ego doesn’t need to belong to a prestigious society, why are these organizations important to my research? Some of them have spent a hundred years concentrating city, county, church, and newspaper research that you need to reach beyond six generations in your tree. If you are lucky enough to have a Patriot or Civil War Veteran who lived long enough to apply for a pension, the National Archives has a gold mine of information. You can also piggy back on research done when someone applied for a membership in DAR or other military based organizations. Take advantage of other people’s research. YOU MAY NOT HAVE A MAYFLOWER ANCESTOR, BUT SOMEONE IN YOUR FAMILY STEPPED OFF A BOAT TO GET HERE.
Ed Peck welcomes your thoughts and suggestions. He can be reached through this newspaper or the White River Museum.
By ED PECK
Special to the Herald Times
