Lineage Luck: How Applying to Societies Helps Your Research

I underestimated the value of joining lineage societies until I completed an application for one. I didn't think my ancestors had been in the United States long enough to qualify for any, thinking ancestors would have had to be in the United States for centuries. I wasn't aware of the wide range of lineage societies available. But once I took that first bite of that lineage society apple—I was hooked. And I see many more benefits now. 

First, joining a lineage society requires proper documentation, and not just for an individual's vital stats, like birth, marriage, and death, but also for the connections between those generations that form an unbroken line from the applicant to that specific ancestor or ancestral couple.

Second, applying to a society might require acquiring new skills. This is certainly true for me. My very first application, to the First Families of Pennsylvania, required full citations for every fact stated. I had never learned how to do proper citations...but I learned fast. I cut my teeth on 40+ citations for that application. It was well worth the time and effort though, as my application for the "Keystone and Cornerstone 1791–1865" period was accepted for James Gilbride and Mary Hart Gilbride, my 4th great-grandparents, who settled in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, in 1850. 

My first lineage society certificate documented my descent from James and Mary Hart Gilbride.

Third, doing the deep dive necessary to ferret out the best evidence for a relationship is challenging. It gets progressively harder the farther one goes back in time. Sometimes, relationships might have to be documented with sources other than the standard birth, marriage, or death certificates, as depending on the time and jurisdiction, those may not have been kept when that ancestor's event occurred. Sometimes records don't name the pertinent people, such as when parents are not named on a marriage record. Sometimes, records do name a person, but that person is not a biological ancestor of the applicant. DNA proof arguments, censuses, divorce decrees, historical publications, pension files, undertaker's records, and church records are just a few of the types of sources I have used to provide the needed proof for successful applications.

The deep dive can also bring to the surface the more obscure stories that may otherwise go undiscovered. For example, I learned the story of Lawrence O. Taylor, my husband's great-granduncle, while researching Jim's Mayflower line. I discovered that Lawrence was cared for his sister Nellie Taylor Casey (Jim's great-grandmother) after both their parents died young, and that eventually Lawrence was placed in the Enid School for the Feeble Minded in Oklahoma. He died at age ten in 1918 after the Spanish flu ran through the institution. The facility's doctor was later the subject of a scathing newspaper report of neglect, and subsequently sued the newspaper for libel. The case reached all the way to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, where Lawrence was mentioned in trial minutes. (Read more on Lawrence's story here.)

Most importantly, applying to lineage societies all but guarantees that your application will be archived in an appropriate repository. So, my completed applications, and the family lines they document, are now safely housed for future generations to access. These individuals will be remembered!

I'm hooked on lineage societies, though I must admit that once I finish a particularly challenging application, I often don't want to see an application for a while! But I do come back to them periodically. On my current to-do list are applications for the Society of Civil War Families of Ohio and Kansas Forgotten Settlers -Territorial Certificate.

The more I learn more about our ancestors' lives and their place in the world, I'm proud to claim them and their achievements large and small, and to celebrate them by applying to lineage societies.

Here are the lineage societies I've successfully applied to:

First Families of Pennsylvania, Keystone and Cornerstone: 1791–1865 - My descent from James Gilbride and Mary Hart Gilbride, who settled in Pennsylvania in 1850. A list of approved ancestors for First Families of Pennsylvania is available on the Genealogy Society of Pennsylvania's website.

The General Society of Mayflower Descendants - My husband's descent from Mayflower passenger Isaac Allerton. Applications are archived with the society. New applicants can benefit from previous applications by connecting their line with one already proven, shrinking the number of generations to be proved.

The Associated Daughters of Early American Witches - Our daughter's descent from Susannah North Martin, wrongly accused of witchcraft and executed in 1692 in Salem.

The Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International, Century Certificate - My descent from John and Anna (Tatar) Simonik, "...immigrants from the Czechoslovak region who entered the North American continent in 1902." The application and materials will be archived with the Minnesota Genealogical Society; CGSI is headquartered in the state.

My lineage to my great-grandparents was published in the Czechoslovak Genealogy Society International's Naše rodina, "Our Family," in June 2022.

Early Texans DNA Project - My husband's descent from James and Mary Stephen. This is a special project sponsored by the Texas State Genealogical Society (TxSGS). Information from Jim's lineage to James and Mary Stephen is already available through the Early Texans DNA Project database; living individuals and recent generations are privatized.

Texas First Families - My husband's descent from James and Mary Stephen, "Who resided in Texas or Served the Republic of Texas before February 19, 1846, when the Republic of Texas Officially Became the State of Texas." Jim's lineage will be published in the next volume of Texas First Families.

First Families of the Twin Territories - My husband's descent from Dewitt Samuel Blackman and Elizabeth Butler Blackman, "Who resided in Section 6, Township 18 North, Range 3 West, Logan County, Oklahoma Territory on 7 September 1892." Jim's lineage will eventually be published in the next volume of the Oklahoma Genealogical Society's First Families of the Twin Territories Lineage Book series.

If you're intrigued by the notion of joining a lineage society, here are some resources:

• For a list of lineage societies, see Cyndi's List: https://www.cyndislist.com/societies/lineage/.
• Wikipedia, "List of hereditary and lineage organizations in the United States" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hereditary_and_lineage_organizations_in_the_United_States)
  
• The Complete Guide to Lineage Societies: The Who, What, Where, and How, by Kimberly Ormsby Nagy (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, 2024).
• Lineage Society Panel Discussion (video), with representatives of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Mayflower Society, Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage, and the Swedish Colonial Society, (sponsored by the New Jersey State Library), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57nUzZIa1dc
  

Until next time...

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