::::series of deep breaths::::
In other news... I'm getting ready to join a new heritage organization, which is why I'm hoping to procure all the birth, marriage, and death certs I can get hold of.
I'm already a member of NSDAR through Alice, but would like to add to my list of patriot ancestors, which will require documentation, starting with mine. Of course there are distant cousins who joined, but as far as I know, none of my direct line female ancestors joined, so I can't use their applications like I used Alice's. It's all a big question mark because I have very little knowledge of my patriot ancestors.
At any rate, I contacted my local chapter of NSDAR online and expressed my interest in reinstating my membership, and heard back from them about paying a reinstatement fee along with my yearly dues, in September. These groups take summer breaks, so I plan to start attending meetings this fall, if they fit within my schedule.
The Daughters of the Pioneers of Washington and I have been emailing back and forth; they're going to send me an application. My Dysarts and Tinsleys moved to the Washington territory before statehood, which makes me eligible to join. Fortunately these vital records will be mostly available on Ancestry.
Aside from Adina's mother Lena, who emigrated from Germany in the 1870s, my family has been here in America for quite a long time, some since the early 1600s. If I could document my relationships more completely, there are many genealogy groups I could be part of. It's been fun to look through the list and see which ones I qualify for; some of them are so exclusive that members can only join by invitation. Sounds pretty snooty, and I'm not at all interested in the social aspect - but HOW COOL would it be to find out that an ancestor was a member of the House of Burgesses, or Order of the First Families of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, 1636-1647, or some such thing.
Finding the documentation and applying to join the groups and becoming a member of the ones I'm qualified for feels like a fun, rest-of-my-life quest. Puzzles are fun.
