This has been a popular request lately! You joined one lineage society and now you’d like to join another. Is there anything you can do make it easier?
- When you submit your original application, be sure you retain a physical (paper) copy of all supporting documents, along with your approved application. Make a digital back up and store it some place easily accessible.
- Why both? We’ve had some issues recently with both digital and paper files. Digital files can end up corrupted or not accessible. Paper files may have gotten stored some place odd in your last move.
- When you look at the new society’s guidelines, check for overlap in what you’ve already documented.
- Can you use your record copy (signed final version)? The Society of Colonial Wars will take record copies from other societies, provided they meet certain conditions (qualifying ancestor; after a specified date; required generation complete or can be supplemented with vital records).
- Is there a qualifying ancestor part way up your line? If so, use them! It will be less to prove.
- Be flexible: standards are changing pretty rapidly. What was submitted in 2016 often no longer meets standards. You may be asked to obtain additional documents.
- When in doubt, over document! Societies are leaning towards requiring vital records for every generation for which they might exist. They’re not there yet, though, and are only requiring them for the first three generations. If you have the vitals for every generation now, you won’t need to obtain them later.
Questions? Contact us.