Whether you’re applying in the National Society Colonial Dames of America, the Daughters of the American Revolution, or another lineage society, the membership application process can easily start to feel a bit overwhelming. These tips can help you save time, money, and stress.
- Get to know the society. Just because you can join a society doesn’t mean you should. Not every society is a good fit for every person. Getting to know the society can help you to ensure you’re spending time and money on something you care about. (It helps the society too, because it ensures you don’t drop your membership the next year.) You can also ask questions about the application process, fees, and more.
- Plan your budget!
- As a genealogist who works on lineage society applications, it’s not uncommon for me to hear expressions of sticker shock. This process is not free! I can’t emphasize that enough. There are things that can be done to make it cheaper, but it cannot be made zero.
- Have a realistic budget in place before you start. Plan to ask the society about application fees on the initial inquiry (often they start over $100; $500+ is more typical). Realize that if you need to purchase vital record certificates, they may cost up to $30/each, with five or more certificates needed for a generation. That may mean spending $450 just to document up to your grandparents.
- Decide if that includes a professional genealogist (and if yes, be upfront about budget restrictions).
- Ask your family.
- There are many ways to save time, effort, and money by working together with your family on lineage applications.
- Some societies offer “family rate.” SAR describes their adjusted rate as a “family plan”. See page six for details: https://www.sar.org/wp-content/uploads/APG.pdf.
- Other societies will allow close relatives to come in as “legacies.” This means that one member submits the initial paperwork in full, while the other is considered a “legacy” and can use the first member’s paperwork as the basis for an application (typically without requiring updates to address changes in guidelines). The legacy generally needs to document their connection to the initial applicant using current standards, to obtain a copy of the initial applicant’s verified application, and to retype that the contents of that application onto a new form with appropriate citation.
- A few societies (the Society of Colonial Wars and the Sons of the American Revolution) will take verified applications from other societies as supporting documentation. That means if a sibling joined DAR or the Dames, their application can be used to document much of the line. (At minimum, this saves time in assembling an application.)
- Try not to get attached to a specific ancestor.
- It’s common to see families get very attached to documenting a specific ancestor. While sentiment is understandable, it’s typically easier to document a person’s connection to certain ancestors. (I tend to direct people towards New England lines, if they have them, because the number of potential sources is often significantly larger.) If you’re willing to be flexible, that can help avoid spending significant amounts of time and money on a hard to document connection.
- Check to see what the society already has on file.
- Not every society will permit this, but many have ways to check to see what they already considered “documented.” The Mayflower Society charges a fee to use Lineage Match, but it often saves time and money on research.
I can keep going! These tips are crucial to consider as you’re “getting started” with the lineage application process.
Questions? Contact us.