Lineage Societies

Can this source be used for a lineage society application?

As a professional genealogist who helps with lineage society applications, I often spend time sorting through an applicant’s prior research to determine what sources can or cannot be submitted. Here is some guidance to get you started on that process for your own work: Birth, death, and marriage certificates: Yes! Societies tend to prefer theseContinueContinue reading “Can this source be used for a lineage society application?”

New England Reference Texts: To Use or Not to Use in an Application?

If you’ve done New England genealogical research for any period, you probably have run into a reference text that was created through abstracting (transcribing sections of) a record. Often these texts include an index as well. Such text include Connecticut’s Barbour Collection and Rhode Island’s Arnold Collection. Once, these texts were considered a standard partContinueContinue reading “New England Reference Texts: To Use or Not to Use in an Application?”

Society of Colonial Wars: the Basics

The Society of Colonial Wars, also known as “the Warriors,” is an invitation only men’s society honoring the service of ancestors who served before 19 April 1775 in the colonial United States. Members work through a state society, although there is national level membership. Applicants are typically expected to know someone in that state societyContinueContinue reading “Society of Colonial Wars: the Basics”

What if I can’t find a document that names my ancestor’s parents? Can I still join a lineage society?

Lineage societies generally want one original document that names an ancestor’s parents to make a parent-child connection, such as the child’s birth certificate. Yet, not every ancestor has such a document. In that case, can you still join a lineage society? Most societies allow the submission of what they call an analysis to make aContinueContinue reading “What if I can’t find a document that names my ancestor’s parents? Can I still join a lineage society?”

What’s an SS-5 and how does it help my lineage society application?

Depending on where you lived, if you were born before the 1910s, you may not have had a birth certificate. New England required them as early as the 1640s. In the South, it was much later. Yet, lineage societies request “proof” of an individual’s birth. An SS-5 can often be submitted instead of a birthContinueContinue reading “What’s an SS-5 and how does it help my lineage society application?”