Ancestry Magazine

If your elusive ancestor was involved in a unique historical event, a lineage society might be the place to search for more information.

Some time ago, we were on a commuter flight from Portland, Maine, to New York City. The only available reading material was the airline magazine tucked into the seat-back pouch. And the article that caught our interest was about cats called polydactals (extra toes). It seems that sailors during the seventeenth century considered it good luck to have one of these creatures on board ship during any voyage–especially one that took them far from shore.

The author of the article claimed that such a cat had been on board the Mayflower when she anchored off Plymouth in 1620. When the Pilgrims went ashore, so too did this unusual extra-toed cat. The rest is history. The author pointed out that all modern American polydactals are descended from this hard-working sailing cat.

During the years that have elapsed since we read this intriguing article, we have taken great pride in pointing out that we have a cat that must be a Mayflower descendant. We adopted a kitten that was found in the woods and it, too, had extra toes.

“Our cat’s ancestors came over on the Mayflower” is probably something you won’t hear in a conversation between genealogists. It does, however , raise a point that is relevant to family history research. There are sources of genealogical data associated with various societies and organizations that owe their existence to a connection with a common individual, a common group of individuals, or a common cause. For example, the people who can document their descent from the Pilgrims on board the Mayflower can join an organization known as the General Society of Mayflower Descendants (or the Mayflower Society).

Such societies and organizations are known as lineage societies, and they publish information that can be useful to any genealogical researcher. The clues and/or actual genealogical data in these sources can help fill in some of the blanks on a pedigree.

Lineage Societies
By definition, a lineage society is “a formal, organized group of people who trace their ancestry from a common ancestor.” Many of these societies have expanded this definition to encompass descent from a group of people, such as those aboard a particular ship or those who served in a particular war. In fact, lineage societies have been created to recognize those who descend from ancestors engaged in a wide range of activity. The societies include individuals descended from the first settlers in a particular state or region, early founders of religious groups, veterans of wars and military campaigns, descendants of a ethnic group, descendants of a common progenitor, and, of course, descendants from royalty or important historical figures.

For a comprehensive review of lineage societies, consult Chapter 20 in The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy (Ancestry, 1997).

Our emphasis here is on some of the information you might learn from different societies and the materials they publish. One such source has helped us a great deal.

The DAR: An Example
Jim’s ancestor, Benjamin Jones, settled in Turner, Maine, during the 1780s. As with so many other early settlers in Maine towns during this time period, very little background information was written about Benjamin. From what little we could gather, we knew that our Jones family were from Massachusetts–information that did not narrow the search possibilities very much.

Unfortunately, little other information was known about Benjamin other than some very basic information that could be located in early town records. The most important piece of data we were able to locate was a possible death date. Since there were at least two men named Benjamin Jones living in Turner at the time, however, we could not be certain that the death date could be attributed to our Benjamin. We were also uncertain about the names of his spouses, all of his children’s names, or other relevant information.

In the early days of our research, learning more about Benjamin remained one of the primary research objectives we carried with us on every library visit. It was on one of these visits to the Maine State Library in Augusta, Maine, that we were determined to learn about this elusive Benjamin–again.

For some reason, this session proved more frustrating than most. We opted to take a break from our search through published secondary records and just browse the genealogy stacks to learn what else was available. As is so often the case, we stumbled onto a clue that proved invaluable to our later research. We noticed that a great deal of shelf space was consumed by a series of matching bound volumes that had identical names but were numbered consecutively. Upon closer examination, we noted that the collection was published by a lineage society known as The Daughters of the American Revolution, or the DAR. We decided to investigate the collection more closely.

DAR Publications
We learned that most public libraries carry two key publications put out by the DAR. The first of these, and the one that attracted our attention, is the D AR Patriot Index. It was first published in 1966, and supplements have been added periodically since. (The most recent publication we have located was published in April 1994. It is important to remember that each new publication supercedes the earlier publications and contains corrected information). Following is what the DAR says about its Patriot Index:

“‘The DAR Patriot Index’ is a resource well known to many genealogists in its published form, but it is actually more than just a set of books. Basically it is a listing of the established Revolutionary War ancestors of DAR members but not a list of all participants in the American Revolution.”

The index is arranged alphabetically by family name and then by the first name of the Revolutionary War veteran. Upon searching this index, we turned to the entries for Jones and scanned down to Benjamin.

What we found that afternoon made the entire day worthwhile. Of the Benjamins listed, only one could be the one we were seeking. As we had previously learned, a Benjamin had died in Turner, Maine, in 1838. Below is the entry that caught our attention:

Benjamin: b 1756 MA d 2-7-1838 ME m (l) Tabitha Leavitt (2) Sarah Dillingham Pvt MA

At long last we had located some potential data on Benjamin. We were able to ascertain an approximate year of birth, a death date and location, and the names of two spouses. We also learned his rank and the state he served, information that would prove useful when we had the opportunity to investigate Benjamin’s military service. While this information needed to be confirmed using primary sources, we had some solid clues to follow. Future research proved those clues to be accurate.

The second DAR publication is known as the Lineage Books. These volumes contain the lineages of 160,000 of its members who were accepted into the DAR between 1890 and 1921. (The actual publication of these lineages ended in 1939.)

In these books, you can find the direct lineal descent running from the Revolutionary War veteran to the DAR member who submitted the information as a requirement of membership. These Lineage Books are fully indexed by last name, first name, volume number, and page number. As with any published secondary source, you’ll need to be careful to verify all the information you find. Even the DAR offers this cautionary note:

“DAR recommends that researchers use great caution when studying the Lineage Books. The staff genealogists of DAR no longer accept lineages cited in the Lineage Books as suitable proof for applications by potential new members. The set is useful only for clues to a lineage. The lineages contained in these books are quite old and deserve careful scrutiny.”

Unfortunately, the Lineage Books did not help us–the DAR member who submitted documentation on her descent from Benjamin Jones was descended from a different son than Jim was. Just the same, her research was responsible for Benjamin’s listing in the Patriot Index, and that entry was the missing clue we needed to get past our brick wall.

Hopefully someone who is descended from one of your ancestors has done research on the family line, documented that research, and submitted that research to a lineage society in order to obtain membership in that society. If accepted, that research may have been published in a magazine or journal, properly indexed, and now found in the genealogy section of your public library. There it sits, perhaps a little dusty, waiting for the moment you decide to browse the genealogy stacks, where you will stumble upon it.

Using the Published Material of Lineage Societies
1. As you research your early ancestors, try to determine what unique situations they may have had in their lives. Did he or she serve in the military, settle in a particular area, or arrive on a particular ship?

2. Check general genealogical books such as The Sour ce (Ancestry, 1997) to learn what lineage societies there are and to determine if any of them might be relevant to an early ancestor. Also, determine what publications they produce. Remember that a society might already have published findings on the ancestor you are researching.

3. Become familiar with the lineage society publications in your public library.

4. Take the time to familiarize yourself with how these publications are set up, what type of information they contain, how they are indexed, and how to contact the organization for any additional information. For example, for a fee, some lineage societies will send you photocopies of the application forms submitted by a prospective member that details the research done.

5. Always verify any information you find by locating the necessary vital records. Any information you locate in using lineage society sources should be treated as clues, not proof.

Terry and Jim Willard hosted the ten-part PBS “Ancestors” series. They have researched their family history fifteen generations back on both sides.