My in-laws came over last night . . .

[BlueStateSaint]

The reason--they hadn't seen The Heiress in some time, and they wanted to.  Also, my FIL has been doing some research on Ancestry.com . . .

. . . and what he had shocked me.  It turns out that his family has been in the Mohawk Valley since, oh, about 1720 or so.  Ever heard of the Battle of Oriskany during the Revolutionary War?  Turns out that my FIL's line was on both sides of that one.  One of his great- . . . -great-uncles was the commander of the American forces there.  Brigadier General Nicholas Herkimer.  My FIL was able to trace his family tree to a sister of Herkimer's.  If you read anything on the battle, it was one of the bloodiest in the Revolution.  Boiled down, a fort around Rome (FT Stanwix) was under siege, and General Herkimer was trying to relieve the fort.  He got ambushed along the way (6 Aung 1777), but the Seneca warriors with the Tories popped the ambush too early.  Anyway, 150 of the 800 Americans were unhurt at the end of the battle.  But, during the battle, the commander of FT Stanwix (Colonel Peter Gansevoort) sent out a raiding party which overran and pillaged the Senecas' camp, so they deserted the Tories.  General Herkimer had to have his leg amputated as a result of a wound sustained in the battle, and died 11 days later (16 Aug 1777).  We're trying to get a roster of just who fought there on the American side.  I'm pretty sure that we can get both my wife and my daughter into the DAR based on this.

There will be more to follow, as supposedly, I've got some ancestors on my mother's side who fought on the American side in the Revolution.  But that's another day . . .

[Flame]

My grandmother was a member of DAR, so I could be too, except she did, and kept, all the research, and didn't tell anyone what she did with it.  I think I would have to start over.

[BlueStateSaint]

My grandmother was a member of DAR, so I could be too, except she did, and kept, all the research, and didn't tell anyone what she did with it.  I think I would have to start over.

Actually, you might be able to go to the DAR website and find all of that stuff already there.

[JohnnyReb]

Went to the DAR site. I typed in my last name and found almost 300 on the list....and there must have been a 100 or more with the same name that my son carries. I found my great-great way back yonder grandfather and his brother on the list. Then I typed in my grandmothers family name and got about a 100 hits and there was her great-great something grandfather....then I did my mothers family name....what a shock. Found her great-great also. I had heard a little about them but I had no idea that so many were living in S.C. at that time and had served mostly as officers. I had been told that my mothers family at one time were quite wealthy (land slaves and all that) but that the revolutionary war and the later Civil War had broke them.

...and here I sit with no daughter....

[DumbAss Tanker]

My Mom's family was all here pre-Rev, but my Dad's were 19th-Century immigrants from the French-German border and Ireland.  I'm really not into the geneology thing but some of the women in the family have been big into it, I can say from what they've learned and family lore generally the older side were some cut-throat no-quarter never-forget guys.  Their role in the Rev war I don't know much about.

[IassaFTots]

My grandmother was a member of DAR, so I could be too, except she did, and kept, all the research, and didn't tell anyone what she did with it.  I think I would have to start over.

I got very lucky and got it from my Mom, who normally doesn't keep stuff like that.  Do you have your g-mom's birth certificate?  They can find her that way.  Then you just have to show the line from her, to your parents, to you.  This summer I made sure to get everything needed for my niece to show her lineage for both the Colonial Dames and the DAR.