Thursday, October 18, 2012

Colonial Dames of America

If you aren’t qualified to join the Daughters of the American Revolution but can prove that your lineage descends from pioneers who settled in America during the colonial days (from your school days, do you remember what the 13 original colonies were?), then perhaps this group is for you instead.

My encyclopedia seems to indicate that there are two groups of Colonial Dames of America. One was founded in 1890 and the other in 1891. The membership for the first depends on whether you are descended from an ancestor of distinction who resided in the colonies previous to 1776 or in the second, you were descended from a worthy ancestor settling in the colonies previous to 1750. Both groups collect and preserve records, documents, manuscripts, etc. that pertain to the colonies and the revolutionary period activities.

Most of my ancestors were ordinary men. Take for instance on my maternal grandfather’s side, the family traces back to a Peter ULLOM (me, mom, Grandpa John, Alford, Lorenzo Dow, Stephen, Peter). Peter was born in 1748 or 49 in Lancaster County, PA.

A cousin on my maternal grandmother’s side always told me I was descended from Robert MORRIS, the financier and signer of the Declaration of Independence, but it’s not been proven.

In years, we may be just shy of the requirement of colonial days, unless another family researcher has gone further back than I have. I’d love to know.

1 comment:

We welcome family related questions, comments, and additional information about this post and we will try to answer your questions in a timely fashion. Thanks for stopping by!