Yesterday I wrote about the DAR application that I ordered for William Brookshire. I already knew a good bit about William, including the details of his military service (I have a copy of his pension application). I ordered the DAR application because I was looking for a source document for the names of his children. I had eleven children in my database, but I only had sources for two of those names. While I felt confident that all the names were accurate, I had no evidence to back up my feeling.
If you’ve never seen a DAR application, it includes the following sections:
- Descendant list that shows each generation in a straight line from the applicant to the patriot and includes names of the parents, as well as birth, marriage, and death dates and places.
- References for the lineage: this is just a list of references for each generation as opposed to full-out source citations. There can be really excellent clues to other source documents, though.
- Spouse(s) and children of the Revolutionary Ancestor and the type of proof submitted.
- Ancestor’s Services: a brief summary of his/her services during the Revolutionary War, with references to the documentation.
So, what I did I learn from this DAR application?
- From the descendant list, I found a few discrepancies in dates compared to my information and since I had no documentation for the dates that I had, I changed them. I also got some dates and more complete names on descendants that are not from my direct line. I also added two new generations of descendants, including dates and spouses.
- Spouse and children: It lists thirteen children belonging to William Brookshire and Mary Ann Marlow, including birth dates and spouses. So, not only, did I get documentation connecting the eleven children I had to William and Mary Ann, but also, I found out about two additional children. Moreover, the proof offered in the application was a copy of the family bible page, AND, it says a copy is in the data. Now, as I said in yesterday’s post, the supporting documentation is not part of the application, but I (think) I can order it from the DAR library.
- References for the lineage: this included a great piece of information. Apparently there is a book called Genealogy: De[s]cendants of Joel & Nancy Brookshire, Western North Carolina, which was compiled by William F. Brookshire in 1969 and which includes a copy of the aforementioned Bible page. How awesome is that? I had never heard of this book, so I looked it up on WorldCat, which only shows two locations – the Library of Congress and a library in Kansas. That’s not going to help me, so I will probably order the supporting documentation from the DAR Library.
All in all, I’m thrilled with what I learned from this DAR application.
