Contagious Genealogy: A Pandemic

I think it's possible that without my 5th great grandfather, Isaac Wilcox, I may never have become as infatuated with genealogy as I am. He was supposed to be my ticket into the lineage society, Daughters of the American Revolution. My great grandmother, Ethel (Hinman) Eggenberger, and her daughter, Vera, had become members based on his alleged participation as a patriot in the war for independence. However, when his records didn't hold up under the scrutiny of modern day genealogical standards, he became that enigma for me that has held my interest ever since. While I did, eventually, gain admittance into the DAR (via another ancestor's service), Isaac has remained a constant question mark for me. Upon submitting my original application to DAR's offices in D.C., the genealogist assigned to verify my case, wrote me a kind rejection letter explaining why Isaac Wilcox was no longer considered a "valid" patriot. It turned out that when this registrar did their d...

2020's Got Nothing on Genealogists: The Journey Into Joining the D.A.R.! AUGUST 20, 2020 While there are a plethora of options of lineage societies to join, for me, it wasn’t even a choice! I’ve known since high school that I would one day apply for membership into DAR, because I learned at an early age that my paternal great grandmother, Ethel E. (Hinman) Eggenberger, and my great aunt, Vera Madine (Eggenberger) Wicke, had both been members of a DAR chapter in Kansas. In fact, Vera’s DAR application form has been the only record I have found in existence, as of yet, that has indicated what her mother’s middle initial of “E” stood for – Eulala! Not even Ethel’s own DAR application form had spelled out her middle name, and maybe for good reason…because where the heck did Eulala come from?? Unfortunately, my path to membership did hit a few bumps in the road, when I submitted my short form application and learned that the documentation proving lineage from my great grandmother to our...