Book Review: The Complete Guide to Lineage Societies

The Complete Guide to Lineage Societies is a unique new book written by Dr. Kimberly Ormsby Nagy, an accredited genealogist who knows a great deal about lineage societies: She's a member of more than three dozen, and has been a Registrar for several societies. 

Now Dr. Nagy has written a concise and informative handbook about lineage societies, explaining what such societies offer, describing how membership works, exploring eligibility, and moving through the application process, step by step.

Considering that my husband's ancestral background could qualify him for several lineage societies, I was interested in this book and appreciated the author's ability to clearly capture the key points of who, what, where, and how in only 80 pages.

The table of contents for this new book is:

Chapter 1: What is a lineage society? The author explains the premise, which is to recognize and honor a specific group of people, such as early settlers in certain regions, those who fought in particular wars, descendants of royalty, and so on. 

Chapter 2: What does a lineage society do? In addition to honoring a certain group of ancestors, a lineage society's mission may focus on historic preservation, a charitable cause, education, or patriotism.

Chapter 3: How to locate a lineage society - A variety of suggestions for how to find and connect with a lineage society, online or on social media and beyond.

Chapter 4: Eligibility - This chapter looks at the two main elements of eligibility: lineage and service.

Chapter 5: Beginning the application process - What to expect when approaching a society about applying for membership.

Chapter 6: Documenting your lineage - One of the two main elements of eligibility is proven lineage from a qualifying ancestor. The author outlines acceptable types of lineage proof (not online family trees!) and provides helpful tips for finding and documenting descent from that key ancestor.

Chapter 7: Documenting your ancestor's qualifying service - The type of "service" is determined by each lineage society; some are based on military service, some on civil activities, some on occupations, etc. This chapter points readers in the direction of sources for service documentation. 

Chapter 8: Completing the application - Illustrated with pages from actual applications, this chapter guides readers through the process of putting specific info on the application for submission to the society.

Chapter 9: What next? Waiting for a response, and what comes after acceptance: going to meetings, reading publications, getting involved.

Chapter 10: Special considerations - A potpourri of possibilities, such as understanding whether collateral descent qualifies and lineage societies for children.

Appendix: Selected listing of lineage societies, some that are well known (General Society of Mayflower Descendants) and some not as well known (Hereditary Order of the Red Dragon), with web contacts.

Selected Bibliography: Books for lineage-related research and sources for researching the "service" of a qualifying ancestor. 

I recommend Dr. Nagy's book as a practical introduction to the world of lineage societies and a roadmap to moving through the entire process, from figuring out what society to join to gathering/documenting lineage and service proof and then working on the application. For readers with intermediate and advanced genealogy research skills, the resources named are likely to be mostly familiar--but curated with an eye toward what lineage societies require for an application to be approved.

Please note: The Genealogical Publishing Company sent me a free review copy of this book, and it has previously provided free review copies of other books. My reviews always reflect my honest opinions, without regard to any outside influence.

"There Slumbers the Dust of our Father and an Infant Brother"

Traveling to the Gold Rush in March of 1852, my husband's third great aunt Asenath Cornwell Larimer (1808-1897) wrote in her journal about family members who had passed away and whose burial places she would never see or never see again.

At top, Asenath and two of her children in the 1850 US Census, with unusually accurate info. She was indeed born in Canada (Hallowell, Prince Edward Island). She was 42 years old at the time of the Census, her son James Elmer was 10, and her daughter Nancy Elizabeth was 4. Three other sons were living with family and neighbors, helping as farmhands or learning a trade. She left all her children behind two years after this Census, when she and her brother John Cornwell (1812-1883) set out to seek their fortune in California.

In the first part of their journey west, Asenath and her brother boarded a steamboat that took them past Gallipolis, Ohio, where they had grown up. Asenath looked back on her childhood and thought about the family members she had lost up to that point. She wrote:

There slumbers the dust of our Father [David Cornwell] and an infant brother [unnamed baby Cornwell]. Oh how strangely scattered is the remains of those of us who are dead. Father and brother here [Gallipolis]; Mother at Macarthur's town [Phoebe G Goldsmith Cornwell, buried in McArthur, Ohio]; Sister, her children and my first-born at New Plymouth [Lucinda Cornwell Eggleston, Phoebe Eggleston, unnamed baby Larimer]; my husband [James Larimer], Elkhart, Indiana; brother David [Cornwell Jr.] in Feather River, California and none to care or mourn or look after his remains. 

I've looked for a tombstone or obit for David Cornwell Jr. but found nothing, not surprising in those Gold Rush days. No tombstones for Asenath's infant brother and first-born child, both dead before 1835. They are remembered today because she cared enough to write about them on page 2 of her Gold Rush journal. 

 "Tombstone" is this week's prompt for the #52Ancestors challenge by Amy Johnson Crow. 

Four Larimer Brothers Fought for the Union

I'm in the home stretch of completing a booklet about my husband's ancestors and their in-laws who fought in all major wars involving the United States, from the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the US Civil War through the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. I want to describe not only their military service but also their family lives. Most are not in my hubby's direct line, but my goal is to honor and memorialize those in the tree who served their country during wartime.

Four Larimer brothers, my husband's first cousins four times removed, fought for the Union during the US Civil War: Isaac Newton Larimer, Jacob Wright Larimer, John C. Larimer, and Harvey H. Larimer. I used clues from a printed Larimer genealogy book plus the usual research sources (obit, vital records, military records, news reports) to write a brief narrative of each man, with emphasis on military service but also including spouse(s), children, occupation, and other details of interest.

Focus on Isaac and Marilda

At top, an excerpt from my bite-sized bio page about Isaac Newton Larimer (1828-1910), a farmer who enlisted early in the war, despite being married and the father of a growing family. To illustrate, I included a table showing his war service, drawn from the Illinois State Archives. I highlighted two events in bright blue. 

• During his first major battle, Isaac was captured (one of 55 held) and escaped after 23 days, rejoining his unit.
• At the Battle of Missionary Ridge, won by the Union, Isaac was shot in the face and nearly died. But he did recover and, with only one good eye, continued serving with his unit until the end of his enlistment period.
  

Three years and three months after joining the 35th Illinois Infantry, Isaac was mustered out and went home to his family farm. He and his wife Marilda McCreary Larimer (1835-1905) had 11 children, including a youngster who passed away in infancy. I hope Isaac and Marilda told their descendants stories about the early days, including the other three Larimer brothers who served their country. 

Sharing family history more widely

Creating a booklet such as this is one way to let future generations of my husband's family know about the lives of those who came before. Want more ideas about preserving and perpetuating family history? Please see my genealogy book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past.

As a byproduct of this booklet, I'm repurposing the bite-sized bios of these men and women and posting online. For instance, I've submitted Isaac's service details to his Find a Grave memorial and also adopted his orphaned WikiTree profile, adding his bio and details. This has led to enriching other WikiTree profiles connected to Isaac, such as his wife's profile. There will be more profiles enriched as I continue to share family history in many places so these military ancestors will not be forgotten. 

Back to School with Lola McClure Lower

With school starting, it's a good time to remember the life of my husband's great aunt, Lola A. McClure Lower (1877-1948). Lola graduated from Wabash High School in Indiana in 1894, aged 17, and became a teacher. In 1903 she married Edward A. Lower (1873-1920). The couple had a daughter and two sons together, making their home in Wabash, Indiana.

Edward had already built a solid career as a civil engineer. His employers included a lumber company, a coal company, and several municipalities. In 1900 he was enumerated in the Census along with other civil engineers, a locomotive engineer, and surveyors' assistants who were living and working in the Woodville District of the Chickasaw Nation, part of the territory that became the 46th U.S. state of Oklahoma in 1907. 

Sadly, by 1918, Edward was bedridden and unable to sign his WWI draft registration card on his own. He made an X that was witnessed and signed. By that time, Lola had already gone back to work. With her education and her teaching background, Lola was named as the Wabash truant officer in 1916 (Indianapolis News, Aug 29 1916, p. 20). Edward died in 1920, just 47 years old. 

Lola continued to serve as a truant officer (later known as an attendance officer) for many years. During the Great Depression, she experienced pay problems as Wabash (both city and county) grappled with financial woes. In 1932, the county reduced her salary to $4.24 per day for the 180 days of her contract (The News-Sentinel, Ft. Wayne, Indiana, Sept 12, 1932). 

Worse was yet to come. In 1933, she worked without pay from January through March (possibly beyond) as the county insisted it had not appropriated the funds for her salary and therefore had effectively abolished the position as of the start of that year. Lola went to court, arguing that she worked for the Wabash city board of education and should be paid by the city--and she won her back pay (Ft. Wayne Journal-Gazette, Oct 12, 1935).

From the late 1930s into the early 1940s, Lola worked as an investigator for a local town's trustee and for the state unemployment commission. She was also a long-time volunteer valued for her leadership abilities. She passed away in 1948 at the age of 70. 

In 1985, when her son Edward recorded an oral history about his mother in Wabash, Indiana, he recalled that: "She was a tall, dignified-looking woman. She was musical. She played organs, even pipe organs, always played piano." He added that she was a good cook "but she was always in public life. She was secretary of the Red Cross for 25 years, and she handled the job well. She read law. She knew everything. She was on the board of Associated Charities in Wabash."

I'm remembering Lola McClure Lower as students go back to school across the United States, including her home state of Indiana.