American Revolution Links = Membership With the DAR

I've slowly been adding to my family tree on Ancestry.com. I wish I could go back farther on my Dad's paternal side, but so far I can only get to my Great-Great Grandparents John and Bridget, who came over to the States during the Great Famine. My Great Grandmother, Margaret, is just a literal dead end right now. I don't have a maiden name for her and supposedly she came from New Jersey, but I can't find anything to verify that yet.

My Dad's maternal side is a different story though. My grandmother (or Nana, as I called her), Caroline, has so much American History on her side of the family. She passed away October 23, 1998 when I was only in 7th grade. I definitely wish that I had gotten more time with her. She moved to upstate New York with my Aunt and cousins when I was about 6 or 7, and I only saw her (and them) once a year when we'd go up during summer vacation.

One thing that I've loved discovering is how many people have served our country. Being Navy, myself, and personally knowing only two other people who have served, it's awesome to see that we aren't the only ones who have answered the call. My Dad's brother, my Uncle Frank (who passed in 2006) served in Vietnam with the Army.

It seems as if our family hasn't really left the Western Connecticut/Hudson River Valley, New York area at all. Of course, there are those that have, but the majority have stayed. Looking through the family tree most birth places are either in Western Connecticut in places such as Danbury, New Fairfield, Fairfield, or Stamford. The majority were born just over the border in New York. Places such as Carmel, Putnam, Pound Ridge, Westchester, Eastchester, Mahopac, Red Mills, Pawling, all hold some new sacredness with me.

What's even better is that I have been looking into links to the American Revolution. I have three 6x Great Grandfathers on my Nana's side of the family that served - Ezra Stevens, John Leach, and Israel Pinckney. Currently, I am pursuing membership with the Daughters of the American Revolution based off of this information.

Right now, it is confirmed that there is a link between my Nana and Ezra Stevens. I do not need to provide birth and death certificates for Ezra or his son, Zadoc, because they are both identified within the DAR registry. From Zadoc's daughter, Angeline Stevens, on down, I need to provide death certificates until I reach my grandparents. From there, it's birth, death and marriage certificates/licenses.

I'm hoping that when my mom heads to the Danbury Town Hall that she can just get copies and not have to buy them. As each certificate is $20 a pop. In any case, I'm super excited to make this official for the living descendants of my Nana and her siblings.

Recent Family Connection

Outside of Ancestry.com, I've made a recent connection. When I found out that my Great Aunt Lucienne (my Great Grandmother's sister) had passed away, I wrote on the Legacy Guestbook wall of her online obituary. My cousin, Stephanie (Lucienne's granddaughter), sent me an email and we connected via Facebook. 

She had a few pictures of my Great-Great Grandparents and my Great-Grandmother's brother, Armand, when he was in the Navy.

First, here's William Henry Goyette & Marie Alysse (Bouley) Goyette (my Great-Great Grandparents on my maternal grandmother's maternal side.

The story goes that William's brother married Marie's sister and that girls' mother (my Great-Great-Great grandmother) made both dresses by hand.

Next is another picture of my Great-Great grandparents on their 50th Wedding anniversary.

Last is the picture of Armand Goyette, my Great Grandmother's brother acting quite silly in his crackerjack Navy uniform.

How It All Started

It's been a long while since I was really into something other than my video games. I'm rather excited to enter the foray of geneaology. I've been trying to pinpoint where my interest started, and I think I've always been interested. I was always that kid who'd ask about our older generations. I could sit for hours picking my family members' brains.

A little about me, I was born in 1985. The grandparents that I knew were my mom's mom, Sandy; my dad's mom, Caroline; and my mom's grandmother, Dorothy. Both of my grandfathers had passed away before I was born, my mom's dad (Louis) in 1975 and my dad's dad (Frank) in 1981. My grandmother Caroline passed away in 1998.

My interest sparked more once my Great Grandmother, Dorothy, passed away in November 2009. I still didn't get much into it until I got talking to a friend of mine from the View Askew Message Board in January of this year. We got talking because I mentioned how my Great Grandmother's sister, Louise, lived in Nova Scotia (where he is from), but I didn't know whereabouts it was. I started googling looking for Aunt Louise's obituary when I found that the last surviving member of the siblings of my Great Grandmother had passed.

I called my grandmother and just started talking with her about family history. She informed me that Aunt Louise lived in a town called Advocate Harbor in Nova Scotia. This was pretty awesome as my friend's wife was from Advocate Harbor. It doesn't look like we are related, but this little thing started something much bigger than myself.

I joined Ancestry.com awhile back, but never came back to do research. Finally I started using their 14-day free trial and I have discovered so many things about my family. This blog will chronicle my findings.