Genealogical society hosts 'Find Your Patriot' class

The final “Find Your Patriot” class was held Feb. 2 at the West Valley Genealogical Society Library in Youngtown, 12222 N. 111th Ave.

The presenters for the class were Agua Fria DAR Daughters Shirley Staggs and Twila Lobitz, Estrella Daughters Deborah Rauch and Sheri Erickson, VA Culpeper Minute Men and AZ Saguaro SAR Chapters Son Jim Bish, historian and author of “I Can’t Tell a Lie,” and Estrella Daughter Pamela Miller.

The three free classes were sponsored by the Estrella Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution Chapter as part of their “Celebrate America 250” project.  More than 20 WVGS members attended each of the three classes, which were offered to discover what kinds of documents can be used to prove lineage to a Revolutionary War patriot.

A patriot can be anyone who served in the military, provided patriotic services and supplied the colonist with needed items, served as community leaders, signed oath of allegiance, paid a tax, captured and became a prisoner of the British. So far, there are about 155 NSDAR proven women patriots.

Staggs and Lobitz had handouts and demonstrated how to find patriots at dar.org andsar.org. Rauch presented a slide show showingfindagrave.com tombstones and pointed out what tombstone information can be used proving lineage to a patriot. Erickson showed how to locate a Quaker patriot in library books located at the WVGS library. Bish talked about SAR membership and free websites containing Revolutionary War records. Estrella’s Honorary Chapter Regent Miller applied to the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution for a grant to be used to offer the classes.

The NSDAR Estrella Chapter will be donating the grant money to the WVGS library at the February monthly meeting. The WVGS library operates totally on donations and volunteers. Visit azwvgs.org and aguafriaarizonadar.weebly.com for more information.