=Sister Rain’s Note:
This is the eighth story in a series about my search for an ancestor who was a Patriot in the American Revolutionary War. To read the previous posts, click on the following:
“Historical Society Of Pennsylvania“
“The Search Heard Round The World”
“The Son-In-Law Of Liberty”
“This Colonel Is My Truth“
“Family Rarelooms”
“Coat Tales”
”Proving My DNA To The DAR”
Looking for the last pieces of data that the Daughters of the American Revolution needed to accept me into their fold, additional trips to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania occurred. My husband finally found what we hoped was enough, forwarding everything to Susan, the Registrar and my DAR sponsor.
Several weeks later, we received word that the family books (similar to a family bible) were deemed unofficial sources, negating some of the required proof tying me to my Patriot. We had no idea where to find what DAR required, we seemed to have exhausted all resources. But we kept researching. Or, I should say, Mister Rain did.
Susan was very disappointed as well that my application had been rejected. She contacted the DAR Pennsylvania State Registrar who agreed that we had provided sufficient evidence of my ancestry. The State Registrar reached out to the State Chair of Lineage Research, who in turn did an analysis supporting all documentation previously presented. Susan included this report in our resubmission, then we waited.
Less than two weeks later while on vacation in Maine, I woke up from an afternoon nap in the bedroom of our rental house. My husband was sleeping on the couch. I checked my email, the above photo is what I saw. I went and brought Mister Rain back to life with a gentle shoulder shake, telling him it was time to get up and get ready for our dinner reservation. I also informed him, as casually as I could, that we had something to celebrate. I had been verified by the Daughters of the American Revolution as the 5x great-granddaughter of Colonel Augustine Willett of he Continental Army.
Obviously, my husband and I are interested in genealogy and we have watched “Finding Your Roots” and “Who Do You Think You Are?” for years. Before we got involved in our own quest, it was a little curious to us how each episode’s celebrity would become so emotionally invested in people who lived hundreds of years ago. It was not long after our pursuit began that I felt the fool. How can one NOT feel something for those who once were so that you now are? I had no prior knowledge of Augustine Willett nor had I ever discussed the possibility of a Patriot in my bloodline with my mom or my grandparents. Generations separate us, we have never met. But once I found him, I felt an immediate fondness for and connection to this man, this tavern owner, this Colonel who was there in the battles where it happened. I have so many questions for him, and I hope one day I get to ask them. And I wish to convey to him what it has meant to me to discover him. I need to thank him for starting his own company of soldiers with his own money, for fighting at White Plains, Brandywine, Germantown, Trenton and Valley Forge, with George, for this country’s independence, for having a child who would be my 4x great-grandmother, for making me a granddaughter several times since (5x, 4x, 3x, 2x, 1x). And for allowing me to be a Daugher of the American Revolution.
We did it, Grandpa Auggie. God bless you and God bless the United States of America.
To be continued . . .
“My 5x Great-Grandfather Is An Exhibitionist”
“Certifiably Framed”
“Valley Forging Our Bond”
“Over The River And Through The Woods To My 5x Great-Grandfather’s Tavern I Go“
#sisterrain #alittlesightalotofheart #legallyblindwriter #ushistory #genealogy #historicalsocietyofpennsylvania #genealogicalsocietyofpennsylvania #colonelaugustinewillett #grandpaauggie #dar #daughtersoftheamericanrevolution #becomingadaughterinmyfifties
