Genealogy Jottings

As the holiday season approaches, I am pleased to have accomplished some genealogy goals for this year:

1. Last week I sent off an application to the DAR to recognize the service of my ancestor Caleb Reed (1756-abt. 1835). He lived in then-Westmoreland County and paid the Pennsylvania supply tax in support of the Revolutionary War effort.
2. This week I am putting the finishing touches on my annual genealogy biography and readying it for distribution to the family. Because I spent so much time this year putting together Caleb Reed’s DAR application, I wrote about the service of all our Revolutionary War ancestors.

For next year, I plan to continue the work to prepare more DAR applications. They take about two years to approve, so I feel some urgency to submit as many as I can as soon as I can.

I may work on two next year. Both need documentation that may be difficult or impossible to find. I hope I can find what I need.

One ancestor was John Carr, the father-in-law of Caleb Reed. He already appears on the DAR ancestor roster. To claim him as our ancestor, I need proof that Caleb Reed married John’s daughter, Rebecca. A bonus for working on this line is that John Carr was born in Ireland, and I am planning a trip there. If I can learn where he was born, I could visit there.

The other ancestor is Levi Carter, one of the numerous Carters of east Tennessee. He, too, appears on the DAR roster, but it will take tremendous work to document my descent from him.

Next year’s research projects look interesting but challenging. After I take December off to do others things, I will be back in the genealogy chair in January.