First Family Requirements
REQUIREMENTS FOR MEMBERSHIP IN FIRST FAMILIES OF PIKE COUNTY, OHIO
Membership in the Pike County Chapter of OGS is the first step to becoming a member of the First Families of Pike County (FFPC). Applicants for FFPC must completed and FFPC application form showing their Pike County pioneer(s), listing their descent from the pioneer ancestor(s) settlement in what is now the county of Pike before 31 December 1820 and no later than 1900.
Original applications for membership in FFPC must be accompanied by an $20.00 application fee, which covers as many pioneers ancestors who settled in Pike County prior to 31 December 1820 as the applicant can prove, either at that time or later.
In any case, if further proof is required, the application shall remain inactive up to one year until the requested additional proof is filed with the FFPC committee to reactivate the application.
The rules for Submitting Evidence and Rules of Evidence applying to membership in FFPC follow. These rules are the standards by which all FFPC proof is judged.
RULES FOR SUBMITTING EVIDENCE
A. The FFPC original application must be typed and accompanied by all documents necessary to:
(1) Prove the pioneer(s) settlement in Pike County before 31 December 1820, or between years of 1820 to 1900.
(2) Prove each step of descent; including birth, death and marriage dates when possible, from the pioneer(s) to the applying FFPC member. Ancestor chart(s) must be included showing line of descent.
B. These document copies must be either:
(1) Copy-machine, photo or other facsimiles of the original document, or
(2) Exact typed or hand-printed copies of the original document, certified as "true- copies" by a courthouse official, genealogical librarian, or other official.
C. The name and extent of the evident submitted as proof in this application shall be sufficient to prove the applicant is directly descended from the pioneer ancestor(s) named in the FFPC application, and sufficient to differentiate between any two persons of the same name residing in the same area at the same time.
D. Application forms must be submitted by July 1st of the current year to be considered for that years annual banquet. Banquet is held in November of the same year.
E. Number all document(s) as coded on the application, print your name on the back. Put numbers of the document(s) used for proof in the appropriate box.
F. No research will be performed by the FFPC committee and the burden of proof lies with the applicant.
G. All evidence submitted will be judged on its own merits. Notarized statements explaining any conflicts will be accepted.
H. All decisions of the FFPC Committee are final.
RULES OF EVIDENCE
1. Membership forms will not be accepted from any other heritage or lineage societies in and of themselves, unless the proof is presented to and accepted by the FFPC Committee.
2. Material authored by the Applicant or his family cannot be considered as proof unless documentation is furnished.
3. Census records, which show the name of the head of the family only, with numbers to represent the other residents by age grouping, are acceptable only as they relate to the person named. Un-named persons are not proved as children or wife of the family head, nor as residents, no matter how well they match with other records. Next door or close neighbors on a census record are not proved as related by their closeness on the census.
4. A father is not proved as being in the area just because a child was born there. A birth proves only that the mother was certainly there on the date of birth.
5. Blood descent is not necessarily proved by owning the same land as an earlier owner by the same name, weather the land was received by inheritance or purchase.
6. Old letters, family records, etc. can be accepted as proof for only the facts the writer of the record or letter would logically know of his own knowledge. They cannot be accepted as proof for facts the writer could only have obtained by hearsay from older generations or other source.
7. This same rule (#6) is true of county histories or other published biographies. The biographies must have been able to know the information of his own knowledge.
8. Land transaction (deeds, warrants, grants, etc.) can only be accepted as evidence of settlement in Pike County before 1820, if the record actually states that the individual was "Of Pike County" and was dated prior to 31 December 1820. There were many absentee landowners in early Pike County who never set foot in the county.
9. Female pioneer(s) must be proved as individuals by their maiden name.
10. All proof documents must indicate their source, including date, volume, page and author (if book reference). Bible records must be submitted with their title page, showing publication date, otherwise see item "G".
11. When a father and/or mother are above the normal age for having children, the parentage claimed is suspected and must be proved beyond a doubt.
12 Marriage records or other proof is required for every change of name in the line of descent.
13. Approximate dates for birth/death/marriage in line of descent must be submitted with explanation of how date was approximated or no proof document.