KITTITAS COUNTY PIONEER CERTIFICATE

The Kittitas County Genealogical Society will issue Pioneer Certificates to direct descendants of early Kittitas County settlers. Because many of these people have gone unnoticed in history, this is a means to gather information to honor them. In addition to receiving a Pioneer Certificate, applicants will be helping to preserve the history of ancestral Kittitas County, Washington, pioneers.

• ELIGIBILITY:

  To qualify for a Pioneer Certificate, the applicant must document direct descent from an Ancestor who came to Kittitas county. There are three types of certificates:

  Founding Pioneer -- residence before 1883
  Territorial Pioneer -- arrival between 1883 and November 11, 1889
  Statehood Pioneer -- residence between November 11, 1889 and 1910
  

  Applicant need not be a resident of Kittitas County, Washington. After proof of descent has been submitted with application fee and eligibility verified, the appropriate Certificate will be mailed to the address on the application. A separate certificate will be issued for each properly documented ancestor. If an applicant wants additional certificates for the same pioneer ancestor, proof needs to be submitted only once. Additional certificates may be obtained by providing the name of the previously documented ancestor with $10.00 for each additional certificate desired.

• INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Please complete the certificate form using black ink or type. Include a pedigree chart showing your descent from the pioneer and a family group sheet for the pioneer ancestor.
  2. Always include the maiden name of all females as well as all given names of ancestors.
  3. One copy of a document per generation should be enclosed to prove lineage. Do not send originals. A list of acceptable types of documentation is shown below. Each generation should be documented.
  4. Include a check or money order, made payable to Kittitas County Genealogical Society, in the amount of $10.00 for each application you send. Mail to: Kittitas County Genealogical Society, 413 N. Main St., Suites L&M, Ellensburg, WA 98926-3183.
  5. Please allow four to six weeks for the processing of the application. Please include your e-mail address in case we need to confer with you.

• ACCEPTABLE TYPES OF DOCUMENTATION (PROOF):

  1. Census schedules may be used to prove date of arrival. The Washington Territorial Census of 1871 may be used to document a Founding Pioneer.
  2. Birth entries may include Bible entries, baptismal or church records. After 1891 a copy of the birth/adoption record which shows parentage, date and place must be enclosed to document descent.
  3. Death records may be used to document earlier generations. (Also acceptable are obituary records, tombstone inscriptions, or other articles.)
  4. Marriage records should be used to document marriages of ancestral families.
  5. Compiled family group records and pedigree charts, while they may be accurate, are NOT acceptable without adequate source documentation. If book references are used, please give full title, author, publisher and date, volume (if applicable), page number, repository name and address and (if known) the repository call number. Published manuscript materials authored by the applicant and his/her family will NOT, of themselves, be accepted as proof without additional documentation.
  6. You are welcome to submit a short sketch of your ancestor (maximum of 5 pages) along with the application to be included in our files.
  While it is the policy of the Kittitas County Genealogical Society to provide applicants modest help where necessary to submit qualifying applications for Pioneer Certificates, applicants must realize that the KCGS shall be the sole arbiter of the acceptability of an application, the supporting documentation and the decision to issue, or not to issue, a Kittitas County Pioneer Certificate. We will confer by e-mail, but all applications must be mailed to the Pioneer Certificate Committee, c/o Kittitas County Genealogical Society, 413 N. Main St., Suites L&M, Ellensburg, WA 98926.
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  ©Kittitas County Genealogical Society 2005