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THE PIONEER AND CENTURY
ANCESTOR CERTIFICATE PROGRAM
BLUE
HILLS GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY-BARRON COUNTY, INC.
The Blue Hills Genealogical Society-Barron County, Inc. will issue
certificates to persons who are directly descended from
or
Applicants may apply for certificates to be issued to themselves or
to someone else. The person to whom the certificate is issued to need not currently live in
.
BLUE HILLS
GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY-BARRON COUNTY, INC.
APPLICATION FOR PIONEER OR CENTURY ANCESTOR CERTIFICATES
Instructions
The Blue Hills Genealogical
Society-Barron County, Inc. issues ANCESTOR certificates to persons who are directly
descended from Barron County Pioneer or Century Ancestors. Applicants must
provide evidence of direct descent and provide evidence that the ancestor lived
in
The purpose of the Pioneer/Century ANCESTOR Certificate Program is to recognize
families with
INSTRUCTIONS
1. A
separate signed application is required for each certificate being requested. More
than one ancestor may be identified on a certificate, but a separate
application is required for each ancestor claimed. Type or print all entries.
Legibility is important. A signed authorization granting permission to publish
and release data is required. Unsigned applications will be returned. Completed applications must be sent to the
2. A complete application includes the following:
a. An application form completed on BOTH sides. Only the current version of the form provided by the Blue Hills Genealogical Society-Barron County, Inc. will be accepted. Applications submitted on other forms, including obsolete versions will be returned. We suggest, when requesting the application by US mail, make a copy of the application, so one copy may be used as a working draft; persons who download the application from the Internet are urged to print out a copy of the form to be used as a working draft.
b. A Pedigree Chart showing the ancestral line(s) of the person to whom the certificate is to be issued. Identify that person as number 1 on the chart. A copy of a BHGS pedigree chart has been provided, however, any standard Pedigree (or Ancestral) Chart form, or a computer-generated form, on 8 1/2 x 11-inch paper may be used.
c. Evidence of settlement by the date claimed, and evidence of direct descent. The guiding principles for such evidence are that it should permit reviewers to reach conclusions as to the validity of the claim without having to undertake additional research, and that sources should be specifically identified and copies provided of each so that reviewers can locate and verify them. List the documents enclosed with the application in the space provided in the EVIDENCE/REMARKS section on the second page of the application. Specific considerations related to forms of evidence are presented below.
d. A check, payable to Blue Hills Genealogical Society-Barron County, Inc. for $10.00 (US) for each certificate requested (Effective May 11, 2009). Certificates will be awarded at a banquet ceremony the January following the September the applications are received. The applicant will be hosted at the banquet free of charge. Additional persons may attend the banquet at the cost of $20 per person.
e. MAIL the completed application to: Blue Hills Genealogical Society-Barron County, Inc.,
An
application based on a previously issued certificate does NOT require
resubmission of the proof of settlement, just cite the previous certificate in
the Evidence Section. Pedigree Chart and evidence of direct descent IS required.
Names and dates
a. Enter names of the person to whom the Certificate is to be issued and Ancestors EXACTLY as you want them to appear on the certificate.
b. Enter women's surnames in the order in which acquired, e.g., Mary, the daughter of John Jones, who married first Sam Brown and second Amos Black would be entered as Mary Jones Brown Black. Do not use parentheses.
c. Enter dates in day, month, year format, using three letter abbreviations for the month, e.g., 12 Feb 1805.
Forms of evidence
a. Evidence must be provided in the form of copies of documents establishing the fact claimed. Such documents include Census, Land, Church, School, Naturalization (including Declarations of Intent), Probate and Vital Records. Copies must clearly identify the nature of the document, the agency or office which created it, the volume, page, sheet, line, etc. by which it may be located, and where it may be located. Bible records, county histories and published transcripts of records must include copies of the page(s) establishing the fact claimed and a copy of the title page including publisher and date.
1) Abstracts of Records prepared and authenticated by the custodian thereof are acceptable in lieu of copies. An example would be an abstract of a church baptismal record.
2) Other abstracts or summaries compiled from records are acceptable only if they clearly identify the person who did the abstract or compilation, the specific identification of the record on which the abstract or compilation is based, and the location of the original.
b. Photocopies of diaries, letters, business and other personal records may be submitted, but proof of authenticity must accompany them and the name and address of their current custodian must be stated. Do not submit original records, they cannot be returned.
c. County histories may be submitted (copies of appropriate pages and title pages are required). Some recent commemorative publications (usually issued in connection with a community or organization anniversary) containing family histories submitted by modern family members are not acceptable.
d. Documents that infer rather than establish the fact being claimed require corroboration. Two such common documents are census records and naturalization
records.
It is a fact that census records often contain errors. Thus an 1860
e. Published or unpublished genealogies and family histories and family group sheets are generally not acceptable as proof. Instead, submit the documents (or abstracts) that were used as proof for them.
TIPS FOR SUBMITTING
PIONEER / CENTURY FAMILY
CERTIFICATE
APPLICATIONS
BHGS will return any Pioneer/Century Family Certificate applications to the applicant for corrections or additional information when needed. This tip sheet is intended to help identify the most common reasons an application will be returned.
We
include an instruction sheet with each application set we distribute. The
instructions have been "field tested" and we believe they are clear
and complete.
Here are some tips that we hope will make the instructions clear and the submission of an application easier:
1. Print legibly or type the application form completely. Be sure to complete both pages/sides.
2.
Note that the authorization granting
3. Enter dates in standard genealogical format:
day, month (use 3 letters, not numbers), year(4 numbers), for example,
4. Each application form must have a Pedigree Chart attached to it. The starting individual (no. 1) for the Pedigree Chart must be the person to whom the certificate is to be issued as identified on the application form. The chart must extend at least through the generation that includes the Pioneer/Century Ancestor (as identified on the application form) from whom descent is claimed. Make the chart as complete as possible. Use continuation sheets if necessary.
5.
Immediately after the Pedigree Chart attach your evidence to show when and
where the Pioneer/Century Ancestor settled in
6. Next, attach the evidence to establish each link in the chain of descent. Start with the Pioneer/Century Ancestor and attach the document(s) that shows that he or she was the parent of the next person in the chain. Do the same thing for each generation in the chain of descent: for example, if Johann Schmitt, the Pioneer Ancestor was the gr-grgrandfather of Susan Ellen Jones, the person to whom the certificate is to be issued, you should provide something to link Johann to whichever son or daughter of his was Susan's gr-grandparent, and then something to link that gr-grandparent to the grandparent, next to the parent and finally to Susan. Read the instructions to see what is acceptable evidence.
7. When you have provided the evidence for date and place of settlement and evidence for each link in the chain of descent stop there. Do not submit extraneous materials that only confuse the issue. Do not submit Family Group Sheets, they do not prove anything. Do not submit books, pamphlets, or genealogies compiled by you, a relative or a professional genealogist, regardless of how well documented they may be. We want to see the evidence, not the pudding.
8.
When you have direct evidence, most of what you submit will consist of only one
document for each fact or link to be proved. When the evidence is indirect of
inferred you must provide corroboration. For example, our instructions tell you
that because census records so often contain errors, an 1860
9.
Evaluate your entire submission before sending it in. Be as objective as
possible. If you are not from
10. Be sure that every document you submit is properly labeled as to what it is, where it came from and where the original can be found. In almost all cases you will be submitting copies. Be sure they are legible. Try to keep them to 8 1/2 x 11 inches in size. Do not send us things you want returned, your application and supporting documentation will become part of a permanent genealogical database created by the Blue Hills Genealogical Society-Barron County, Inc..
11. When submitting a set of applications for certificates to be issued to more than one person (e.g., for yourself and your children) based on the same ancestor, you do not have to provide copies of all the evidence with every application. Enclose a complete set of evidence for one application (the one for yourself in our example, and then provide only the additional evidence to complete the chain of descent for each of the remaining applications (in our example that would be a birth certificate or other such evidence for each of the children).
12.
The last tip: READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!
PHOTOGRAPHS
OF PIONEER/CENTURY FAMILIES
When applying for the Pioneer/Century Certificate, the Blue Hills Genealogical Society-Barron County, Inc. would like photographs of the ancestor being submitted as he/she was doing something, his/her family, or homestead, if possible. These photographs can be either, a paper copy, a jump drive or a CD and attached to your Pioneer/Century Certificate application. These are not returned to you and would become the property of the Blue Hills Genealogical Society-Barron County, Inc. to use at will.
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