In a message dated 06/22/2001 2:54:41 PM Central Daylight Time, CaseyMc@pianet.org writes: > There is a way to solve this. The Lee Society of Virginia is an official > membership organization who's applicants must prove lineage to Richard Henry > Lee, or a proven link to a previously approved application. All > applications MUST contain authoritative documentation. This is analogous to > the same approach of the Daughters of the American Revolution. > > I realize that this sounds like a snobby, expensive, and very laborious way > of maintaining a family tree, but since everything for the Lee's has been > 'proven' for over 370 odd years of family history, it is perhaps the most > I don't think it is snobbish at all, and it is a very good idea. Providing proof of each generation is the only way to be certain of a line, and it is for that reason that I have joined the Society of Daughters of Colonial Dames XVII Century and Society of Daughters of American Colonists based on my Hancock line. They both approved the line, based on my documentation, and my documentation will forever be available on microfilm for all researchers, as well as enabling any others of my line to join these Societies. It would be possible to form a Hancock Society, but it would be necessary to have a staff, and office, etc., and someone who is an experienced genealogist, who is not a member of the Hancock family and can be completely objective in examining the data submitted for proof. That would be quite an undertaking, and a full time job to say the least. Julia