PIONEER CERTIFICATES Did you know that several genealogy societies offer "pioneer certificates" to direct descendants of people whose family settled in a certain area before a specific date? Some societies even offer more than one type of certificate. For example the Utah Genealogical Society offers a Founding Pioneer, Territorial Pioneer or Territorial Citizen certificate for anyone whose ancestor was in Utah before 1851 or from 1851 to January 4, 1856. People with forebears born in Utah before 1856 also qualify. Proving your connection to a "pioneer" is a nice way of honoring your adventuresome ancestor, as well as adding an interesting feature to your family tree book or software. Like other lineage-based organizations, you'll have to prove your pioneer connection using items such as church records, birth, marriage and death certificates or census records. It's possible you'll need to send along a pedigree chart and family group sheet. And it may require a small fee (usually less than $15). While you're hunting down your pioneer certificate, be looking for other types of certification available. For instance, the Illinois State Genealogical Society, http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilsgs/, is issuing certificates to direct descendants of Illinois Civil War veterans. Here's a sampling of sites for pioneer certificates. If your state isn't listed, use your favorite search engine and enter the search phrase "Texas pioneer certificate" (or whatever state you're looking for). By the way, some societies will issue certificates to residents of a specific county—so if your state-related search doesn't help, try searching for "xyz county pioneer certificate." If that doesn't work, post a query on Ancestry's Pioneer Certificate bulletin board, http://boards.ancestry.couk/mbexec?htx=board&r=5538&p=topics.pioneer.general Pioneer certificate sites: · Cook County, IL, Pioneer Certificates .. http://www.chgogs.org/pioneer html · California Pioneer Certificate .. http://www.rootsweb.com/~carcsgs/Certs htm · Tennessee Pioneer Certificate .. http://pghs.home.att.net/pioneer.htm · Prairie Pioneer (early settlers of Illinois) .. http://www.rootswebcom/~ilsgs/projects/pp-instructions.html · Utah Pioneer Certificates .. http://www.infouga.org/pioneer.htm · Florida Pioneer Descendants .. http://www.rootsweb.com/~flsgs/pioneers.htm Read more about pioneer certificates .. www.familytreemagazine.com/ancestornews/current.html —Nancy Hendrickson, Contributing Editor [email protected] Hendrickson is a family historian, freelance writer and the author of the upcoming book Finding Your Family Tree Online, on sale May 2003. Browse the archive of her AncestorNews columns www.familytreemagazine.com/ancestornews/previous.html NOTE: Some of the URL’s might be more than one line .. make sure you include the entire address. downloaded from: Family Tree Magazine EMail Update Thursday, December 12, 2002 Sally Rolls Pavia Sun City, AZ [email protected] List Owner: [email protected] "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup." All incoming and outgoing email checked by Norton Anti-Virus 2002 .