I concur completely.  I have frequently expressed my opinion that the proofs are not stringent enough to tell one John Doe from another.  I just recently wrote a long proof for an applicant showing I had the right John Allison.  As a genealogist I totally approve of the new rules even if it is a lot more work for me as Regent and/or Registrar.    You are also right to send the person to the local chapter.  Some are more helpful than others, of course, but for my chapter (Shatemuc in Rockland County, New York) I basically do all the research for my applicants after the first three generations--and still manage to work full time, serve on other genealogy society boards, and got 34 new members verified in the past year.  I am also a State Vice Chairman of Lineage Research and a DAR certified genealogist so help other chapters when asked.   Barbara (with my DAR signature) Regent, Shatemuc Chapter DAR Certified Genealogy Consultant NYS DAR Vice Chairman of Lineage Research NYS Vice Chairman Credentials NYS DAR Speaker's Bureau NYS DAR Library Vice Chairman for Seimes Technology Center Barbara L. de Mare, Esq. Attorney, historian, genealogist, grandmother 155 Polifly Road - 3rd floor (office) Hackensack, New Jersey 07601 (201) 637-7159 cell (201) 567-9440 office (201) 343-5181 fax BdeMare@demarelaw.com (office) Barbarademare@yahoo.com (home and around the world) http://historygenealogyesq.blogspot.com/   ________________________________ From: Carol Thompson <ctgd@mac.com> To: Quaker-Roots list <QUAKER-ROOTS@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2012 6:43 PM Subject: [Q-R] John Townsend_refused DAR Membership for established patriot Hi Kimberly; On Jul 17, 2012, at 11:25 PM, Mary E. Stewart wrote: "If this is your John Townsend, he is already an approved ancestor." There is a difference between an individual's patriotic service being approved by the DAR and approval of the lineage which leads others back to the individual.  Something similar happened to me, regarding one of my ancestors: the purported ancestor remains approved, but the recent more stringent standards of the DAR have not been met by those who have in the past claimed to be his descendants when joining the DAR.  Those already accepted under his name will be grandfathered out.  Those who currently wish to join and normally would have an easy path as a legacy member now will have to prove that this man who performed the service is the ancestor rather than some other individual of that name.  In my ancestor's case, a secondary source was used to make the original connection and was accepted at that time, but standards became stricter in recent years due to criticism of the organization for being "sloppy" regarding documentation and proof of lineage.  This is actually an org! anizational change that I welcome. I believe Mary is right to point you toward your DAR Chapter: if you haven't approached local Chapter, you should.  Each Chapter has a Lineage Records and Genealogical Research Chairman who should be eager to help you resolve any issues or questions you may have.  Good Luck! Carol T. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to QUAKER-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message