Remembering "First Families"

 

For this month's goal, as laid out almost a year ago in my Twelve Most Wanted research plan, I had thought that surely there were no more resources for me to continue pursuing my father's Polish ancestry. Instead, I set upon a different plan: a genealogical "giving back" project. For this month, I'd work on the family trees of the "first families" of my county.

By "first families," I'm referring to the programs offered by many groups to recognize and honor the early settlers for a particular geographic area. These certificate programs generally award recognition to a direct line descendant of an honored early resident, along with preserving that ancestor's family history. Some programs are coordinated by historical societies, such as the First Families of Tennessee, launched by the East Tennessee Historical Society. Many are administered by state genealogical organizations, such as the Utah Genealogical Association's First Families of Utah. Some county organizations also host First Families programs, such as the San Mateo County Genealogical Society in the San Francisco bay area. There are even cities promoting First Families programs, such as Saint Louis, Missouri. 

The term "first families" may be a misnomer, at least in the way most genealogical and historical societies use it. "Early settlers" would be a far more realistic term, especially for those geographical locations which experienced wave after wave of migrant settlements. Perhaps our neighbors to the north in Canada have a more accurate way of putting things when they refer to "First Nations" among their residents. Among some U.S. statewide programs, Oklahoma acknowledges that disparity in their First Families of the Twin Territories, where their stated goal is to: "recognize, honor and perpetuate the memory of early Pioneer and Indian families who were residents of Oklahoma or Indian Territory on or before the date of statehood."

Date ranges for recognition vary from program to program. Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania members who can prove descent from a resident as early as 1638 in what is now the state of Pennsylvania are eligible to apply for recognition in the First Families of Pennsylvania program. As we move westward through the country, dates of eligibility logically advance with each respective state's settlement history, sometimes pinned to the date upon which a territory achieved statehood, as is the case with the Missouri First Families Program.

One of the best points about such First Families programs is that the hosting organization often makes available the list of names of such recognized settlers. That's how I discovered my own fourth great-grandfather, Charles McClellan, was included in the Florida Pioneer Descendants Certificate Program of the Florida State Genealogical Society. It becomes a useful resource for others who are also researching the same ancestor.

That is only one of many reasons people have given for participating in a First Families program. Years ago, Amy Johnson Crow recapped several of these reasons, reminding us that by participating in First Families programs, we are "honoring our ancestors and recognizing their contribution to history." While I've mentioned several programs above, there are far more such programs in the United States—currently, Cyndi's List provides links for seventy nine of them.

As for our own local program, it is a partnership between our county genealogical society and the county's historical society. We currently have nearly three hundred names of recognized, documented ancestors who settled in our county and were recognized by our First Families programs.

Among those early settlers were those who made our cities, suburbs, and farm regions what they are today. These were the men and women who gave us our heritage. I like how one society put it: these were the "settlers who cleared the land, drained the swamps, ran the stagecoaches, built the dams, roads and houses, planted and harvested the crops, and sold the meat, potatoes, clothing, soap and other necessities their neighbors needed."

For this month's Twelve Most Wanted, we'll review the stories of some of these settlers.