Looking forward to NSDAR Chapter Presentation this Saturday!

Marie Rundquist

Now that an official announcement in the Northern Virginia Daily about my upcoming presentation to my National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) Chapter showed up in my "Google Alerts" this morning, I can say that it is an honor to have been invited to present to my Chapter of the NSDAR this coming Saturday (the calendar is prepared months in advance), and I was delighted to accept.

It is wonderful to participate as a full member of the Chapter and it's great to find so many interests, experiences, and genealogical connections we have in common as a group!

As my late father served in the U.S. Military, and I have worked with so many veterans during my career, I am proud to be a part of NSDAR's support of the Wreaths Across America program and NSDAR's service to Veterans, and, with a passion for preserving family histories, the Bible Records Project as well.

I look forward to sharing my family's story about Acadian exiles in pre-Revolutionary War Maryland with my NSDAR Chapter here in Virginia. Tailored for the Chapter, I add how DAR Revolutionary War ancestors also tie-into my family story, and how research of DNA matches, family histories and genealogies, have helped me identify ancestors, and verify their lineages.

I credit my late grandmother Asselia for her role in arranging events in such a way that I may now tell a story that includes her Acadian and recognized, NSDAR lineages to a NSDAR Chapter, to which I belong, that is located in the town where she was buried.

Later in her life, my late, maternal grandmother, Asselia, became a part of a very old, Shenandoah Valley family (the Lichliters) when she married her late husband Cecil, and although I had attended her funeral service at her church in Washington, D.C., back in 1996, I had always wanted to visit her grave here in town. It was because of her late stepdaughter, Beverly Peer, who helped my husband and me locate my grandmother's grave, that we found our property years ago and we have since made our home here.

Joanne Poplar inspired me to apply to the NSDAR when I visited the Chapter's booth at the Edinburg, Virginia Festival last year. I had always considered applying because I knew of at least one NSDAR ancestor, and I credit Joanne for giving me the nudge I needed to follow-up (and complete my application). Now, as I dig into the records, I'm finding more Revolutionary War ancestors as well!

Thanks again to my Chapter of the NSDAR for inviting me, and looking forward to seeing everyone on Saturday!

For information about NSDAR, link to: https://www.dar.org/