The Siuslaw news., December 22, 2018, SATURDAY EDITION, Page 10A, Image 9

10A | SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2018 | SIUSLAW NEWS
BEVRIDGE from page 1A
a number of ways, including:
increasing membership, fund-
raising efforts, special projects,
maintaining or increasing at-
tendance for chapter activi-
ties or increasing morale and
friendship within the chapter
and community.
Oregon Dunes DAR was able
to present Beveridge the Honor-
ary Past Regent pin at a chapter
meeting on Nov. 16.
“Jacquie’s time as regent was
a wonderful era for this chapter,
with the greatest fundraising
and membership growth of its
12 years,” Westphal said when
she presented the award “with
heartfelt thanks.” “She is kind
and her current work as chap-
ter chaplain is appreciated more
than she will ever know.”
For Beveridge, the work of
DAR is important in local com-
munities. While it is a lineage
organization — requiring that
members be able to prove lin-
eal descent from a patriot of the
American Revolution — DAR
also has a three-fold purpose:
Education, historic preservation
and patriotism.
“There are many ways to
reach out the community with
each of those things,” she said.
“We’ve always been supportive
of veteran things and our active
duty military. We catalogued
all the bricks at the Veteran’s
Memorial Wall, so we’ll do the
next wall when they get that one
done. It makes it easier for peo-
ple to find them when they have
a directory.”
Helping people find their his-
tory is important in several of
Beveridge’s other organizations,
including the Oregon Coast
Military Museum (OCMM),
where she is wrapping up a
four-year term on the board of
directors, and the Siuslaw Ge-
nealogy Society, which held a
Titanic-themed party this week.
“It’s a fun group,” Beveridge
said. “And everyone is welcome
to attend. You don’t have to be a
member.”
At the Siuslaw Genealogy So-
ciety, attendees give each other
advice on connecting with their
pasts. Many meetings have spe-
cial programs, such as introduc-
tory classes with Kevin Mittge
or webinars on specific topics.
“We try to have interesting
programs to help people,” Beve-
ridge said. “This year
we are trying to focus
on breaking down brick
walls (in our research).”
Events like the Ti-
tanic Party or potlucks
honoring Irish/Scottish
or German heritage
help people connect
in different ways to
the past, through spe-
cific foods, images or
even costumes. In her
research for this week’s party,
member Debby Wright found
out that the person she chose to
research from the Titanic was
actually from Lane County.
“That was really amazing,
another connection,” Beveridge
said.
While Siuslaw Genealogy
Society encourages resources
for research — the group meets
monthly at Siuslaw Public Li-
brary and offers access to An-
cestry and other programs —
OCMM offers another angle:
the area’s connections to past
wars and conflicts.
From meticulously detailed
murals to authentic costumes
and displays, the museum seeks
to show coastal Oregonians’ in-
volvement in America’s military
history, all the while honoring
area veterans and their families.
“You know, at the museum,
we have kids come through and
get to observe them as they go
through things, feel them and
try things on,” Beveridge said.
“Most places say ‘don’t touch.’
Here, we offer a really good in-
teractive experience.”
OCMM is also seeking to
continue building connections
to the community, through lo-
cal partnerships with the Siu-
slaw Pioneer Museum or with
the Umpqua Chapter of the
Vietnam Veterans of Ameri-
ca, which brought the Oregon
Memorial Traveling Wall to the
museum ear-lier in December.
Through those contacts and
work done by OCMM staff,
“The Wall That Heals” Vietnam
Veterans Memorial Replica and
Mobile Education Center will
be coming to Florence in April
2019.
well.
“Thanks to genealogy ‘an-
gels’ (people who donate their
time to archiving and collecting
historic documents), more and
more information is becoming
available all the time,” Beveridge
“Florence is such an amazing
community — and it’s the people who
make it that. When there’s a need, people
step up and take care of it.”
— Jacquie Bevridge
The special appearance will
require community involve-
ment, as volunteers are needed
to staff the replica 24 hours a
day.
“This town runs on volun-
teers. I do at least 10 or more
hours of volunteering each
week, and so many in this town
do, too,” Beveridge said.
Despite her busy December,
she had found time to ring the
bell for the Salvation Army Red
Kettle Campaign.
“Florence is such an amazing
community — and it’s the peo-
ple who make it that,” she said.
“When there’s a need, people
step up and take care of it.”
It comes full circle, she said.
Everything connects.
A few years ago, Oregon
Dunes DAR invited Jesse Beers,
culture director with the Con-
federated Tribes of Coos, Lower
Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, to
talk about the area’s native pop-
ulation and history. He also in-
structed another of Beveridge’s
groups on native herb names
and uses.
Full circle, as now OCMM
is working with local tribes to
include Native American el-
ements in a museum display,
even if temporarily.
“The museum continues to
evolve,” Beveridge said.
Through the use of internet
archives and newly digitized
sources, people’s research into
the past continues to evolve, as
said. “What’s available now on
the internet and through vari-
ous libraries is really just the tip
of the iceberg in terms of what is
available if you go travel some-
where and get local rec-ords.”
Through her research, Beve-
ridge has used free resources,
such as DAR’s national records,
and paid sites, like ancestry.com
and the New England Historic
Genealogical Society, and even
traveled to Salt Lake City to ac-
cess records there.
“It makes it easier for us do-
ing the research, but it’s also im-
portant to preserve that infor-
mation. It helps to know where
you came from. And sometimes
you find amazing synchronici-
ties — one of my ancestors was
in law enforcement,” said Beve-
ridge, who also worked in law
enforcement. “That was kind of
cool when I discovered that.”
And online genealogy search-
es are getting more advanced,
with continued research refin-
ing DNA test results, linking a
person’s percentage of heredity
to actual countries or regions.
Beveridge’s test at Ancestry
DNA first listed “four percent
Scandinavian.” An update to
her results said it was “six per-
cent Norwegian,” a complete
surprise to Beveridge, who now
wants to look at her son Jeffrey’s
results.
“You throw up different genes
and they fall in different piles,”
she said. “You might learn
something you weren’t expect-
ing. … People believe these
family legends, and then some-
thing says, ‘Oops, no, it’s not
that way at all.’”
Despite the worry or surpris-
es, she values the research she
has been able to do.
“Think about what they
accomplished, and how
we got to where they are,”
she said. “Not everybody
comes from somebody who
did something famous, but
they were there, and more
and more people came af-
ter them, and there you are.
You’re a compilation of all
those genes.”
Her search has also al-
lowed her to connect not only
with her close family, cousins
and their children, but also the
people who lived in a historic
home built by one of her sever-
al greats-grandfathers. She can
link her American history back
to William Claiborne, who was
a surveyor in Jamestown, Va.,
who lived until around 1677.
Some members of Oregon
Dunes DAR are older than 90,
creating a shorter chain to their
Revolutionary ancestors.
“It makes a difference. Most
of mine are like a fifth-great
grandfather,” Beveridge said.
“Younger members coming in
now, they’re going to have sixth-
or seventh-great grandfathers.
The older we are, the less of a
gap there is to that history.”
And with data more acces-
sible online, DAR could add
more members to the more
than 930,000 women who have
joined since the national society
was founded in 1890.
“Many of us have relatives
that were here long before the
Revolutionary War,” Beveridge
said. “To be able to go back to
the 1600s in North America I
think is really remarkable. And
there are a lot of people in DAR
that can go back that far.”
Oregon Dunes DAR has a list
of its accomplishments in the
Florence area, but Beveridge re-
turns again to education and the
importance of knowing history,
both the world’s and one’s own.
“The history just makes it
come alive,” she said. “I wish
more kids would get to experi-
ence things like that.”
While not everyone will find
a semi-famous person in their
family tree — Beveridge said
she “got goosebumps” when she
visited Jamestown and walked
in her ancestor’s actual foot-
steps, even seeing his name on
a plaque — she hopes they learn
to connect with their past.
“Some things are worth sav-
ing and preserving,” she said.
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Have a good time, this
holiday season. But, if you
know you’re going to drink,
choose a designated driver,
take a cab, or arrange to stay
over. Getting on the road
after even one drink can
impair your judgment and
reaction time, opening the
door to a holiday disaster.
Have a Happy and Safe Celebration!
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