Nearly hidden Pioneer Cemetery   Courtesy Google Maps If you are north bound on Auburn Way North, a main thoroughfare in Auburn, south King County, Washington, and stop for a traffic light, you may glimpse a small cemetery to your right at 8th Street NE.  This is the Auburn Pioneer Cemetery, on land donated for that purpose in 1878.  Grave of a Civil War veteran, M. P. Hopkins Courtesy Kristy Lommen "The marker commemorating the Auburn Pioneer Cemetery’s only Civil War veteran is disappointingly vague. It includes no dates, neither birth nor death. The soldier’s name is included, but in abbreviated form. And to add insult to injury, the sparse information that  is   displayed has been mis-transcribed and published incorrectly on several online genealogy sites. Fortunately, the stone does include the fact that Mr. Hopkins served in Company B of the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry—and that single fact was enough information to discover much of his life story."1 Recently the...

By Valorie Zimmerman This is not April Fools joke! A few years back, my husband was walking through the forest near our cabin outside Mt. Rainier National Park when he came across a grave for a Civil War soldier. Henry C Allen grave site Astonished, he took us there to honor the soldier and find more about him. Just a hundred feet or so off Highway 410, we saw a beautiful grave site with a headstone of marble, covered with flags and other remembrances. Reading part of his story on signs at the site was fascinating, and Bob created a web page about the site and the man:  http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~bobofwa/family/HCAllen_grave.htm Henry C. Allen, 16 Wis. Inf. 1848-1896 Last year there was a notice in the Washington State Genealogy Blog about a group gathering information about all Civil War soldiers buried in Washington State , so I wrote to report this grave site in case they had not heard of it. They had not, and asked me to find out more about this ...

By Winona I Laird This is the question I’m always asked when I say, I have a DAR meeting today, or I am a member of the DAR, or the DAR will be marching in the Veterans Day Parade.  To answer the question. What is the DAR? It’s Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage society that is a non-profit, 501 (C )  (3)  charitable organization dedicated to historic preservation, education and patriotism. Any woman 18 years or older-regardless of race, religion, or ethnic background-who can prove lineal descent from a patriot of the American Revolution, is eligible for membership. The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was founded on October 11, 1890, with the mission of promoting historic preservation, education and patriotism. The objectives of the Daughters of the American Revolution are: Historical – to perpetuate the memory and spirit of the men and women who achieved American Independence. DAR members participate in a wide var...