Colonial Dames topic on Polish pioneers

Col. John Washington Chapter, Colonial Dames of the 17th Century will meet at 11 a. m. Thursday at Hot Springs Country Club. Special guest speaker Nancy Holder will give the program, “The Role and Accomplishments of Polish Pioneers in the Jamestown Colony.”

Holder developed an interest in her family history in the mid-1970s when she began doing research for a biography of a great-grandfather. That research experience led her to seek out genealogical information about the family and from there expanded to a desire to learn as much as she could through the lineage and historical aspects of the lives of her ancestors. She is a member of 10 lineage societies, which include The Mayflower Society, Jamestowne Society, Akansa DAR, Colonial Dames of America 17th Century, Colonial Dames of America Chapter 34, National Society of the Dames of the Court of Honor, United State Daughters of 1812, Descendants of Mexican War Veterans, Descendant of Cape Cod and the Islands, a master guilder in the Guild of Colonial Artisans and Trades.

A native mid-Westerner, she has lived in Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin, before retiring to Arkansas in 2011. She worked as a Realtor in Chicago’s NW suburb, and later as an executive assistant for a nonprofit legal education organization first in downtown Chicago and then moving with the group to Madison, Wis.

Over the years, Holder has attended national, local, regional and county genealogy seminars in various states, and made research trips.

For information about Colonial Dames XVII Century, call Pat McLemore at 501209-9527.