THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 9, 1995 TAG: 9508080106
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LINDA MCNATT
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
Nancy Barker Squires never expected national recognition when she left Isle of Wight County soon after high school graduation in 1948. She simply wanted to be a nurse.
She attained that goal. Then, she married a doctor, settled in Emporia, raised four sons and was elected to the Emporia City Council. She has served on state municipal committees, been active in the local rescue squad - she still pulls a couple of shifts a week. And she is an elder in her Presbyterian church.
Recently, Squires' life got even busier, when she was elected national president of the Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America.
``I've traveled all over the country visiting different chapters,'' Squires said on a recent visit home to see her mother, Ida ``Rix'' Wilson. ``The organization is made up of very intelligent, very busy women. I am really enjoying it.''
The DFPA is a genealogical association similar to the Daughters of the American Revolution, of which she also is a member. Requirements for the DFPA are more stringent than for the DAR.
``The descent must be in a direct male line - from your mother's father or your father's father,'' she said. ``The family must have settled in this country before 1687, and male members of your family must have fought in or contributed to the American Revolution.''
Because of the strict requirements, the DFPA is much smaller than the DAR, Squires said, but still very active. There are 51 chapters across the United States, including two in Virginia, and one in England, with about 2,000 members total. The group recently helped finance restoration of records at the Isle of Wight Courthouse.
``We are very interested in restoring records,'' Squires said. ``And we encourage military education.''
Awards from the DFPA are handed out each year at all of the country's military acadamies for accomplishments such as citizenship, the highest grades in American history, political science. The group supports ROTC training in colleges and universities; it supports historic restoration.
Squires' personal project as president is to lend financial support to archaeological digs going on now in Jamestown.
Her line of descent goes back to Capt. John Barker, a ship's captain who settled in 1635 in what is today Surry County. Barker was also a justice of the peace.
Just as national recognition came to Squires somewhat later in her life, so did the interest in genealogy.
``Mother has always known all of the families in the county,'' she said. ``She was county registrar for years. She could tell everybody what families belonged to whom. A lot of it, she did write down.''
But all of that was of little importance to Squires until after her sons were grown and grandchildren started coming along. She realized that, someday, family history may be important to her offspring's offspring.
``And you just don't have time for it when you're raising your own family,'' she said. ``When you get started, it's absolutely fascinating. You get hooked.''
Squires returns to Isle of Wight about every three weeks to visit her mother, now a resident of Riverside Convalescent in Smithfield, and to keep touch with relatives and old friends.
At her home, she's busy with the City Council, the Greensville County Volunteer Rescue Squad, her church and nine grandchildren.
How does she manage to get so much accomplished and still look so good?
``Good genes!'' she says with a smile. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by LINDA McNATT
Nancy Squires, president of the Daughters of Founders and Patriots
of America, visits her mother Ida Wilson.
by CNB