anyone a member of DAR?

[LoveTrains]

Anyone?

I am going to this genealogy workshop that they are doing next Saturday and they asked me to bring the lineage that I want to use for my application. Has anyone gone through the process? I have three lines that all are approved DAR ancestors and I put together the lineages with birth places & dates, death places & dates, and marriage places & dates. What else do I need?

[mlvmd]

I've thought about it. I have a number of possible lines that could be used. I just wish my mother would do it so I could piggy back on her application, I don't want to go through the effort.

[MadamePresident]

Jan 5, 2013 19:32:42 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

I'm first gen American, so no, but I always picture Emily Gilmore and her friends when I think of DAR. Hopefully that's a gross stereotype, lol.

Me, too.

[vtdiamond]

A lot of moms in my town where I grew up were part of this. No personal experience with it though.
I didn't realize you need to prove lineage to the American revolution.

[Here]

I was a member in the high school/college period. My mom was a member and signed me up. I didn't continue it once she stopped paying the membership for me. I went to a few luncheons with her. They seemed to have a civic and patriotic focus. Most of the members were middle aged or older.

[cjeanette]

My mom is. I will ask her. I know it was a lengthy process.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using proboards

[cjeanette]

My mom is. I will ask her. I know it was a lengthy process.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using proboards

[vtdiamond]

Jan 5, 2013 20:15:11 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

Jan 5, 2013 20:09:14 GMT -5 vtdiamond said:

A lot of moms in my town where I grew up were part of this.

Ha, I always associate swanky CT towns like the one you grew up in with the DAR

Lol, you were right

[LoveTrains]

Yeah I mean I haven't actually met any of the ladies yet, and all of their email correspondence with me has been very formal. I suspect they are all middle aged or older. Honestly I am interested because a) I have been playing around on ancestry.com for a while and its been fun and b) i think it will give me something to do with some of my free time.

I have lived in my city for three years but don't have a ton of friends that I know in town really. I don't suspect that I will be friends with the old ladies but I think there might be some crossover with my professional work and the people I might meet.

[LoveTrains]

Jan 5, 2013 19:32:42 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

I'm first gen American, so no, but I always picture Emily Gilmore and her friends when I think of DAR. Hopefully that's a gross stereotype, lol.

I've never watched the Gilmore girls so I am not sure what they are like. My mother grew up in Darien, CT.

[Deleted]

Jan 5, 2013 20:38:56 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

Yeah I mean I haven't actually met any of the ladies yet, and all of their email correspondence with me has been very formal. I suspect they are all middle aged or older. Honestly I am interested because a) I have been playing around on ancestry.com for a while and its been fun and b) i think it will give me something to do with some of my free time.

I have lived in my city for three years but don't have a ton of friends that I know in town really. I don't suspect that I will be friends with the old ladies but I think there might be some crossover with my professional work and the people I might meet.

What about joining Junior League to meet friends your age?

[vtdiamond]

Jan 5, 2013 20:39:39 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

Jan 5, 2013 19:32:42 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

I'm first gen American, so no, but I always picture Emily Gilmore and her friends when I think of DAR. Hopefully that's a gross stereotype, lol.

I've never watched the Gilmore girls so I am not sure what they are like. My mother grew up in Darien, CT.

That's where I grew up!

[kaylie]

I started the process but gave up. It was a few years ago and I didn't want to spend the $$ for the documentation; I would have had to use a service to get some of the official marriage/birth/death certificates. The chapter near me is all 50-60 year old women.

If you have a close relative who has gone through the process you can get away with just proving your relationship with them.

[LoveTrains]

Well I am also really interested in history and genealogy so that is part of it, too!

I should probably look up Junior League.

[alleinesein]

Jan 5, 2013 19:19:44 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

Anyone?

I am going to this genealogy workshop that they are doing next Saturday and they asked me to bring the lineage that I want to use for my application. Has anyone gone through the process? I have three lines that all are approved DAR ancestors and I put together the lineages with birth places & dates, death places & dates, and marriage places & dates. What else do I need?

My Great Grandmother, Great Aunt, Mom and I are all members.

Is anyone in your family (aunt, cousin, etc) already a member? If they are you need to get their national DAR # and a copy of their application. If you have a family member that you can "piggy back" onto to join it makes the process much easier because you only have to fill in the gaps in your lineage for your application.

When my mom and I applied we used my Great Grandmothers application to join. Because we did this we only had to provide documents for 3 generations since the DAR already had the rest of them on file. We got 'lucky' in gathering the missing info because ALL of it was from the same city/county/state so we ordered everything at the same time.

You will need
-Birth Certificates
-Marriage licenses
-Death certificates

Each chapter is different. The majority of the active members in my chapter are retired women in their late 50's and early 60's. We do have quite a few younger members (junior members) but they aren't as active because the majority of them have small children who keep them very busy. My chapter meets in Oceanside, CA and we do quite a bit of stuff with Camp Pendleton and the US Marine Corps.

[Deleted]

Yes but my grandmother did it for me when I was a kid. I don't know why she was interested but my mom liked the possibility of scholarship opportunities for college.

What would you get out of it as an adult? Just curious.


eta: If you're looking to meet people your age I'd look for a group on meetup.com. That sounds like a lot of work and I have a feeling that many (maybe most?) of the members will be really old.

[LoveTrains]

What would I get out of it as an adult? Well I am into history and genealogy so I think going through the process would be very cool, plus my local chapter does a lot of fundraising and public service work through some of our local historical societies.

You have to be at least 18 to be a member.

I don't have any aunts or cousins that are members but you can search the national ancestor and membership database. It looks like I must have some second cousins that are members and have accepted applications so that would probably be the easiest line to prove as I wouldn't have to go all the way back to the revolutionary generation and would only need to do great grandfather - forward.

[Deleted]

I'm eligible but I don't know if there's a chapter near me. Let me know what it's like. Ditto on Junior League. I've met some nice girls.

[Deleted]

I've been going through the family genealogy book my grandmother made about 30 years ago. Apparently one of my relatives was a cross dresser back 1656.

[bubbles]

I'm technically a member, though I've never participated. My great aunt did the membership for me, so I don't know what you need. As PPs pointed out, most chapters are for the older crowd. If I ever go to a meeting, I would be the youngest person there by 50 years. They do send me a lot of mail, so be prepared for that.

[Deleted]

Jan 6, 2013 14:51:30 GMT -5 jenny1980 said:

Do you have to be white?

Nope. There is a whole section about "forgotten heros" and black patriots although it is probably a lot harder to prove lineage

[Lucille Bluth]

I could also be a member, but I'm not really sure there are many advantages to joining.

[SJ]

I find this really interesting. I also enjoy family history and genealogy. I am fairly sure we "qualify" for DAR, but I have not investigated the process very thoroughly.

I hope you have a great experience!

[Deleted]

No--almost all of my relatives came to the US in the 19th century.

[dirtyred]

Jan 5, 2013 20:09:14 GMT -5 vtdiamond said:

A lot of moms in my town where I grew up were part of this. No personal experience with it though.
I didn't realize you need to prove lineage to the American revolution.

Not to sound snarky, but that's why it's the Daughters of the AMERICAN REVOLUTION.

[sapphireblue]

My grandmother was a member but she resigned around the same time that Eleanor Roosevelt did, because she was not comfortable with their racism (at that time, I am not accusing the current DAR members of racism).

I interact with a lot of DAR members in my role at a library as the archivist. They are nice enough but I will be honest, the women in the DAR that I have dealt with tend to be snobs. Full of self-importance. They tried to recruit me after they learned my grandmother was a member but their personalities were such a turnoff to me.

I am ONLY talking about the local chapter, I have no idea about other DAR groups.

[LoveTrains]

Jan 7, 2013 10:22:35 GMT -5 sapphireblue said:

My grandmother was a member but she resigned around the same time that Eleanor Roosevelt did, because she was not comfortable with their racism (at that time, I am not accusing the current DAR members of racism).

I interact with a lot of DAR members in my role at a library as the archivist. They are nice enough but I will be honest, the women in the DAR that I have dealt with tend to be snobs. Full of self-importance. They tried to recruit me after they learned my grandmother was a member but their personalities were such a turnoff to me.

I am ONLY talking about the local chapter, I have no idea about other DAR groups.

Sapphire, can you PM which chapter? I am in RI, too, so I am curious. There are actually two chapters that I could choose from so I would like to know which one you had the negative experience with.

[lishie]

Not DAR, but for our wedding present, FIL traced H's lineage back to get us membership into the Mayflower society.

It was a good bit of work on his part to get appropriate documentation to prove that they were related back to someone who was on the Mayflower when it came over.

He used primary source material, and not just info pulled from the internet (he spent a good bit of time at NYC's genealogical society), but I don't know if that was required.

[jigsy]

I think its a great idea. I think most places are filled with pretty old people, but the more young people join, the more other people will join...does that make sense? It seems like a lot of social clubs are filled with old people because our generation never really latched on to it, but I like the idea of them.

[Deleted]

Jan 7, 2013 11:11:19 GMT -5 jigsy said:

I think its a great idea. I think most places are filled with pretty old people, but the more young people join, the more other people will join...does that make sense? It seems like a lot of social clubs are filled with old people because our generation never really latched on to it, but I like the idea of them.

We should form our own social club!

I think I would qualify for DAR if I tracked down all the right documents, but I'm not thrilled with the idea of joining something that is exclusive based on the accident of your birth. I'm sort of interested in trying Junior League, but the application process stresses me out. I am not sure I could handle the rejection.