I was just emailed my detailed lineage for one branch of my family, back to 1601. The family settled here in the 1630's. I have VIP access (ha!) to the president of XYZ family homestead association and have my own family number, which points back to my primary descendent. (I apparently have 6 lines in that same family - must explain my quirks!) Pretty sure someone else who is also registered with the family association will have much of the documentation I need for the DAR process. I can reach out in the online forum or the FB group to inquire.
The DAR website is making my eyes cross. If you've joined, can you please explain the process to me? Having a detailed lineage dating back to original settlers should really pave the way when I start the paperwork, right?
What are the benefits of joining? (For you, personally.)
The first place to start is at the website on the ancestor search. You have to do your membership based off one specific "patriot" who is an ancestor who supported the revolutionary war effort. You can look here:
What I did was just start typing in names of confirmed ancestors (men) that were alive and of the appropriate age to have fought in the revolution. So people born between 1740-1760, for example, or maybe even a little older than that.
Once you have an ancestor, you can click on the people that have done applications on that ancestor. The goal is to find someone who is related to you - even a distant cousin - that has already done the work and proved the lineage. Then all you have to do is to submit documentation from that point forward to you (marriage certs, birth certs, death certs etc). You can click around on the record and find a list of "descendants" and you can click and see their applications.
I am the regent now for my chapter. my chapter is very small and mostly older ladies, but the chapters really vary. You need to join through a specific chapter so I recommend reaching out to one near you. You can join any one - it doesn't need to be the closest to you.
OH, the benefits of joining. It gives me something to do. I like patriotism and history. I have gotten to meet lots of people in my area. I like that it has a purpose. We put out flowers on the graves of the revolutionary ancestors on the 4th of july, for example, and do flags on the graves of veterans for veteran's day. We also do other kinds of public service like give out scholarships, honor teachers, and depending on the chapter, there is an interest in historic preservation.
You will probably find that the attitude of each chapter is a little different. You will have to decide which chapter to pick to join. I don't know how much you want a "ladies who lunch" type of chapter or whatnot. Then we also have state meetings twice a year, we also get together with other chapters.
My grandfather just gave me the info to do this. I'm really looking forward to hanging out with little old ladies!
Seriously the meetings are me plus 5 90+ year olds. They just gave me a bunch of old photos of their chapter meetings from the early 1960s. They would have lunch and tea and they were all dressed to the nines - like Betty Draper in the beginning of Mad Men when she goes out with Don on client dinners.
My father has several patriots in his tree, both on his father and mother's side. My grandma's line goes back to Jamestown (her maiden name was at Jamestown- so direct patriarchal line until her).
But, I'm adopted. Which means I don't have the "bloodline." So ineligible. And yet, genetic testing has shown that "bloodlines" are not what they thought. Plenty of adoptions, different fathers that the husband, etc.
OMG, there are 40 chapters in CT. You will certainly have your pick to choose from! I just did a search with your home city/state and you can tell from their websites that some of them have a different vibe. You might want to reach out to a few of them and ask if you can attend a meeting to try it out. When you apply, you have to apply for a specific chapter.
Each chapter in my state has a goal of increasing their membership by 10% this year, and also, any member who joins in 2015 will receive a special quasquicentennial certificate (that is nationally). It is the 125th anniversary of the DAR and a fabulous time to join!
My father has several patriots in his tree, both on his father and mother's side. My grandma's line goes back to Jamestown (her maiden name was at Jamestown- so direct patriarchal line until her).
But, I'm adopted. Which means I don't have the "bloodline." So ineligible. And yet, genetic testing has shown that "bloodlines" are not what they thought. Plenty of adoptions, different fathers that the husband, etc.
We actually addressed this at a recent conference and btw, I think its BS. I am sorry.
My grandfather just gave me the info to do this. I'm really looking forward to hanging out with little old ladies!
There are some chapters with younger members but a lot of the chapters have meetings during working hours and that limits how active some members can be in the chapter. I joined a chapter in Oside since the Esco chapter met during a weekday. The Oside chapter has saturday morning meetings that work with my schedule.
I've been banned to the naughty kids table (along with my mom and my crazy persian divorce attorney) at our meetings. We are the troublemakers and go against the flow. The chapter made the mistake of letting the crazy persian be our chaplain and she went out of her way to find prayers from every religion but christianity for 2 years. Drove the ultra conservative christians nuts! It was great
I love some of the older members; its like having extra aunts and grandmothers. They check up on me and send me get well cards and bake me cookies.
One of my friends just joined the Vista chapter and based on the year that chapter was formed I think its the offshoot of my chapter. We had much chapter drama shortly before I joined and quite a few people left to form their own. Apparently little old ladies can be just as catty as high school girls!
Post by alleinesein on Jul 7, 2015 16:49:34 GMT -5
Gah! I had like 5 paragraphs of stuff typed out and my internet went kaput!
Joining can be really easy or a total PITA. If you can piggyback onto someone else's application you can save a huge amount of time and $$$. I used my great grandmother's application so I only had to provide documents for 3 generations. If you do not have anyone you can piggyback off of you are looking at lots of paperwork. All of the documents I needed were easy to obtain because they were all in the same state. Once you start having to track down stuff in multiple states the cost can add up. We had to get 4 birth certificates, 2 marriage licenses, and 1 death certificate for our application. My fathers birth certificate had to be translated into English and it caused all sorts of issues for our registrar because she couldn't read it.
Each chapter is different so you might want to check out their individual webpages to get an idea of their activities and pick one based off of how involved they are in the community. My chapter does a lot of military related events and we provide quite a bit of support to some of the organizations at Camp Pendleton. While my chapter has quite a few registered junior members most of them are not active. I am typically the youngest member at the meetings and I am 39. We have members in their late 80s and early 90s but the bulk of the active members are in their mid 60s.
Once you find a chapter that you are interested in joining you can reach out to the chapter registrar and they can help you with your application. Most chapters will allow you to attend meetings for a year while you work on your application.
I am not that involved in the workings of my chapter. Our board serves for 2 years and we are halfway through the current board's term. My mom and I attend meetings and occasionally do some of the scheduled events but neither of us have any desire to have a leadership position right now. My mom spent 2 years as treasurer and the BS she had to put up with was insane.
My grandfather just gave me the info to do this. I'm really looking forward to hanging out with little old ladies!
I've been torn about whether or not to join my whole life. My mom's mother was a member. (My mom also keeps saying, "I really should do that...") I've been to the headquarters in DC, too! I was pretty much decided not to do it for now, but knowing that you are going to... have you ever felt conflicted?! I don't know, Stan.
My grandfather just gave me the info to do this. I'm really looking forward to hanging out with little old ladies!
I've been torn about whether or not to join my whole life. My mom's mother was a member. (My mom also keeps saying, "I really should do that...") I've been to the headquarters in DC, too! I was pretty much decided not to do it for now, but knowing that you are going to... have you ever felt conflicted?! I don't know, Stan.
I could join, but I've always been torn because of the "bloodline" aspect---don't like it, and don't like that any kids of mine to whom I don't give birth wouldn't be eligible. OTOH, I would so love to hang out with the ladies . . .
I've been torn about whether or not to join my whole life. My mom's mother was a member. (My mom also keeps saying, "I really should do that...") I've been to the headquarters in DC, too! I was pretty much decided not to do it for now, but knowing that you are going to... have you ever felt conflicted?! I don't know, Stan.
Is it the sexism that bothers you? That was what made me hold back, but I think checking it out is worth it. I never even considered the "bloodline" stuff. I'm not a fan of that.
Now I'll tell you right now if I discovered I could join Daughters of the Confederacy or something I'd burn that part of my family tree with a quickness.
First: :Y: to the bolded.
Second, the founder of the DAR was... kind of a bitch. She was weird. She wanted to make the rules so that her friend who was George Washington's great-grandniece couldn't join (since George Washington didn't have any direct blood descendants). Plus it was created at a time when the US was kind of nativist in general, and very big on distinguishing blood lines and not associating with recent immigrants and that kind of thing. PLUS the whole Marian Anderson fiasco.
But I know today that the DAR is really an organization that's about genealogical research, history, volunteerism and patriotism, so I'm trying to divorce some of the history of the organization with my love of history and genealogy. (Because I do love genealogy. When I visited my parents last week I made my mom take me to the cemetery where my great-grandparents, great-great grandparents, great-great-great grandparents and great-great-great-great grandparents are buried.)
I guess it's like all of American history, though - a mixed bag of good and bad.
One of the things they announced at continental congress in June was a new initiative to identify more patriots. The patriots don't necessarily have to be soldiers - they could provide support of the war effort by giving a horse, food for the soldiers, leather goods etc.
They SHOULD open it up to female patriots but the problem is that it is harder to get the documentation to prove that women did these things. It's all based on documents in the historical record from the 18th century. To prove a new patriot you need documentation of their support of the war effort which is just unlikely for a female ancestor.
Okay, but like Sybil Ludington is a well-documented female patriot. So it's possible.
Yes they should amend the rules. It's stupid. Also in our directory all women go by Mrs. Husband name. So stupid.
Change it! Unless it is codified in your bylaws you can just have whoever does the chapter directory change it. I was never identified by my XH's name in our chapter directory. We get to pick how we want our name to appear in the directory.
Yes they should amend the rules. It's stupid. Also in our directory all women go by Mrs. Husband name. So stupid.
But what if I'm not a Mrs.? Do they take dirty feminists who don't change their names and demand to be referred to as Ms.? I mean, so far I've only demanded that of my bank, but who knows who's next?
Even if you didn't change your name you are still Mrs husbandfirstname husband lastname. Or they just put that in the directory idk. For example for Jane smith married to John Doe the listing is: Mrs. John Doe (Jane Smith) Address Phone number Etc.
If Jane's last name was Doe it would say (Jane Doe) after the Mrs. John Doe part.
Yes they should amend the rules. It's stupid. Also in our directory all women go by Mrs. Husband name. So stupid.
But what if I'm not a Mrs.? Do they take dirty feminists who don't change their names and demand to be referred to as Ms.? I mean, so far I've only demanded that of my bank, but who knows who's next?
Join my chapter and you can be in the directory as Stan Princess Fluffypants if that is the name you want!!
Yes they should amend the rules. It's stupid. Also in our directory all women go by Mrs. Husband name. So stupid.
Change it! Unless it is codified in your bylaws you can just have whoever does the chapter directory change it. I was never identified by my XH's name in our chapter directory. We get to pick how we want our name to appear in the directory.
Ohh I am the regent now so I'll have to check the bylaws.
Change it! Unless it is codified in your bylaws you can just have whoever does the chapter directory change it. I was never identified by my XH's name in our chapter directory. We get to pick how we want our name to appear in the directory.
Ohh I am the regent now so I'll have to check the bylaws.
You can any chapter in any state that you want. You just need the chapter to approve.
You could join my chapter for example.
But your chapter won't let me call myself Stan Warrior ACUpants.
Lol. But that's good to know. I've been holding off because I was nervous about joining the chapter in SC. I was afraid the membership would overlap with the Daughters of the Confederacy if you know what I mean.
Sadly I'm eligible for daughters of the confederacy. I posted this in a different thread on CEP but we can't control where we came from or our ancestors. But we can recognize the privilege in our lives and make sure we don't repeat the mistakes of our ancestors
You can any chapter in any state that you want. You just need the chapter to approve.
You could join my chapter for example.
But your chapter won't let me call myself Stan Warrior ACUpants.
Lol. But that's good to know. I've been holding off because I was nervous about joining the chapter in SC. I was afraid the membership would overlap with the Daughters of the Confederacy if you know what I mean.
There will probably be some overlap but you will find that in almost any state. Im sure that we have a few members in our chapter who are also Daughters of the Confederacy; my mom and I could join but we have chosen not to for obvious reasons. I think there are some people who once they start doing the research they join any society that they can prove lineage.
But your chapter won't let me call myself Stan Warrior ACUpants.
Lol. But that's good to know. I've been holding off because I was nervous about joining the chapter in SC. I was afraid the membership would overlap with the Daughters of the Confederacy if you know what I mean.
Sadly I'm eligible for daughters of the confederacy. I posted this in a different thread on CEP but we can't control where we came from or our ancestors. But we can recognize the privilege in our lives and make sure we don't repeat the mistakes of our ancestors
My fathers line crosses that one, too (see also Jamestown, and everyone has been in VA or NC - in fact, I live further north that anyone else, save one cousin, on either side of my family). They will take me, too (despite the bloodline issue). No way would I take them, though. I can't even type it.
Sadly I'm eligible for daughters of the confederacy. I posted this in a different thread on CEP but we can't control where we came from or our ancestors. But we can recognize the privilege in our lives and make sure we don't repeat the mistakes of our ancestors
The people in SC would be and are proud daughters of the confederacy. There's such a difference in being eligible and choosing to join, kwim?
This whole convo reminds me of when Jesse found out her ancestors owned slaves and annoyed the hell out of Lisa.
History can be pretty horrifying. I have family on both sides that have been in the US since the 1600's. My New England family settled the coast, and my southern family started some of the earliest plantations. Those southern ancestors owned slaves. We have copies of their wills where they list who gets which slave. It's awful, but we can't change the past. We can, however, use our knowledge of the past to better the future.
The people in SC would be and are proud daughters of the confederacy. There's such a difference in being eligible and choosing to join, kwim?
This whole convo reminds me of when Jesse found out her ancestors owned slaves and annoyed the hell out of Lisa.
History can be pretty horrifying. I have family on both sides that have been in the US since the 1600's. My New England family settled the coast, and my southern family started some of the earliest plantations. Those southern ancestors owned slaves. We have copies of their wills where they list who gets which slave. It's awful, but we can't change the past. We can, however, use our knowledge of the past to better the future.
My mom's family (2 branches) has been in New York since the 17th and 18th centuries (the Dutch and German branches, respectively). There were slave owners back there. In New York state. Really, very few people with families that go back that far can say that they are 100% sure their family was immune to that.
But yeah, I'm certainly not joining any societies of descendants of slave owners or the people who fought to defend that right. Eek.