Ancestors of the American Revolution? (white, program, features, test)

[mamh]

I am a DAR member and have been for a long time..My many great-grand father fought the Mohawks in Cherry Valley NY,we were back in NY 12 years ago and visited his grave and the town he fought to save..Neat...
DAR is a privilege and for some important others not..I'm not active in a local chapter but have membership at large ..
You should go it but its a lot of work to get it done.Mine was done for me as my Mom was already a member..
Good luck

[DewDropInn]

Originally Posted by Scotty011

It means that you are a member of a special group.

I'm a member. To me it means that I'm descended from several men who were very brave. I'm a member because of the luck of the genetic draw. Or something. I didn't do a dang thing to earn any special privileges or to be a member of a special club. But someone in my family did something over 200 years ago that changed how the world is today.

And I've posted this previously: Because of those men I got to go to college. (DAR scholarship.) God Bless those blue haired old ladies sitting somewhere back East who looked at my application and said, "Yes".

[deliz]

Originally Posted by OpenD

The local chapter should be able to help you. If your grandmother was a member, you should be able to use the information and just add documentation of your relationship to her.

And the same thing for Sons of the American Revolution.

And yes, having ancestors who provided any kind documented support to the Revolutionary effort is all that is required. They need not have been soldiers. I saw one application that was approved on which the ancestor simply paid money into a local levy to support the war effort. Not everyone did.

Thank you

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by Scotty011

Let me clarify what I said about membership in the DAR/SAR. You have to have a member of your family that supported the struggle for American independence. They had to participate in some way in the revolution to aid the cause of independence.

DAR/SAR is sort of meh in comparison to membership in The Society of the Cincinnati.

The Society of the Cincinnati

[andthentherewere3]

Originally Posted by DewDropInn

I'm a member. To me it means that I'm descended from several men who were very brave. I'm a member because of the luck of the genetic draw. Or something. I didn't do a dang thing to earn any special privileges or to be a member of a special club. But someone in my family did something over 200 years ago that changed how the world is today.

And I've posted this previously: Because of those men I got to go to college. (DAR scholarship.) God Bless those blue haired old ladies sitting somewhere back East who looked at my application and said, "Yes".

That's a wonderful story, except for the "blue-haired old ladies"! LOL, there are numerous young women who are members of DAR, too.

[Scotty011]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

DAR/SAR is sort of meh in comparison to membership in The Society of the Cincinnati.

The Society of the Cincinnati

I am checking into that Society now since I had several ancestors that were Officers in the Continental army.

[haggardhouseelf]

Originally Posted by DewDropInn

...
And I've posted this previously: Because of those men I got to go to college. (DAR scholarship.) God Bless those blue haired old ladies sitting somewhere back East who looked at my application and said, "Yes".

OK - now I'm interested. This is what I was asking - what sort of benefits, if any, are there to joining a DAR/SAR/Etc. group? I can volunteer with a plethora of organizations without having to go through the trouble of proving my ancestry. I wouldn't want to go through the trouble (and cost, if any) of joining just to be able to say I was part of an "elite group" and to volunteer in my community, which I already do. That sort of thing maybe means something to other people, but I don't see the point. College scholarships, on the other hand - that is something worthwhile IMO. Anything else?

[haggardhouseelf]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

DAR/SAR is sort of meh in comparison to membership in The Society of the Cincinnati.

The Society of the Cincinnati

I kinda stopped reading after the first sentence on the "About Membership" page..."Hereditary members of the Society of the Cincinnati are qualified male descendants of commissioned officers who served in the Continental Army or Navy and their French counterparts."

[PA2UK]

Originally Posted by haggardhouseelf

OK - now I'm interested. This is what I was asking - what sort of benefits, if any, are there to joining a DAR/SAR/Etc. group? I can volunteer with a plethora of organizations without having to go through the trouble of proving my ancestry. I wouldn't want to go through the trouble (and cost, if any) of joining just to be able to say I was part of an "elite group" and to volunteer in my community, which I already do. That sort of thing maybe means something to other people, but I don't see the point. College scholarships, on the other hand - that is something worthwhile IMO. Anything else?

According to this: The DAR Society: The Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Society | Suite101.com They are a "huge genealogical resource" and involved in "national historical preservation" but then goes on to say you don't have to be a member to use their libraries (though you do have to pay a non-members fees but I imagine that could still be cheaper than the membership, depending how much you use it).

On the DAR website it also says:

What do DAR members do?
In communities across the country and around the world chapters participate in…

restoring and maintaining historical sites
preserving genealogical records, artifacts and historical documents
locating, restoring and marking Revolutionary War patriot gravesites and headstones

I imagine these types of volunteering are not things you can do with just any organization and they do sound pretty cool. However, I still don't see why participating in such things should require an American Revolution ancestry. On principle, that still bothers me, even though I do have American Revolution ancestry, I don't see why that should make me so special. It still feels like it's just an elite society who are more interested in excluding than including.

[Scotty011]

Originally Posted by PA2UK

According to this: The DAR Society: The Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Society | Suite101.com They are a "huge genealogical resource" and involved in "national historical preservation" but then goes on to say you don't have to be a member to use their libraries (though you do have to pay a non-members fees but I imagine that could still be cheaper than the membership, depending how much you use it).

On the DAR website it also says:



I imagine these types of volunteering are not things you can do with just any organization and they do sound pretty cool. However, I still don't see why participating in such things should require an American Revolution ancestry. On principle, that still bothers me, even though I do have American Revolution ancestry, I don't see why that should make me so special. It still feels like it's just an elite society who are more interested in excluding than including.

It is an elite society, but don't think of it excluding people. Most societies have certain membership requirements and it set up for a certain group of people. I don't see anything wrong with that. What would be the purpose of having a society like the Sons of the American Revolution and have no requirements of being tied to the American Revolution?

It is a society for Americans who had relatives that served in the revolution.