It’s official!

I have become approved as a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).

Thanks Taylor Webster!

Your patriotic service enables your descendants to be members.

According to their official web site,  the “DAR is a women’s service organization dedicated to promoting historic preservation, education, patriotism and honoring the patriots of the Revolutionary War.“

I have to admit that my motivation for becoming a member was mostly to get credit for being able to connect myself through my pedigree chart back to a patriot. I also liked the idea of having an ancestor further recognized as having descendants who are still thinking of him.

I’ve been working on genealogy for a really long time, but never pursued DAR membership until now. Originally, I was just fascinated by my paternal Norwegian-immigrant ancestors. I never imagined that I would find patriots in the family tree. Back then, I had no idea I had ancestors here during the American Revolution.

Even when I started finding that my family tree went way, way, way back in America, I didn’t have a very strong desire to join the DAR. At one point, whenever I thought about the DAR, the “Pick-a-Little, Talk-A-Little…cheep cheep cheep” song from The Music Man came to mind. I pictured snooty old women looking down their noses at the rest of us.

After attending a few meetings, I can report that isn’t the case. Yes, some of the women are old. But some are young. Most are in between. And no one was snooty or looking down their noses at anyone. They are a group of women who come together to do good works supporting children, communities, veterans, other noble causes, and each other.

Taylor Webster’s Service

It is a little ironic that I was able to gain membership through my connection to Taylor Webster. He was a Quaker. Quakers were pacifists. They didn’t want to fight in any wars and didn’t want to pay taxes if they thought the tax would support the military.

Taylor Webster lived in Essex County, New Jersey, during the quest for American Independence. In October 1776, the captain of the county military company ordered that three pounds of good and chattels be taken from each man listed as a Private. Taylor was one of the men listed. He was recorded as having paid the supply tax in February 1780. Because he paid his tax, even if it was against his will, he is considered a patriot.

Proving Lineage

Proving my lineage was not necessarily easy. Many DAR members can easily join because their mother, aunt, grandma, sister, or other relative is already a member. But, I wasn’t that lucky. It was good that Taylor Webster was already recognized as a Patriot. Three other very distant relatives had already joined the organization. The first applicant had to prove Taylor’s service and the rest of us can point to that work. But we descend from Taylor’s daughter Rebecca, and the other existing members came from other of his children. So, I had to prove Rebecca was Taylor’s daughter, that Rachel was Rebecca’s daughter, that Simeon was Rebecca’s son, that “Hugh” James W Huleress was Simeon’s son, that Harry was Hugh’s son and that Lona was Harry’s daughter, and so forth. The application package was pretty thick once I’d found and organized all that evidence. The references for lineage that I included in my application included:

• Birth certificates and records
• Marriage certificates and records
• Death certificates and records
• Newspaper and journal articles
• Social Security applications
• Grave photos
• Census records
• Wills

Thank goodness the Quakers kept a lot of Meeting Minutes to help me with people who lived before other formal records were kept!

If you a descendant of  Lona Iona Estes Fawcett and you are female, you will easily be able to join the DAR. You will be able to piggy-back off the work I’ve done and only need to show proof that you descend from Lona. That will be easy!

You men, may feel left out. The DAR only allows women. I have no idea if men have tried to join the DAR and been turned away, so can’t get into the debate about why men aren’t allowed DAR membership even though the Boy Scouts now let in girls. I can just report that there is a peer organization called Sons of The American Revolution (SAR) that is for men. I don’t know much about it since I’m not a male, but according to their web site, “The SAR, the largest male lineage organization in the U.S., consists of 50 societies with more than 500 local chapters, several international societies and over 34,000 members. SAR is dedicated to assisting our members, schools, teachers and the general public in their efforts to sustain and preserve our history and constitutional principles.” If you are a descendant of Lona Iona Estes Fawcett and you are male, you should be able to join the SAR.

Oh yeah, there is also a group for people under age 18. Kids, can join the Children of the American Revolution (CAR).

Other Patriots

Besides Taylor Webster, we have at least three other ancestors that are recognized patriots:

1. Peter Holland provided material aid in Virginia.
2. John M. Meador provided supplies in Virginia.
3. Daniel Spike was a soldier in New York.

Our ancestor, Moses Estes, should be added as a Patriot as well. His son, also named Moses, is registered, but Moses, Senior isn’t. But, they are both listed on the same document showing that they furnished supplies to the war in Virginia. So, Moses, Senior should qualify too.

I can’t claim to be the only parent of my sons with Revolutionary Patriot ancestors either. Phillips relatives have several opportunities for DAR/SAR membership as well, including through their connections to John Bacon and Robert Boyes.

Want to Join?

Contact me if you are interested in putting together a DAR application. I’d love to work with someone to get an application approved to connect us to one of our other patriots and/or get someone else enrolled as a member based on Taylor’s service.

I’m pretty excited to have my membership approved.

See Taylor Webster, 216 years after your death someone is still thinking about you. Thank you for your service.